The Sealed Kunai
by Kenchi618
Summary: What if something made Naruto the dead-last that everyone sees him as? What if he really wasn't as weak as he seemed? The true Naruto, unleashed upon the shinobi world! AU Story starts at Invasion of Konoha arc and continues onwards.
1. Prologue

***This story came to me when I was taking a shower. Literally, the premise hit me while I was taking a shower and my mind fucking ran with it. I think it's pretty cool and makes the story of Naruto a hell of a lot cooler, hopefully you think so too. I just had to get this out, it was too good of an idea for me to just keep cooped up in my head.**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or else it probably might look more like this story does chances are…

**The Sealed Kunai

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**Prologue**

(Naruto – Age 4)

"Come on jiji! Let me be a ninja already!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage massaged his temples as he looked down at the little blonde boy who had a determined look on his face. He had been visiting the boy in order to give him a monthly allowance and help him shop for groceries as he lived alone. It might be odd that a little boy like this lives alone, instead of with his parents or in an orphanage, but the little boy held within him a massive little deterrent that kept most from wanting to care for him.

Naruto Uzumaki held within him the ultimate biju, the Kyuubi no Yoko. The same demon that had attacked and nearly annihilated Konohagakure no Sato, the village in which this story takes place.

"Naruto I can't let you enter the academy."

Naruto's face scrunched up, trying to decipher why, "But jiji, you told me other kids ninja as young as me training as ninja, why can't I?"

Hiruzen did have to admit to that nugget of truth. Clans in Konoha such as the Uchiha and the Hyuuga trained their children from around the time they could walk to become shinobi. Kakashi Hatake had graduated from the academy at the age of 5 and even been promoted to chunin at the age of 6, same for other prodigious ninja such as Itachi Uchiha. Hiruzen knew it was somewhat hypocritical of him to deny Naruto the same chance that they received.

But the people of Konoha would never accept the 'demon spawn' training in the ninja arts right in front of them, this was more for Naruto's safety. The worst thing to him was that he couldn't even tell Naruto why he couldn't allow him to join. That the irrational fear the village as a whole had of him being the Kyuubi reincarnated wouldn't allow them to see him as just a little boy that wanted to prove himself to them all.

Hiruzen patted Naruto's head and looked down at him patronizingly, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun. Maybe one day soon I can let you join, but not now." Naruto watched the old man walk towards his door and shut it on his way out.

XxX

Naruto walked aimlessly around Konoha, trying to ignore the looks that he _wasn't_ getting. He didn't get why jiji didn't want him to be a ninja. He knew he would be the best ninja ever, that was all he would settle for, no matter how hard he had to work.

There was something he wasn't getting, and trying to think about it made his head hurt. Eventually, by the time he had stopped pondering all of the absurd reasons that he wouldn't be allowed into the academy (He even came up with a strange conspiracy that there was some sort of demi-god stuck inside of him and everybody knew but him… crazy right?) he found himself atop his favorite place in the village, Hokage Mountain.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

Naruto whipped around suddenly to see a man with his head and one eye in bandages, and his right arm in a sling, also wrapped up. Naruto couldn't feel any real malicious intent from the man so he allowed him to come closer. He stopped next to Naruto and looked out at the view from the top of the mountain, "Truly being a ninja to protect this village is something that I've always felt is well worth the sacrifice."

Naruto's eyes widened, but then he looked away sadly, "Jiji won't let me be a ninja. I don't know why though… I mean I'll work hard, and I know I'd be good at it."

The man made a noise as if he was thinking of Naruto's words, "You would really work hard? You would do whatever you had to in order to become the greatest ninja you could be?"

Naruto grinned widely at the man, "Not just the best ninja I can be, the best ninja ever, dattebayo!"

The man had a small smirk upon his lips, "Well then, I think I'd like to take a hand in training the greatest ninja ever. How would you like to be a ninja for me?"

Naruto's grin could have split his face as he latched onto the man excitedly, "Thank you, thank you! I can really be a ninja?"

The man held Naruto off of him, "Little boy, the first thing a ninja should know is to never show emotion. I can understand your excitement, but when we begin training I do not want to see that from you. Do you understand?"

Naruto cowed himself and nodded, "Ano, um I don't even know your name…"

The man turned and motioned Naruto to follow, "You may call me Danzo…"

XxX

(Naruto – Age 7)

Underground the sounds of contact were made. The sounds of physical combat were common in this place. Sparring was intense and brutal to condition the ninja to field conditions.

An unnamed teen hit the ground hard, groaning as his eyes flicked in and out of consciousness. The blood caking his face was just another sign of the intensity of the session. Standing over him was a blonde boy sighing in relief at the conclusion of the spar, "Takeshi… you hit way too hard…"

The blonde slowly walked away from the room, checking himself over. He scratched at his fists, flaking off the dead skin covered in dried blood. He checked his mouth and sighed before digging into the back of his mouth and pulling out a molar, dropping it on the ground as he walked away, he didn't care too much about it, it wouldn't be the first time he lost teeth down here, and they always grew back, 'Thank you furball.'

As the boy clad in black practice clothing entered the hall he came face-to-face with the man responsible for training him, "Ah, Danzo-jiji… Good to see you."

Danzo frowned at Naruto's disrespect, "Boy if you weren't so damn good at what you do then I'd have you go back through emotional conditioning again…"

Naruto gave him a cheeky grin, "But that's just it. You know I'm too damn good to waste going to do that crap, and besides, you know I can turn it on the second the mission starts. I can be as blank as everybody else when you say go."

Danzo let a ghost of a smile appear on his face, he remembered putting Naruto through the paces to rid himself of his emotions. No matter how bad he had Naruto beaten and conditioned he would still keep a spark of his old personality, even after several months of that treatment, treatment that had broken everyone else Danzo had trained for decades until that point.

Danzo motioned for Naruto to walk with him, "I have a mission for you, solo this time."

Naruto went into business mode upon hearing those words, "What do you require of me Danzo-sama?"

Danzo would never openly admit it, but he did rather like the fact that Naruto _could_ turn his ninja mode on and off at the blink of an eye. It made training a bunch of emotionless tools more bearable if one of them had enough self-awareness to actually speak to him with even a hint of cordiality.

They weren't necessarily _close_. Naruto was well aware of the fact that Danzo saw him as nothing more than a tool, a weapon to be brandished to protect Konohagakure, but people have shown that they can value objects and tools above many things in this world, plus Naruto's childish streak got a kick out of making Danzo twitch… you've got to enjoy the little things, "This one is probably going to be suicide for anyone else other than you. Even you will find it rough going I would say."

Naruto nodded as a sign of his hearing the advice, "If this even hints at going under you get yourself out of there, failed mission or not." A shimmer of his eye revealed from Naruto to Danzo that he was affected by those words. Danzo just couldn't tell if it was because he gave the very rare order for him to retreat if necessary or if it was because he was offended for suggesting that Naruto might fail this mission.

Naruto looked up to Danzo, icy blue eyes lacking the solid feeling they were full of just moments ago, "Your orders Danzo-sama…"

Danzo smiled, 'I think that he might just be the greatest weapon I have ever had.' Training Naruto had not been even a chore. When it came time to learn how to fight, how to kill, how to win, Naruto had shown himself a quick study. Danzo relied on Naruto for more of the higher class missions that he knew many of his other operatives couldn't handle, because the kid seemingly didn't accept anything short than a successful mission. That made him invaluable, 'And he'll only continue to grow in strength… I would probably rely on him before I thought of backing one of Sarutobi's soft elites. Oh my old friend… How did you let this gem of a shinobi go?'

Danzo continued his briefing as he and Naruto had arrived at the armory, "You will be infiltrating Ta no Kuni. There have been reports of a new hidden village based out of that nation rising to prominence."

Naruto quickly changed from simple practice clothes to gear reminiscent of Anbu armor, clicking the chest protection shut, "Hai Danzo-sama."

Danzo continued, "You will find the location of this village and if possible get inside and keep tabs on what you can see and find. When you believe that you have sufficient information to determine whether or not this village is a threat or not you are to return to base and debrief. You may leave on your own mark, this will be a long-standing assignment."

Naruto packed himself with kunai, shuriken, flash tags, exploding tags, smoke bombs, anything that he might need, and he packed to the brim, sealing whatever he couldn't carry in a scroll, he didn't know whether he would need to restock on this mission or not. Upon his completion of arming his person he turned to Danzo and bowed, "I will leave as soon as possible Danzo-sama. You will hear from me upon my return."

Danzo nodded, "By your leave Uzumaki."

Naruto stood and walked from the armory, ready for his next assignment. Naruto slipped his mask in with his combat gear, as he had replaced it all with simple street clothes as he had to keep up his appearances. Ne was the opportunity that Sarutobi never gave him. He knew all he needed to do to prove his worth as a ninja was a chance, and when that chance was given he took it.

XxX

(One Year Later – Border of Hi no Kuni/Ta no Kuni)

An explosion drew Jiraiya's attention away from returning to Konoha. He had just gotten through going through Ta no Kuni looking into rumors of a new hidden village rumored to be called Otogakure. After finding enough to bring back to the Hokage he made a hasty retreat to the border, and from the sounds of things he wasn't the only one.

Jiraiya eventually found himself on the heels of a blur in the darkness. Jiraiya slipped into the shadows of the trees to speed ahead of the fleeing mystery shinobi. However this was unnecessary as the person in question collapsed and dropped to the forest floor in exhaustion. As Jiraiya walked closer he saw deep cuts and gashes all over the body of the Anbu, or so his armor had him believing.

Jiraiya whistled as he took in the age of the blonde boy on the ground, "…They're sure starting 'em younger these days…" Jiraiya refrained from moving the mask of the boy, on which he saw a leaf insignia, as Anbu had to keep their identities secret for as long as was feasible to the masses.

Jiraiya picked the boy up and made for Konoha, interested in this current situation.

XxX

Jiraiya had set the boy down in Sarutobi's office and had requested that his Anbu guards leave the room, "Sarutobi-sensei, you could have sent me a message that you already had someone in Oto checking things over. I think I might have blown his stealth when I made tracks and left that place."

Hiruzen's eyes darkened, "I didn't send anyone into Ta no Kuni, I expected you to look into it yourself and send word back, like you are now. This Anbu isn't mine. I would never allow a child this young into their ranks, never again, not after Itachi."

Jiraiya scratched his white mane, "Well I kind of figured that, but I thought you might have made an exception or something."

Sarutobi rose from the desk and walked over to where the masked boy lay. He narrowed his eyes at the kanji he found right by the leaf symbol on the forehead, "Danzo… Ne again?"

Jiraiya sighed, "I thought you handled him and that group of blank faces. He's still doing this?" Jiraiya shrugged, "Well at least he also recognizes Oto as some kind of unknown quantity."

Hiruzen reached down and pulled off the mask. What he saw almost gave him a heart attack, "N-Naruto!"

Jiraiya ran over looked down, gaping at the sight, "Kami, he looks just like Minato. Wait… Sarutobi, is this Minato's child?"

Hiruzen settled himself somewhat, "Yes Jiraiya. This is his child. Danzo must have gotten his hands on him. I should have known. When I went to see him he was becoming progressively more aloof and secretive. I stopped getting reports about him around town completely. I figured he must have just been keeping a low profile, but I never would have guessed…"

Jiraiya looked angry, "Danzo turned Minato's son into a mindless drone? I'm going to-."

"Jiraiya wait!" Jiraiya turned to face his teacher with an angry look, "The council wanted him to be trained under Danzo's watch anyway. They'll see him in the right if this gets out. You and I are the only ones that know about this."

Jiraiya bared his teeth, "He won't tell us anything about Danzo. Even if he had any real reason to tell us anything Danzo has seals on his ninja that keep them from speaking about Ne too freely, I've seen it."

Hiruzen nodded, "I know. So what if instead of using him to get to Danzo we just take him away from that place entirely." Seeing Jiraiya's confusion he elaborated, "Danzo won't move to retrieve him no matter how valuable he knows a jinchuuriki is to his goals. All we need to do is keep him under watch and seal him."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement, "So what? Memory seal? Chakra seal? What exactly are we sealing?"

"Everything."

Jiraiya's eyes widened, "Now when you say everything…"

Hiruzen stood back up, "I mean everything. His entire mind and body have been utterly conditioned by Danzo to fight. He would have never been out there if he wasn't at least as strong as one of my jounin, Danzo wouldn't have allowed it. Seal it all. If we just seal his memory then he would still be infinitely more powerful than any academy student, even without the knowledge of all of the techniques, just with the academy techniques he would still obliterate any academy student."

Jiraiya looked at the unconscious blonde on the floor, "I don't like this Sarutobi-sensei. What will you do with him then?"

Hiruzen picked the boy up and put his mask back on, "I will allow him to enroll in the academy. I'm wearing the council down, soon I can get them to let him attend, him staying off of their radar has helped considerably."

Jiraiya followed Hiruzen down to the depths of the tower to commence with the sealing of the young boy.

XxX

(Ne Base – Konohagakure)

The sound of a door shutting sounded through Danzo's speakers on his desk. The injured man put his face into his hand and groaned, "Uzumaki… Damn it…"

Jiraiya… How was he to know the wandering sage was in Oto as well? From the sound of things the flamboyant shinobi had placed their forces on high alert upon his own exit, and with Naruto stuck inside that buzzing hive, with everyone searching high and low for anything amiss, the boy had run into quite a bit of trouble when he took to making his own hasty retreat.

Danzo's weapon was lost to him now. He knew Sarutobi would never allow him to get anywhere near Naruto again.

Danzo pulled out a bottle of sake and poured himself some. After tossing the alcohol back he grimced slightly, "And we move along…"

XxX

(Four Years Later)

A blonde in an orange jumpsuit sat down deep in the forests of Konoha, "Man that was so easy! Why wasn't that the regular graduation exam?" The boy unfurled the scroll in his grip and read it, "Oh man! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu? Bunshin… my worst technique…"

He sighed and put on a cocky grin, "Right then… Let's get started!"

XxX

(Hours Later)

Iruka Umino; chunin, and teacher in Konohagakure's Ninja Academy, stood in astonishment. Naruto Uzumaki, the dead-last of his class, the failure. He had just witnessed the boy in question call upon an almost endless horde of Kage Bunshin to beat his former teacher's aide Mizuki into a bloody pulp.

Naruto stood over the groaning man smiling at Iruka sheepishly, "Whoops… I guess I went a little overboard huh?"

Iruka smiled and called Naruto over to him, "I've got something for you Naruto. Close your eyes."

Naruto did as he was told and felt his goggles shift on his forehead.

"Okay, go ahead and open them."

Naruto opened his eyes and saw his smiling instructor, sans hitae-ate, holding his goggles, "Congratulations Naruto. You graduate!"

XxX

(Six Months Later – Forests outside of Konohagakure )

Naruto was smashed back by Gaara in his monstrous form. Naruto sailed through branches until he landed against a tree and slumped against it. Naruto grunted in pain as he sat up to look at the insane Suna ninja.

Gaara had a maniacal grin on his half demonic face, "You are weak Uzumaki! You lack power!"

Sasuke landed on Naruto's branch, looking worse off than Naruto himself was with strange black markings on the right side of his body, "Naruto, get out of here. Get Sakura and run, I'll handle this guy." Naruto went to speak when Sasuke clinched his fists, "If I can't win here… Then I'll never be strong enough to defeat him. I will have reached my limits."

Naruto looked at Sakura, pinned to a tree trunk with Gaara's sand slowly crushing her.

Naruto stood up and wiped the blood from his lip. He looked down at Sasuke, "Don't worry Sasuke. I won't lose here."

Naruto flipped through hand-signs and slapped his palm to the tree branch. A puff of smoke revealed a small orange toad, **"Hey there, I'm Gamakichi! Got any sweets?"**

Naruto flipped out, "I can't believe this crap! What's with you stupid toads? I can never get a useful one. This is really not the time for this!"

The small toad jumped onto Naruto's head and gave him a raspberry, **"So you're an amphibian hater huh?"**

Gaara had had enough of this, all the time spent allowed him to fully turn into his mini-Shukaku form, "Suna Shuriken!"

Naruto saw the spinning disks of sand coming his way and cradled Gamakichi with his body, taking the hits. He flew back and hit another branch, Gamakichi looked at him in concern as Gaara cackled, "You see Uzumaki! Only when you fight for yourself can you truly be strong! I'll wait for you to realize this and leave your friends here to die so you can escape!"

Naruto wordlessly placed Gamakichi down and turned to face Gaara. The look in his eyes irked Gaara, who sent another salvo of sand shuriken at Naruto, hitting him dead on and sending him back again.

Naruto stood up almost immediately, "What is this feeling? I feel stronger… Like that didn't hurt at all…"

Sasuke looked at Naruto as he saw Naruto's strength returning to him. As a burst of visible blue chakra erupted from Naruto, the blonde's look of confusion and awe at himself turned to a wail of pain as he clutched his head and dropped to the ground screaming.

XxX

(Naruto's Mindscape)

The Kyuubi no Yoko was bored. Bored, bored, bored. It had been bored for years, ever since Naruto's memories and skills had been sealed away there wasn't any action for it to watch, or even partake in as Naruto was wont to do from time-to-time.

When the boy finally made his return during his month of training with Jiraiya he was noting like the Naruto that had earned his respect in his childhood. This Naruto was loud and brash, with no true talents to back it up with. The old Naruto wasn't nearly as loud, and while he had his moments of being a loudmouth he always had the talent to go with it and the drive to do better. The seal had handicapped him and his thinking for four years.

The Kyuubi really couldn't even say that the new Naruto had potential. The old one had potential, and he had started achieving it, then it was taken away, and no one can have potential twice in their lifetime.

As it pondered how exactly it was going to break out of its rotting prison, many markings appeared on the outside of the Kyuubi's cage. At first it was confused, until it remembered the exact same patterns appearing four years ago right before everything turned to shit, **"Oh it's about time! Took you long enough ningen!"**

Focusing its chakra into a line it pushed it out from the bars of the cage slowly so as to not upset the Shiki Fuujin. Finally the chakra made contact with the walls and began to cover the lines, following them straight to the source.

As the Kyuubi watched the lines turn red and rush off down the halls of Naruto's mind it allowed itself a triumphant smirk on its vulpine features, **"Welcome back kit…"**

XxX

Temari had seen the Uchiha fight Gaara. He had done well until he ran out of chakra and began getting decimated by Gaara until his orange wearing teammate came onto the scene. Then he ended up getting beaten down too.

During his beating however he began to gain energy, taking Gaara's shots and walking right through them. He exploded with raw chakra, and Temari had never seen anything like that before. Chakra visible to the naked eye, so much that it seemed strange to the boy himself. As he began getting a handle on the situation he collapsed, screaming and holding his head all the while.

As he lay on the tree branch a strange mark appeared on his head, forcing lines to branch out over his entire body, covering him from head to toe. Temari shook in place on her branch, "They're all freaks… Every last one."

The lines suddenly turned red as a massive pressure filled the immediate area, it didn't feel evil, malicious, angry, or anything. It just felt like Naruto… just magnified 100 times. The lines faded away from the downed blonde.

All attention turned to him as he groaned and stirred on his belly. He quickly snapped to his feet and looked around his own body, flexing his fists and shaking out his legs. The only noticeable change in his base appearance was the scar going down his eye, a battle-scar that wasn't existent a moment ago. He had an angry sneer on his face before he shook his head pitifully, "Kami, I suck… I'm as weak as a kitten like this. What happened to me? I'm confused..."

Sasuke looked up at Naruto. It was the same kid that had been there a second ago, and yet it wasn't. He looked like Naruto, but he didn't move like Naruto, he moved like he was coiled and waiting to strike, as if he expected an attack coming from anywhere. His eyes were the same bright blue like Naruto, but now they had more in them than just the infinite brightness they usually held. It was still there, but there was more that Sasuke couldn't quite see.

He was as calm as they came. You wouldn't even know that he was preparing to get into a fight from looking at him, and he looked out at Gaara without fear, anger, interest or anything, and he accentuated this by sighing and speaking his next words, "Alright Gaara… I don't know what the hell is going on with me right now. I have an idea, but I need some damn answers, but to do that I need to go back to Konoha. I need to go back and end this invasion and you're in my way, so… it's time to get you out of the way."

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**I think I'll like writing this story. It's not taking over as a main project like Fullmetal Shinobi or Naruto:S.O.F., but I'll put out a few chapters of good length and see if I get a response. If people like it then I'll keep it up with the same pace as my other stories, either way I'll end up updating it quicker than a lot of other authors so yeah.**

**Next chapter should be out later today actually. I just need to rest after I got off of work.**

**Kenchi out.**


	2. Naruto's REAL Ninja Handbook

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I can deny that in my heart. However my heart isn't connected to my wallet… if it was then I would some bloody money, a shit-load of money, but it would be bloody regardless. Oh who cares… Bloody money is still viable currency in most countries.

**Chapter 1: Naruto's REAL Ninja Handbook**

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Naruto's head was splitting. The rush of memories returning to him in that instance gave him the mother of all migraines, and the dueling memories of his time in Ne and the memories that he assured himself were implanted somehow weren't helping at all either.

After hearing the confidence in Naruto's voice ring out in the forest Sasuke spoke up, "Naruto… What happened to you? What's going on?"

Naruto looked down at Sasuke with one eye and back up at Gaara, "You know, I'm not entirely sure myself. Right now, I feel like crap, but compared to the way I've been feeling for the last four years I feel amazing. It's hard to explain."

He grunted, "It's not important right now. I have to beat his ass, hustle back to Konoha and find someone, like Danzo or something, that can explain all of this to me. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to attack him, and you… aren't. Now commencing Operation: Beat Gaara's Ass!"

Sasuke had a myriad of questions running through his head at this point, 'What happened to the dobe? Who is Danzo? What the hell does he mean I'm not fighting!'

Gaara heard his voice speaking to Sasuke the entire time and cackled to Naruto across the trees, "You aren't strong enough Uzumaki! Leave them behind and run! Nothing has changed, you still don't fight for yourself!"

Gaara flung more sand shuriken at Naruto who scoffed and grabbed Sasuke by the back of his collar and ducked and weaved out of the way of the projectiles. After he had gotten through them all he dropped Sasuke back on the branch and scoffed, "Pathetic… I'm slow as dirt… Did my muscles atrophy or something? I became a ninja anyway which means I should be conditioned like a genin… I should have kept my speed at least."

Gaara looked at Naruto looking himself over after dodging with Sasuke. This angered him, it was like Naruto was ignoring his existence, just like everybody else, "Just like everybody else… Don't ignore me!"

Gaara had mouths appearing all over his body as he took a deep breath and released it ahead, "Fuuton: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa (Wind Release: Sandstorm Devastation)!" Gaara released a massive blast of air in a sandstorm in Naruto and Sasuke's direction, tearing off branches and cutting into the bark of trees.

As the wind died down Gaara couldn't see Naruto or Sasuke, no sign of either.

"It's a shame."

Gaara turned around to see Naruto standing behind him right before Naruto's fist lifted him off of the branch and sent him crashing to a lower level. Naruto crouched on the branch and watched Gaara try to stand, "You had a defense that only the fastest could bypass and only the strongest could breach, and what do you do? You cast it away for raw power when things get a little tough. Raw power can only overwhelm skill and finesse in extreme qualities."

Naruto pointed at Sasuke who was over by Sakura, Pakkun, and Gamakichi, "You beat him in this form because he was already burned out when you transformed. He used Chidori twice here, once during your fight in the stadium, and I'm sure he tested it one time when he and Kakashi were late. If he had more shots then you wouldn't have won."

He smirked down at Gaara, "I don't know what happened to me all of those years ago, but I'm not the kid that just had Kage Bunshin flying all over the place anymore. I could beat you like that, but that wouldn't be very fun, after all of this time, I can finally fight like I used to, if only a little bit. I'm still not fast enough to avoid taking hits, but I can almost assure you that however hard you hit me…" A feral grin came onto Naruto's face, "I'll hit you twice as hard. So let's see who can still stand up when this is all over."

Naruto's hand moved unconsciously to his back before he pulled it down, clicking his teeth, 'Damn that's right. I don't have a sword. Seriously, what happened to me? These phantom urges to fight like I was trained to are going to get me killed if I don't get it together.'

Gaara stood with a growl, "You aren't stronger than me! You fight for the Uchiha… You fight for the pink-haired girl… Fighting for others makes you weak!"

Naruto scoffed, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. There are detailed stories of mere mortal men, overcoming demons, for others. The Yondaime Hokage overcame the Kyuubi no Yoko for his village. Orochimaru fights for himself, you fight for yourself, and that's why you will both lose here today, because you don't have a true purpose to fight."

Naruto cracked his knuckles, "But let me show you, just how wrong you are. Don't blink." One flash tag later and Naruto's presence was gone from the area.

Everyone looked around for any sign of the blonde boy who had changed from the orange loudmouth they had taken him for based on past experience. Chuckling rang out through the forest, but not from any particular area, as Naruto was projecting his voice.

"That little sandstorm from earlier wasn't a Fuuton jutsu. This is a Fuuton jutsu! Fuuton: Reppuushoo (Wind Release: Gale Palm)!" A fierce gale came from the trees above, sending wind and weapons at Gaara from above. Gaara lifted his arms to block vital spots and allowed the kunai and shuriken to bury themselves into them.

Gaara lowered his hands and shouted out loudly, "Is that the best you have Uzumaki? Come out and fight me! Give me a real fight! Let me feel alive!"

Naruto's voice rang out again in mocking laughter, "If you wanted to feel 'alive' then you shouldn't have caught those weapons. Even with all of that power, you're still just a baby genin huh? Just listen… and tell me what you hear…"

Everyone silenced themselves in order to listen for Naruto's warning. Temari's eyes widened, too late to help, a hissing noise coming from Gaara was being muffled by the sandy appendage he had caught the mishmash of ninja tools in.

"Gaara no!"

Temari's shout of warning did no good. It was too late for him to cast them out as a massive explosion took place in the trees, and the fireball that used to be Gaara fell to the forest floor. The others could only look on in amazement as the goofy boy in orange was systematically decimating the strongest person out of them all.

Naruto's voice rang out again, "Damn it I should have just killed you." Gaara was like a puddle of melting sand on the ground as Naruto spoke, "I guess my fake self has more influence over me than I thought. I should be down there killing you right now. But for old times' sake I guess I'll hit you with an attack inspired by him."

Suddenly several Naruto's rushed out of the foliage and kicked Gaara into the air, one after another. U!

Zu!

Ma!

Ki!

As Gaara was stuck hanging in the air a wave of orange revealed itself from the leaves above. Countless Kage Bunshin from Naruto descended with their fists and feet cocked to strike, "Naruto Nisei Rendan (Naruto Uzumaki 2K Barrage)!"

Naruto's Bunshin dropped an obscene amount of physical offense on Gaara's prone form, driving him back into the ground hard. Naruto and his clones littered the trees looking down at Gaara. Naruto sighed yet again, "If I was at full strength he'd be a puddle in a crater right now… Someone's going to answer for this…"

Gaara looked up at the masses of Naruto Bunshin looking down on him. Each of them had the same uninterested look on their faces, as if they were trying to ignore him. Cold blue eyes magnified by one-thousand staring down on him.

'There's no way…' Gaara allowed the final shred of sanity and reasoning inside of him snap, "There's no way I'm going to lose to a guy like that!"

The original Naruto's eyes widened as Gaara's chakra spiked, "Oh crap. He can transform again!"

Naruto was blown back hard as Gaara was completely immersed in sand, swelling to the sky. Naruto's Kage Bunshin were dispelled as Gaara's towering sand smashed them asunder. Gaara ended up sticking out of the head of Shukaku looking down on Naruto, who was covered in sand, "It's too late Uzumaki! Time to die!"

"Ugh, like I said, power cleanly outclasses skill only in overwhelming quantities…" Naruto sat, entirely incased in Gaara's Sabaku Kyu, "Well this is great… I'm too weak to break it. Now what?" Naruto smirked as he remembered that he didn't stop learning things when he lost his memory, "Ero-sennin, you might have been useful after all…"

Naruto bit his thumb and made a few handsigns.

Gaara put out his right hand, "Sabaku Sos-."

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

In a massive burst of smoke Naruto found himself seated atop the head of Gamabunta smirking out at Gaara, "You didn't think it would be that easy did you?" Naruto looked down at Gamabunta, "Hey there Boss Toad. You want to help me out and take this jerk down with me? He's a little too big for me to handle alone at this time."

Gamabunta directed his gaze up at Naruto, **'Something feels different about this gaki… Like he isn't as frantic and spastic as he was the last time I saw him.'** Gamabunta huffed out smoke from his pipe, **"Ichibi no Shukaku… No can do kid. Why would I want to go out of my way to fight a guy like that?"**

Naruto dead-panned the giant toad a look, "I thought summons were supposed to help their summoners fight in situations like this." Naruto pointed out at Gaara/Shukaku, "Look at that thing. If you don't help me then I'll end up a bloody smear on the bottom of its foot for sure."

Gamabunta laughed, **"Tough. We haven't even had a drink yet. I can't accept you as my summoner until we share a drink together**"

Naruto glared down at him, "You'd better be the one supplying then. Because my genin-ass can't afford enough liquor to get you even slightly buzzed."

Gamakichi then appeared and landed on Naruto's head, **"Aww help him out pops. I like this kid."**

Gamabunta looked at the smaller toad in surprise, **"Gamakichi? What on Earth are you doing here?"**

Gamakichi looked at his father sheepishly, **"I just wanted to come out and see the outside world you know."** He pointed over at Gaara/Shukaku, **"And then that guy tried to bully me! Our boy here kept me alive and started kicking that guy's butt, but then he cheated and got all big, and now here we are."**

Gamabunta glared out at the sand spirit, **"Alright then gaki. You helped out my son, I appreciate that. You're alright with me. You have my support in this fight, but we're still having that drink later, you hear?"**

Naruto stood up and nodded, his face hardening as he looked out at Gaara, "Gamakichi, you're going to want to get off of my head for this next part." Gamakichi got off of Naruto's head as Gamabunta drew his tanto and held it at the ready, "Whenever you're ready Boss Toad… Give him hell."

Gamabunta launched forward and dug his sword into Shukaku's arm. With one mighty heave he lopped it off, dropping it uselessly onto the ground before he jumped back to his distance and stared at his opponent. Gamabunta huffed in exhaustion, **"That almost took everything I had, and all I took was his arm."**

Naruto smirked down at Gamabunta, "Wow, and I thought I was out of shape. I've been out of full commission for four years, what's your excuse?"

Gamabunta eyed the boy, **"Watch it brat or I'll squash you…"**

The smile disappeared from Naruto's face as he looked back out at their mutual foe, "Kill me later, we still have a problem."

Gaara looked at Naruto excitedly, "Interesting… Interesting Naruto Uzumaki! I like this, this is a fantastic battle!" Gaara brought his hands into the ram seal, "Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu (Feigning Sleep Technique)!"

Shukaku's star-shaped pupils spun wildly and he yelled to the sky, **"I'm free!"**

Naruto kept an impassive face, "He just made this a lot more difficult didn't he?" Gamabunta nodded with the boy on his head, "And why wouldn't he? Alright let's try something here…"

Shukaku inhaled deeply, **"****Fuuton: Renkuudan (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet)!****"** He launched a massive air ball at Gamabunta who prepared his own attack, **"****Suiton: Teppodama (Water Release: Liquid Bullet)!****"**

Naruto flew through his own hand-signs, "Let's give you a boost Boss Toad, Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!"

Naruto let out a massive crushing wind that sped up Gamabunta's water bullet, forcing it to obliterate Shukaku's attack on contact. It continued on to collide with the demon itself, knocking it off balance and sending it to the ground.

XxX

Sasuke was watching the fight with envy. Naruto had seemingly hit some mental switch in his head and now Gaara couldn't even touch him, "What kind of power is this? This Naruto is completely different from the one I've been working with for so long…"

Temari was completely overwhelemed. She had left to find Kankuro after Gaara had fully transformed and returned, thinking that Gaara had killed Naruto and moved along towards Konoha, she wanted to bypass him entirely and avoid his killing spree. When she returned she was shocked to see that Naruto was not only still fighting, not only forcing Gaara into a full-possesion, he was winning.

She and Kankuro had to check to make sure they weren't dreaming, "This boy. He isn't normal. How can he keep pace with Gaara."

XxX

Naruto looked down at Gamabunta, "So how do we end this?"

Gamabunta was impressed by Naruto boosting his attack. He knew it would have been a stalemate otherwise, **'This really isn't the same kid from last week…'** Gamabunta remembered that Naruto had asked him a question, **"We need to wake up the host. The boy on his head, you need to wake him up."**

Naruto frowned and grunted, "Killing him would be easier… Way easier, we can just pepper him with big attacks until Gaara's a big red blotch on his forehead. He's totally exposed."

Gamabunta chuckled,** "That's ruthless gaki. It's an idea that would give us more problems than answers though I'm afraid. Killing the medium in the midst of a full-possession could end up with the demon being freed. It already has a form to go with its soul so it wouldn't need the host in that instance."**

The blonde nodded, "Okay, so wake him up it is then." He furrowed his brow in thought, "But all of my attacks that I could launch from here can kill him, I need you to get in close so that I can wake him."

Gamabunta looked at his hands, **"These webbed hands of mine aren't much for grabbing a hold of things. How do you suggest I get him?"**

Naruto scoffed, "I said get close, I didn't say grab him. I can reach him myself don't you worry." Gamabunta prepared to charge, as Shukaku reached an upright position once more. Naruto closed his eyes to get in touch with his inner demon.

XxX

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto appeared in the sewer of his mindscape in front of the Kyuubi's prison. Naruto looked around and shook his head, "Kami, this place is a dump. I didn't leave this place looking like this…"

Demonic laughter rang out from behind the bars in front of him, **No you didn't ningen. Whoever placed the seal on you messed with your mental functioning and reverted your mind into a dump, as you can plainly see."**

Naruto nodded, "So will it get better? Because this is seriously depressing… Wait seal? There was a seal on me?"

"**Yes kit, if your mind goes back to the way it was before four years ago then your mindscape will return to its former state."** The Kyuubi turned serious at this point, **"There was a seal placed on you after your disastrous mission to Otogakure. I can't tell you who did it because I was unconscious from using so much chakra to heal your wounds and keep you going until you reached the border. I woke up here… again. Needless to say I wasn't too happy."**

Naruto laughed slightly, "So that's why you were so pissed off when I showed up here last time. You tried to freaking eat me you know. Why didn't you say anything?"

Kyuubi huffed and sat down on its haunches, letting its snout touch the floor, **"First of all, would your other self who had been taught to mistrust me, believe me in the first place? If I had tried to tell you about it I would have been harmed by the seal, as would you. It was a memory seal. Whoever placed it on you placed many others on with you that coincided with one another. You forcibly broke one, the chakra restrictor, and allowed me to force a chain reaction with the rest of your mental seals to free your mind."**

Naruto smiled at the massive kitsune, "Well I guess I owe you one soon then. But right now could you give me a shot of your chakra for old times sake? I need to smack down your comrade Shukaku without killing his host."

The ground in Naruto's mind rumbled as the Kyuubi jumped to its feet, tails waving behind it excitedly, **"Really? You need my help again after so long? All right then kit. Why not? I just wish I could experience the fight through your eyes and other senses like I used to."**

Naruto smirked as the red chakra engulfed his body, "Well after we survive this I'll set up my mind the way it used to be so you can. It's the least I can do… I missed being so bad-ass."

Naruto slowly faded from his mindscape as the Kyuubi lay back down on the ground, "**I did too kit, I did too…"**

XxX

Naruto's eyes shot open as his body filled with the Kyuubi's chakra. Almost simultaneously Gamabunta charged at Shukaku. As the two massive creature got closer they both shot off their projectile attacks again.

Naruto judged the distance just as the smoke from the collision of attacks rose, 'This is close enough I guess.' Naruto crouched deeply and propelled himself high over Gamabunta's head, leaping over the explosion and posturing himself above Shukaku's head.

Naruto hovered overhead for a second before forcing wind chakra out through his hands, accelerating his descent, "This is going to be amazing!" Naruto fell at high speed aiming for Gaara, who was stuck sleeping on Shukaku's head, "Wake up you pasty bastard!"

Naruto delivered a double-stomp right to the top of Gaara's head, driving him completely through the Shukaku figure forcing it to collapse on itself as they crashed to the ground amid a deafening roar as the sand crashed around the trees.

Gamabunta stood slack-jawed at Naruto's vicious/reckless attack on Shukaku, the kid jumped from the relative safety of his head, thirty feet higher than he already was, towards a crazed homicidal demon. The more amazing thing was that it actually worked. He hit Gaara with the force of his body weight focused into his feet from thirty feet above his head, making the impact more intense by using wind chakra to send him down faster. After the attack he softened his landing considerably after he destroyed the Shukaku as he landed in sand that had been 'tenderized' by his previous attack.

Gamabunta was broken from his musing by his son, **"I like that kid pops. He's insane. Can I hang out with him more often?"**

Gamabunta chuckled, **"If he allows it Gamakichi. Jiraiya sure picked an interesting one this time… I'll be watching you Naruto Uzumaki."**

Naruto stood up and shook the sand off of his body, dragging Gaara out with him and dropping him on the ground, watching him look up at him in fear, "Stay away from me! I don't want to die!"

Naruto slapped Gaara across the back of his head, "Act like a shinobi damn it. We deal in death for a living. Besides I'm not going to kill you. You're a weapon like me." He dropped Gaara onto the grass and walked away slightly, "You're a weapon that I broke already. And while you can be repaired… Most of the time a repaired weapon is easier to break a second time around."

He turned back to look at Gaara, his cold blue eyes turned back to their formerly bright nature, "I'll beat you down every time you try to harm me or anyone in my village. Because only when you fight to protect and defend others can you be powerful and find the strength to push beyond your limits."

Naruto looked up to the trees, "Sasuke!" The Uchiha in question landed by his side, "Is Sakura-chan safe? Was I fast enough?"

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah Naruto, you saved her."

Naruto looked back at Gaara just as his siblings landed and prepared for a fight. Naruto shook his head at the two Suna ninja, "I just beat the guy that terrorized you since he was six and I still have enough chakra that I'm gonna sprint back to Konoha and finish up the battle there. You both already got your asses kicked by this guy and Shino and he looks like he's ready to go another round. Do really think you can beat us if you were stupid enough to attack us?"

Kankuro and Temari bristled at Naruto's nonchalant threat as he shrugged, "Fine, be that way. We'll just knock you out and drag you to the village, and by 'we' I mean them." Naruto pointed behind them as two Kage Bunshin bashed them in the back of their heads with the blunt end of their kunai.

Naruto looked back at Sasuke, "Alright teme, go get Sakura-chan and Pakkun and we'll get out of here. We still have a battle to fight." Sasuke went to gather up Sakura as Naruto took to tying up the Suna ninja and hoisting them up on his and his Bunshin's shoulders.

As they set off through the trees Naruto mentally berated himself, 'How could I let myself be caught? Damn it! If I had never been sealed then I would have been able to warn Danzo that Orochimaru was planning an invasion and amassing forces. I hope things aren't as bad as they seemed at the stadium.'

XxX

(Konohagakure – Around the center of town)

Jiraiya stood atop the head of his massive toad summon as he watched Konoha forces engaging the Suna and Oto forces. Despite the fact that they had driven the enemy out of heart of the city the enemy had been putting up a dogged fight.

Suddenly Ibiki landed atop the toad's head, "Jiraiya-sama!"

Jiraiya put up his telescope and turned to face him, "Ibiki, report."

"Jiraiya-sama, our forces were caught in several ambushes as they chased the enemy forces out of the village. They ended up getting caught in a crossfire by some of Otogakure's ninja they had held back."

Jiraiya groaned. They would win, but such an unnecessary loss of life was unsettling. Just as he was about to try and switch the topic he saw Ibiki smile, "But when they were closing in on our forces they ended up getting sacked by a lone ninja of Konoha, wearing bright orange if they saw correctly, he was moving too fast for some of them to catch."

Jiraiya's eyes widened, "There's only one kid I know that is color-blind enough to run around this place in orange…"

Ibiki nodded, "At the same time a Kage Bunshin of Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha arrived at the hospital with their female teammate. And on the other side of town he delivered the children of the Kazekage to a makeshift P.O.W. site, in good condition too."

Ibiki scratched under his bandanna, "I saw how good the kid could be during his fight with the Hyuuga, but I never would have guessed that he was good enough to take down a squad like that."

"Ibiki, you shouldn't talk about me like I'm not there."

They both whipped around to see Naruto tapping his foot impatiently, "Although I guess you didn't know I was here… Geez if I was an assassin you'd both be dead."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto oddly, he couldn't sense his usual restless aura, and he had snuck up on him, "Gaki what happened to your jacket? And what's with that scar on your face?"

Naruto had ditched his orange jumpsuit jacket and left himself in his black t-shirt, "I tossed that bulky piece of crap so I could move faster to get here without much trouble. And I got this scar years ago. Someone put a bunch of seals on me that did a lot of stuff to me. Hiding that scar must have been one."

Naruto saw Jiraiya flinch when he spoke about the seals, "We can talk about that later… We _will_ talk about that later… dattebayo…"

Ibiki gasped as he looked out over the buildings and saw Orochimaru being whisked away by the Sound Four. Naruto growled and crouched down like a track-runner, preparing to take off in hot pursuit until Jiraiya grabbed his collar, "You're not fresh kid. You can't take Orochimaru and his entire force of bodyguards alone."

Naruto looked at him blankly, "I'm not alone. You should be as strong as he is right? And Ibiki can help me beat his entourage and help you. If he's running away then that means he knows he lost today and he might be hurt. We can turn his retreat into a rout and finish this here."

Jiraiya was about to respond just as a cloaked Anbu landed on the toad, bowing to Jiraiya, "Jiraiya-sama, it's about Sandaime-sama."

Jiraiya grinned widely, "So Sarutobi-sensei sent the old snake back to his hole did he?"

The Anbu flinched under his mask, "Hokage-sama was killed in combat against Orochimaru."

The three other ninja stood in stunned silence atop the toad as the sounds of battle still rang out into the air. Naruto looked to Jiraiya who looked down at him, "That's enough death for one day kid. It's time to regroup… and mourn."

Naruto said nothing and followed Jiraiya back to the chunin exam stadium. He could get his answers later, he had nothing but time. Now belonged to the entire village as a whole.

* * *

**Chapter two of this new story o' mine up. Next chapter will be way longer. I just had to set up the timeline of when things change in this line. Tell me what you think, I'll address a lot of things next chapter and set up more of Naruto's character in case I confused anybody here.**

**I'm excited about writing this thing. I really think I can throw some interesting stuff onto this story. Like I said, I'll probably address anything confusing next chapter, but feel free to ask anyway or just comment, I've got no problems with that.**

**Till… Tomorrow probably, Kenchi out.**

**P.S. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the best game I've played in the last 10 years. I'm just saying, I got it 2 years ago when it first came out and beat it today again for the umpteen-millionth time and it still kicks ass. The fight between Snake and Liquid Ocelot on the top of the ship, fucking epic. That entire series rules, I can still play them all through and have a blast, that my friends, is the Hallmark of a good game series.**


	3. The Root of the Issue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. And I will thank all of you not to bring this up to me on a regular basis… I'm sensitive about that kind of thing thank you. *sniff*

**Chapter 2: The Root of the Issue**

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Naruto was far more ornery than usual as he partook in the usual D-rank missions that genin teams like Team 7 got. While part of him knew that this was truly necessary at this point in time, seeing as how the village was getting over the damage incurred during the invasion of Oto and Suna, the part of him that was locked away at the age of eight that was used to missions that could end with him being killed and the brash childish part of him that resurfaced after his memory had been sealed and longed for missions with potential for action like that.

With the knowledge of his sealing Naruto was able to sort out what memories were fake and which were his own. It helped that the genjutsu seal that was placed on him to change his appearance was broken, revealing the numerous battle-scars that littered his body from his time in Ne. It really helped having a visible association to certain memories; his first night in his apartment after the invasion was for the most part spent in front of a mirror repeating the line, 'Oh I remember getting that one!' over and over throughout the evening.

Over the course of the next two weeks he had to adjust to just being a normal genin with a true elite's mindset, Tora was lucky that she hadn't tried to run away since the invasion or Naruto might have killed her retrieving her… accidentally of course.

His rapport with his team, whatever he might have had, shifted tumultuously after the chunin exams. Naruto's thoughts on Sakura had changed to a clearer line of thought. The girl thought he was useless for the most part, and while compared to how he was supposed to be she was right, it stood to reason that even grossly handicapped as he had been he had still been vastly superior to her when it came to the ninja arts.

While he may have been a goofy annoyance while he had been a genin he had still been nothing but pleasant to the girl and had given his all at every corner. Her habit of fawning over the Uchiha and downplaying anything Naruto accomplished grated on his nerves at this point. Naruto ruthlessly crushed his mental facilities that she was a good person, and that he had romantic interest in her because when it came to him she was a bitch. She was his teammate, that didn't really mean they had to be close, he just had to tolerate her and work with her to accomplish his mission. He didn't see anything pleasant about trying to associate with her outside of missions.

Sasuke had taken to the habit of staring at him and trying to verbally provoke him when he offered any input into their missions. Sasuke had been feeling inadequate after seeing how Naruto not only saved him from Gaara, he had dispatched Gaara handily without too much effort, captured the Kazekage's children swiftly thereafter, and headed back to Konoha and routed an Oto ambush against a Konoha squadron.

This lead to now. He had been trying to goad Naruto into a fight so that he could really test his own capacities against the blonde, but not only was there no time for sparring as they didn't have team training while rebuilding the village, Naruto left so quickly after the day's work was done that Sasuke couldn't follow him, and he was never able to trail the boy for too long before losing him.

Kakashi had noticed quite a few changes in his blonde student since he had let him go during the invasion. While the scar over his eye was the most glaring one, his attitude was another. He didn't try to keep his team's spirits up with indomitable brightness. He still cracked jokes, and his overall timing was vastly superior now Kakashi had to admit, but they were bright flashes in an otherwise dreary day of rooting through Konoha's rubble.

Naruto no longer took to calling him Kakashi-sensei. When he reprimanded Naruto on this habit he had seemingly picked up Naruto responded by saying that he hadn't taught Naruto anything other than tree-climbing, and he technically learned how to do that years ago, he just 'forgot'. Kakashi noted the bitter tone in Naruto's voice when he said 'forgot' but didn't press too much. He figured that Naruto was still bitter from being cast aside during the chunin exams.

The differences in Naruto's gait, actions on missions, and how he now treated his teammates showed him that there was a vast change in Naruto that he couldn't pinpoint exactly.

He watched Naruto drop another stack of wood by the building that his team was working on at the moment, and walk off again to grab more. There was something he was missing about this.

XxX

Team 7 had been dismissed for the day and Naruto had taken to wandering around Konoha. He had taken to treating the villagers with the same apathy and looks of annoyance that they gave him. He didn't care about them, he was in a bad enough mood as it was.

He had been unable to find Danzo since the invasion ended. In his haste to track his trainer down and report back to him, as he technically never failed or completed his mission, he had found that the older base for Ne had been abandoned. Cursing the old cripple out in his head he realized just how difficult it truly was to find Danzo when he didn't already know where he would be, 'You'd think there would only be so many places that you could hide a group like Ne in this village.'

Naruto understood things from both sides of the fence. He understood how Sarutobi disliked a secret branch of the military that he didn't directly control running rampant under his nose. It wasn't good for a supposed military dictatorship, as Konoha was supposed to be, to have something like that among them. It was unnerving to say the very least. But Naruto knew that if he truly knew that honestly, Danzo only had around twenty/twenty-five well-trained ninja, including himself. Compared to Konoha's forces it was simply a drop in the bucket. And while Konoha's true forces had a never ending supply of recruits and potential, only certain types ever had a chance in Ne, and they weren't readily replaceable.

Ne took Konoha's dirty missions. The jobs that somebody _had_ to do, the kind of stuff that stepped on people's toes on the large scale of things but if they never took place then it would expose Konoha's back to the lions. The killings that Konoha couldn't be caught having any hand in, the alliances that could substantially benefit Konoha but that had less than moral bases. There was a reason that the seemingly most powerful village in the nations didn't have too many problems regularly compared to the others.

Sarutobi directly chose not to accept certain missions for the sake that they could be seen as an aggressive move on Konoha's part, Danzo took these missions for Ne. Ne had to be better than the majority of other ninja simply for the sheer difficulty that their missions entailed. There were no D-rank missions, hell there weren't even any C-ranked missions. Everything you did in Ne was B-rank and up. If you weren't ready then you trained and drilled until you were, no other way about it. If you couldn't cut it after all of the things you were put through until that point then you died, namelessly, facelessly, and miles away from home.

He needed to find Danzo. He knew that the second he actually put on Konoha's hitae-ate he was basically no longer Ne's shinobi, but he still had the mindset of completing his mission. He also wanted to find out exactly what the hell happened to him. If anyone knew, Danzo did.

His thoughts then drifted to the mission he had been tasked with as he clinched his fists, his emotional nature spilling out. If only he had gotten back sooner, if only he hadn't stuck around for so long, if only somebody didn't get a wild hair in their ass and sabotage Otogakure's information department with explosives! If only all of those things hadn't happened then he would have been able to return and send word on Oto's plans.

He had found everything. He found that it was being run by Orochimaru. He found that they had a then-rookie Konoha genin, Kabuto Yakushi, as his lead spy. He found that Orochimaru had finished his immortality jutsu, he'd even had the misfortune of seeing it being performed, he couldn't eat for the rest of the week afterwards. He even knew Orochimaru's main ambition for coming, and when he saw the markings on Sasuke during the fight with Gaara he mentally kicked a pothole into his ass.

Naruto's eyes panned around the village as he walked, all of the people taking part in the restoration of their homes. If he had broken the seal on himself even a day sooner, how much loss of life could have been diverted? How many lives need not have been lost? Could the Sandaime have been able to take the proper precautions to acutely prepare for Orochimaru accordingly?

He looked up at the Hokage Monument as his thoughts drifted to the third face from the left. He had gotten much closer to the old man after he had been sealed. His mind had almost reverted back to its four year-old state and he reached out to the only person he really knew. Even trying to bury his emotions, he still felt a faint sting at his eyes that he had to push back.

He had to put his thoughts on the back-burner for now, as he saw Jiraiya leaning against a fence looking at him. Naruto strode up to his side and spoke cooly, "So what do you need from a lowly little genin like me ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya pushed himself off of the wall, "I want you to come with me to find someone."

Naruto raised his eyebrow, "Aren't you the Hokage now?"

Jiraiya let out a short laugh, "Those old goats wanted me to take up the spot, but I have too much on my plate to just do so like that."

Naruto headed past him towards his apartment, "Then I'm not going. I'm not some escort or bodyguard, I'm a shinobi. If this isn't an order form my higher-ups then I'm not volunteering for this. I can spend my time better by helping to rebuild, getting back to my old level of skill, and finding out who put those goddamn seals on me."

Jiraiya caught up with him quickly and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Well the other genin can help rebuild. And I was going to teach you a jutsu that makes Chidori look like child's play. And those seals, I might know something about that."

Naruto looked at him, "Okay, you've got me on the rebuilding. And did you hear what I said? I need to get back to my old skill level, I don't need a jutsu, I have enough of those I just can't use them right now. I need to get back to my old speed and strength first and foremost. I felt weak like an infant and moved like a snail during the invasion." Naruto's eyes shone as he absorbed the last of what Jiraiya said, "And you're damn right you know something about my seals. You're telling me whether I choose to go or not. You're just lucky that it would probably be easier to just go with you, that and I'm bored around here."

Jiraiya grinned at him, "Well let's go and get you packed. We'll leave immediately."

Naruto pulled out four scrolls, "I already have everything here. I always keep supplies for a long mission on me at all times, you never know when you'll get called away." He placed them back into the pockets of his jacket, "This big, bright piece of crap is good for something I suppose."

Jiraiya laughed loudly, "If you hate it then why wear it?"

Naruto's eye twitched, "When I went home after the battle to look for clothes this was the closest thing to shinobi gear I had in my closet… What the hell did they do to me? I wouldn't be caught dead in this. How did I live for as long as I did wearing this eyesore?"

Jiraiya laughed again, getting his chuckles out of seeing the boy tear himself down. Jiraiya reached into his pocket and placed some bills in Naruto's hand, "I'll tell you what gaki. I'll give you two hours to go and get yourself outfitted. Meet me at the main gate then and we'll take off."

Naruto let a smile cross his face as he turned to head back towards the market district. He waved back at Jiraiya and pocketed the cash.

XxX

Naruto wandered through the market district looking around. While the Naruto that had become a genin would simply enter a shop and hope he didn't get ripped off, this Naruto was sick of being broke all of the time and was running through his head all of the shinobi shops that had done it to him, 'That place did it, that place did it, that place won't even let me in TO do it…'

Naruto had gotten his tools from old scavenging habits. It amazed him how many tools were wasted by ninja just during training even back when he was little. He cultivated his pack rat habit back when he was first being trained by Danzo, storing all of the useable things he could find for himself as a sort of surplus and handing the broken and un-useable stuff to Ne's armory to be melted down and remade. Apparently he continued that little habit when he had been sealed as well, because he still had tons of weapons sitting inside one of his closets in the apartment.

Naruto stopped at a rather plain looking shop, and having no memory of ever being in there, he opted to give it a shot.

XxX

Tenten yawned as she sat at the counter of the weapons shop her family owned. She wasn't having a good overall month. She had gotten destroyed in the preliminary rounds of the chunin exam by that Suna kunoichi Temari and was forced out of contention. She had decided to help her teammate Neji train for the final exam for the month in between tests and had even gone to the competition to watch him mop up the competition.

Things don't always work out like that huh?

She then had to watch him be utterly beaten by the unassuming blonde kid that was on the same team as the Uchiha, the dead-last of the class under hers. He cut down his Jyuuken and not only got up from Neji's best techniques and shrugged them off, he re-opened his tenketsu after they had been sealed off. He even had enough strength afterwards to run around the stadium in celebration after he won.

Then she ended up being put under a genjutsu that engulfed the stadium and missed the invasion of Oto and Suna. After the invasion was over she spent more time at her family's shop seeing as her sensei was spending a lot of time at the hospital with her green-clad teammate Rock Lee due to his grievous injuries, but it wasn't busy, seeing as how there weren't a lot of ninja that needed to stock up for missions, as they were helping with the reconstruction, so here she sat, bored.

Yep, not a good month overall one could say.

The bell to the store rang, signifying a potential customer, "Hello, welcome to-."

As Tenten's eyes drifted to the door she saw the very same blonde kid that had beaten her teammate looking around her shop, "Hey!"

Naruto turned to face her curiously. Realization spread over his face, "Oh, hi there. Tenten right?"

As she looked at his inquisitive face she noted the scar sitting over his right eye, huh, that's new. She pointed out at him accusingly, "You're the kid that beat Neji!"

The tone of her voice stated it like he had committed some kind of crime. Naruto tilted his eyebrow, "My name is Naruto, and don't look so shocked. Was I supposed to let him win or something?"

Tenten was taken aback by his calm answer. She was conditioned from seeing him throughout the exams to expect a loud, hot-headed response, "It's not that, it's just that you really weren't expected to win then."

Damn idiot persona… It just had to wreck his standing in the eyes of the many. Oh well, he liked to be surprising anyway. Naruto sighed, "And that is why you have to learn to expect the worst in most cases, because then you can only be pleasantly surprised." Naruto remembered Danzo or other elder Ne operatives saying that to him a lot back in the day, then they would usually hit him or something… Stupid emotional conditioning.

Tenten noticed the scar over his eye and found herself curious, "How did you get that scar? Did you get it during the invasion?"

Naruto waved off her question, "It's a long story that I'm not even sure of and that you wouldn't believe if I told you. Don't worry about it. Do you sell shinobi clothes here?"

She nodded and pointed over in the correct direction, Naruto thanked her and went on over. Tenten watched silently as he walked over to the clothing section of her store and rifled through the selection, apparently he was getting rid of that sense-offending jumpsuit on his back. He nodded as he pulled out a set of shirts and a few pairs of pants.

He went into a changing room and came out a moment later in a dark-blue muscle shirt and dark blue loose pants tied at the ankles with wraps. He set the extras on the counter and went back into the accessories section and grabbed some black bracers that wrapped around his forearm entirely. As he walked back to the counter he stopped as he came across the swords. He stared long and hard for a moment until he pulled down and ninjato and unsheathed it, looking it over and testing the balance before shrugging and walking back to the counter with a grin.

He set the sword down and looked up, "Do you have something to secure this on my back?" Tenten nodded and reached down behind the counter to grab a strap for him to use. "So how much is all of this?" He seemingly gave her a set, appraising look as she tallied it up.

Tenten looked over what he bought and looked at him, "That will all come to 68500 ryo." Tenten watched him switch moods apparently as he cringed jokingly and pull out his wallet and money he had in his pocket.

He brightened up after hearing the price of his new equipment. Naruto chuckled as he gave her the necessary funds, "This'll clean me out, but it's necessary." He strapped on the sword and placed the bracers on his forearms.

Tenten watched him finish outfitting himself and huffed, "Do you even know how to use that sword on your back?"

Naruto shifted the ninjato into a comfortable position on his back, "I'm an old hand at it. It's time for me to get back into practice with kenjutsu. I was no slouch I should say, I might be rusty if anything." Naruto quickly drew his sword for a few test slashes and shifted through a few regulation Anbu stances before re-sheathing it, "I think I'll be fine."

Tenten's eyes gleamed for a second, "You wouldn't happen to be interested in a spar would you?"

Naruto smiled, "Yeah, sure why not? I don't have anyone to practice with anyway. I have to leave right now thought. I might look you up when I get back."

Tenten smiled at him as he moved towards the door, "I think I'd like that Naruto."

Naruto stopped at the door and turned around, "I left the jumpsuit in the back. Feel free to burn it at your leisure, like on your break or something. I still have a closet full of them to get rid of. Bye Tenten."

Tenten waved goodbye as he left the store. She furrowed her brow in thought, "How can a guy change like that in two weeks?"

XxX

Jiraiya noticed a familiar mop of blonde hair heading towards the main gate. As he got closer he whistled at Naruto's appearance, "Looking dapper kid."

Naruto looked up at him and grinned, "It's easier to get girls if you don't blind them when they look at you."

Jiraiya patted him on the back as they began walking through the gate, "Well said gaki…"

As they walked on Naruto eventually sighed and looked up at Jiraiya through half-lidded eyes, "Alright, we're far enough from Konoha that if I don't like what you have to say I can kill you and no one can stop me. Tell me what you know about my seal."

Jiraiya tried to be funny, "Well the Shiki Fuujin is meant to hold back the Kyuubi-."

Naruto gripped his sword as he glared at him, "Don't be an ass about this, I'm serious. What. Happened. To me?"

Jiraiya sighed, "Okay, but if I tell you this then you have to wait until I'm through explaining before you try to gut me, deal?"

Naruto kept up his glare but nodded. Jiraiya began, "Alright, you know your little trip to Ta no Kuni? I'm the one that found you. I was there too investigating rumors on Otogakure. When I left I decided to torch their files; stuff on Orochimaru's bloodline research, jutsu development, things like that."

Naruto's eyes widened. He unsheathed his sword and took a swing at Jiraiya in anger, forcing the man to jump back, "Hey brat! I said wait until I was done!"

Naruto pointed at him angrily, "You dumb old bastard! You were the one that turned the heat onto me! Don't you know the first thing about infiltration? Never let the enemy know you were there!"

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Hey in my defense I didn't know you were there."

Naruto growled menacingly, "That was the whole point…"

Jiraiya got back on track as Naruto sheathed his sword, "Anyway, when I got you back me and Sarutobi-sensei found that you were a part of a group of ninja lead by a man high up in Konoha's politics."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, Ne, led by Danzo."

Jiraiya pulled a double-take to look at Naruto, "You're admitting it exists! Wait… You're talking about it!"

Naruto sighed, "Yes ero-sennin. I swear, I kept telling Danzo it was the second-worst kept secret, almost as bad as me being the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. The fact that Sarutobi-jiji AND you both knew about it proved that. And Danzo never put any seals on me, I was too much of a high-profile figure to make into a mindless drone, I mean at first he tried, but he quit after a while."

Jiraiya looked at him oddly, "Wait, so you always had your sense of self? You weren't a mindless drone? He just trained you?"

Naruto looked up at the man, "Yeah. And anyway I couldn't tell you anything currently relevant about Ne even if I wanted to anyway, seeing as how I haven't been there in four years. The old cripple probably cut his losses and let me go. It's all he could have done. Trying to get me back and break the seal might have been too risky."

Jiraiya looked down, 'We never had to seal him… He's right. As long as we kept a tight watch on him he couldn't have gone back to Danzo.'

Jiraiya gulped, "So about the sealing… Listen Naruto when me and Sarutobi-sensei sealed you we thought you-."

Naruto's blue eyes snapped up at Jiraiya's face, "'You and Sarutobi-sensei?' You and the old man were the ones that sealed me?" Naruto didn't wait for a response, "You asshole! You could have waited for me to wake up and explain what was going on to both of you! Instead you left me with the mindset of a four-year old? I was mentally behind everybody else by four years!"

Jiraiya already knew that they had messed up back when they first sealed him, but it still sucked to have it thrown back at him, "We didn't know what you would do when you woke up! We didn't know how you would react! We were just running damage control as quickly as we could!"

Naruto shook his head angrily, "There was no damage control to run! All this time! I'm a shadow of my former self! My chakra control is shit! I have a fraction of the speed I used to have! Why? I still trained hard even after I was sealed, I should have kept that speed!"

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I kind of put a gravity seal on you too, sorry."

"I knew it! I knew I couldn't have been that slow naturally! Kami, I felt like I was wading in jelly." Naruto undid his hitae-ate to reveal his forehead, "Take the seal off damn it…"

Jiraiya made a few hand seals and placed his hand on Naruto's head, "Fuuin kai!"

A glyph of a seal appeared and faded from Naruto's head. He tested his body's functions with some short motions, "Okay. I feel better now…"

Jiraiya felt the need to keep explaining, "Naruto I-."

Naruto just kept walking, "I don't want to hear anymore right now. I don't think I can take much more of this story before I feel the need to hurt you. You guys almost killed my career you know that? Come on, let's get to a town."

XxX

Jiraiya and Naruto had gotten a hotel for the night in a town not far off. Upon arriving Jiraiya had gone off gallivanting after some woman who showed a little interest in him. This suited Naruto just fine as he didn't really want to be around Jiraiya at the moment anyway.

Naruto took himself up to their room and laid down on one of the beds. He had a whole new set of things to think about. Was Hiruzen close to him only because he had gotten out from under his watch once, or was it truly legitimate? When he showed up at the ceremony for Konoha's fallen ninja the day after the invasion he had gone up to the Sandaime's memorial and he didn't know what to feel. He shed not one tear, his head was jumbled enough at the time, he was still sorting through his mind to figure out what was factual and what was fabrication.

He shook his head free of that thought, putting his training under Danzo into use. He was a ninja, and while it was seemingly a simple mission it was still a mission, and he needed a clear mind to go through it successfully.

Naruto felt a pair of powerful presences coming closer to his door, they were hiding their chakra levels but it was noticeable that they were considerably strong. Now the side of him that had been out and about for the last four years wanted to confront them, see what they wanted, and, if necessary, kick their asses. Unfortunately for that line of thought, rational Naruto was in control at the moment.

He darted out of bed and leapt out of the window to find Jiraiya, fighting two opponents that were potentially overwhelming in strength for no reason didn't really appeal to him after just starting to get himself back into fighting condition. He knew they wanted him for some kind of unpleasantness, because in Naruto's life experiences for the most part new meetings equaled lots of pain and trouble.

Naruto dashed along the rooftops until he reached the outskirts of town. Naruto bit his thumb and summoned a toad. Not even giving it time to speak Naruto belted out an order, "Go find Jiraiya. Tell him to find me as fast as he freaking can or I'm screwed ok?"

The toad nodded and ran back into town to find Jiraiya. Naruto sighed and turned around slowly, "I know you're there. Come out already… Save us all some time here."

Two figures in black cloaks with red clouds appeared, both donning straw hats. Naruto sighed at the sight of the familiar red eyes signifying Sharingan, "Of course it would be a guy like Itachi Uchiha after me…"

The other figure chuckled and removed his hat to reveal a blue-haired, blue-skinned man, "It looks like you're still famous in that village of yours Itachi."

Naruto smacked his forehead, "And Kisame Hoshigaki… What a fantastic day… The hits just keep on coming." He set himself into a ready stance, "Who else do we have coming? You guys happen to have another S-ranked cameo coming from the woodwork?"

Kisame scoffed at the sight of Naruto's small frame, "Who knew the Kyuubi jinchuuriki would be such a runt? Itachi should I cut off one of his legs to make sure he can't run away again?"

Itachi stepped forward, red eyes spinning, "Please come with us Naruto-kun."

Naruto sighed and brought his hands together, "Kai. Come on now. I'm a kid but don't insult me like that. I'm not that easy to yoke into oppression you know."

Kisame reached for the sword on his back, "Itachi this kid is mouthy. Let me handle him. Samehada can just taste his chakra from here."

Itachi stared at Naruto, unblinking, "Very well. Don't go overboard and kill him, Leader-sama needs the jinchuuriki alive."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, 'Two powerful guys like this want me alive… They won't fight to kill, they can't. But I don't have that kind of restriction here. And all I have to do is wait for ero-sennin to show up. Even if the toad I sent is slow or can't find him, once the fight starts it shouldn't take him too long to get here."

Naruto drew his ninjato and in the blink of an eye was at Kisame's throat, who had brought Samehada down to parry his blade, "You're pretty fast gaki."

Naruto pushed with his sword, "I used to be faster…" He felt Kisame pushing him back and grunted, "…Used to be stronger too…" Kisame brought down his massive weapon on Naruto's shoulder and pulled back, slicing deeply into his shoulder, before kicking the boy off. Naruto picked himself up off the ground, "Ugh… I seriously need to whip my ass back into shape… Fucking seal… This ain't gonna cut it."

Kisame grinned maniacally as he rushed Naruto and swung at him with his sword. Naruto ducked low and swiped at Kisame's feet. In response Kisame uncorked a kick at the ducking Naruto's head. Naruto saw it coming and rolled out of the way, 'Man, I'm glad ero-sennin had the common sense to at least take the stupid gravity seal off of me. I'd be dead meat otherwise.'

Naruto sheathed his sword back into the scabbard on his back, 'Going blade-to-blade with one on the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist? Label me the idiot of the day…'

Itachi walked a few steps up, "You're better than our intel anticipated Naruto-kun. It was said that you were a dead-last genin-level shinobi. You've shown much surprising skill."

Naruto huffed as he ignored the dripping wound spanning his shoulder, "Yeah? Well there's no such thing as perfect intel."

"Indeed," Itachi removed his own hat to look at Naruto, "This battle is unnecessary Naruto-kun. Just come with us, you cannot defeat us both at your current level."

Naruto glared at the rogue Uchiha and the shark-like Kisame, 'They're right… I couldn't beat these two like this… If they were here to kill me. And I don't even have to win, all I have to do is last long enough for some help.'

Naruto smiled as he felt his wound begin to pulse with a familiar sensation. Apparently breaking the seal inspired the Kyuubi to stay awake more often again. Good, now if only he had found the time to set up his old arrangements with the powerful kitsune, then he could just have Kyuubi help him rampage on their asses and be done with it. There was time to think about that later, he had a tall order ahead of him here.

Kisame and Itachi covered each other's weaknesses extremely well. What Kisame lacked in long-range ninjutsu, potent genjutsu, and tactical finesse and patience Itachi more than made up for. Vice-versa for Itachi and his close range skills. Naruto didn't think he could win in close with Itachi anyway, that damnable Sharingan would give away his every move… unless.

Itachi walked ahead and called Kisame back, "Kisame, I would like to test Naruto-kun for a bit. Stay back for a moment."

Naruto would have grinned from ear to ear if it wouldn't have looked so suspicious. Itachi and Kisame both think he's weak. Itachi will probably let the 'genin' in close to humor him, that's where he would get his chance. He needed to abandon all logical reason and just flow. The only way to bypass the Sharingan was to simply move faster than the body could adjust to. As if that would work on someone like Itachi.

However, if Itachi could anticipate his movements then what would happen if even Naruto didn't know what he would do next? It would be a pain to try, fighting his own muscle memory and his own instincts just to attempt a new strategy on the fly… ugh, sounds like something his jumpsuit wearing self would try.

But then again, why the fuck not? Even an idiot can come up with some masterful gems of ideas every once in a while right?

Naruto ran in and ducked looking to jump when in range of Itachi, but as he crouched spontaneous inspiration came to him. Instead of jumping high as he had crouched to do he tumbled forward and rolled through. This random act got him inside of Itachi's guard. Now what?

As he saw Itachi move his arms to react to any action he could take from this point in a split-second Naruto once again listened to the most random thing he could think of.

He tilted his head up and spit directly in Itachi Uchiha's face.

Now at this time if he wasn't:

1. Already in a fight that he knew wasn't going to be pleasant if it dragged out, and that's IF he actually believed he had a snowball's chance in hell of actually winning said fight in the first place.

2. Flying by the seat of his pants too fast to take into account what he was actually doing… After all if he wasn't a bloody mess on the ground yet that had to count for something right?

And 3. Primarily trained to not show any emotion or feeling in combat against any enemy, even if pressed with insurmountable odds (And Itachi Uchiha was damn insurmountable for a handicapped former Ne operative four years out of the game.).

If it weren't for all of that, then he might have had the logical inclination to shit his pants when he saw that loogie make contact right on Itachi's left brow. And it worked too, because from the look on Itachi's face he damn sure never saw that as a viable option against him in the middle of a fight.

Itachi froze in place, giving his diminutive adversary the opportunity to launch a vicious jumping snap kick to the side of his head, sending him flying back to his partner.

The combination of seeing a 12 year-old kid spit into Itachi fuckin' Uchiha's face, and then seeing said kid dropkick Itachi Uchiha back fifteen yards left Kisame's jaw quite slacked. Kisame pointed dumbly at Itachi as he watched him rise to his feet, "Uh Itachi… You've… got a little something… right there…"

Kisame felt a shiver go down his spine as Itachi sent his Sharingan glare on his as he wiped his dripping brow, "Uh… You got it…"

The adrenaline from Naruto's little improv session wore off as he got distance and waited for Itachi's response. Naruto attempted a little denial therapy, 'Maybe he isn't as pissed as I thought? He's a former Anbu, those guys get bodily fluids on them all the time! A little spit didn't even faze that guy.'

Itachi turning a downright murderous look at him, spinning Sharingan enhanced of course, perished the thought that he was getting out of this alive without missing some important body parts. Being the highly trained professional he had been raised to be in his formulative years Naruto prayed to the skies above for even the slightest diversion. Anything that could tear Itachi's attention away from him for even a moment would be a gift from Kami herself.

"Itachi Uchiha!"

Naruto turned to find Sasuke standing shortly away, eyes affixed on his older brother, "You've told me to live my life with hatred in order to get strong enough to kill you. Well that day has come!"

If he wasn't such a highly trained warrior and if he wasn't in the middle of a serious, high-tension situation Naruto could have broken down and cried in sweet, sweet relief. Those two reasons, COMBINED, were the only reasons he didn't.

Naruto knew there was no 'I' in 'team'. But sorry Sasuke, someone had to take one for the team today.

And on this day, Naruto was more than willing to spell 'team' with an 'I'…

* * *

**What do you think? Naruto is supposed to be powerful, but keep in mind that he has to adjust his eight year-old battle memory to a twelve year-old body, he let his chakra control go to hell, he has to re-learn/re-master a lot of his jutsu, and his muscles actually did atrophy due to underuse.**

**His ideas mostly come from his by-the-book training under Danzo. In this story his canon ability to come up with stuff on the fly like against Zabuza in Wave, or his hole in the ground trick against Neji can be attributed in this case to him having subconscious latent recollection of battle tactics during his years in Ne. That, coupled with the return of his tactical knowledge, makes him smarter and more dangerous mentally than ever.**

**He still has a sense of humor, though it is more inspired by a fusion of Ne Naruto and canon Naruto. I'll get some examples out soon, now isn't really time for much humor yet.  
**

**Read, and enjoy. Review because it makes me happy. I'll be busy for a while, but I'll try to keep pace with all of my stories, this especially, I like it.**

**Kenchi out**


	4. Konoha Business

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… yet. I'll buy a pack of Oreo cookies and a quart of milk and eat them in front of Kishimoto, let's see how long he can hold out. He he he… It's only a matter of time… He he he…

**Chapter 3: Konoha Business**

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Naruto slumped against a tree and sat down as he saw Jiraiya talking to Maito Gai, with Sasuke over his shoulder. Itachi had really done a number on that kid and Naruto knew it was mostly his fault, but defended himself with the fact that Sasuke either didn't notice or didn't care that Itachi was in such a pissy mood. And what kind of genin tries to stay and fight Itachi Uchiha by choice? Itachi looked pissed off when he beat Sasuke too, Naruto called his bad on that…

Naruto had gotten his ass saved by Sasuke's 'assistance' and he knew it. It had given Jiraiya enough time to find him and drive the nuke-nin duo off before they could refocus on him. Thank goodness the old sage could back up all of that posturing with skill.

"Gaki, come over here!"

Naruto stood and walked over to Jiraiya and Gai. While he was pissed off at Jiraiya he had to admit, without his timely interference he would have gotten turned into hamburger. Gai gave Naruto a blinding smile as he got close, "Yosh Naruto-kun, you have certainly shown yourself to be quite flushed with the power of youth today! Holding off those two like you did!"

Naruto looked at Gai strangely, "Thanks Gai-san. I was useless though. They could have killed me whenever they wanted, they needed me alive."

Gai shook his head, smile still in place, "And you are alive are you not? And that means you have another day to get stronger! Another day to prepare yourself and make sure this doesn't happen again!"

Naruto smiled faintly, "You're right. I need to worry about getting ready for the next time something like this happens." Naruto clinched his fists, 'There's no way that guys like that are going to get the drop on me ever again…'

Gai shifted Sasuke on his shoulders, "Well I do hope that you two are successful in your mission, we could use her expertise for more than just Sasuke-kun here. Kakashi got hit as well."

Naruto looked at Gai, "Kakashi made eye-contact?" Gai nodded and began reaching for something on his person.

Jiraiya grabbed Naruto by his shoulder, "We should go kid. We'll lose the trail if we stay after all of this."

Naruto grunted as Jiraiya pulled him away, "Uh, later Gai-san. Tell Rock Lee, and Tenten I said hi!" Gai gave him a thumbs up and a smile in return before turning to blaze a trail back to Konoha.

Naruto noticed Jiraiya was hurrying him away, "Why are you pulling me so fast ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya looked down and back out at the road ahead, "He was going to give you one of those God-awful jumpsuits kid. There was no way I was letting you go back to such horrendous clothing after you just started looking decent."

Naruto scoffed and slapped Jiraiya's hand off of his shoulder, "Don't touch me. You aren't off of the hook yet. You and the old man screwed me over, I'm a joke in Konoha these days because of what you guys did. Itachi and Kisame treated me like a piece of crap back there, and while it helped keep me alive and out of their hands, it was insulting."

Naruto grumbled as he stomped down the road, "I've got at least two S-rank nukenin after me and I'm a sitting duck if they decide to get serious on me. We seriously need to finish this mission so I can work on getting back up to snuff."

Jiraiya shook his head as they traversed the roads.

XxX

Naruto had calmed down over the course of the next few days. He was still incredibly testy due to still not finding any time to train himself properly. Jiraiya tried to placate him by saying he had proven himself to be far stronger than a genin should be, Naruto countered by blankly stating that he wasn't supposed to be at genin, he was Anbu level at 8.

Jiraiya didn't like Naruto fretting over his skill level like this, but then he remembered what he met Naruto doing, infiltrating an unknown country. When he saw Naruto again at the hot springs years later he was rather underwhelmed. After taking the Gogyo Fuuin off of Naruto and watching him immediately stand on water he wasn't surprised, he figured he subconsciously knew how to do it already.

What had been done to him was a damn shame, and he had every right to be angry. Years of blood, sweat, and tears… Ok not so much tears if he was trained by Danzo, but everything else, all of that was spent to give him his strength, and to have a considerable amount of it ripped away by the folly of a pair of old men? Jiraiya knew he would be in an uproar about it too if it were him.

And he knew Naruto had all the reason to worry about it. He had just been attacked by two of the most infamous ninja actively listed in the bingo book and only sheer folly on their part and raw luck and hard-nosed skill from his got him out of it. His teammate had been injured in the fracas as well.

Jiraiya looked at the boy who was practicing running through hand-signs quickly, "Hey kid, don't worry about your teammate, he'll be fine."

Naruto stopped working on his hand-signs and looked at Jiraiya, "Oh, that. Meh, it'll be good for him. A little beating every once in a while builds character." Naruto shrugged when Jiraiya stared in shock at his nonchalant attitude, "What? It's how I was trained. Getting your ass kicked makes you really want to avoid getting your ass kicked again so you do what you can to improve, it's good for him."

"Huh, well yeah that does make sense." Jiraiya nodded in agreement to Naruto's logic, "Alright then, let's go find Tsunade!"

Naruto almost stumbled, "Tsunade? As in your old teammate, best damn medic-ninja ever, gambles like shit, Tsunade?"

Jiraiya chuckled at his description of her, "Yeah that's the one kid. Though, I think you should refrain from using that last one in front of her unless you want to end up a smear on a wall." Jiraiya pulled out a picture of her and handed it to Naruto, "We're to find her and bring her back to the village."

Naruto put the picture in one of his pockets and kept up with making hand-signs that looked like a blur. Jiraiya saw him resume his task, "Hey kid, how about I give you that jutsu now. I guarantee you don't know it, and it could be useful to you. You can even train with it while walking like you are right now."

Naruto thought for a moment, "Sure why not? It's not like I can go out of my way to handle any other kind of training while we're out here."

Jiraiya grinned, "Good choice kid. I promise you won't regret it. We'll start when I can get the necessary supplies."

XxX

Naruto and Jiraiya came upon a town where a festival was taking place. Jiraiya suggested he take this time to relax and they would pick up with the search soon while he would go and get some information on where she was.

Naruto agreed and ditched Jiraiya before the latter could try and mooch off of his money.

Naruto spent a few hours going through the town, cheating in- err…_partaking_ in some games and winning some prizes, getting a bite to eat. He had to admit, he may have lost a step or two in battle, but he was having more fun now than he would have been having in Ne if he was still one of them. That was one thing he had inherited from his old self and learned to love since he broke the seal, the value of a good time.

He eventually got worried about the white-haired pervert he had been taking company with and set out to find him. It didn't take long for him to hear his rather distinctive laugh booming from a nearby tavern. Naruto entered to find Jiraiya with alcoholic beverage in hand and pleasurable company on both sides, one of which was hanging off of him, "Eh? Hey Naruto! Come over here and take a load off!"

Naruto shrugged and walked over, sitting down to the woman on Jiraiya's left, a brunette with hair going down her back, "So Jiraiya-sama, who's the little cutie here with you?"

Naruto raised his eyebrow, 'Cutie? Yeah right… I can't get a girl in Konoha to even so much as look at me with anything less than a sneer when I speak to them.' Naruto let out a bitter chuckle that was missed by everyone else.

Jiraiya grinned, 'This is my student Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto say hello to Tokoko and Tsukina."

Naruto waved and let out a small hello. Tokoko, the girl he had been sitting next to that wasn't on Jiraiya, leaned on him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Naruto figured she must have been around five years older than him, "He's so cute Jiraiya-sama." He heard the girl let out a gasp as she touched the scar on his face, "How did you get something like this? You're so young."

Naruto shrugged, "Life is hard… It's just a scar. It's nothing important, just a reminder to duck next time." He was a good sport about it as he let her trace the mark over his eye. Naruto and Jiraiya stayed and talked with the women until a few hours after nightfall. Naruto had refrained from drinking the entire time, letting Jiraiya get his fill for now, he knew the man would pay for it in the morning.

Naruto waited until Jiraiya was blackout drunk, (which took way longer than Naruto figured it should have been, what the hell was his alcohol to blood ratio? Kami.) bid goodbye to the women they were with and proceeded to haul Jiraiya out of the bar towards an inn for the night.

As he got a certain distance down the road Jiraiya seemingly got a second wind and rose from Naruto's shoulders, "Wow you are strong gaki. That was quite a ways to haul dead-weight like me."

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya who had seemingly shrugged off the effects of an entire day's worth of binge drinking, "You should be laying face up choking on puke right now. How in the hell are you even standing straight?"

Jiraiya smirked at the boy as he continued looking for a place to stay, "I'm no lightweight kid." Naruto deadpanned a look at him saying that he didn't drink a lightweight's share, "While Tsunade would have dropped hours ago, I'm just that good. I'm surprised you didn't drag me out or call me an old perv or something."

Naruto sighed, "I'm not adverse to enjoying myself… And those women were hot… Besides, you said we were relaxing today, even a brainless sealing asshole like you needs to rest, and that's obviously how you take the edge off so why should I have interrupted you?"

Jiraiya chuckled, "You sure are different these days gaki. I think Tokoko liked you, that damn scar is going to get you all sorts of pity sex when you get older."

Naruto snorted, "It's just because she doesn't know who I am. If we were in Konoha I'd have been shoved to the backburner there and you know it."

Jiraiya hmm-ed in response, "Maybe you should get your head off of that pink-haired girl then? There are plenty of other women that won't try to give you brain damage."

He expected him to start ranting about how he'd never betray Sakura-chan, or how she was just complicated or something, what Naruto said made him almost fall in the street, "Huh, so true… Well, you were the one who did it."

Jiraiya looked over at the calm expression on his face, "What?"

Naruto looked at him with a cocked brow, hiding his slight glare, "The first thing I thought of her when I had time to think about my team again was what the hell was my other self smoking to think she was any good for me? My dumbass, childish self was the one that was attracted to her, therefore it's your fault. However I don't interact with any other girls, my age or otherwise, not before you sealed me and sure as hell not after, they all got used to the me that was terrible at everything."

Naruto looked up at the moon, "All the kunoichi my age all think I suck, or they can't stand me, all of the civilians fawn all over Uchiha-teme, or are too weak to be able to put up with my life and the ones that don't, all hate me anyway. I think Danzo might have been on to something when he told me to get rid of my emotions, because knowing you'll never get laid out of love kind of sucks ero-sennin."

Naruto scratched his chin in thought. Jiraiya flinched as he noted how calmly he had just said that he would never find anyone to be with. No one should just accept that kind of thing as a fact of their life.

Naruto left Jiraiya with one more thought for the night, "That Tokiko girl was pretty cute though…"

XxX

As they had woken up the next day and headed out on the road Jiraiya tossed Naruto a water balloon. Naruto looked up at him blankly, "What the hell is this? It's not _that_ hot ero-sennin. You're a grown man."

Jiraiya held out another in his own hand, "The jutsu you're learning has three steps, the first one is to pop that balloon with just the rotation of your chakra."

Naruto yawned, "Uh huh… Well does this mystery jutsu have a name, or will I have the pleasure of doing that?"

Jiraiya held out his other hand as a rapidly spinning blue ball of chakra formed in it. Naruto noticed the speed and the size of the jutsu compared to the massive amount of chakra rolling inside of it. Jiraiya smirked as he saw Naruto's eyes affixed to the ball, "It's called Rasengan. It was one of the Yondaime Hokage's prized jutsu."

Naruto nodded, "Whoa…"

Jiraiya let the jutsu fade, "Indeed… Now lets-."

He was cut off as the sound of water splashing rang out. He turned to see Naruto shaking his hand and picking pieces of rubber off of it. Jiraiya held out his balloon, "Do that again."

Naruto grabbed the balloon from his and popped it like clockwork. Jiraiya had to rub his eyes, "What? How?"

Naruto shook more water off of his hands as he kept walking forward, "I saw that the jutsu had chakra flowing in all directions, I just did that to the balloon and, pop."

Jiraiya shook his head, "A genin shouldn't have gotten something like that so quickly."

A tick mark on Naruto's head appeared, "Yeah well I'm not supposed to be a genin either. I'm supposed to be a Ne Anbu, remember? Noticing a detail like that is amateur-hour stuff." Naruto looked at him expectantly, "What's the next step?"

Jiraiya dumbly held out a rubber ball, "Pop this with your chakra. It should be the most difficult step, it has to do with just power-."

BLAM!

Naruto's hands snapped to his ears as the rubber ball exploded in his hand, "Damn it, why was that so loud?"

Jiraiya almost had a seizure out in the open road, "How did you get it that time! Generating a consistent amount of power like that takes time!"

Naruto dug into his ear, "And I have what sealed inside of me again? I've been dealing with powerful chakra since I was little, my own naturally got stronger. Danzo had me spamming high level jutsu all over the place by the time I was eight."

Jiraiya opened his mouth but nothing came out, "I'll show you the final step later. I need to find something new to start you on. What about your elemental affinity?"

"Wind, and I have several jutsu for that element, I just need to re-learn the big ones again." Naruto walked along with a bored expression on his face, "Where is Tsunade damn it? Did you find out anything in that town we were in?"

Jiraiya ceased his thoughts on Naruto's training and answered, "I did actually. She was heading up towards the edge of the country, she'll probably wind up in Tanzaku Gai, so that's where we're going."

Naruto grunted, "Tell me the third step so I'm not wasting time on the way. If I can't get my conditioning in then I'll have to work with this jutsu until we get somewhere where I can actually work on it."

Jiraiya sighed and blew up a balloon, "The next step is to mix the first two steps in this balloon."

Naruto looked at the balloon in Jiraiya's hand, "So what am I doing?"

Jiraiya lifted his other hand and formed a Rasengan for Naruto to see. Naruto opened his mouth, forming an 'o' in recognition, "So I'm doing that, just inside the balloon instead right? So I can get the spatial composition down?"

Jiraiya nodded, 'It took me two months just to get this far. It hasn't even been an hour yet for him. Kid what were you like before you were sealed? Thinking about something like that terrifies me.'

Naruto attempted Jiraiya's instructions. Jiraiya actually breathed a sigh of relief when Naruto's balloon popped. If the kid got Rasengan in one day then he would have had a fit. Naruto received the pack of balloons from Jiraiya and took out another to blow up, "Well it looks like this will keep me busy for a while."

XxX

"What happened here?"

Jiraiya and Naruto looked at what used to be the famous castle of Tanzaku Gai. It was nothing but rubble at this point. Jiraiya and Naruto walked over to the scene and looked around. While Naruto kicked at the rubble under his feet Jiraiya noticed holes in the wall nearby, a sign of his wayward teammate.

Jiraiya jerked Naruto by his arm to lead him away, "Come on kid, we're close, very close."

After searching the town all day they stopped at a tavern for a little meal before retiring for the night. Jiraiya stopped as he walked inside, "Tsunade?"

A blonde woman with a jewel looking mark on her forehead looked up in shock, "Jiraiya? What are you doing here?"

Jiraiya and Naruto walked over to her table where there was a black haired woman holding a small pig, "Well we just stopped here for a bite to eat. Imagine meeting you here of all places."

Naruto took a seat alongside Jiraiya and looked out at the two women, 'Tsunade… So this is the last of the sannin. Looks like I've met the full-set. Lucky me…'

Tsunade's eyes drifted over to him, "So who's the brat Jiraiya?"

Naruto's eye twitched, 'Yep… Lucky, lucky, lucky…'

Jiraiya looked at Naruto, who was wearing an unreadable expression, minus the twitching, "This is Naruto Uzumaki, my new apprentice."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up, "Apprentice? Since when?"

Jiraiya smirked at the boy, "Since you signed the toad contract before the invasion kid. Congratulations."

Naruto grumbled and placed his face on his hands, "Great… The guy that locked away my strength and skill wants to make amends and teach me how to fight again…"

Jiraiya looked confused, "Kid don't you want me to do that?"

Naruto slammed his palms on the table, "I'll tell you what I want. I want to go home so I can get my shit together and get strong again. I want to yell at you and beat you to a pulp. I want something or someone to cling to, because I think I'm starting to lose it with all of the shit running through my mind!"

Naruto was standing now, "But I can't have those things, not for a bunch of reasons. I can work on one of those things now though." Naruto pointed at Tsunade, "You. We're going back to Konoha. Time to go home."

Tsunade was stunned silent by the sheer fact that some kid just ordered her to do something of that magnitude, and he didn't even blink. Jiraiya palmed his forehead, "Smooth kid… Really subtle stuff there."

Naruto glared at Jiraiya, "You can shut up too. I'm still pissed at you damn it."

Jiraiya groaned, "When won't you be pissed at me?"

Naruto smirked, "When I can do everything I used to be able to do and then some." Naruto looked back at Tsunade, "So let's go. Come on."

Tsunade flipped the table over angrily, "Who the hell do you think you are runt? Where do you think you can get off telling me to go back to that place?"

Naruto didn't bat an eye, "I think I'm the unfortunate bastard tasked with dragging your sorry alcoholic ass home, and I don't fail missions." Naruto kicked his chair backwards, "You can come with us, or I can beat your ass and drag you back myself."

Tsunade pointed to the door and stomped outside. Naruto followed briskly. Jiraiya groaned as he stood to leave as well, "Come on Shizune. Someone needs to sweep that kid's remains off the street after Tsunade is done with him."

XxX

Naruto stood across from Tsunade in the middle of the street. He looked around, "You know this really isn't the place for something like this, unless you like paying for property damage. But don't you have enough debts."

"Shut up and get ready to face the music you brat." Tsunade lifted her index finger, "One finger. That's all I need for a runt like you."

Naruto smirked, 'I thought I was rusty after four years… Well when was the last time she was even in a fight? Sometimes life cracks a window for you, well she just opened the goddamn front door for me.'

Jiraiya and Shizune walked out, "Tsunade let it go… We can talk about this."

Tsunade glared over at Jiraiya, "Shut up Jiraiya. He has this coming. Brats like this need to know their place."

Naruto glared over at Jiraiya also, "Yeah, shut up ero-sennin. Old ladies like this need to learn how to deal with their problems before they turn old and grey instead of just running away."

Tsunade growled at Naruto, "Give me your best shot brat. You won't get another one."

Naruto's eyes went cold as his face went blank, "If I do this right, then one shot is all I'll really need." His eyes narrowed, "You'd better hope I miss."

A slight shiver went down Jiraiya's spine as he saw the look in Naruto's eyes, "Uh Tsunade? You might want to use more than-."

Tsunade snapped at him again, "I said shut up Jiraiya!"

Naruto kept his stone cold eyes leveled on her, "Looks like the crabby old lady needs an attitude adjustment… Yelling at her old friends like that."

Tsunade had enough of Naruto's mouth and charged at him. Naruto's body tensed as he counted the steps until she was in range, 'Shouldn't a sannin be faster than this? I guess she really is rusty.'

Tsunade attempted a backhand swipe but Naruto swatted it away, leaving her guard wide open. Tsunade was shocked as Naruto moved far faster than she expected a kid his age to be able to, ending up with him sinking a fist into her ribs.

Jiraiya had to let a small smile come on his face as he saw Shizune's jaw drop. Shizune's grip on the pet pig, Ton-ton almost squashed the poor thing as he saw a child get the first shot on Tsunade in a fight, "Jiraiya-sama, how can that genin land a blow like that on Tsunade-sama? He hit first."

Jiraiya shook his head, "Just because he's a genin doesn't mean he has to fight like a genin does it?"

Tsunade ran green glowing hands over her torso and glared at Naruto who had simply reset himself in his stance, "So you can move with some quickness? You're still a brat! I still only need one finger."

'She won't even acknowledge when someone is a threat… This is going to work out better than the fight with Itachi.' Naruto formed a cross-seal and formed several Kage Bunshin, "You got disoriented by just one of me, how are you going to handle eight? SCATTER!"

Naruto's clones blurred around the street, looking more like an angry hive of bees rather than a group of boys. Tsunade's eyes kept themselves on all possible threats. She ended up blocking a few pre-emptive strikes with just one finger, per her boast, and kept looking for a prime target to hit.

The sounds of something swirling made Tsunade turn her head to see Naruto forming a blue ball that Tsunade could label from a mile away. Realizing just how damaging that move could be she chopped at the ground with her finger, disrupting his footing and forcing him to break the attack and fall down.

Tsunade looked over at Jiraiya, "Jiraiya, what were you thinking? Teaching a kid like this that kind of jutsu."

Jiraiya wasn't even looking at her. He was looking in another direction with a grin on his face, "Hey Naruto! Don't embarrass her badly kid, she's supposed to be our next Hokage!"

Naruto strode out of the darkness of a nearby alley holding something in his hands. He had a dumbstruck look on his face, "Really? Her? Are you sure? Because for all intents and purposes I just killed her."

Tsunade watched as the 'Naruto' in front of her burst into smoke and was about to ask what he meant. All of a sudden she felt a draft around her chest and looked down to see her gray kimono/blouse open and fluttering in the breeze.

Shizune looked mortified at the sight of her master's busty glory out for all the world to see. She was thankful solely for the fact that the street was clear.

Naruto smirked in a mean-spirited fashion as he slung her obi around like a rope, "I think you're missing something there." His eyes widened as he actually got a decent look at her, "Whoa… Good on you though. Bravo."

Jiraiya ran up to Naruto and shook his hand with stars in his eyes, "Kid that was amazing! You're my hero!" Jiraiya dropped to the ground and bowed down, "I'm not worthy to train you kid. You should be training me!"

Tsunade's senses came back online as she proverbially saw red and rushed over to Naruto, hitting him dead on and sending him flying into the front wall of a nearby building, utterly turning it to rubble. Jiraiya and Shizune ran over to where he had landed as Tsunade held her clothing shut with her hands.

Amazingly they found him still conscious, but not in any condition to get back up. As Shizune started running a diagnostic jutsu on him he coughed up some blood, "*cough* I win."

Tsunad stormed over and ripped her obi from his grasp, reapplying it, "What do mean? Look at you brat! You're a mess."

Naruto grinned, showing her bloody teeth in his smile, "You still used more than one finger to beat me. You lose." Naruto shakily picked himself up off of the ground, shocking all who witnessed it, "Now play time is over. Time to go back to Konoha already."

Tsunade sneered at him, "Why would I? Why should I? I already said I'm not going. That place has taken too much from me. It isn't getting my life too!" She turned to leave, "Shizune! Come on. The brat is fine, we're leaving."

Jiraiya stood in front of her path to leave, "Tsunade. Like I said, the elders have chosen you as our next Hokage. Now that we've caught you we're not just going to let you vanish again. We'll stay on you until you decide to come along."

Tsunade scoffed and turned away, looking out at the road. She saw the marking from the attempted Rasengan and looked back with a devious smirk, "Alright since you won't just leave how about we have a little wager."

She walked over to the injured Naruto, "That move you tried to use on me back there. You know it was once used by the Yondaime Hokage. If you can master that move in one week then I'll give you the necklace I'm wearing and I'll return with you to Konoha. If you fail then you'll give me all of your money and give up the mission."

Naruto looked at the necklace and back up at her, "Deal. One week. I'll learn how to perform the Rasengan in one week or we'll go home without you."

Tsunade had a victorious look on her face and turned to leave, Shizune in tow. Naruto got Jiraiya to help him walk down the street as they went to get their own hotel room, "Are you going to be alright gaki?"

Naruto's teeth were gritted as he tried his hardest to stay upright with Jiraiya's assistance, "Yeah. I just need to sleep it off for the time being, I'll be fine in the morning. I'm okay."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes as they hobbled down the street, "You know I kind of wasn't kidding back there kid. You're my hero today. That sight you gave me, absolutely glorious. I've wanted to see that again for over fifteen years and I finally have. The best part; I didn't even get beaten up for it this time!" Jiraiya finished with a lecherous grin on his face.

Naruto sweatdropped, "That's… great ero-sennin. Glad I could help, I guess."

XxX

The next day Naruto was awakened from his deep slumber by a knock at his door. Lumbering over to the door he opened it to find Shizune, "Shizune-san? What is it?"

She came inside and looked him over, noting the fact that he was shirtless and had scars littering his body, "Are you sure you're okay from last night? Tsunade-sama has liquidated men using less force than she used on you."

Naruto sat on his bed and stretched, "I'm fine, I've had worse. So what do you need? I need to go train for this bet already."

Shizune rubbed her arm awkwardly, "That's what I want to talk to you about. I don't want you to think of Tsunade-sama as a bad person, she's just bitter."

Naruto nodded, "Because her brother and lover were killed during wartime. I know."

Shizune's eyes widened in shock, "How do you know that?"

Naruto shrugged, "The guy that trained me made me learn all kinds of stuff about Konoha's famous ninja."

Shuzune looked at him strangely, "The academy in Konoha sure goes over some classified things these days..."

Naruto chuckled darkly, "No they don't. I didn't learn that in the academy. I learned things of that nature elsewhere."

Shizune recovered admirably, "Well if you know that then you must know that that necklace is cursed. It will kill anyone who wears it other than Tsunade-sama."

Naruto stood up and walked towards the door, "Well then I guess I'm next. Because I'm winning this little bet of ours, so tell her to get all of her affairs in order and get ready to go back to Konoha. I'll see you later Shizune-san."

Naruto left Shizune sitting in the room as he left the hotel entirely.

Naruto made his way to the outskirts of the town where he found Jiraiya sitting against a tree waiting for him. He had a smirk on his face, "Kid you must have the biggest set on you. You made a bet like that with Tsunade."

Naruto smirked at him, "Well I have a week to train my body back up to normal. It won't be even a drop in the bucket to what I need, but free time is free time."

Jiraiya looked at him strangely, "Kid you need to work on the Rasengan and win this bet. You can wait to do everything else right now, finish the jutsu and then do everything else."

Naruto looked at him mischievously, "Oh you mean this Rasengan?" Naruto formed the perfect blue ball in his hand and pushed it against the tree Jiraiya was sitting against, forcing it to explode in a shower of bark and wood chips.

Jiraiya looked at him stunned, "You finished it?"

Naruto grinned widely, "Deception is just another tool of the game. When I fought her last night I used it as a distraction. I just needed to get her attention so my clone didn't really focus on the attack. I can do the Rasengan, but showing her that I could last night would have done no good. She would have just made another 'impossible' bet that I would have had to actually work at."

Jiraiya was still confused, "Well why didn't you just show her last night?"

Naruto gave him a dry look, "Ero-sennin I was seeing sextuple last night. She gave me a concussion, I still feel my head pounding even today. There was no way I could focus to show her the finished product last night after the bet was made."

Naruto stretched out as he prepared to work, "I'll just milk this for the week of training I can get in and show her on the last day. I don't have to tell you to watch her, you know she's a flight risk."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto seriously, "Yeah. There's a good chance Orochimaru is here as well."

Naruto stopped stretching to look up at Jiraiya, "Really? Well then that's all the more reason for me to get to work now isn't it?"

Jiraiya turned to head back to town with a grin on his face, "Damn brat is going to be stronger than all of us one of these days."

XxX

Over the course of the next week Naruto threw himself into training as hard as he could. Regaining intense control of his chakra was his primary concern, he trained in this facet by way of mass kunai balancing. He attempted to reacquaint himself with the movements of swordplay once more, but until he could get in some decent sparring there was only so much he could remember.

He still needed weights to get his speed up, and he figured his strength was alright for now. Not being able to activate his true levels for years did a number on his muscles.

Contrary to popular belief, gravity seals aren't really a form of training. The seal weighs you down by connecting to your chakra and manipulating how much you would be able to pump to your muscles, decreasing the greatest amounts that you attempt to generate. Depending on the nature of the seal it could seal away any percentage of your maximum. The difficulty and obscurity of the seal gave rise to the rumors of it being used as a training method.

Jiraiya had been using the seal in combat for decades since he had discovered its uses. When Jiraiya came across a powerful or dangerous ninja that he didn't necessarily want to kill he would sometimes place the seal on them to make sure they couldn't challenge him again. Most of them however never realized this and went the rest of their careers lagging in their physical skills unknowingly until they were later killed in battle.

Naruto had to sigh in relief when he realized that Jiraiya had placed something like that on him, 'Who knows what may have happened if he had kept it on. With dangerous ninja after me and me lacking the ability to get faster or stronger I would have been a dead man.'

At least he still had enough speed to deem manageable against most opponents for now anyway. He found that he was as fast as Rock Lee with his weighs off. Naruto chuckled when he though of the boy, "Now that would be a hell of a spar."

He then realized that Lee had been crippled by Gaara during the exams, and that stoked his resolve further that Tsunade wasn't going to get out of this bet with him, 'If anyone can help Lee get better it's her. Just another reason to drag her back, kicking and screaming if I have to.'

Naruto rubbed his hands together as he felt a familiar presence at the edge of the woods, 'Okay, kill two birds with one stone. Train this jutsu of mine and rattle her with my training. Serves her right for trying to spy.'

Naruto made a mass of hand signs and drew his hands apart as wind whipped around them. He turned to a boulder and thrusted out his fists pushed together at the thumb and index finger, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!" A fierce wind pushed from his fists and impacted hard against the boulder, leaving the imprint of his two fists the size of his entire body.

Naruto smirked as he felt Tsunade leave the area of her hiding, "Alright. Finally, one down, eight more to go. I'm getting all of my jutsu back. Just wait till I bust out the big ones."

* * *

Jutsu List

Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God): B-Rank Ninjutsu. Mid-to-close range. Forces the user to direct wind chakra around their hands in the blunt shape of their fist and thrust it out at their target. The impact is equal to the amount of chakra pumped into the attack, however the control must be adequate in order to use the jutsu at such a high level, violent backlash can occur if the control over the amount of chakra is not satisfactory. Theoretically the attack can be used to crush an opponent into paste against a solid surface, or can throw an enemy an unmeasurable distance with blunt force trauma.

* * *

**Happy birthday to me! As a present to myself and my greatness the next chapter is up. I will now vanish, as I'll be playing Red Dead Redemtion until I give myself brain damage. I'll post the next chapter when I get around to it. If you're aware of my work then you're aware that I work fairly fast anyway, faster than most other authors so be cool.**

**Like always questions are welcome. I'll do my best to address them unless the answers give away future plot or something. Read, review, and go party. It's Friday, it's summer, and that's what I'll be doing so later.**

**Kenchi out. …I need a vacation… A REAL vacation.**


	5. Reality Check

Review Shoutouts

**Fenris24: Yes I like smart Naruto too. And I don't know what I would have Naruto say to Sarutobi other than snap on him and that would have been expected. And yes that last fight from MGS 4 is epic, I don't see Kishimoto making Naruto vs Sasuke as epic as it should/could be, he'll probably end up making Naruto die before he gets any too, bastard. 5 bucks says he does.**

**Ben: If I had broken the seal earlier then this would have been too much like other smart Naruto stories. I chose the fight with Gaara to break the seal for the mental stress and Naruto's need to break his own barriers to win that fight, to even get up the gumption to fight in the first place. He can just out-awesome everybody else right now in his age group so no catch-up really neccessary. I have an awesome plan for that to show by the way, muahahahahaha!**

**Reikson: I might just take you up on that. I just used it because my translation engine only gave me that translation, I knew it was too long. I might just take you up on that offer though. If something seems too bulky I might run it by you in the future perhaps… I'm using that translation you gave me though, it's better. Thanks.**

**Werd Me: Ask and ye shall receive my peepulation.**

**Timetravelviajutsu: Damn, that's fast. I'm taking my time with Red Dead Redemption. Something about riding full-speed through the desert, shooting wildlife and random folk with the Geto Boys "Damn it Feels Good To Be a Gangsta" blasting just puts a smile on my face ya know? I don't know what it is.**

**ChaosLord SilverLink310: Glad you liked that scene, I thought it was pretty cool. Gravity seals seemed like a cheap cop-out to me, hopefully my explanation explained why I felt that way. And the awesome-ness of my other jutsu that he knows will hopefully be satisfactory.**

**raw666: We'll see, we'll see…. Muahahahahah!**

**JNottle: Oh hell no. That pairing sure as hell wouldn't fit for this story, no way no how, uh un. I'll come up with something, you just gotta believe! I might/most definitely will add in stuff from recent manga chapters. Hopefully my update speed won't cause me to miss some new shit that's important AGAIN! But in my other stories it didn't matter that much, I can swing the whole 'Kushina was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki' thing in Fullmetal Shinobi, and I could make it work in my other story too.**

**T00STr00nG: I don't buy the whole, 'He has the Kyuubi so he can't get scars' thing, never did. I like the whole battlescars thing too, I think it's cool. And I will address his rank when he gets back, in utter bad-ass fashion I might add.**

**BloodIronAngel: You and me both friend-o, you and me both. Here's hoping I don't drop the ball… That's bad luck isn't it?**

**Stormrune: Oh trust me, he'll still be pissy about it for quite a while to come, he just won't be overtly violent about it. Remember, he's smarter and more ruthless, and I will be having fun writing that by the way.**

**Lanky Nathan: Hopefully I'll be so fast you might not notice, lol.**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I rent. It's the next best thing, trust me, and it's as close as we'll ever get...

**Chapter 4: Reality Check**

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Naruto awoke with a groan, "Ugh… Okay, I guess I still can't use _all _of my jutsu yet." The previous night Naruto had exhausted himself trying one of his more upper tier ninjutsu. Waking up in his own bed he realized that Tsunade must have been spying on him again. Naruto chuckled, "Heh heh, I wonder if she saw that one."

Naruto jumped out of bed and tripped over a black bundle at the foot of his bed. As it groaned he realized who it was, "Shizune-san? What are you doing here?"

Shizune's hazy eyes opened and widened as she jumped up, surprising the blonde, "Tsunade-sama! Where is she?"

Naruto grabbed Shizune to calm her down, "Hold on a second, just wait. You're saying she did this to you?"

Shizune stopped stirring and rested in his arms, though he felt her breathing was still frantic. Naruto sighed and let her go. Shizune immediately made for the window, "We have to find Tsunade-sama! It might be too late to stop her!"

As Shizune left through the window a kunai buried itself to the right of her head into a wall. They both turned to see Jiraiya standing on the ledge uneasily, "Where's Tsunade?" His voice held a threatening tone as he slinked along the wall up to Naruto and Shizune.

Naruto took note of Jiraiya's condition, "Geez ero-sennin what the hell happened to you?"

Jiraiya sat on the ledge and experimentally flexed his arms, "Tsunade drugged me last night. I should have known better, she wasn't as pissy as she usually was when she drank with me."

Naruto's attention was drawn up at an adjacent rooftop. But when he peered up he saw nothing. Shizune had gone to fetch Jiraiya an antidote to whatever Jiraiya had ailing him. She ran back and handed Jiraiya a glass of water and some crushed up pills, "Sorry Jiraiya-sama, there isn't an antidote to the poison, this should even you out though."

Jiraiya took the pills and swallowed them with the water, "Thank you Shizune." When Naruto's attention returned to the roof he could no longer sense anyone's presence.

Naruto looked at Shizune, "It's Orochimaru isn't it?" Shizune looked surprised. Naruto looked over to Jiraiya, "How you feeling ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya crushed the glass in his hands, "It's not much. My chakra is still fluctuating, but it'll have to do."

Shizune looked down sadly, "Orochimaru came to us last week with an offer; restore his arms and he'll return Tsunade-sama's most precious people to her from the dead." She looked at Jiraiya hopefully, "Today is the day they meet, we might still be able to keep her from doing it."

Jiraiya stood, "So how are we going to find her."

Shizune grabbed Ton-Ton and jumped to the ground before placing the small pig onto the ground, "We need your help Ton-Ton. Can you find Tsunade-sama for us?"

The pig oinked as it sniffed at the ground. Jiraiya and Naruto dropped down around them just as Ton-Ton began oinking wildly at Shizune. Shizune turned to the other two with her, "Ton-Ton has her scent. Come on, it's this way!"

XxX

They returned to the area of the ruined castle and found even more signs of destruction, though they were newer. Naruto smiled at the sight of the pulverized wall, "It looks like the old bat turned him down."

Jiraiya nodded, "Yeah, that might not be so good for her though. Come on. We still have to find her."

As they ran into a field they found Tsunade being beaten by Kabuto. Shizune shouted for her mistress as she ran over to her side, "Tsunade-sama!"

Naruto and Jiraiya waited close by as Shizune took out a handkerchief and wiped blood from Tsunade's face. Naruto looked at the scene in confusion, "Ero-sennin, what's going on here? Is it a genjutsu or something?"

Jiraiya shook his head in the negative, "Tsunade has hemophobia. She's afraid of blood kid, even the sight of it messes her up and makes her like that. Right now she's utterly useless."

Naruto looked out at Orochimaru, whose arms were wrapped up, but Naruto could see faint traces of blood coming through. Next to him was Kabuto who was wearing a headband with a musical note on it. Naruto's eyes narrowed at the sight, "Kabuto Yakushi, I can't say it's good to see you again. At least I know my information was right, I just wish I could have gotten your ass before the invasion…damn seal."

Jiraiya looked down at the now fuming blonde, "Kami kid I said I was sorry. Hindsight is 20-20 they always say."

Orochimaru chuckled as he saw the arrival of his third teammate, "Jiraiya, and Naruto-kun too. What a warm reunion this is. Though I do know wonder what you are doing here."

Jiraiya held his arm out in front of Naruto, keeping him from beginning to engage the enemy, "Protect Tsunade gaki. Orochimaru is too much for you, and that Kabuto kid is out of your league also, it would take an… Anbu…"

Jiraiya trailed off as he looked down at Naruto who was giving him a dead-pan look, "Trying to be funny old man?"

Jiraiya sighed and waved, "Fine… Shizune can watch over Tsunade I guess. Go ahead and fight specs over there, I'll handle Orochimaru."

Orochimaru heard this and chuckled, "You'll handle me Jiraiya? You were always the weakest of the sannin, even handicapped you can't beat me. And sending your little blonde against Kabuto here, you must not like him too much."

Jiraiya looked back at Shizune, "Can you keep an eye on Tsunade? Me and the gaki will handle the snake and his flunky." Shizune nodded and returned to trying to calm Tsunade down.

"You ready brat?" Jiraiya looked over at Naruto who smiled up at him angrily, "This one's for Sarutobi-sensei."

Naruto snorted, "You can make it for the old man if you want. This one's for the hebi-douche siccing those five suped-up cursed seal assholes on me when he chased me out of Oto. That son of a bitch with the bones wasn't a joke, I've still got a gripe with him."

"Kabuto now!" Kabuto pulled the bandages off of one of Orochimaru's arms and ran his own blood down the summoning tattoo on it, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

Kabuto and Orochimaru then stood atop three rampaging snakes, heading towards Naruto and Jiraiya.

Jiraiya went to summon himself, and in a small puff of smoke Gamakichi was revealed, **"Oh, hey! Good to see you again!"**

Naruto sweat-dropped, "Seriously? I could do better than that. Come on this is serious!"

"Gaki! Room!" Naruto moved back as Jiraiya made a set of hand-signs and slammed his hands on the ground, "Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)!"

The ground in front of him turned into a dark murky substance, trapping the snakes within, disabling their movement. Jiraiya audibly cursed, "Damn it! It isn't very deep at all! I must still be under the effects of Tsunade's drug."

Naruto shook his head, "Man ero-sennin, you sure do suck today. Come on, we don't need any help right now anyway." Naruto turned to Gamakichi, "Go over to the lady in black and the blonde woman and stay put. This won't be a nice battle." Gamakichi hopped off as the battle stalemated.

Jiraiya and Naruto both launched out at their chosen opponents, who broke off to confront them separately. Jiraiya began assaulting Orochimaru who was noticeably unable to attack using his arms, instead lashing out with kicks and slipping away from Jiraiya's assault.

Jiraiya decided to tease his former teammate, "Man it must be hard to use jutsu with no arms eh? That must suck for a guy like you huh Orochmaru?"

Orochimaru gave a superior smirk, "I don't even need my arms to destroy you Jiraiya. I saw your weak jutsu, you're just as bad as me."

Jiraiya barked out a laugh, "I guess that's true as well. I guess we're just going to have to wait for our retainers to finish off their little speck of business before we can really get to the main event."

Orochimaru laughed slowly, "The Kyuubi-child Jiraiya? I've seen what he can do. Against Kabuto he has no chance, the boy has absolutely no skill as a shinobi."

Jiraiya gave a big grin, "And that would be my fault. But don't worry 'Roachy, I fixed him up before we even got to this town. I'm letting him fight Kabuto down there because I know he'll win. Consider this his coming out party so to speak."

Orochimaru looked befuddled, "I fought him Jiraiya. Even going as hard as he could, Kyuubi's chakra and all, he didn't come close to impressing me. Now the Uchiha, what strength. A true genius."

Jiraiya broke down in laughter, "I guess the standards for a genius are seriously declining these days. If just being a genin at the regular age makes you a genius then I don't know what the hell to call Naruto."

Orochimaru gave a cruel grin, "How about failure? Loser? Cannon fodder? Front-line trash? Take your pick or make a few more of your own."

Jiraiya had a placid smile on his face as he just stared at Orochimaru, "Ah, that's a good one."

Orochimaru contorted his face in confusion, "What is? What are you talking about."

Jiraiya gave him a hard look, "That face of yours just now. I want to remember it for later. Just so I can compare it to the look on your face after you see what the gaki can really do."

XxX

Naruto faced off with Kabuto a distance away from where Orochimaru and Jiraiya were currently in conflict. Kabuto crossed his arms, a decided superior smirk on his face, "You might want to leave this place before things get messy, you're a little out of your element here. Orochimaru-sama, myself, Jiraiya, Tsunade, even the woman with Tsunade. All of us are high-level shinobi. I myself am on par with Kakashi Hatake. And you, you're just a cute little genin that's out of his place."

Naruto started chuckling, but then chuckling gave way to full-blown laughter, "Haha, man I'm glad I didn't end up broken like everybody else in Ne, because hearing that little 'threatening' rundown was too much. You? Comparable to Kakashi Hatake? I'll believe it when I feel it."

Naruto pointed back in Tsunade's general direction, "I already beat Tsunade the other day. I could have killed her if I wanted to, knowing she's got hemophobia would have easier than it was." He pointed in the direction of the trapped snakes, "Orochimaru is crippled. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch for me to beat him too, especially if he's underestimating me like you."

Kabuto laughed loudly, "To be naïve genin… Believing that you can fight and defeat anyone."

Naruto scratched his head, "How to get you to understand? …Okay, you obviously remember four years ago when one of Otogakure's bases got sacked and Orochimaru sent out his elite bodyguards to handle the intrusion."

Kabuto nodded, "Those fools were punished for allowing the intruder to escape. A spy like that could have been detrimental to our efforts. They haven't failed since." Kabuto's eyes snapped open wide, "Wait? Are you really saying? There's no way, you would have had to have been eight years old!"

Naruto grinned widely, "DING DING DING DING DING! Got it in one Kabu-teme! It was me! I'd have gotten away clean too if it wasn't for ero-sennin's love for dramatic bullshit. Who blows up the information depot during a reconnaissance mission? Honestly, how is that stealth?"

Kabuto pointed at him accusingly, "No way. From what I've seen and from the information on you you're nothing! A low level genin!"

Naruto chuckled, "Well that's what the Konoha records had on one Kabuto Yakushi also if you'll recall. We all know how that turned out right Mr. Spy? If you were capable of it then why wouldn't I be? I didn't even have to join any ranks and keep suspicion off like you did, all I had to do was not get caught."

Naruto tapped his finger on his head, "I had the plans for your invasion all up here way back then. Every move you had planned out over the long term was all up here. All of your bases, the info that was listed on your cursed seal, the true nature of Orochimaru's immortality jutsu, it's all here. The only reason your invasion had even half of a chance of even getting off of the ground was because of some unfortunate business that ended with me getting my memory and abilities sealed off before I could tell the necessary people."

Kabuto tilted his glasses and scoffed, "Well then Naruto-kun, please show me these 'skills' of yours that allowed you to breach our defenses. I'm in need of a new form of entertainment after all."

Naruto nodded sagely, "Ah I see. I guess it would get boring being Orochimaru's ass-muppet after a while. Playing hide the trouser-snake would get dull even for a flaming fruit like you I assume."

Kabuto gritted his teeth in anger, "Do not slander Orochimaru-sama like that. What could you possibly know about his power!"

Naruto grinned, "Hey, being a pedophilic creep doesn't mean he's weak, and from the way you're defending him it sounds like a fucking lie to me boy! And don't think I didn't notice how you refrained from defending yourself either!"

Kabuto rushed in at Naruto who set himself in a defensive stance. Kabuto's hands glowed blue as he neared closer. Naruto dodged his first attacks and kicked him back to get some distance between them, "Chakra scalpels I see. You're medic-ninja? Letting you in close wouldn't be too favorable as long as you're using that."

Kabuto chuckled, "Try to keep me away then Naruto-kun." Kabuto rushed back in and engaged Naruto close-up once more. Naruto ducked out of the way of Kabuto's attack, choosing to slip under and around his punches rather than block, lest his muscle tendons and other internal things in his arms be cut. He also had to watch it when he threw a punch or kick of his own to make sure that Kabuto didn't cut anything by simply blocking or parrying his moves.

Naruto dodged even more of Kabuto's potentially fatal strikes, grunting in effort, "You're really annoying to fight. You're really fast, even for a medic-nin."

Kabuto's confident smirk returned, "Like I said Naruto-kun, you're all talk. You're not on my level." Kabuto overextended on one of his attacks and allowed Naruto to spring out of close-range.

Naruto immediately began tossing out kunai at Kabuto who dodged deftly and chuckled, "Simple kunai Naruto-kun? That honestly can't be your best."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "There you go again, with that superiority thing of yours… Why are bad guys such douche bags?" Naruto rolled through a series of hand-signs, "Raiton: Denkai (Lightning Release: Electric Field)!"

Kabuto sat in place as he felt and saw nothing. Naruto simply stood in place, staring at Kabuto with cold blue eyes that seemed to analyze his every movement. Kabuto simply strolled forward, "You must not have that jutsu down quite yet Naruto-kun. Don't worry, I mean you are still just a _genin_ after all."

Naruto's eyes showed no indication that he had even acknowledged Kabuto's words. Kabuto shrugged and strolled forward, reactivating his chakra scalpels once more, until a sharp jolt of electricity thrusted him backwards, "What is this?"

"Didn't you hear me call out the jutsu?" Naruto kept his gaze on Kabuto only this time he had a smirk on his face, "You didn't really think that I was _that_ bad at using kunai did you?"

Kabuto turned to see a small spark of electricity coming from one of the kunai. He then noticed that the weapons Naruto had thrown were strewn about in a rough circle around him, "A barrier jutsu? I really have been underestimating you."

Naruto made more hand-signs, "I'm not done yet. From here I can branch off into tons of stuff, just watch. Raiton: Denki Meihemu (Lightning Release: Electric Mayhem)!"

Kabuto heard multiple snaps of electricity going off around him before a burning jolt hit his body. As he caught his breath from the sudden zap he could actually see random pulses of lightning rushing from kunai to kunai. Another shot hit him and dropped him to the ground while he was analyzing the jutsu. Kabuto was breathing raggedly as he turned his head towards Naruto whose hands were held out at the field surrounding Kabuto.

"Do you like it? This jutsu lets me just trap and torment you in there until you blackout or just die. The more chakra I pump into it the more frequent the bursts of electricity will come. The only thing is that I can't control the lightning coursing through the field, but it still has a great chance of hitting you as you've felt." Naruto channeled more chakra into his attack, forcing the snapping sounds of electricity to sound off more frequently.

Kabuto shakily rose to his feet once more but was quickly struck back down. Before he could even try to rise again he was hit one more time. Kabuto growled to himself and sunk into the ground before another bolt could hit him.

Naruto simply stood in a position to move quickly and jumped aside as Kabuto's hands emerged from the ground to grab at his legs. Naruto landed and formed three Kage Bunshin who swarmed around Kabuto, launching attacks up close. Kabuto had somehow recovered enough from being electrocuted to fend off and dispel the Bunshin without too much trouble.

Kabuto looked at Naruto who was once more giving him a cold stare, "That was a pretty effective jutsu Naruto-kun. If I couldn't dig my way out I don't know how I would have escaped it." Kabuto's hands glowed green as he ran them over his torso to heal himself, "You're quite a troublesome opponent."

Naruto tapped his foot impatiently while Kabuto healed, "Well while you're doing that…" Naruto made more hand-signs and thrusted his fists out at Kabuto, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken: (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"

A visible ripple of air flew at Kabuto and hit him like a high-speed cart, sending him flying back, rolling head over heels bonelessly until he came to a stop. Naruto smirked as he saw Kabuto cease his backwards movement, "You still alive over there?"

Kabuto stood up once more with blood trailing down his chin, "That was a solid hit there Naruto-kun. I was right, you are a troublesome opponent."

Naruto scoffed at Kabuto's pseudo-praise, "Oh really? I thought I was just a genin that was out of his element. If all it took to get your praise was an ass-kicking then when I go back to Konoha I guess I'll have to start dealing them out en masse."

XxX

Shizune had cleaned the blood from Tsunade's face quickly but found that she was still lacking response. She had taken to watching Naruto fight Kabuto seeing as how Jiraiya and Orochimaru were too far away to find and that she didn't know whether or not Naruto would require her back-up. Much to her surprise and delight however, Naruto was capable of handling Kabuto handily. Were it not for the fact that Kabuto was a medic-ninja she was sure that the accumulated damage of Naruto's attacks would have beaten him.

Tsunade's eyes had been affixed straight ahead ever since Kabuto had splattered her with blood, so she actually had been watching Naruto fight Kabuto the entire time. Watching him fight off the silver haired medic she realized that she had been extremely wrong in her first impressions of him. He shot his mouth off when they first met not because he was too confident in his own abilities, but because he found her pathetic, he truly did. Someone with such a famous name, such a famous lineage, and such talent and legend known around the Elemental Nations was so bitter and disenfranchised. So much so that she let her skills fade enough for someone like himself to get the better of her, that shouldn't have happened, no matter how dangerous he was.

When she had seen him train for the entire week she had been amazed. His attempt to use a range of high-level techniques was something she had never seen from a boy so young. After he was done with one he would move right on to the next one. If he couldn't get one to work he would attempt it until he could force it or until he dropped out of exhaustion. The spark she could see in his blue eyes while he trained was the antithesis of what could be found in them in battle.

In training he would laugh, chuckle, crack jokes at himself and show his spirit and emotion. In battle he kept things bottled, only choosing to take snide verbal shots at his opponents to get the upper hand. She had to rub her eyes a few times as she watched him train, because his actions in training reminded her so much of her deceased younger brother Nawaki.

Gamakichi hopped on her shoulder and looked out at the fight excitedly, **"Man my bro is kicking ass out there!"**

She unconsciously clinched her fist around her necklace as the battle carried on. Maybe, just one more time, she could believe in someone.

XxX

Kabuto pulled out a hooked kunai, "As enlightening as our little skirmish has been Naruto-kun, it's time I put an end to this. Orochimaru-sama is a busy man, we all have work to do."

Naruto nodded and pointed back at Tsunade, "Yep I agree. Right now I have to go drag baa-chan back to Konoha. But I also have a bet to win, luckily for me you're going to help me with that." Naruto snapped his fingers as two pairs of arms shot up from the ground and grabbed Kabuto's legs and arms, holding him in place.

Kabuto tried to shake them off, but the grip was iron, "What? What is this?"

A familiar voice sounded off from behind where he was grabbed. He turned slightly to face the cold eyes of the boy that was also facing off against him across the field, "You didn't think you were the only one who could use Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Earth Release: Hidden Mole Jutsu) did you?"

Kabuto looked ahead of him to see Naruto smirking, "Now I've got this new jutsu I was taught, but I never got to use it on any real people before. I think you'll make the perfect guinea pig for me don't you think? With your healing abilities you should be fine… maybe. Meh it's not like I really care anyway."

Naruto charged up chakra into his hand. Kabuto's eyes widened and his struggling increased as he realized just what it was as a blue spinning orb took shape in Naruto's grasp. Naruto strode towards him slowly, the stride turned into a jog and the jog into a sprint as he rushed at Kabuto. He thrusted the attack out and into the exposed body of Kabuto, "Rasengan!"

Naruto ignored the blood flying as the attack tore into Kabuto's body and sent him flying off into a nearby boulder. Naruto turned towards Tsunade and walked with a purpose over to her and Shizune. When he got close a goofy grin appeared on his face, "I do believe you owe me that necklace of yours baa-chan."

XxX

Orochimaru's jaw dropped low as he had just seen Naruto handily dispatch his right hand man. A clicking sound brought him back into awareness as he saw Jiraiya holding a camera, "Ah that's a good one."

Orochimaru gritted his teeth, "Such power. He's too dangerous to leave alive! I have to kill him here before he gets too strong!"

Orochimaru flew off of the snakes at Naruto. Jiraiya tried stopping him but was tossed aside, Tsunade's drug had yet to wear off. As he launched himself at Naruto his sword, Kusanagi, emerged from his mouth. Naruto's back was turned to the murderous sannin as he closed in, sword out and about.

As he was talking to Tsunade his senses went off and he drew his sword, turning around in the nick of time just to block Orochimaru's strike. Naruto's eyes widened as he realized just who he was crossing blades with, "Orochimaru-teme, nice to see you again." He noticed the arms of Orochimaru, "The old man really did a number on you back in Konoha didn't he?"

Orochimaru hissed at the boy as he pushed against him, "Just die boy. You'll ruin my plans for the future." He pulled back and began slashing at Naruto who held up his defenses, slowly backing up due to his surprising strength.

Naruto tried to strike back but Orochimaru showed traits reminiscent of his summons as he dodged Naruto's attacks. Naruto had to take great care as he slipped around Orochimaru's strikes, even a scratch from the legendary weapon could poison him, a tactic that Naruto had to somewhat respect, a good way to ensure victory for sure. And Orochimaru knew how to use it, even from his mouth.

As the clang of steel on steel went on Orochimaru landed a kick to his body, sending him flying back next to Tsunade. Naruto gave her a reassuring grin, "Don't worry baa-chan. I'll get rid of this guy and then I'll be dragging you back to Konoha, just sit tight."

Tsunade gasped at the sight of the blonde's grinning face, 'He looks just like Nawaki.' She took notice of Orochimaru hovering over him, Orochimaru thrusted downwards with his sword, Naruto barely blocked the point of the sword with the flat of his own.

Naruto struggled against Orochimaru as the murderous intent in Orochimaru's eyes blazed. Suddenly a fist was implanted into Orochimaru's face, sending him flying a few feet back.

Naruto blinked as he was pulled to his feet by the woman who was just on the ground watching him, "Uh, baa-chan?"

Tsunade was staring out intently at Orochimaru, "Are you okay brat?"

Naruto nodded dumbly, "Yeah baa-chan, I'm just fine."

She smirked at him in response, "Good, because I owe you a serious beatdown for all of this 'baa-chan' crap you're spouting." Realization then covered her face, "Oh yeah." She took off her necklace and placed it on Naruto, "You win kid. You've beaten me fair and square and I'm an honest woman."

Orochimaru stood up and cracked his jaw back into place as he glared out at Tsunade, "Tsunade, what do you think you're doing? Why would you put your life at risk just to assist a brat like that?"

Tsunade cracked her knuckles, "I would risk my life because I am Tsunade Senju, granddaughter of the Shodai Hokage, grandniece of the Nidaime Hokage, and as of today I am the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato."

Naruto and Shizune appeared at her side, "You tell him baa-chan. Now let's kick his ass and go home already!"

"Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto landed by his side and drew more blood down Orochimaru's summon tattoo to call upon another summon.

Naruto blanched as he saw Kabuto still moving, "What? I ripped him apart! He should be dead!"

"Naruto!" Naruto rushed off to Jiraiya's side to summon for him, "Bring out Gamabunta." Naruto nodded and summoned for him and Jiraiya.

Tsunade followed suit and summoned her own boss creature.

As three massive puffs of smoke went up across the landscape the smoke cleared to reveal a massive snake, slug, and toad, all looking at one another. Gamabunta let out a puff of smoke from his pipe, **"Well if it isn't Manda and Katsuyu. How long's it been since I've seen you two?"**

Jiraiya looked down from where he and Naruto were standing on his head, "Bunta, we need your help for this one. So are you in?"

Gamabunta let out another puff from his pipe, **"Sure, why not? I guess now I can finally get that Snakeskin wallet I've been wanting."**

Naruto smirked, "What would a giant toad want with a snakeskin wallet anyway?" Naruto looked over at Kabuto standing on Manda next to Orochimaru, "I swear that Rasengan should have killed him. I hit him dead on, I splattered his innards all over my face and everything."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto momentarily, "If he's anything like his master then he's a bastard to kill. Don't worry kid, we're settling up right now."

Tsunade looked out at Orochimaru from atop Katsuyu, "This is it Orochimaru. After this there will be one less sannin in the world."

Orochimaru simply chuckled while Manda hissed under him, **Orochimaru. What do you think you're doing summoning me out here?"**

Kabuto tried to calm the massive snake down, "Manda we just-."

"**Silence whelp! I won't bother speaking to a flunky like you!"** Manda turned angry eyes to the top of his head, **"When this is over I'll be expecting over one-hundred sacrifices."**

Orochimaru smirked, "Of course. Nothing less for you Manda."

Kabuto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, 'Thank goodness. If Manda knew Orochimaru-sama couldn't use jutsu he might just eat us.'

Jiraiya patted Naruto on the head, "Alright kid, it's deadly serious now. Stay out of things unless I say otherwise. Even if you think you see an opening it's probably a feint."

Naruto snorted and slapped Jiraiya's hand from his head, "I'm aware of the level of this fight ero-sennin. And I'm also not stupid enough to fall for any half-assed feints. As far as I'm concerned I'm your trump card if anything."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto in a confused manner, "How so gaki?"

Naruto smirked, "Think about it. Orochimaru can't use his arms to use jutsu, Kabuto and Shizune don't really have any long range jutsu, you and I are the only ones that can fire stuff from a distance, and I can make an ungodly amount of Kage Bunshin, making tons of cannon fodder/potential attackers. I'm your ace in the hole here."

Jiraiya chuckled, "Well I guess that's one thing about you that didn't change; you always want to be in the fight."

Naruto scratched his head, "Yeah, I guess it's in my blood or something."

Jiraiya patted Gamabunta on the head, "Let's go Bunta!"

Gamabunta drew his tanto and rushed at Manda who slithered away rapidly, surprising Naruto, "Damn! That big-ass snake is ridiculously fast!"

Manda moved to Gamabunta's blind spot and attempted to bite down on him, poisonous fangs glistening in the sunlight. Gamabunta jumped aside in time to dodge the strike and hopped away.

Katsuyu moved in and launched acid from her mouth at Manda. Once again showing deceptive speed Manda slipped away and rushed Gamabunta. The boss toad lifted his sword to block Manda's bite, but with a swing of his tail he knocked the sword out of Gamabunta's webbed hands.

Katsuyu launched more acid out at Manda, but he dodged before it could hit. Manda rushed over to Katsuyu and began constricting her. Tsunade noticed her boss summon in dire straits, "Katsuyu, separate!"

The massive slug did as commanded and broke off into tons of smaller forms disorienting Manda who had been wrapped around her at the time.

Jiraiya and Gamabunta decided to take advantage of the momentary advantage given to them. Gamabunta jumped back to gain some space while Jiraiya on his head went through hand signs, "Gamabunta! Give me some oil!"

Gamabunta spat out a glob of oil as Jiraiya held his fingers to his mouth to make a fireball, "Katon: Gamayu Endan (Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bulllet)!" The massive firestream that followed engulfed Manda, seemingly melting his figure, however it revealed to simply be a snakeskin.

Manda then burst from the ground behind Gamabunta. Naruto who had been sitting back the entire time saw this and whipped through hand-signs, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!" Naruto shot out a double fisted punch at Manda who recoiled with the markings of fists on his face.

Manda hissed as he coiled himself up, the stinging marks still evident, **"Little fucking brat!"**

Jiraiya grinned at the shot Naruto had taken at the powerful summon until he blinked, "Wait. Where's Tsunade?"

Right on cue Tsunade flew at Manda, holding Gamabunta's tanto and slammed the blade through his mouth, pinning him to the ground.

Naruto's eyes widened at the feat of strength, "Ero-sennin, remind me to never pull the crap that I tried when I first met baa-chan ever again."

Jiraiya patted his head, "Well first of all, calling her baa-chan is just asking for it."

Naruto scoffed, "That's pushing it. If I won't stop calling you ero-sennin then how can she stop me from calling her baa-chan? Super-strength beatdown be damned."

Tsunade ran up Manda's body and began pummeling Orochimaru while Kabuto's attention was held by Shizune. Naruto sweat-dropped at the sight of the snake sannin taking such a beating, "Y-You think we should jump in or something?"

Jiraiya had his telescope out with a stupid grin on his face, "Nah. Tsunade's got it kid."

Naruto's eye twitched as the fight persisted, "No I mean for Orochimaru. His facial structure has to be liquidated by now… Kami, let it be known that the guy can take one hell of a punch if nothing else, he can't even get up a guard to block… That sucks."

Tsunade sent him flying with one last massive shot. Kabuto rushed to his side and picked him up. Orochimaru glared out at Tsunade, "Damn you Tsunade, my plans have failed for now. Do not think this is over, there is still another way to heal my arms, and the next time, I'll kill you both."

With that being said he and Kabuto sunk into the earth to make their escape. Naruto, Jiraiya, and Shizune appeared next to her as all of the summons had long since dispersed. Jiraiya slapped Naruto on the shoulder, "Good job brat! A high level fight like this is over and you aren't an ugly red smudge on the landscape!"

Naruto sighed and rolled his shoulder, "No respect… I don't get no respect at all."

Shizune smiled and kissed him on the cheek, "I respect you Naruto-kun."

Naruto chuckled in disbelief and shook his head with a slight smile on his face, "And that somehow made this day of bullshit somewhat worth it. Thank you Shizune-chan."

Tsunade smirked as she walked over to Naruto, "Well then brat. You won the bet, got the necklace, and now we're going back to Konoha. What are we going to do now?"

Naruto stood still in thought for a moment before turning on his heel and heading back to town. He waved over his shoulder as he walked away, "We just got through fighting Orochimaru and I've been training non-stop for about a week. _I'm_ going to go sleep like the dead, you guys can go do whatever the hell you want."

The amassed adults had a chuckle as they heard Naruto grumbling about Kabuto's blood being all in his clothes. Tsunade shook her head at his retreating figure, "He's going to be a fine man one day. And perhaps a fine Hokage too."

Jiraiya put a hand on her shoulder, "You don't know the half of it." A lecherous grin came upon his face, "Now that that's all done, a woman like you can't be seen in clothes with blood all over them, that's a travesty, it should be a dress or nothing. Luckily for you I happen to have no dress back in my room!"

Naruto could only shake his head as the sounds of a solid 'THWACK' followed by Jiraiya flying overhead towards town rang out.

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Jutsu List

Raiton: Denkai (Lightning Release: Electric Field): C-Rank Ninjutsu. Mid-to-close range. Requires contact points that can conduct electricity, metal obviously works best. A field of electric chakra surrounds the intended point, keeping an adversary trapped within. If the foe attempts to physically breach the field a powerful force will push them back within, keeping them inside.

Raiton: Denki Meihemu: (Lightning Release: Electric Mayhem): C-Rank Ninjutsu. Mid-to-close range. A branching technique from Raiton: Denkai. Sends random bolts of lightning between the conducter points. The more chakra used the faster and more frequent the jolts will be.

Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken, formerly Fuuton: Kazenokami-ken no Kami (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God): B-Rank Ninjutsu. Mid-to-close range. Forces the user to direct wind chakra around their hands in the blunt shape of their fist and thrust it out at their target. The impact is equal to the amount of chakra pumped into the attack, however the control must be adequate in order to use the jutsu at such a high level, violent backlash can occur if the control over the amount of chakra is not satisfactory. Theoretically the attack can be used to crush an opponent into paste against a solid surface, or can throw an enemy an unmeasurable distance with blunt force trauma.

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**Over with and done. Wow, tons of people seem interested in this story. Is it really that original of a concept? I mean I haven't seen it before, I don't think, but I'm getting some buzz over this. I'll keep going and it will be more fun for me now. I actually don't really like writing search for Tsunade arcs at all, and things are going to get fun again now that I'm done with that.**

**Drop me a line, all thoughts are more than welcome, letting me know that I'm doing something messed up helps me get better, I've only really been writing like this for four or five months so feedback is always awesome.**

**Now back to the old grind, Kenchi out.**


	6. Wrath of the Maelstrom

Review Shoutouts

**Sir Omega: I realize that he didn't fight the way he was supposed to as a member of ROOT but also remember as I stated to another beforehand as well, old habits die hard. Before the seal broke he was an attention mongering loudmouth kid. He also shouted his techniques before doing them. Bad habits don't just disappear and when pressured people always go right back to their old tricks, no matter how wrong it is. And I totally remember reading a Naruto-ROOT fic that was bad-ass way back in the day, but for the life of me I can't recall what it was. It has to be in my favorites somewhere though…**

**insomaniac1: Well Danzo gave him up because Sarutobi would now be keeping tabs on him to keep this from happening again and he needed to stay in the shadows as much as possible. Danzo didn't begin making major moves that anyone could clearly label as his until the second part of the manga, so I assumed that he didn't have ample manpower to do such things until then because Nagato pretty much killed a shitload of them, along with Salamander Hanzo's men when they killed Yahiko.**

**They both did it because they thought he would be a threat, and that he was already one of Danzo's mindless soldiers anyway and was already broken And the slapping of all of the seals on him did fuck him up, for one it made him into canon Naruto that sucked at everything and could barely channel his chakra at the start. The scar is from his work in ROOT, it was hidden by a genjutsu seal, I wrote that in an earlier chapter. I'll go into detail on it better in the future, there is a good story behind it and it should rule all.**

**I thought about going through more moments before the fight with Gaara, but figured that it would be redundant and that you could come to your own conclusions on how such things would affect him.**

**netveiwer: I'm not sure, I'll think about it. It won't happen for quite a few chapters if I do choose to do it though.**

**InARealPickle: I laughed my ass off when I re-read over his encounter with Itachi so I'm glad you did too. And thanks for the help with the typos. Spell check is a fickle bitch.**

**Jyuubi6: It already is a major project. Even though it was spur of the moment to start it I'm loving writing it right up there with the other two. I'm not stopping this one either.**

**apimpnamedKyuubi: Yes it should, but I was taking into account that he was using his mouth to attack him instead of his arms, not sure if that is really a factor, but I think it should be.**

**JNottle: I need to read that then. I don't know who the hell I'm going to pair him with, I'm thinking of trying a harem though. And I have plans for Sai. Most stories don't use him, but this one will. About the rookies… Read on and learn… *insert evil cackle here***

**Warslasher: He is pissed. He was just on the job, and you can't afford to be a bitch and be all pissy at someone when you're a soldier in the field, that shit could get somebody killed. In reality he really doesn't want a damn thing to do with Jiraiya anymore, but he took the training for Rasengan because he figured it would help, it is a famous jutsu after all. I'll get intricate on all of his relationship with Jiraiya B.S. later.**

**Dark Insomniacs: I am going to pull a harem out for this one just so you know.**

**Lanky Nathan: Damn, that's some good praise, thanks. I'll keep going then. Seriously, the response is stunning.**

**Reikson: I will probably end up running names for jutsu by you seeing as you have more compact and convenient names for them dude.**

**T00STr00nG: Hopefully what I'm setting up is satisfactory for my peepulation on that front.**

**hflp: I had to use that line. That is one of the top 20 most manliest lines in movie history in my book.**

**GODHAND Gene: I love kicking Kabuto's ass, it's just fun. I just want to take his face and mush it into the dirt he's so fucking annoying. Tsunade and Naruto will have a quirky little situation going on with them, mostly how you put it, unusual friendship. And Kishimoto is failing epically after prolonged awesomeness with his manga which should probably be renamed SASUKE at this point seeing as how the bastard always comes up aces (I mean he made the fucking Raikage cut off his own arm. When does Naruto get to do something that kick-ass?), but I see a sliver of redemption coming.**

**jream: A combination of both actually… because Kabuto was a bitch until he integrated Orochimaru's remains and I've still yet to see him fight yet.**

**animegamemaster6: Maniacal laughs do damage to your larynx, you should watch that dude.**

**irae2007: I like writing all of my stories because I can handle them in different ways. They all have their own vibe and feel, I just got a fire under my ass when I wrote Fullmetal Shinobi and ended up pumping out a shitload of work. I should go back and get an overall page count…**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. As a warning I have been known to deliver powerful open-handed slaps to the people that bring this up out loud in person. So watch out, you never know when I might be around.

**Chapter 5: Wrath of the Maelstrom**

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The walk back to Konoha had been entirely uneventful, entirely, and this is what terrified Jiraiya more than anything else. Naruto had said no more than five sentences to him over the course of the trip home. And whenever he did it was simply business. He spoke to Tsunade and Shizune on a regular basis, he had gotten along quite well with Tsunade's dark haired attendant, go figure. But whenever Jiraiya would try to jump into the conversations Naruto would either end them, or simply box him out. Apparently he had been telling the truth and no just shooting the shit when they started. He would be professional because they were on a mission, and now that it was all but over, Jiraiya was starting to see just how Naruto was feeling about him.

Upon their arrival in Konoha they all headed up to the Hokage Tower to get Tsunade introduced and situated, grilling by the Sandaime's old advisers included. Konohamaru didn't really take kindly to someone replacing his grandfather's position so he holed himself up inside the office, barring entry with traps and blocking the door. Somehow he ended up keeping people out all day long.

Upon being informed by Konohamaru's friends, Udon and Moegi, Naruto just walked up, Sparta-kicked the heavy oaken door off of the hinges, sending all of the stuff behind it flying, walked through the office using the door to block all of Konohamaru's traps, and dragged the kid out by his collar.

He chose to do this himself because he knew Tsunade would have done roughly the same thing if she really wanted to get into the office, and she might not have been so nice about it. Naruto took Konohamaru to the top of the Hokage Tower and sat him down to talk, "So, what the hell is wrong with you kid."

Naruto got a tick mark on his head when Konohamaru clammed up and pulled his knees to his chest, "Okay, you can either tell me and we can talk this out, or I'll just do like my trainer did for me when I was a kid and beat the crap out of you until you forget why you're all mopey in the first place."

Konohamaru paled when a mild amount of killing intent began leaking out of Naruto, "What happened to you boss? You've been different since the chunin exams."

Naruto sighed, "It's a long story and because I know what's wrong with you it might make you even more pissed off then you already are, for one reason or another. Now don't change the subject, what's your malfunction today?"

Konohamaru snapped at him, "I thought you already knew."

Naruto answered back snippily, "I do I just want to hear it from you. Facing up to your own problems is the first step towards moving past them."

Konohamaru looked up with tears in his eyes, "What if I don't want to move past them? I don't want to move past my grandfather boss." Naruto stayed silent and let Konohamaru speak, "Everyone is moving on, going forward with everything. It's like he was never here, he was the Hokage boss! And everyone's going to forget about him!"

Naruto steeled himself, he really didn't feel like touching anything that involved Sarutobi with a ten-foot pole right then, but this kid needed him, and being a ninja means doing things that you don't want to for the greater good, "Look Konohamaru, he was the Hokage for many years, longer than anybody else, he had a long reign, and he's done so much for this place. I'm sure everybody has a stand-out memory of him." Naruto then grumbled under his breath, "Kami knows that I do…"

Naruto shook off that dark line of thinking, "The point is that someone that has touched so many people can never truly just disappear. Trust me brat, chances are that they'll be talking about him long after _we're_ dead. You can go up to just about any of the ninja in this place and the majority of the civilians and they can probably give you some stories."

Konohamaru started drying his eyes, "What about you boss? What kind of stories do you have of grandpa?"

Naruto held back a frown, "I don't think you're old enough to hear about my story of the old man. Maybe one day I can tell you, but it's better that I don't right now." Naruto patted Konohamaru on the head, "Do you feel better now?" Konohamaru nodded, "Are you going to cry a bitch around me again anytime soon?" Konohamaru shook his head, "Good!"

Naruto picked the kid up and sent him off on his way. He made his way back to Tsunade's office where she had a mass of chunin picking up the mess left by Naruto going hard on the door. Seated behind what was soon to be her desk she smirked upon seeing the young shinobi enter, "Nice mess gaki. Why did you kick my door?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Two reasons; you would have done it yourself eventually and… Honestly I've wanted to do that for years, that just gave me an excuse."

Naruto took a seat as the last of the mess was cleaned and the door was put back. Tsunade took on a business face when the door was shut, "So what's going on with you and Jiraiya? You weren't speaking to him at all on the way back."

Naruto locked eyes with the older blonde, "Are you sure you want to hear this? It's not something really vital for you to know. And I'm also pretty sure it's a village secret, probably above me being the Kyuubi jinchuuriki."

Tsunade's eyes widened momentarily before she smirked, "Well I'm going to be Hokage now right? What's a village leader without a few dark little secrets?"

Naruto chuckled, "Get comfortable because you're going to be sitting there for a while asking me questions and stuff."

Tsunade frowned and pulled a bottle of sake from the desk. Naruto sweat-dropped, "Wow, you certainly stashed that quickly didn't you?"

Tsunade scoffed as she pulled out a cup, "It's not mine smartass. Sarutobi-sensei left it there before I ever even got here."

Naruto sharply inhaled breath, "That's right, the old man did train you three twisted sannin didn't he? That might make this an uncomfortable conversation." He snapped his head around, "No Anbu guards?"

Tsunade shrugged, "I'm not Hokage yet kid, I still have to get through coronation first. It's just us for now."

Naruto kept silent as he thoroughly checked the room before he looked to Tsunade once more, "So did ero-sennin tell you anything about me?" Tsunade nodded, "What do you know?"

Tsunade poured herself a cup, "Other than the stuff that I already knew he let me in on your base character and stuff. Apparently he left out the scary-battle phase part."

Naruto clinched his hands together as he set his chin on them, "That's because he didn't know about it. I didn't used to be a goofy loud fuck-up until a few years ago. I was more like I am now, calm, collected, focused, and I had something of a mean streak too."

Tsunade looked confused, "So your personality changed? How is this a secret?"

Naruto shook his head, "It's not _that_ my personality evolved, it's _how_ it evolved. Haven't you noticed that I'm too good for my own good at fighting? I shouldn't have been able to stop Orochimaru's surprise attack on me back in Tanzaku Gai if I was just a genin, hell, even a chunin. I was spamming jutsus that I shouldn't know how to do and fighting on par with a jounin-level ninja."

Tsunade flashed back to all of the things he had done since she had met him and then she realized.

_(Flashback)_

_Tsunade's eyes drifted over to him, "So who's the brat Jiraiya?"_

_Jiraiya looked at Naruto, who was wearing an unreadable expression, minus the twitching, "This is Naruto Uzumaki, my new apprentice."_

_Naruto's eyebrows shot up, "Apprentice? Since when?"_

_Jiraiya smirked at the boy, "Since you signed the toad contract before the invasion kid. Congratulations."_

_Naruto grumbled and placed his face on his hands, "Great… The guy that locked away my strength and skill wants to make amends and teach me how to fight again…"_

_XxX_

_Kabuto pointed at him accusingly, "No way. From what I've seen and from the information on you you're nothing! A low level genin!"_

_Naruto chuckled, "Well that's what the Konoha records had on one Kabuto Yakushi also if you'll recall. We all know how that turned out right Mr. Spy? If you were capable of it then why wouldn't I be? I didn't even have to join any ranks and keep suspicion off like you did, all I had to do was not get caught."_

_Naruto tapped his finger on his head, "I had the plans for your invasion all up here way back then. Every move you had planned out over the long term was all up here. All of your bases, the info that was listed on your cursed seal, the true nature of Orochimaru's immortality jutsu, it's all here. The only reason your invasion had even half of a chance of even getting off of the ground was because of some unfortunate business that ended with me getting my memory and abilities sealed off before I could tell the necessary people."_

(End Flashback)

Tsunade looked at Naruto and locked eyes with him, taking note of the scar over his right eye and how he was patiently waiting for the point to hit her, "There was something done to you back then, and Jiraiya was the one who did it."

Naruto smiled faintly, "You're half right, ero-sennin was the one who sealed me but it was ordered by another. Sarutobi-jiji really screwed me over back then."

Tsunade's jaw was hanging, "Sarutobi-sensei? Why? What happened to force him to seal you off?"

Naruto's eyes blazed over angrily, "Nothing happened to force him to seal me. I was injured during a covert mission, ero-sennin said he found me and brought me to the old man where they found out it was me. Apparently they thought I was some kind of threat, too strong for my age to be left alone. They didn't even wait for me to regain consciousness before they took me and locked away my strength and speed, my skills, my jutsu, my knowledge, everything."

Tsunade was enthralled with the story, "So what happened then? Why did the seal break? Did one of them take it off?"

Naruto shook his head, "I had my mind regressed back to the time when I was four years old for all intents and purposes, I had to learn things like how to read all over again. I was mentally behind everybody else in the academy and everything. I broke the seal during the invasion, and since then it's been a matter of picking up the pieces and relearning everything. Those three jutsu that I used against Kabuto, I have tons of those, those were just the ones that I had the time to relearn, not even master."

Tsunade still had a question, "Why did Sarutobi-sensei do it? Why did he think you were dangerous?"

Naruto leaned back in his chair, "I can't tell you that. It would be a matter of total betrayal. It's not like it's that good of a secret, but let ero-sennin be the one to tell you, I'm technically not even supposed to exist if you catch my drift."

Tsunade nodded, "One more thing. Where do you think you rank in the overall roster of my active shinobi?"

Naruto shrugged, "How should I know? It's not like I've fought any of them to find out or anything." Naruto pointed out at her suddenly, "But fuck being a genin though. You know damn well I'm better than that, anything other than that will do right now."

Tsunade smiled at him, "Noted. Now get out of my office, you're the only real ninja from this village that I've actually gotten to meet yet." She put away the sake and shooed him off.

When he was out of sight she called out loudly, "Shizune, call a meeting for me for all ninja the rank of chunin and over after the coronation we have so business to sort out."

XxX

Naruto sat on his bed back in his apartment. He had decided to stop looking for Danzo, if Danzo wanted to see him he could easily find him, it's not like it was hard anymore. He didn't need anyone to sort the whole mess out anymore, meaning that honestly there was no reason to look for Danzo. His original goal was to be a ninja for Konoha, Sarutobi had proverbially blocked one path with a boulder, but instead of complaining that the way had been blocked Naruto had followed the path the boulder had taken to find a completely new destination to find his own way towards becoming one.

Danzo had never made it a secret that he thought of Naruto as a tool, an expendable soldier. While Naruto had more value than most if not all of his other operatives; when your house burns down you don't grab the stuff inside, you just run, and when Naruto was caught on the job and exposed Danzo had to wash his hands of him, it was all he could have done. Give them Naruto and cut your losses, the only thing a man like Danzo doing the things he was doing had as an option.

He knew Jiraiya would be confronted by Tsunade about sealing him, he knew he'd tell her what he and Sarutobi had 'learned' about Ne, and try to color her opinion. But honestly, loyalty only went so far as far as Naruto was concerned and being blacklisted by Ne pretty much got rid of his loyalty, if you don't want me, I don't need you, was the way he saw it. The best Danzo would get from him at this point was him keeping his mouth shut about Ne which was all he was going to do in the first place.

Jiraiya's arrogance in his own ability to gather information kept him from ever asking Naruto what he knew about Ne, thinking that Naruto had been a young flunky and didn't have much information.

It's always fun to have preconceived notions isn't it… Not really smart though.

Naruto knew quite a bit. He had been trained by Danzo almost personally and had information given to him by the man himself, no misdirection necessary, Naruto would never have broken to torture, it had been made sure of and tested thoroughly because Danzo never placed the seal ensuring he would be quiet about Ne on him. Therefore Danzo told him things, everybody needs at least one confidant.

But that was not important either, he was now a Konoha ninja, no longer in Ne. He answered to another higher-up and belonged to their forces now.

Naruto groaned as he sat up in a meditative position. The last thought he had before slipping into his own mind was that he was still a weapon, he had just been lost and collected by another.

XxX

Naruto opened his eyes to reveal himself standing at the door of his own apartment. Naruto sighed, "Well it's better than a sewer I guess…" He opened the door and walked through his mindscape/apartment to find a dog-sized fox with nine-tails and a collar asleep on what was supposed to be his bed, obviously the Kyuubi.

The Kyuubi's ears twitched as he drew closer and it sat its head up to let out a vulpine yawn, **"Hello kit. I have to say, it's a major improvement over the sewer."**

Naruto sat on the bed next to the fox and looked over at the awakening biju, "I can see you're enjoying it. It's still not as cool as it used to be though. If I want to see my own apartment then I sure as hell wouldn't come in here."

The fox growled in comfort as Naruto shook his head with a faint smirk, "So is my mind good enough to broker out the old deal again or what?"

Kyuubi cracked open an eye and stood to walk over to Naruto, **"Well since I can make physical contact with you again we can do this right now. Anything you want to add? Anything you didn't like? You want to get rid of the trigger?"**

Naruto raised his eyebrow, "No I liked the trigger. Hell no, we're keeping that, that was always cool. Keep that, also you can still see and feel everything I do, you can talk to me, but I can still mute you-."

"**Spoilsport…"** Kyuubi butted Naruto with its muzzle.

Naruto kept reeling off deals, "I get to retrain using your chakra, and I have to get ridiculously strong again, per the first agreement. I still have to kick the guy that helped the Yondaime come up with the seal that imprisoned you in me in the balls, and I think I'll enjoy doing that more than you will. Am I forgetting anything?"

Kyuubi scratched behind its ears, **"No not really. If you want to make another deal or something I'm always open to negotiations, remember that kit. And don't wait too long to use the trigger, you know I always liked that move."**

Naruto stood up and let the Kyuubi lay back down on the bed, "Alright, I'm gone. Later you lazy-ass fox…"

Kyuubi batted one of its tails in acknowledgement as Naruto left the apartment/mindscape.

XxX

Naruto opened his eyes and sat up to reveal the hazy outline of the sun outside, "Damn it, did I blackout until morning?" Naruto shakily stood up and went into his bathroom to help wake himself up. As he was brushing his teeth a knock came at his window. Spitting and rinsing his mouth he then walked over to the window in his bedroom revealing an Anbu in a bear mask, "Kuma-san. I must have slept through Tsunade-baachan's coronation right?"

The Anbu nodded, "Tsunade-sama wishes for you to meet her at the tower immediately."

Naruto nodded, "Sure thing, just let me change clothes and then I'll go."

The Anbu used shunshin to disappear from sight as Naruto shut his window.

Upon changing and leaving his house Naruto was once again subjected to the usual looks of disdain and scorn from the villagers. Naruto went through a mental checklist as he walked towards the tower, 'I'm gonna get that guy, that guy, that bitch is screwed. Oh! That guy is getting fucked when I get free time!' Naruto had not lost his luster for pranks and seeing as how he needed to vent on someone anyway why not take it out on the people that dislike you regardless.

As he arrived in the tower he found the same Anbu from his house standing in front of the door of Tsunade's office, "Hokage-sama is waiting inside Uzumaki-san." Naruto nodded and entered.

Naruto found the office filled wall to wall with many of Konoha's high level ninja. Naruto sauntered, pushed, slid, and mashed his way through until he reached Tsunade's desk, "You wanted to see me baa-chan?"

Tsunade glared at Naruto as she heard snickering coming from the back, "Yes brat. I asked for you to come today so that I could get a general idea of your promotion. I've asked these jounin here because they must know more of what you're capable of than I do."

Naruto snorted, "Yeah right…"

Tsunade opened the floor for the others to voice their opinion on Naruto. Needless to say most had nothing too flattering to say about the blonde, the only thing most said that was actually good was that he had high reserves, and then the compliments dropped off sharply. Naruto could only stand silently and pondering, 'That guy's getting it, that guy's getting it. Oh hell no! He called me what? That guy's getting fucked!'

Meanwhile the Kyuubi was doing some musing of its own, **"You could kill that guy, you could kill that guy… What the hell? That guy wouldn't last more than 5 seconds against you, how is he getting a say in this?"**

Kurenai then stepped forward to take her turn, "Naruto has high chakra reserves and stamina, which lend themselves to him well when he uses Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Other than that, and an ability to think on his feet, however I cannot give him a good grade in the other facets of being a shinobi. He is usually reckless and quick to act before thinking, he has poor chakra control due to such high reserves, his taijutsu has almost no true form, he has no aptitude for genjutsu, and other than his aforementioned Kage Bunshin he has no true ninjutsu to speak of."

In the back Iruka had to grit his teeth hearing all of these people speak about Naruto as if he was a burden on the program. Asuma pretty much agreed to the same thing leaving Naruto looking around, "Where the hell is Kakashi? Shouldn't someone have my back in here?"

Asuma looked at Naruto, "Good luck with that kid, Kakashi isn't going to show for this until we're three hours in."

Naruto felt like slamming his head into something; a person or inanimate object, it didn't really matter to him. Tsunade noticed that everyone was done with their opinions and looked to Naruto, "Well we've heard from everyone else Naruto, so what about you? Do you have anything to say about what you've been told today? You have the floor."

Tsunade shivered as a dark grin came upon Naruto's face. He turned to face all of his superiors, "Well speaking personally… Fuck you all!"

As the jaws dropped of everyone in the room Naruto began walking around the room, "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you… Not you Iruka-sensei, you didn't say a thing. But yeah, basically, fuck everyone with no real input or a true perspective based on real knowledge."

He continued walking around the room, "You say my jutsu list is pitiful, did you ever know if anyone tried to teach me any? Have you ever seen me fight other than the one time against Neji? You say my control is shoddy, well if you have enough chakra to make upwards of one-thousand Kage Bunshin then I'd love to see you try and keep it up to snuff. You say my taijutsu sucks, come and fight me and find out just how bad at it I am. Having an aptitude at genjutsu is kind of hard without someone teaching it to you isn't it? All of you love to talk about how much you've heard that I suck to make you feel better about your own teams, but none of you have even the slightest idea of what I'm capable of, and while I kind of like that sometimes, right now it's really starting to piss me off."

Naruto finished and sat on Tsunade's desk calmly, "I can see you all have something to say. So go ahead and say it."

The room exploded with jounin and chunin yelling at Naruto for his disrespect and begging Tsunade to discipline him. Naruto turned to look at Tsunade and shrugged when he saw her massaging her temple, "Well you said I had the floor. That means I can say whatever I want."

Tsunade sighed in resignment, "I suppose I dug my own grave on that one…"

Asuma calmly stared Naruto down, "Do you really think you're ready for a promotion kid? You didn't come off as a world beater during the chunin exams."

Naruto scoffed, "Whatever, and I suppose you'd rather have someone like Shikamaru be promoted then instead of me."

Asuma blinked, "Actually yes, he showed great strategic thinking and combat savvy."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah, and what will he do when he ends up going against someone that can flat out overpower him and disrupt his plans. He's just lucky Temari got caught up in playing his game. If she really wanted to kill him she could have just ripped the tree he was hiding in up by the roots with her wind jutsu and crushed him. Hell I could beat Shikamaru, as a matter of fact I could beat your entire team if I had to."

He looked at Kurenai, "I could beat everyone on your team. Hell I beat Kiba with my chakra and reflexes disrupted an _hour_ after finishing the second stage of the exams with no downtime."

Naruto shrugged, "You know what, as a matter of fact I could probably beat Gai's team too, I already beat Neji, Rock Lee's hurt and if he ever recovers will need rehab before he could step to me, and Tenten, I'll beat her the way Temari did if she hasn't learned anything new. And don't even get me started on my team… Those teams are apparently the best, which means that there isn't a single goddamn genin in this entire village that can beat me."

Tsunade spoke up before they all broke into another uproar, "That's quite a statement brat. Care to back that up with action?"

Naruto smirked at Tsunade, "Do you really want me to put ten of your genin in the hospital? You sure you can spare that kind of manpower?"

Tsunade couldn't help but return the smirk Naruto was giving her, "Fine then. In one week you will fight Asuma's, Kurenai's, and Gai's genin, in addition to the ones on your own team. If you can adequately impress then you'll be promoted to chunin." She spoke again as Naruto opened his mouth, "We'll handle anything further _if_ you can get a promotion from this test."

Kurenai spoke up, "Hokage-sama you can't be serious. I don't know of any genin that can take on three other genin teams, let alone a rookie and the dead-last of this year's graduates."

Asuma nodded in agreement, "The kid has never shown anything special, what makes you think that something like this is necessary?"

Ibiki stepped forward, having kept silent the entire time, "This 'dead-last' as you so eloquently put it captured the Kazekage's children and took out an entire squad of Oto shinobi that had our own forces pinned down during the Suna-Oto invasion. He at least deserves the chance to prove something to all of you that can't see past the titles that _you all_ gave him in the first place."

Naruto smiled, 'Note to self: Do not bombscare Ibiki with horrible, guerilla warfare-ass pranks.'

Tsunade nodded, "Thank you Ibiki." She looked out at the other amassed ninja, "I have personally seen this boy face down Orochimaru's spy Kabuto Yakushi and come out on top. He even went head-to-head with Orochimaru himself and helped me and Jiraiya fight him off. If he is what you call a dead-last then I'm glad that you didn't determine the skill levels back when I was a genin or else I would probably still be one."

Naruto looked at Tsunade, "So are we done? Because I would love to go and vent my frustrations right now. This entire meeting has pissed me right the fuck off."

Tsunade sighed, "Language brat. And yes, that was all I needed. Be at the chunin exam stadium at 10 a.m. next Monday for your fights."

Naruto nodded and bowed to her before moving to open and jump out the window to begin racing along the rooftops.

As soon as he left the office broke into a smattering of talk. Mostly centered around the audacity of Naruto and how 'that demon brat' was going to get slaughtered next week. Tsunade finally got fed up with it all, "SILENCE! What does this look like, the jounin lounge? Get out!" As they began to leave she called, "Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, you three stay."

They did as was told, "The rules for the test will be roughly that he will fight each genin one by one. The other rules will be given on the day of the test. You can all get together to determine the order in which you want them to fight. You all need to inform your teams of my decision for next week. Prepare them well, trust me, they'll need every bit of training they can get…"

Asuma looked skeptical, "It's just one genin Tsunade-sama. Even if we don't train them he couldn't possibly beat more than two in a row."

Tsunade gave up and shrugged, "It's your team Asuma, you can do whatever you feel you should with them. They're your responsibility. You're all dismissed."

XxX

Naruto ran along the rooftops back to his home when a familiar presence landed behind him, "Sasuke-teme, you're out of the hospital I see."

Sasuke glared at Naruto's back, "Fight me dobe."

"Dobe huh?" Naruto didn't turn to face him, "You can fight me in a week like everybody else."

Sasuke looked at him in confusion, "Like everybody else? What are you talking about?"

Naruto shook his head, "Go find Kakashi and ask him. And while you're at it tell him I'm not going on any missions with you all until the week is up… maybe."

Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves leaving Sasuke alone on the roof, "He knows shunshin? What have I been missing while I was in the hospital? How strong are you dobe!"

XxX

Naruto once again sat in his apartment meditating silently when his eyes snapped open and he flung a kunai just in time for a poof to go off in his house.

"Maa, Naruto you should really be more careful with these things." Kakashi appeared holding the kunai as the smoke faded, "You do know that we need to talk right?"

Naruto motioned for Kakashi to have a seat as the white-haired man did as directed. Naruto had moved to a more comfortable position on the ground to sit, "So what do you need Kakashi?"

"Kakashi-sensei Naruto." Kakashi finished with an eye-smile.

Naruto snorted, "The last person I called sensei actually taught me stuff. Go ahead and ask your question. Did Sasuke-teme talk to you yet?"

Kakashi sighed, "Yes, and I've also heard from Hokage-sama about your test. Naruto, do you really think this is a good idea? Do you truly believe that you're ready for such a promotion? I mean I can see that you've finally dropped the orange and that scar on you is a new touch, but it takes more than that to be a chunin."

Naruto smirked, "Then it's a good thing that I'll end up being more than a chunin when this is all over then huh?"

Kakashi's eye widened, "You can't be serious."

Naruto gazed at Kakashi seriously, "I'm dead serious. I'm no genin level ninja, I wouldn't even call myself chunin. Doing all of this kiddy crap has dulled my edge. When you're systematically fed garbage that's what you eventually become, garbage."

Kakashi was confused by the whole turn of events here. He expected to simply admonish Naruto for such a brazen act of disrespect, get him to cancel his test and be done with it, but the trend with Naruto these days seemed to be getting more questions and problems than answers and solutions, "Naruto, what are you saying? All genin have to go through missions like the ones you take, we've been over this."

Naruto chuckled, "Go and talk to baa-chan, or even ero-sennin about my 'skill level' and listen to what they say. They've both got the closest inkling to what I can really do more than anyone, and the truth is, I'm not even as good as I should be. At first I thought it was just a work in progress, that if I just trained like I used to that it would come back to me, but I recently realized something…"

Naruto clinched his fists, "I realized just how fucked up I am when I fought Kabuto when we went to go get baa-chan, I was talking to the guy, _talking_, instead of just running through him and moving on to more important matters. I was casually engaging him like it was a game, like we weren't both there to kill each other instead of me running through him like a buzzsaw, which was what I should have done."

"I should have been kill first, ask questions later. I realized this when I noted that he had gotten back up from the Rasengan." Naruto pointed out the window at Konoha, "It's this place. When I was little that never would have happened, I would have just killed him and moved along. This place's arrogance rubs off on you. The academy stresses stealth, but apparently stealth isn't good enough for a Konoha ninja once they graduate seeing as how I've yet to actually meet one that actively uses it in fights."

Kakashi took offense to that, "Naruto, Konoha's Will of Fire stresses protecting your fellow villagers and comrades above all else. The way you speak of combat, someone would be left out and could get injured, do you not remember my first lesson to you?"

Naruto scoffed, "More like your only lesson, but who's counting? Yes Kakashi, but sometimes a weapon can protect better from the shadows than out in the light. You all specialize in open area fighting. You all are just glorified samurai with special techniques for the most part."

Naruto sighed and stood when he felt Kakashi's glare on him, "Fine, nothing I say is going to make you change the way you think so I'll just use the week off that I told you I was going to take."

Naruto grabbed the weapons and items he sealed in his scrolls, his sword, and headed towards the door. Kakashi noted that he looked like he was going on a mission, "Naruto where are you going?"

Naruto looked back at him, a smile faintly playing on his lips, "I'm going to get something very important to me back. Don't even bother to try and look for me either. If you want to talk to me leave a message here or wait until I get back in on Monday to try to speak to me." Naruto stopped at the door before shutting it, "You can try to find me, but you'll just be wasting your time, because if you can _actually_ find me… then this week was a waste"

Naruto shut his door, leaving one confused scarecrow inside.

XxX

(One Week Later)

Every single solitary soul in Konohagakure no Sato was on edge and watching around every corner for their own safety. It seemed like the 'Prankster of Hell' had returned with a fiery vengeance, only no one could prove it was him this time. The pranks over the course of five days were reminiscent of the days of yore, but only cranked up substantially for a select few others.

**Day 1:** It was quiet. Nothing really happened to anyone on this day with the exception of one lone pervert at the hot springs, who was stripped, tied up, and had PERVERT spray painted on him before being thrown inside of the woman's baths… Oddly enough he was already crying about his testicles before the women even laid a finger on him in retribution.

**Day 2:** Day two was noted by a coded message sent out to the Hokage stating intent to pester and disorient the village into oblivion. It stated that she was not a victim, and to handle this like she would anything else, so she simply pulled out a bottle of sake and went about her day.

The first true shots were fired early that morning however when the owners of stores and restaurants in the villages inexplicably found their stock and inventory switched out with each other, everything, even the stuff in storage and lock-up. Restaurants found food switched with clothing, leather, and other goods needed to make clothes, Shinobi outfitters found their weaponry and armor replaced with flowers or canned goods. The entire day for them was spent figuring out who had what from whose store. Needless to say the merchant's guild had more work to do on this day than any other.

The walls of the hot springs separating the men's and women's sides were blown down randomly during the day, much to one side's delight and the other's chagrin.

The academy had their targets' bullseyes packed to the brim with mass amounts of kunai and shuriken stuck to them. Inside each classroom had the definition of stealth written on each chalkboard and each student's seat had a handwritten and copied pamphlet on how to develop true sneaking skills. No teacher at the school's desk was free of nasty trappage, ranging from silly string, to stink bombs, to paint and glitter mini-cannons, with the exception of one Iruka Umino who had a sealed, steaming bowl of ramen within his, chopsticks helpfully included.

**Day 3:** At 5 p.m. in the evening the jounin lounge had been riddled with pranks.

At the lounge the common area refrigerator was filled with urine samples swiped from the hospital, replacing all of the things that had been stored within. Starch was injected into the couch cushions making them hard, lumpy and uncomfortable. A space heater had been hidden in all four corners of the room, eventually making the room stiflingly hot, and unfortunately for all who were within at the time, the tops of the ceiling fan blades had been coated in itching powder.

**Day 4:** Apparently the prankster had a wild hair up his ass on this day because he was getting ballsy enough to make attempts on the clans of the village.

The Inuzuka Clan kennels were a miserable place to be, as the prankster had swiped a vial of pheromones from the vet's office and let it go within the kennels of the ninken. The poor, poor genin squads that were hired that day to walk the dogs were subjected to a sight better left to a twisted nature documentary of some sort. Entire teams were mentally scarred from the scenes.

The Aburame Clan was heckled repeatedly for hours by their kikaichu repeatedly reacting to a 'delicious' source of chakra being flared on their grounds in different areas randomly and blatantly. When they arrived on the scene to check it out they couldn't even find the faintest of signatures. The final massive flare-up however, scared the shit out of them, being something reminiscent of the night the Kyuubi attacked twelve years ago.

The Nara Clan's deer had all been removed from their grounds and spread out all over Konoha. Now while the deer were just as easy-going as the clansmen and wouldn't move too far from where they were placed, it was still 'damn troublesome' for the ones sent out to retrieve them.

The Hyuuga clan grounds ended up having flash-bomb traps set up over random areas of mass traffic. Doorways, hallways, the waiting room outside of the clan head's office, all of them and more. Every Hyuuga ended up being 'flashed' at least once during the day. Those that thought that activating their Byakugan while roaming the halls to find the bombs before they went off would be a good idea not only failed miserably, they ended up getting it worse that way.

The most _unnecessary_ and _shining_ example of overkill that could be provided took place at the Uchiha Clan main building where one Sasuke Uchiha resided.

From the second his foot hit the floor that day he instantly tripped a wire that activated a mass of smoke-bombs that filled the house room-by-room. As he went to brush his teeth he ended up heaving in the toilet due to the fact that his toothpaste had been switched with a tube of raw ground beef.

All of Sasuke's shirts had an iron-on emblem of a heart on the front of them, even the undershirts. Seeing this he scoffed and decided since he was staying at home that day to train he didn't need a shirt. As he walked into the kitchen he was blasted with a hidden glitter cannon (Glitter is mutha-f'er so you just have to imagine this). When he opened his refrigerator door cologne was dumped on him from above.

Now getting pissed off that his attempts to start the day kept ending with some kind of shenanigans he decided to head outdoors to practice with his kunai. Upon opening his door he was greeted with a sight that until this moment was something saved for his academy day nightmares. Standing out in front of his house was a sea of fangirls, and much to his horror a few fan_boys_, gathered from around the village.

The day before this occurrence, flyers were put up all over Konoha advertizing Sasuke Uchiha hosting a mystery contest of sorts at his home, with the prize, of course, being one day with him alone to do whatever.

Now the sight of Sasuke Uchiha stumbling out of his house, smoke billowing behind him, without a shirt, glinting in the sunlight like some sort of new-age vampire, coupled with the overwhelming smell of the cologne drenching his frame was, simply put, _overkill_ for the young women there for their Uchiha-sama.

Now Sasuke, not being slow on the uptake by any stretch of the imagination had his bishonen-senses tingling the second he opened the door. And with good reason he took the staring, hungry looks of the females in attendance as his cue to get the hell out of there, taking off in a dead-sprint towards town to find a place to hide and lose the raving fangirls.

And this is where the cologne came in, because he could run, but smelling like an entire bottle of cheap-ass body spray, he damn sure couldn't hide. And so Konoha was subjected to the sight of rookie of the year, the last loyal Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha, running around town frantically ducking and dodging attempts from other girls to make him theirs and win his love.

**Day 5:** At the limits of their own sanity, nothing really happened on this day, it didn't have to. By now the citizens of the village were so frazzled by their week in hell that they ended up screwing with themselves. Prices in the general stores were dropped to all time lows in a collaborative effort to lure out the prankster in question who they figured had to restock.

They were wrong, and simply ended up getting mobbed all at once by artisans ordering raw materials in bulk after having everything ruined by the prankster, young kids rolling through with pockets full of cash and a sweet tooth, and pretty much everybody in Konoha that liked to take advantage of a good deal.

They lost more money than they really made, the prices were so low.

The ninja sent to patrol and watch out for suspicious activities were at the end of their rope, so much so that in addition to turning on each other and hatching crack-pot theories about whodunit they had taken to harassing the general public.

The bags under their eyes showing that they hadn't gotten any good sleep over this in days.

By the end of the reign of terror the only people not touched by the spree of pranking in some way were: Tsunade herself, Shizune, Konohamaru and his three friends, the ninja outfitting shop owned by Tenten's family, Teuchi and Ayame Ichiraku, and Iruka Umino.

The final prank was harmless compared to the rest of the week's activities. It consisted of every face on the Hokage Monument with wide eyes painted on looking out towards the chunin exam stadium with stupid grins on their faces, with sundry sweets and refreshments being painted around their faces. Over their heads hung a massive banner stating simply, "10 a.m. Chunin Exam Stadium."

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**Back again with another installment. Dude, what was with yesterday? The U.S.-Algeria game in the World Cup was insane. Can they not win or tie a game without waiting until the very last second? And then that infinitely long-ass tennis match at Wimbeldon? Over 11 hours? Seriously? And it just now ended this morning **

**I might head up into the mountains to train before summer is out. It's going to suck, but it's going to be so awesome! But enough about me, let's talk about me. The feedback I'm getting on this is impressive. I don't mind the questions and stuff at all, I actually like answering them, and being that I'm still technically new at this whole writing thing your concerns and comments help me out. I should also not think that because I imply something, everyone else got it, so I'll be better at explaining stuff in the future.**

**This is an entire arc separating from the Sasuke Retrieval arc. It should last for a few chapters.**

**Kenchi out, time to get the day started!**


	7. Running the Gauntlet

Review Shoutouts

***Note to the People* Apparently my prank part went over well. I'm glad because I wasn't sure if I could have done better. I guess I need to trust my gut more often huh?**

**Jerrac: About him using the f-word. Soldiers curse, they curse a ridiculous amount. My marine-ass cousins do it all the time and chalked it up to the theory that the more obscene stuff you see and do the less frugal with the profanity you become. After seeing and doing the stuff that Danzo had him doing in Ne a little off-color language is nothing to him. That and the mission thing you just mentioned is one of his nagging issues leftover anyway.**

**About the memory seal, I don't see how that would prevent missing ninja, they would still run away. And I did put a detriment and unethical facet towards using it, it messed up his mental capacity and made him 'Blazing Orange' Naruto. And I think I already explained the other stuff.**

**Legendary Chikyuu-jin: I always thought that. Do the other genin in Konoha that had at least 2 years experience over them suck so badly that a bunch of kids who had been rookies for all of 3-4 months ended up dominating them all? There weren't any **_**older**_** clan kids out there to compete? Really **

**JNottle: No Kurenai isn't even an option at this point. I don't think any of the older women will be. None of the jounin thought of him as useful at all, even after he beat Neji. They didn't take him seriously until just recently, like fighting Kakuzu, recently.**

**Ben: For "Naruto" being a story about ninja I sure as hell don't recall anyone being killed without being alerted by the presence of the one that did it first.**

**Aidis: I'm in the mountains so that I can physically train with some people who along with me are trying to be MMA fighters, and we're all pretty much newbies, it's more to somewhat simulate a training camp more than anything. And being here I have one thing to say. Snowless mountains SUCK! It's hot as hell up here and dry as fuck.**

**Tom: Spelling and grammar are important to me, because as it says in my profile; if I could have written your shit better when I was in the 3****rd**** grade I don't want to read it. And I'm well aware that I go against usual archetypes of guys like me, I like that. Because the only thing better than beating up a guy that is starting stuff with you is making him try to initiate first contact with your words without using a mass amount of cursing or saying nasty shit about his mother/hygiene.**

**And yes, I fear for the future of this country all the time. I just hope I kick the bucket long before this place goes to crap, I keep thinking about moving out of the country all the time, but all I can speak is English and enough Spanish to get me stabbed. Oh well, there's always Canada.**

**Rokuro Yagami: Yes a few of those pranks were from Viva la Bam. I can still watch that show and laugh my ass off. The combination for Sasuke just came to me though.**

**Dakars revolution: I'm not sure if I'll give him new summons. I mean him being not on good terms with Jiraiya kind of makes sense to switch, but the toads had nothing to do with it. I think he'll keep them. **

**Kyuubi's Mate: I thought about making him stupid, retarded strong, but that would directly go against one of my own self proscribed rules. That wouldn't be fun for me to write.**

**GodOfShinobis: Something big like with what happened between him and Jiraiya takes time to heal, it won't just go away, people hold grudges my man.**

**Anionbde: Yes, people that get the short end of life's stick usually have attitudes, it's human nature.**

**apimpnamedKyuubi: Right now it's simply speculation. I have to put on my thinking cap (also known to most as boxing headgear) and think about it for a while… And by thinking I mean spar with my friends until one of them hits me hard enough to give me an idea.**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… Do you?

**Chapter 6: Running the Gauntlet**

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The people that wandered into the chunin exam stadium for the test they were informed was going to happen were surprised to see one Naruto Uzumaki, already sitting down in the center of the arena, decked out in a dark red muscle shirt and pants, hitae-ate as a belt, seemingly in a meditative state. As more and more people filed in a smattering of comments regarding why the 'demon brat' was here and what the test was exactly.

Naruto was seated under the tree in the arena currently resting. The five days of pranks prior to this were him actually training himself. He had been neglecting the basics of his ninja arts in exchange for power and jutsu, something he blamed on his other side. After fighting Kabuto and remembering how he used to be he remembered the words told to him in his fomulative years, "The ninja with stealth and surprise on his side should be able to win without ever using a single jutsu."

He had spent the days progressively stepping up the difficulty of his pranks, and much to his delight he had never been caught once, even when deliberately provoking a response that alerted others of his direct location… Except for the pranks on Sasuke, no test was intended… That was purely for him, it was just sheer fun.

Around 9 o' clock the familiar bear masked Anbu of Tsunade's arrived next to him. Naruto stood up to properly greet the man, "Hello Kuma-san. Baa-chan send you to get me again?"

The Anbu nodded, "Yes, Hokage-sama would like to know if you would like her to tell you the rules of engagement prior to the beginning of your test?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, she'll just end up explaining it to everyone after they all arrive anyway, there's no need to make her do it twice so I'll just wait."

Kuma nodded and shunshined out of Naruto's space, leaving him to continue meditating until he would inevitably end up being interrupted again. The next interruption occurred at around 9:30 when Kurenai led her team into the arena. Naruto's focus was broken by Kiba loudly bragging, "Oh man, we're all fighting Naruto? What did he do to piss the Hokage off like that to get this to happen to him?"

Kurenai looked over to Naruto who waved back at her in indifference before returning to his meditation. She looked down at Kiba, "Kiba, do not underestimate him here. He already defeated you once already, you shouldn't do the same thing twice in this instance."

Kiba smirked in confidence, "He got in a few lucky shots last time. This one won't last nearly as long, me and Akamaru will knock him out before he can start playing his games."

The Kyuubi scoffed in Naruto's mind, **"What a loud mutt. I hope you fight him first so you can shut him up and I don't have to hear him bark anymore."** Naruto smirked slightly, 'Calm down Kyuubi. They'll all get my point in a few minutes.'

Shino looked over at Naruto who was still seated under his tree, "Kurenai-sensei, I don't understand why we're all fighting Uzumaki-san in the first place. You said all of the teams would be participating, that is illogical. Why would all of the teams be needed to fight just him?"

Kurenai looked at her sunglasses-sporting genin, "The Hokage gave him this option last week during a meeting and he took it. I don't understand just why it's happening in the first place but all you can do is fight him at your best."

Shino nodded, "I wasn't planning on doing anything other than that."

Kurenai looked at Hinata who was trying her best to look anywhere but at the blonde sitting under the tree, "Hinata. You will probably have to fight him too. Don't let anything cloud your mind on this. If you don't fight him seriously then there is a good chance that he will defeat you."

Hinata nodded, but her mind was a wreck, 'I have to fight Naruto-kun. I-I can't possibly bring myself to do anything to hurt him. What would I do if I injured him? Would I ever have a chance with him then?'

Soon after the entrance of Team 8, Asuma brought his own genin team into the fold, with Shikamaru leading the pack, "This is so troublesome. Why are we here? You got all gung-ho today about dragging us to the arena."

Asuma took a drag of his cigarette as he brought his genin over near Kurenai, "You're here to fight Naruto. He'll be taking you all on one at a time so it shouldn't be too much trouble if the order works out the way it should."

Ino looked over to her fellow blonde sitting under the tree, "Naruto? Why would we all be fighting Naruto? What's the point? He might be able to beat one of us, maybe two but that's pushing it. There's no way he can beat our entire team."

Kurenai chimed in, "He's not really fighting your entire team, he's really supposed to be fighting everyone, your team, my team, Gai's team, and Kakashi's other kids." Seeing the stunned looks on the faces of Team 10 she glared at Asuma, "You didn't tell them this was happening?"

Asuma shrugged, "Like Ino said, there's no way he could beat anymore than two of them at the most."

Shikamaru muttered out another 'troublesome' while Choji stood next to him eating chips.

XxX

Naruto was now analyzing his upcoming opponents. He noticed that Shikamaru and Shino were subtly doing the same of him and he mentally groaned, 'Man I hope the dumb, stupid ones fight me first so I can get them out of the way. No matter when I fight Shino or Shikamaru it's going to suck because they're already thinking on how to beat me. I hope I get someone like Kiba or Neji first, they might still underestimate me and I can just run right through them.'

Kyuubi was seemingly getting excited as the time for the fights drew nearer, **"Hey kit, are you going to use the trigger?"**

Naruto paled, 'Hell no I'm not using the trigger! Not here in front of all of these people, and not on _genin_! Are you insane? That would kill them!'

Naruto could feel the grin on the Kyuubi's face, **"I know."**

Naruto shook his head free of thoughts just as an unmistakable shade of green entered the scene.

XxX

Gai, glistening smile included, ambled into the stadium with Rock Lee on crutches, an uncaring looking Neji, and Tenten who actually waved at Naruto. Eyes widening, as he didn't really expect that, he gave her a small smile and waved back to her.

Kurenai was still mad at Asuma for taking this so casually, "Gai, I hope you informed your students about what was going on today."

Gai gave her a thumbs up, "Of course I did. It would have been a crime not to let my adorable students know that they would have an opportunity to fight today. My only regret is that Lee-kun here could not have a chance to test his flames of youth against Naruto-kun!"

Neji ignored the continued ramblings of Gai and Lee and looked over to the placid blonde under the tree. Taking note of his new look and the sword strapped to his back Neji narrowed his eyes, 'Why are we all here just to fight Naruto?'

At 10:24 on the dot guess who managed to find his way into the arena. Being dragged by Sasuke, Kakashi let out a nervous eye-smile, "Sorry we were almost late. I accidentally covered both my eyes with my headband this morning and by the time I thought about it I was on top of the Hokage Monument."

Sasuke growled at the excuse while Sakura shook her head, "Then you should have seen the massive banner up there telling everyone about this."

Kakashi smiled at her, "Ah, but I did, that's why I found you two remember?"

Tsunade, with Shizune behind her arrived with a dead-pan expression on her face, "This isn't the kind of thing that I'm going to have to get used to with you Kakashi is it?"

Kakashi smiled at her, "No, no… I'm usually much later."

After a round of face-faults all around Tsunade straightened up and faced the audience, projecting her voice to be easily heard, "Ladies and gentlemen of Konohagakure no Sato, today we have a special attraction for all of you. You will get to see some of the most prominent genin in this village pitted against one lone genin in today's battles."

She pointed out to the tree where Naruto had long since stood up and begun loosening up, "The sole genin in question is Naruto Uzumaki!"

A chorus of boos rang out among the audience until Naruto used the technique Tsunade had used to project her voice, "Aww shut the hell up! You miserable bastards…"

Tsunade sweat-dropped at Naruto's dismissal of the crowd, "Right… Well then, the rules will be as follows. A one-on-one bout between Naruto and one of the genin to be selected by their sensei. If Naruto can defeat the opponent he is matched with he will be matched up with the next, and so on, and so forth until he is either defeated or runs through them all." She finished with a smirk.

She motioned for someone to walk over, "The proctor for the bouts will be Anko Mitarashi." Anko came from the back smirking at the genin whose fights she would be refereeing. She turned to look out at Naruto, who was still stretching, 'Alright gaki, you've talked a big game and Ibiki seems convinced, let's see what you've got.'

Tsunade turned to the jounin who were conferencing amongst themselves, "So have you decided who is first?"

They all nodded as Asuma stepped and whispered their decision in her ear. Tsunade nodded and re-projected her voice, "The first bout will be Naruto Uzumaki vs. Sakura Haruno! All others clear the arena immediately!"

All of the other genin and their sensei's made their way to the waiting area to watch the proceedings along with Tsunade.

As they cleared out it left Naruto standing out with Sakura and Anko. Naruto sighed and looked at Sakura, "Do you really want to do this? You can always just quit now."

Sakura glared at him, "Are you saying that I'm too weak to fight you? I'm the same ranking as you, and I graduated at the top of the class, you were dead-last."

Naruto's eyes didn't leave her, "I didn't say you were weak, you did, you're just weaker than me. And about the academy… I guess I could say, that everything I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarden."

Anko looked between them, "First match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Sakura Haruno. Hajime!"

XxX

Tsunade looked at the jounin as Naruto and Sakura moved close to Anko to begin, "Why did you choose Sakura to lead off?"

Kakashi looked at her lazily, "Well we figured that while Naruto probably would more than likely win against her we were banking on him taking it somewhat easy on her due to her being on his team and all."

Asuma nodded, "It's common knowledge that he had a massive crush on her in the academy and even when they were assigned teams. We thought that this would force him to take some damage before kicking it in high gear to actively finish her."

FWAP!

"Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

"WHAT!"

XxX

Naruto looked down at the unconscious Sakura at his feet and then at Anko who was poking her with a stick. Anko looked up at Naruto and grinned widely, "Damn gaki, what was that for?"

Naruto shrugged, "What? That was a love-tap! She just came rushing in with that academy cookie-cutter style of taijutsu, and she had her guard so wide open. It was a jab! Who knew she had the chin of a 5 year old narcolepsy patient?" Anko burst out in laughter at the casual way he handled that.

Medics came out and carried her off quickly, clearing the arena once more.

Naruto shook his head at the results of his first match. He looked up to the jounin with a dead-pan expression, "What the hell was that? I really hope you've got more for me than that or you can just mark me down as winning this whole thing right now!"

Anko tried to calm herself down from her laughing fit, "Kakashi, that was pathetic. Was she supposed to actually do something out here against him? I don't think she could beat an academy student fighting like that."

XxX

Tsunade had to laugh at how easily Naruto dealt with his 'crush' as she saw the jounin looking on in surprise. Kakashi rubbed his visible eye, "I… didn't think it would be that fast."

Asuma chuckled at Kakashi's expression, "Why, what happened? I blinked and I missed it."

Kurenai looked at Kakashi suspiciously, "Kakashi… That looked like a strictly academy attack. Have you taught her anything since she was on your team?"

Kakashi thought about it, "Define 'anything'."

Tsunade sighed, "Alright that was a waste of an introduction… Who's next?" Shizune handed Tsunade the order that the jounin had written out, "Okay, Ino Yamanaka! Get down there."

XxX

Naruto squinted to see Ino coming out to face him next. Naruto grumbled under his breath, "So I'm getting all of the weak ones first? Okay, let's deal with that." Naruto hadn't moved an inch from his first fight so he simply stood and waited for Ino to take her position.

Ino looked at Naruto smirking at him, "I'm not as pathetic as Forehead Naruto. Just give up, you won't beat me." At a glance Ino realized that Naruto's blue eyes were boring into her own without a hint of response.

On the inside however, one could find Naruto rolling with laughter alongside the Kyuubi, 'She really thinks she can beat me! Are you kidding me? Hey Kyuubi are you ready?'

Kyuubi stopped laughing at the behest of its container, **"Anytime kit. Go for it."**

Anko raised her hand up, "Second match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Ino Yamanaka! Hajime!"

Ino tensed and waited for Naruto to move, but it never came, "Aren't you going to fight me Naruto?"

Naruto shook his head, "There's no point for me to attack you, it would be overkill seeing as how no matter what you did I could beat you in one move."

Ino gritted her teeth, "Oh yeah?" She brought her hands up in the famous sign of her family.

XxX

Inoichi Yamanaka who had come to watch the fights alongside his teammates felt his heart stop when she made that sign, "Ino no!"

XxX

"Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind-Body Switch Jutsu)!" Naruto didn't move as Ino let her spirit fly into his own. Upon contact Naruto slumped over.

XxX

Kiba shook his head and laughed as he saw Naruto go limp, "He actually stood still and let Ino hit him with that move? He was watching during the chunin exam like the rest of us, he should know what it does!"

Shikamaru nodded, "I was worried at first. I didn't know how Ino was going to get him to hold still to hit him with it, but he did most of the work for her."

Asuma however wasn't so confident, 'Oh Ino that was not a good idea…'

XxX

Anko walked over to Naruto's slumped over body and poked him in the head, "Hello? Which one of you brats is in there?"

Naruto stood up straight, "It's me. Ino is in there being 'entertained' in the confines of my mind."

Anko shook her head, "That's mean gaki. You know why that isn't safe don't you?"

Naruto scoffed as he took out some ninja wire and walked towards Ino's body, "Well it was her own damn fault. No one told her to try and mind-rape me, but she did anyway. It's not my problem that the only jutsu she knows isn't a battle jutsu." He began tying her up casually, "Call it."

Anko nodded, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

After hearing that Ino broke out in a scream as she returned to her own body babbling about massacres and torture and all kinds of things. Naruto raised an eyebrow as the medic team escorted her off, 'Kyuubi what the hell did you do to her?'

Kyuubi was batting its tails in a pleased fashion, **"Well kit, you told me not to kill her or maim her so I simply 'directed' her to some of your older memories. You know, tried to show her just what a real shinobi is."**

Naruto felt like rubbing his temple, 'What older memories?'

Naruto knew the Kyuubi was having fun with this, **"Just all of the fun ones. Like that time at Kuminari no Kuni for example..."**

Naruto blanched, 'Kuminari no Kuni! Do you know how many of those motherfuckers I killed back there? You showed her ones like that? I think you might have given her PTSD or something? You know they'll blame us for that right?'

Kyuubi chuckled, **"Well **_**you**_** did let **_**me**_** do it, so I think technically it is our fault anyway."**

Naruto ambled back over to Anko, 'I hate you…'

"**Love you too kit."**

XxX

The jounin in the waiting area all had grimaces on their faces. Naruto intentionally allowed Ino to use Shintenshin no Jutsu on him knowing that he had something of a natural defense for it. Kakashi looked at Ino being carried away, "Well that's two down and he didn't even have to do anything to win…"

Kurenai was a bit more upbeat about the whole situation, "Well at least next match I know he'll have to fight."

Asuma looked at the fight order and nodded, "There's no way he gets out of this one without some damage on him."

Tsunade glanced at them briefly, "Send whoever it is down then."

Kurenai walked off to fetch the next genin to fight.

XxX

Naruto was once again standing by Anko who was looking at him, "You know gaki, if you actually want to get promoted from this then you're eventually going to have to, I don't know, fight?"

Naruto smirked at her, "You're just bored."

Anko waved her arms childishly, "You're damn right I'm bored! You haven't moved twelve steps since this whole thing started. I expected some action, you've just ended up fighting two little girls that I could beat while I was hog-tied."

Naruto frowned, "Well yeah, they suck. That's why I didn't try fighting them. Why waste energy beating them when I could let them beat themselves?"

Anko pouted, "I wish someone would come out here to kick your ass so I can enjoy myself."

Naruto chuckled, "Keep on dreaming snake lady. I'm doing this to prove a point if you didn't know. I'm proving that they can't beat me, that kind of implies that none of them are going to get a good fight out of me."

Naruto noticed someone coming from the tunnel for his next fight.

XxX

Choji and Shikamaru watched Ino being carried off after Naruto was declared the winner. Choji was watching in shock as Naruto had shrugged off her family technique like it was nothing, "Shikamaru, what just happened? Ino hit him with Shintenshin didn't she?"

Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah, she hit him head-on, she was in there good. He must have a strong will like Sakura had to break out of it or something."

Choji nodded, "But what about all of that stuff she was screaming? Slaughters, tortures, beatings? What does all of that stuff mean?"

Shikamaru watched Naruto retake his spot, "I don't know but we have a real concern right now. We don't know who's fighting him after this. Look at him, he hasn't had to do anything at all and he's already won two fights."

Asuma walked up behind them and placed a hand on their shoulders, "Don't worry guys, he's fighting Kiba next. Even if he doesn't lose, Kiba will wear him down enough for the next fight."

XxX

Kiba was smirking as he set Akamaru down beside him, "Finally, time for my rematch Naruto! You won last time, but you can't do it twice, I'm getting my win back!"

Naruto said nothing and looked to Anko to start the fight, "Match three, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka! Hajime!"

"Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique)!" Kiba crouched down on all fours as his features became even more feral. This was all well and good for about three seconds until a blue shinobi sandal implanted itself under his chin and sent him flying backwards.

Akamaru ran to his master, barking frantically as Kiba slowly pulled himself to his feet. Kiba shakily stood up, "Yeah, yeah, I'm alright boy, he just caught me off guard." He looked up to reveal that Naruto was nowhere in sight. Kiba chuckled before jumping out of the way as a pair of hands broke through the ground he was standing on.

Kiba laughed as he dodged the hands, "I thought I told you last time! I can smell you dobe! You can't sneak up on me!" His gloating was cut short as a sharp pain in his back sent him flying forward. Looking up from the ground he saw Naruto standing with his leg extended in a kick. He turned towards the underground figure to see the hands explode into smoke.

Kiba stood up and glared at him, "I had your scent! Where were you? There was no way you could get the drop on me!"

Naruto lowered his leg and gazed out coolly at Kiba, "You should quit out of principle. If this was a real fight then I would have killed you just now." Kiba growled at Naruto while he just looked at him, "Just because you can identify that I'm in the area means jack shit if I'm too fast for you to pinpoint my location."

Kiba hurriedly grabbed a pill from his pocket and threw it at Akamaru, remembering his opening troubles when it came to moving too slow. The little dog turned red after swallowing the pill while Kiba provided him some of his chakra, "Juujin Bunshin (Man-Beast Clone)!" Kiba pulled out his smoke bombs and threw them at Naruto, engulfing him in smoke, "Remember this Naruto! Well here we go again!" Kiba and the transformed Akamaru ran at the smoke and jumped towards it, "Gatsuuga (Dual Piercing Fang)!"

After the twin drills tore through the smoke until it dissipated Kiba and Akamaru stood in the smoke, sans Naruto, dumbfounded… and surrounded by kunai.

Naruto came from his spot in the tree over to them. Kiba saw him walking up with his hands in a hand-sign and tried to charge and attack him before running into an invisible barrier that threw him back and numbed his body, "What the hell is this?"

Naruto made some more hand-signs before stopping halfway through the last one, "You should surrender. This is going to suck for you."

Kiba bared his teeth at him, "Answer me! What did you do!"

Naruto shook his head, "It's not what I did, it's what I'm going to do. Last chance, I'm not supposed to really be trying to kill you guys and this jutsu has the potential to do it."

Kiba and Akamaru just kept trying to break through his barrier. Naruto shrugged and made the last hand sign, "Your funeral, "Raiton: Denki Hokai (Lightning Release: Electric Implosion)."

The electric prison glowed white within until it was blindingly bright before the sounds of sharp crackling rang out. Naruto held the final hand-sign for ten seconds before he finally released it, revealing Kiba and Akamaru both unconscious and suffering from electric burns.

Naruto walked over and picked up his kunai as Anko checked Kiba and Akamaru's vitals. She sighed in relief upon finding they were still alive and looked at Naruto who was pocketing his kunai. Naruto shrugged, "What? I asked him if he wanted to surrender. Did he think that anything I did from that point _wouldn't _mess him up?"

Anko gave him a dry look, "You know you kids aren't supposed to kill each other out here."

Naruto gave her one in response, "He's still breathing isn't he? If I wanted to kill him you could have replaced those kicks I landed at the start with my sword."

Anko shook her head and smirked, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto glanced at Kiba being placed on a stretcher and returned to the center of the arena, "And that's roughly one-third of them down." Naruto turned up towards the jounin and gestured towards Kiba who was being carried off, "Get the point yet? Because before I could swear that you all missed it!"

XxX

Kurenai was stunned. The first time Naruto beat Kiba it was surprising. She had thought it impossible then, but now more than realized that he was capable of it. It was how easily he beat Kiba this time around, Kiba didn't lay a finger on him the entire time.

Kurenai clutched the order sheet as she marked off Kiba's name. Tsunade noticed that the crowd was perplexed. They had all been told that Naruto had no talent as a ninja and here he was decimating the best ninja in his class, all of whom except one belonged to prominent clans.

Kakashi moved closer to Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, it seems like you expected this to happen. Is there something that you know that we all don't?"

Tsunade grinned smugly at Kakashi, "Why Kakashi? Isn't he on your team? Shouldn't his jounin sensei have an idea of what goes on with his students?"

Kakashi was not in the mood for games, "Tsunade-sama, seriously. This Naruto is nothing like the one I was conditioned for when he was assigned to my squad. Something has happened and I can tell you know what is going on."

Tsunade turned to Kakashi and gave him a serious look, "Listen Hatake, all I am at liberty to really say about the matter is that Naruto has rediscovered his potential. This is the real Naruto, if you want to find out about him then go and ask him yourself. If this keeps up he won't be yours to command for much longer anyway."

XxX

Naruto immediately put his game face on when he realized who he was to fight next, "Okay, pop-warner time is over, time to get serious…"

Shino walked out calmly from the back with his hands in his pockets as he moved up to Anko in a calculated manner. Anko elbowed Naruto in a teasing fashion, "Well well now wonder-gaki. How are you going to handle this one?"

'No clue… with those bugs on him I won't be able to hide. I wouldn't be surprised if he had one on me already.' Naruto spoke under his breath as Shino drew close, "I'll let you know when I figure it out myself."

Shino stopped in front of Naruto as Anko looked between them, "Fourth match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Shino Aburame! Hajime!"

Shino snapped his arms out in his taijutsu stance as did Naruto out of obligation. Naruto stared him down intently as he could feel Shino doing the same from behind his sunglasses. Both boys simply waited for the other to move in order to prepare a counter.

After a few minutes of no movement Naruto moved back quickly as Shino released his swarms of insects at him. Beginning his retreat from Shino, Naruto's mind was running a mile-a-minute trying to come up with a good plan to beat Shino, 'He won't move, all he has to do is get those damnable bugs on me and he can beat me. He might not even be standing there anymore, it could just be a Mushi Bunshin (Bug Clone). This is one of those situations where I wish someone was underestimating me.'

Naruto kept on his heels as Shino kept sending his kikaichu out at him, 'What can I do? I can't get close or I'll get swarmed. There's no way I can surround him with kunai to trap him after he's already seen it. Come on, what else do I have up my sleeve?'

Naruto tossed out shuriken in a probing move. Shino simply raised a wall of insects to block easily until Naruto clapped his hands together, "Fuuton Repuushoo (Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm)." The gust coming from Naruto sped up the spinning shuriken and cut right through the wall of bugs. Shino took the hit and turned partly into bugs.

The real Shino then appeared from the tree nearby and sicced more of his bugs on Naruto. Naruto's eye gleamed as he judged the distance between him and Shino and simply rushed him.

Naruto had closed the distance by simply bullying his way through Shino's wall of insects and continued storming towards Shino. Shino attempted to latch the remaining bugs he had on his person onto Naruto, but the drain from the few amount of insects was similar to taking a bucket to scoop out a lake. Naruto viciously rocketed his fist into Shino's face. Naruto's punch dropped Shino cleanly as his kikaichu retreated into his body to help run damage control.

Anko wandered over with a grin on her face, "Shousa, the miracle gaki, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto sighed as he picked himself up and walked over to Anko who was still grinning, "That was an ugly win gaki. Your right hand is pretty nasty."

Naruto settled himself in his usual waiting position, "A win is a win. Shino was my worst possible match-up and I'm just lucky that he was just a rookie or else I would have been screwed and had to step it up. He needs to learn more techniques."

Anko was getting interested in this kid, "So you're saying the rest of the fights will be easy?"

Naruto smirked, "They'll all be easy, that one was just tough by comparison to what the majority of them will be."

XxX

Shikamaru watched the medics carrying off Shino and had to let out a groan, "How troublesome… He fought four of us and he still isn't tired yet…"

Neji who had been silently appraising Naruto's fighting since the start of the test looked out at the boy in a thinking fashion, "I lost to him last time, and now it seems as if he has only grown in leaps and bounds since then, and he has yet to even draw the sword on his back yet."

Tenten who had been next to her teammate throughout the proceedings was amazed by how well he was fighting, "Where did all of this come from? No one has even touched him yet. I wonder who could be next?"

Rock Lee had fire in his eyes, "Oh were it not for my injuries I could test my own youth against Naruto-kun's considerable flames! I will seek him out for a spar once I recover and I cannot I will do 500 fingertip push-ups, and if I cannot do that then I will-."

"Lee enough." Neji stopped that train before it got rolling, "We've seen four fights and I still can't pinpoint a viable set label for him. If I had to call him anything I would say he is a mid-to-close range specialist."

Tenten smirked at Neji, "Wow Neji, I don't seem to recall you trying to analyze Naruto's fighting style the first time you two fought."

Neji gave her a small smirk back, "That's why I lost the first time."

Sasuke was standing alone gnashing his teeth as he watched Naruto basically sleepwalking through his matches, 'When is it my turn? I want my opportunity to fight the dobe. Itachi wanted something with Naruto. All of that emotion in his face, it was all directed at him! He barely considered me at all! If I can beat Naruto then it will prove that I deserve Itachi's notice more.'

The genin all had their attention drawn as Shizune arrived to summon the next one for their turn against Naruto.

XxX

Naruto and Anko were in the midst of a short conversation as they waited for Naruto's next opponent, "So your style consists mostly of you slowing your enemy down and picking them apart by striking at the throat, groin, and other 'soft' areas?"

Anko nodded with a gleeful look on her face, "Yep, it's really unpleasant. Want to see?"

Naruto unconsciously grabbed his groin, "Nope, I'm good. Who's next?"

Anko pointed at the tunnel to get him to look.

Naruto followed her line of vision to see Tenten entering from the tunnel, "Okay, number five… Let's do this."

Tenten walked up to Naruto and faced him down, "I'm pretty nervous about this. You aren't a pushover Naruto. I might not win this but I'll give it my best shot!"

Naruto slid into his stance, "And that's all you can really do in the end. Don't sell yourself short, anyone can beat anyone."

Anko raised her hand, "The fifth match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Tenten! Hajime!"

Tenten immediately brandished kunai and began tossing them out at Naruto. In the blink of an eye Naruto drew his blade and blocked the projectiles before rushing in to attack. Upon seeing him draw his blade Tenten pulled out a scroll and summoned her own sword to engage Naruto with up close.

As Naruto and Tenten clashed swords he had to chuckle, "A katana… You just wanted that spar you asked me for didn't you?"

Tenten smirked, "I have to see if you're any good at swinging that thing around."

Naruto returned the smirk as he began pressing her back. Tenten planted her feet but ended up being pushed through the dirt, 'Gah, this strength… It's ridiculous! He might be stronger than Lee!'

Tenten lashed out with a kick as she chose to break off their contact that Naruto slapped aside with the flat of his blade, "That's your leg Tenten. Don't be so quick to attack, it pays to be somewhat patient."

Tenten growled and ran back in to trade steel with Naruto again. Every stroke of her blade was blocked or parried and Naruto refused to take advantage of the openings that followed. Tenten disengaged and stomped on the ground in frustration, "Why are you so good at this? You just got that thing last month!"

Naruto stood straight up and looked at her, "I told you I was an old hand at this. You use a lot of weapons, but have you mastered any? I'm no master, but I was pretty good at this, plus I'm faster and stronger than you, so I can do stuff like-."

Naruto vanished and slipped behind her quickly to knock her out with the handle of his blade, "-This." He caught her before she hit the ground and set her down gently, "You should have stuck with the long-range stuff. You would have lost anyway, but up close is almost tantamount to suicide against a guy like me, unless your name is Rock Lee or Neji, they're the only ones that can hang with me up close."

Anko pointed to Naruto, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki! …Man I am getting sick of saying that…"

Naruto smirked at Anko, "Well then convince the other five genin to quit."

Anko shook her head, "You took your sweet time with that one gaki, why not just do that from the start?"

Naruto shrugged, "Hey, I get bored too you know. She had a sword, I did too, it clicked… or clanged. Who's left anyway?"

XxX

Asuma was dumbfounded as he watched yet another genin fall by his hand, "What is he? How could he possibly be so good? He was just playing with her the entire time. No genin could possibly fight like that."

Kurenai checked Tenten off of the list, "Five down, five to go, this is absurd. He's running right through them all. He hasn't had a single fight that lasted more than five minutes."

Kakashi had gotten used to Naruto whooping ass on the genin and was still trying to sort out just what made him this way, 'Did Jiraiya do this during the month he was with him? What am I missing here?'

Asuma threw his hands in the air, "Send out the next one, there has to be someone who can beat him."

XxX

Naruto was mulling his potential opponents around in his head when his next one entered. Naruto saw the unmistakable expression of one Shikamaru Nara coming his way.

Shikamaru took a lax stance in front of Naruto as Anko looked at his expression, "Geez kid, could you look any more excited to be here? The seventh match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Shikamaru Nara! Hajime!"

Shikamaru scratched his head and made his rat seal, "That's because I don't want to be here. There's no reason to fight here. At least during the chunin exams I had to fight to avoid getting hurt, to get my team to the next stages, and if I had been motivated, fight to get promoted. There's no reason to fight you, there's nothing to gain or lose. This whole thing is so troublesome…"

Naruto put his hand on his neck and rolled it around , "So… quit."

Shikamaru shrugged, "Alright, later." Shikamaru turned and headed back up the tunnel waving over his shoulder.

Anko blinked a few times, "Wow kid. Just… wow."

Naruto blinked at Shikamaru's retreating form, "Holy crap, I just took a freakin' shot in the dark. I had no idea that would actually work, I'm awesome!"

Anko snapped out of her stupor, "Right, well… Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

XxX

In the stands, Choza Akimichi and Inoichi Yamanaka sweat-dropped at the results of the 'fight'. Choza looked over to his longtime partner Shikaku, "Your boy is more like you than you care to mention Shikaku."

Shikaku shrugged, "Hey, have you been watching this crap like I have? He didn't have a chance to win and he knew it. Naruto gave him a way out. The kid must be getting tired of this."

Inoichi nodded, "We've already determined that he can wipe the floor with all of our kids so why are we still here?"

Choza chuckled, "Speak for yourselves. He still hasn't fought Choji yet. There are still kids that can fight. This isn't over by a long shot."

XxX

Tenten, who had woken up shortly after her fight with Naruto, looked at Shikamaru with a twitching eyebrow, "You quit…"

Shikamaru yawned as he made his way to the railing, "I didn't see any reason to fight."

Neji frowned at his attitude, "To prove yourself to all of the ninja and people in attendance. For your clan's honor."

Shikamaru looked over at Neji lazily, "There's no point. You might think all of that clan honor stuff is a big deal, but me, not so much. I didn't want to do this in the first place, and seeing how he's handled everyone else so far just solidified the fact that I really don't want to fight that kid."

Sasuke scoffed, "You're just too lazy to fight."

Shikamaru glared at Sasuke, "I _did_ fight. I trapped him in Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possesion Jutsu) the second the fight started. When he rolled his neck he didn't show any resistance at all. My control over the technique isn't enough for me to keep a hold over a certain amount of brute force, the light out here was too much for me to use it effectively, it's around noon, and he didn't even blink. That jutsu is all I had on him, I couldn't have won."

XxX

Asuma was hitting his head on the wall, "Damn Shikamaru. I should have known he would do that shit. Why didn't I put him on sooner?"

Tsunade was hanging on the railing laughing, "Well at least he knows when he's outmatched, maybe he _should_ be a chunin Asuma?"

Kurenai checked his name off, "Six down, four to go." Her eyes widened when she saw who was next on the list, "Oh no. I didn't think it would get this far."

XxX

"Jan-!"

"-Ken-!"

"-Pon!"

Anko pouted at the results, "You brat…"

Naruto slapped Anko's closed fist, "It's not my fault you always choose rock Anko."

Anko kissed her fist, "Ahh good old rock, nothing beats that."

Naruto sweat-dropped, "Yeah, sure… why not?" Naruto growled in frustration, "Kami! When's the next fight? I want to finish kicking everybody's ass so I can get my promotion and go home!"

Anko looked behind Naruto and turned him around, "Oh, Hinata's next I guess."

Naruto jumped backwards and set himself in his stance. Hinata shakily set herself in her Jyuuken stance and looked out at him, "N-Naruto-kun."

Naruto's eyes hardened, "Talk later, fight now. Come on Hinata, bring it on."

Naruto's eyes bored into hers. Analyzing everything he could find, stripping her bare, 'This isn't Naruto-kun. His eyes have never been so cold before. There's none of the warmth there was before, just strength, strength that I can't match!'

Anko noticed the fidgeting of the girl, 'This girl is going to get destroyed if she doesn't shape up. This gaki will be ruthless once the fight starts.' She lifted her hand, "Seventh match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Hinata Hyuuga! Hajime!"

Naruto wasted no time and dashed in to deliver a hook to Hinata's body and a side-kick to her head, sending her to the ground quickly. Hinata laid on the ground with her eyes welling with tears, 'Naruto-kun. Could you really hurt me like this? What happened to you?'

"Get up."

Her eyes turned onto the boy in question who was patiently standing and waiting for her to get up to continue, "There is no way that that was enough to put you down so get up and fight me. Don't lay down and quit, I can accept that from Shikamaru but not you, I thought you had more in you than that."

He began pacing as she remained on the ground, "I remember watching you fight Neji, and I remember how you fought him. Yes, he was more skilled than you, but you showed fire, you showed that you have drive, and you showed that you have the courage to fight." He stopped and looked at her, "Not now I have to say."

She locked eyes with him again and tried to find the Naruto she had come to love during the days in the academy and again found nothing, none of the upbeat, positive, bright Naruto she had known back then. This one was serious, professional, with the eyes of someone who knew just what kind of world he was living in, the scar simply added on to that. She began to stir from the ground and looked at him defiantly, "You're not Naruto-kun…"

Naruto jerked an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Hinata's eyes sharpened as she raised her voice, "You're not Naruto-kun! Naruto-kun never acted like this, never spoke down to people, he would never use techniques like he used on Kiba-kun. Who are you?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed at her insinuation, "Oh I get it. I don't have my head in the clouds and can see things around me for what they are so I'm not Naruto. I can find people's flaws and will actually comment on them openly so I'm not Naruto. I'm actually skilled enough to use more techniques than Kage Bunshin and they don't put me in direct danger so I'm not Naruto."

Naruto saw her falter with every word he made, "I know why you're so upset about it."

Her eyes widened, 'D-Does he really know? How did he find out?'

Naruto nodded to himself, "You probably saw me as I was in the academy and liked my never say die attitude, how I always got back up and shrugged off what everyone did and said to me. You figured, 'There's no way anyone can take all of that and still smile and keep on trying.' So you thought I was strong." Naruto saw her react as if solidifying his thoughts, "Well that statement would be accurate. No one can keep on going through all of that and keep smiling, unless you're brain-dead or something."

Her reaction was priceless, he jaw dropped before she began speaking rapidly trying to rescind the previous thought. Naruto raised a hand for her to stop, "This is me. I'm still strong like I was back then, I'm just not willing to take bullshit like I was back then. Taking people's shit and coming back for more with a grin doesn't make you strong, it makes you stupid and weak. The reason people like you and people like me tend to want to get strong is to prove others wrong to spite them, or to get strong enough that no one ever tries to fuck with you again."

Naruto pointed at her, "That's what you want. You want strength for the second reason. You do, even if it's subtle. You never want anyone to treat you the way Neji treated you during the preliminaries again, which by the way you act and the way you almost took it laying down must happen regularly. You want to be left to do things your own way, for those in stations above you to just let you be to live your life, but you quit. You saw me taking all my lumps in the academy and getting back up and you didn't want to put the work in anymore, you wanted to settle for the 'strength' to just deal with what life handed you, you didn't know that it's impossible for a human being to take that the way I did, and I became an ideal to you, an unreachable paragon."

Hinata looked up with tear-filled eyes, "No that's not true! It isn't… I looked up to you as someone to be like, someone to strive after-."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Like a paragon."

Hinata shook her head, "No, not like that. It's because I-I…. admire you."

Naruto caught on and spoke lowly, "You don't admire me Hinata. You admire the idea of me, or the old me I should say. If you had me then you thought that it wouldn't matter if you could never get the desire you had of just being able to deal, that if you had me that I could lend you enough of my own to get you by. Don't do that. I'm not your golden ticket, I'm not the answer to your problems, I'm just a guy with a sword and a whole can of whoop-ass."

He spoke up now, "If you want me to teach you how to fight, or how to get stronger, I can't do that, and I can't take your problems away from you. Do you know why?"

Hinata shook her head, tears were just about to fall. Naruto smiled sadly, "Because you can't respect someone that kisses your ass. Hinata, you didn't even try to fight my reasoning for why you thought you saw something in me, you were too afraid to go against me. What if that manifests again in something else later on and I'm not there for you to get a boost from? If you won't defend yourself to me, the person you admire, then how can you defend yourself against others when I'm not even there?"

Naruto sighed and ran his fingers through his spiky hair, "Enough of this. This really isn't the time or the place for this kind of thing. This is the time for a fight, now come, give me your best."

Hinata let tears fall from her eyes. Naruto had yet to slip into his uncaring phase before he saw them hit the ground, "Hinata!"

Her eyes floated up to him once more, "Prove me wrong then. Show me I'm full of shit. Take an actual step towards changing yourself and fight me damn it! Don't just go with the flow, your life won't let you do that! The things you need and want to accomplish in this world won't just come to you, no one's going to hand you the answers. Everything you want… it's there! So take it!" Despite the harshness of his words she looked into his eyes and saw something, concern, something that she had overlooked earlier.

The fox in Naruto's head chuckled, **"Nice monologue ningen, you should write movie scripts."**

Naruto inwardly sneered, 'Fuck you Kyuubi that was serious. She needs to get it together, life is way harder than this.'

Hinata looked shocked for a moment before she wiped her eyes and fell into her stance, activating her Byakugan to begin. Naruto motioned for her to come and she ran in quickly and began to furiously engage him with Jyuuken strikes, 'He's right. I need to show that I'm willing to change for good, not just when the situation calls for it. I'll show you Naruto-kun!'

Despite the potential damage the strikes could deal with just a touch, Naruto was still faster. He was blocking the strikes with the palms of his hands rather than letting her close off his teneketsu otherwise.

Eventually Naruto tired of blocking strikes and shot an axe-kick to her hand in the middle of a strike. The kick ended up breaking her hand. She drew it back and tried a second attack with her other hand, this time Naruto latched on and elbowed her in the wrist, breaking it.

Naruto jumped back as she cried out in pain. He simply stared her down, 'Okay… What are you going to do now? Will you walk away?'

Hinata hissed in pain of her now useless hands but soon set a defiant gaze on Naruto and charged back in to lash out with kicks. Naruto was pleasantly surprised with her last ditch attacks and marveled at the fact that she was flexible enough to launch certain kicks that he knew shouldn't have been possible for the angles he was moving to.

Naruto nodded to himself and slapped one of her kicks down to the ground and ducked down before delivering a rising palm-strike under her chin, sending her flying and slipping her into unconsciousness, 'That's better, now let's see if you can keep that spirit this time around.'

As her body hit the ground Naruto sighed and walked towards Anko who simply nodded, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto retook his position by Anko who was frowning at him, "Nai-chan is going to kill you when this is all over you know that right? She loves that little girl like a daughter."

Naruto looked up at Kurenai who was glaring heavily at him, he could have sworn she was trying to cast a genjutsu on him via eye-contact but he shook it off, "Well then I should never have had to do that. She should have gotten her on track way before she fought me here. Except for Tenten all of these girls need a reality check if my ass-kickings didn't already do it."

Naruto looked up to the box, "All of you guys suck! I hope the last three can show something here, I haven't even taken a punch yet! I guess I'm not the only genin that got shafted by their sensei here huh!"

Anko looked Naruto over, "Getting tired yet gaki?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nope, just getting warmed up Anko-san."

Anko grinned at him, "None of that –san stuff gaki, it's Anko-chan to you. You're one interesting kid."

Naruto kept himself limber waiting for his next fight, "Whatever you say Anko-san."

* * *

Jutsu List

Raiton: Denki Hokai (Lightning Release: Electric Implosion). B-rank Ninjutsu. Mid-to-close range. A branching technique from Raiton: Denkai. Causes a build-up of electric pressure within the conducting points in the shape of a dome. The pressure pushes down on the victim and combines with the electric nature of the jutsu to compress and shock the enemy.

* * *

**Part one of the genin fights are over. Hopefully it lived up to what I thought it would, but with such high hopes there always comes a letdown. Next chapter are the final three fights and the fallout from the situation. I've got to go cut some grass before it rains and I've been procrastinating, so later.**

**The next update will probably be tonight if I have the energy to do it. I kind of had to split the chapters up because it was running LONG. If not it will be up soon enough.**

**Drop the man a line, Kenchi out**


	8. Genin?

***Too lazy for review shoutouts this time… Meh…***

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Time to make a cheap carbon rip-off that can barely be separated from the original so I can not get sued!

**Chapter 7: Genin?**

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Kurenai was gnashing her teeth after watching Naruto's fight with Hinata. He tore her down, goaded her into a fight and then dissected her and kept a straight face about it the whole time, "I'm going to kill that brat when this is over."

Tsunade glared back at her, "Be quiet Kurenai and be professional. It was a fight. Mind games are supposed to be just another tool that shinobi use. This isn't a primary school where everyone is everyone's friend and you can hold her hand the entire time. You were the ones that were so sure he wouldn't get this far. Not bad for a 'dead-last' huh?"

Asuma looked at Tsunade, "You sure must like that kid huh Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade smirked at him, "Why wouldn't I? That's one tough brat down there. Unlike the majority of your kids he has the right idea on what a shinobi is supposed to do. He's loyal, and he's actually pretty pleasant if you didn't piss him off at you. Oh wait, none of you know anyone that ever tried talking to him seriously before."

Tsunade laughed slightly, "I have half a mind to promote him to jounin after this. He's already got chunin."

Gai walked up, "Tsunade-sama, I admit, Naruto-kun's flames of youth burn brighter than previously advertised, but are you sure? Jounin is a whole other league, especially for a child."

Tsunade looked at Gai with a smirk, "Well, he's still got three fights left. He'll show you just what league he's in. I think I'll give him some time as a chunin first, he won't get anything less than that though. I don't think any of the remaining genin can even touch him."

Kakashi chimed in, "He still hasn't fought Sasuke yet Tsunade-sama. Things can change in the blink of an eye you know."

Tsunade got a predatory look in her eye, "So Kakashi, sounds like you still don't think much about our little blonde gaki out there. How about a little wager?"

Kakashi eye-smiled, "Name your terms."

Tsunade's grin got wider, "Oh this one might entertain you quite a bit… and I wouldn't really call it a wager, more of a request of sorts."

XxX

In the crowd the recently released sand siblings were in attendance, stopping off to watch the event going on in the stadium before returning to their home, their time as P.O.W.s now over. Taking their seats they were curious as to what was going on. Kankuro noticed Gaara watching down on the field intently. Looking down there himself he saw Naruto standing alone with Anko down in the center, "Isn't that the kid that caught us?"

Temari squinted before widening her eyes in surprise, "It is. What is he doing here? Is this all about him?"

A disgruntled fan snorted, "That demon brat is taking on a bunch of the prominent genin in this village. The poor kids… That demon is slaughtering them out there."

Gaara blinked and locked eyes with the man, "So Uzumaki is killing his genin opponents in the ring?"

The man flinched at Gaara's gaze and monotone speaking voice, "No, not really. But he's running right through them all. I knew he was hiding something for all these years."

Temari and Kankuro looked confused, Temari voiced their question, "Why does this place despise the kid so much?"

Gaara simply looked at her and back out into the arena, "He is like me."

Both Temari and Kankuro was shocked. Like Gaara? He has a demon in him too? Why hasn't he ended up the same way that Gaara did then. These people hate him, not fear him so he couldn't be killing them.

XxX

Naruto yawned loudly back in the stadium. He had been here for over four hours and had not been even close to pushed yet, this was more of a light spar to him than anything else all things considered, hell it wasn't even a spar; during a spar you actually get hit.

Naruto shut his mouth from his massive yawn and smacked his lips, "I'm bored Anko-san, this is boring. I'm tired of beating up on these kids already. Do you think I got my point across yet?"

Anko smirked at him, "Now, now gaki, you still have three fights left so make them entertaining okay? And what did I tell you to call me again?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and spoke in monotone, "Anko-_chan_."

"Or…?"

Naruto sighed tiredly, "Anko-_sama_."

Anko smiled sweetly at him, "Good boy, I knew you could do it! Look alive kid, next victim up."

At Anko's behest Naruto found Neji making his way into the arena with his usual gait. Naruto and Neji faced each other down and stared at each other intensely. Neji smirked at the blonde, "One more time?"

Naruto chuckled, "One more time…"

Anko licked her lips in anticipation of the coming battle, "The eighth match! Naruto Uzumaki vs. Neji Hyuuga! Hajime!"

Neji activated his Byakugan and sprung at him suddenly, beginning striking at Naruto rapidly. Naruto didn't feel like risking his chakra by blocking this time so he opted to simply dodge and put some distance between himself and the Hyuuga prodigy. This was easier said than done however as Neji was dogged in his pursuit, and any attempts to move without properly breaking Neji's chain of combinations could result in some painful Hyuuga jabs in his near future.

Naruto shot out a punch at the same time Neji went for a finger jab. Neji diverted his strike over Naruto's fist and dipped it in time to hit him in the wrist. Naruto saw this as his opportunity to move and jumped back, shaking his wrist out to get the feeling back into it.

Neji kept his focus solely on Naruto, and easily realizing the threat that any time Naruto could have to think and plan was bad, rushed back in. Naruto formed a Kage Bunshin and Kawarimied with it in time for Neji to hit a palm strike to the bunshin's chest, destroying it and allowing Naruto ample breathing room to back away.

Neji set himself in his ready stance and let out a breath, "I will defeat you this time Naruto. I am not taking you lightly this time around, you have my full attention."

Naruto pulled the sword from his back, "That's nice, but you can pay me all the attention that you want. You still won't beat me. I'm not the same one-dimensional guy that I was at the chunin exams." He set himself down and ran at Neji.

Neji began ducking and dodging Naruto's slashes. Naruto sheathed his sword suddenly following one of his slashes and grabbed Neji by his ponytail that was flailing about in the melee. With a malicious smirk on his face he jerked around and tossed Neji over his shoulder, slamming him hard to the ground by his hair.

Neji held his scalp on the ground while Anko cackled in the background, "That ripped a few out by the roots didn't it?"

Neji rubbed his head as he stood up, "That wasn't very honorable Naruto."

Naruto shrugged, "We're ninja, honor is for samurai and dead men. I'd rather be an ignoble winner than an honorable loser."

Neji slipped back into his stance, "That may be, but you are in range of my field of divination."

A sigh came from Naruto's mouth, "Fuck…"

Neji dashed in and began his assault, "Hakke… Two palms!"

Naruto dodged the first two strikes. Neji kept going , "Four palms!"

Naruto kept dodging as Neji picked up the pace, "Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms!"

Naruto kept narrowly keeping out of reach of the rapid-fire strikes, "Sixty-four palms!"

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw that Neji wasn't stopping his assault. The blistering speed of his hands had Naruto actually worrying about getting hit, finally Neji clipped him and began tagging him with shots, "Hakke Hyaku Nijuuhachi Sho (Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms)!"

Naruto was knocked to the ground as Neji stood straight up looking down on him

XxX

Asuma let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding, "Finally, someone beat the kid. It took long enough though, I kind of thought he was going to finish there for a minute."

Kurenai shook her head, "You forgot didn't you?"

Kakashi and Asuma looked at her curiously and she groaned, "People really d_on't_ pay attention to him do they? This already happened LAST TIME! And last time Neji hit him more than he did this time!"

Asuma dropped his cigarette while Kakashi still looked puzzled, "Neji did something like this the first time they fought? Well, how did he get up to win?"

XxX

Neji turned to speak to Anko. Neji stopped however upon hearing a bored sigh coming from Naruto, "Whoopee, more palms. Yay… Man you Hyuugas are seriously a bunch of one-trick ponies."

Neji turned to see a dry expression on Naruto's face, "What are you saying Naruto? You should be beaten after that."

Naruto smirked at him, "Déjà vu isn't it?"

Neji's eyes widened as the same malicious feeling from last time as Naruto kipped back up to his feet, just as quickly the feeling faded. And let out a vulpine smirk, "You barely hit me. I'd say out of 128 strikes you hit me maybe 20 or so times. Last time you hit all 64 of your other technique and I shook it off. I'm immune to your Jyuuken unless you strike for organs or something and even then it had better be a kill shot or I'll just keep coming."

Neji tensed up, "Well then why did you dodge my earlier strikes if you can just take them? When I hit I still had to have disrupted your tenketsu."

Naruto nodded, "Yes, but you forget, I can just open them back up. I already did… Hurts like hell though… That's why I dodged, those things hurt."

Neji was on immediate alert as Naruto charged back in. Luckily Neji performed his Kaiten prior to Naruto reaching him. Naruto was thrown back and scoffed, "You want to try that again?"

As he drew the sword from his back Neji prepared for another rotation. Naruto dashed in as Neji began to spin. Naruto channeled wind chakra into the blade of his sword and split right through Neji's shell of chakra, bursting out the other side. Neji stood still for a moment before dropping to the ground as blood shot from the wounds that appeared on his chest and back. Naruto ignored the outraged cries of the people, 'Ultimate defense my ass…'

Naruto walked over to Neji and placed the blade by his throat. Neji looked up at him with difficulty, "H-How?"

Naruto looked down at him, "Don't worry about it. Sleep."

Naruto cracked Neji with the blunt side of his ninjato, knocking him out to end the fight. Anko walked over and called for the medics while Naruto walked over to a grassy area to wipe off his sword, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

XxX

Asuma was clutching the guard rail tightly, "That was wind chakra! How could a genin possibly know elemental manipulation to that kind of extent? That's an elite level skill!"

XxX

Naruto turned to see Choji making his way out onto the field. Choji unwarily stood across from him and got his first eye-full of Naruto's combat stare. He felt like he was drowning in the ocean as he looked into Naruto's eyes that resembled the coldness of an iceberg.

Choji bit his lip and steeled himself, he was no fool, he had seen what had gone on in all of the other matches. He knew he had no chance against Naruto, if he was strong enough to fight off Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu he knew he couldn't match up against him because his strength was really all that he had over most genin. Naruto was faster, stronger, and had too many ways to beat him.

But he wasn't going to walk away from the fight just because he knew he would lose. Worst-case scenario, Naruto knocks him out and he spends a few hours looking up at a hospital ceiling until his parents come and get him. He knew Naruto wouldn't hurt him unnecessarily, so he could more or less place this in a category similar to sparring with his father, he knew he wouldn't win, but that was no reason not to try his best.

Choji gulped and motioned to Anko that he was ready. Anko took her spot between them, "The ninth match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Choji Akimichi! Hajime!"

"Baika no Jutsu (Multi-Size Jutsu)!" Anko had to jump out of the way as Choji immediately went straight into his clan jutsu list. As quickly as he could he tucked his head, arms, and legs into his body

"Nikudan Sensha (Human Bullet Tank)!" His massive form began its rollout towards Naruto who was swiftly on the defensive to avoid being squashed by the chubby ninja. Despite being in the shape of a massive ball Choji was quite mobile in that form, and was far faster than he was outside of it. Naruto found that the longer Choji rolled the more momentum he picked up.

Naruto pumped chakra into his legs to gain the necessary distance to warrant turning around to face Choji. Naruto channeled wind chakra to his fists and thrusted them out linked together, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"

The force of the wind jutsu hitting the meat tank sent the rotund ninja flying backwards until he bounced off of one of the stone walls lining the arena.

Choji came rolling right back at Naruto who simply stood right in his path and waited for him. When he got close enough Naruto cocked his leg back and gave Choji a chakra-enhanced kick that sent him flying once more, only into the stands this time. Choji released the jutsu to avoid crushing the spectators and ended up crashing into the stairs and rolling down them until he finally came to a stop at the bottom.

After a few minutes of him trying to regain his senses, Choji shakily stood up and faced Naruto, wincing with some blood coming from his lips, "You're… strong Naruto. I know I can't win here."

Naruto nodded, "But the important thing is that you tried. Do you want to continue?"

Choji looked up in the stands to his father. Choza knew what Choji was asking him and sat in contemplation before silently shaking his head. Choji turned back to Naruto and sighed, "I wish I could. But there's only one way that I can even hope to hang with you and my dad really doesn't want me trying it, it's really dangerous. I surrender."

Anko nodded and pointed to Naruto, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto sighed, "I kind of wanted to see what you could do Choji. You have some serious potential, I can only imagine what you had up your sleeve, but I understand. Maybe I'll get to see it one day."

Choji held his ribs and smiled at Naruto before heading back to the waiting area.

Naruto grinned and looked up at the waiting area where the others were watching from. Looking at all of the jounin he held up all ten of his fingers and slowly ticked them all down until one thumb was left up before he slowly dragged it across his throat.

XxX

Gai was marveling at the sheer raw power that Naruto had just shown against Choji, "He stopped him with a kick. Just a kick, nothing more. That's incredible, I wouldn't even attempt something like that."

Tsunade smiled at Naruto and looked back at her subordinates, "Last chance. Sasuke has to win or you all know what will happen."

Asuma shrugged, "Yeah we do, but I still don't see how that could be a punishment for losing a bet."

Tsunade chuckled, "Okay, just keep with that line of thought."

XxX

Anko noticed the crowd beginning to buzz, mostly over how the "Last Uchiha" would wipe the floor with the demon. Naruto simply stood calmly and waited for the fight to come. Anko really had taken a liking to the kid over the course of the day. He was entertaining to her, whether intentional or not, and he didn't act much like his age. She also realized that he fought like a professional, she definitely had to seek him out for a spar or two after this was all over.

Anko nudged him to get his attention, "Last one gaki. How are you going to handle this one?"

Naruto shifted his eyes to her, "The same way I handled the rest of them; I'm going to kick his ass."

Anko smirked, "What? You don't think the Uchiha will pose a challenge to you?" She spoke in a sarcastic tone, "You think the 'almighty' Sharingan isn't enough for him to win?"

Naruto chuckled, "Nope. Hell I don't think it'll even help at all here. He can't copy anything I can do. I don't need hand-seals to make Kage Bunshin, even if he had the hand-seals for my Raiton: Denkai branch moves he still doesn't have the ones for Raiton: Denkai in the first place so they're useless, and my fuuton jutsu don't need hand-seals either. He can't copy anything I'm actually willing to show here."

"Finally dobe." Naruto noticed Sasuke walking up to him. This Sasuke didn't just have his air of superiority over him, he had a tinge of excitement rolling off of him. He was spoiling for this fight, "I can finally prove once and for all that I'm better than you. Get ready to lose."

Naruto had his arms crossed, "If you were really strong then you wouldn't have to prove anything to anyone. I'm just doing this for my career. If I don't show all of these idiots that I'm talented I'll never get a promotion."

Naruto looked to Anko who moved between them. She turned towards the crowd, "The tenth and final match! Naruto Uzumaki vs. Sasuke Uchiha!" The crowd roared for Sasuke as a smug smirk came onto his face. Looking at Naruto he flashed the famous eyes of the Sharingan making the crowd roar even louder.

Anko rolled her eyes, "…Showoff… Hajime!"

Sasuke dashed in, remembering how poor Naruto had been at taijutsu all the times that Kakashi had them spar in the past. Apparently he hadn't been paying much attention to the happenings of the day too much. Naruto slapped his initial punch aside and grabbed on to his ankle to pull him forward roughly before hitting him with a vicious clothesline to the throat.

Sasuke hit the ground hard holding his throat and coughing. Naruto walked around him slowly and let him get his breath, "You know Uchiha… part of me is telling me to just knock you flat on your ass, get my promotion, go home, and sleep until later disturbed."

A feral grin spread over his face however, "But it's a whisper compared to the part of me that's screaming to flat out humiliate your ass in front of all these people. So get up, because this is a long ass trail you're taking Uchiha, and this is just the first turn bitch."

XxX

The sand siblings were getting pretty fed up with how the crowd was treating Naruto.

"The demon just hit the Uchiha!"

"There's no way Uchiha-sama can lose to something like that!"

"It was luck! This entire thing has all been luck!"

Temari asked a man nearby, "How many fights have there been so far?"

The man kept his eyes on the current battle, "There have been nine so far. The brat beat everyone that was put in front of him. None of them have even been able to touch him."

Temari watched Sasuke shakily pick himself up off of the ground, "That isn't the same kid screaming all the time from the exams."

Kankuro nodded, "What happened? I wouldn't have even considered him a threat until he ended up beating us in the woods."

XxX

Sasuke, just now getting his breathing back to normal, stood and glared at Naruto, "How did you hit me so easily? You were never this good before!"

Naruto set back into a ready stance, "Well this isn't before is it? You can't hit me fighting the way you do. Trying to beat me with taijutsu would be like you trying to fight Kakashi with taijutsu, except I won't be so nice about it. No gimme shots for you to boost your ego, if you try that again I will be breaking something."

Sasuke growled at Naruto, "What do you mean 'gimme shots'?" Sasuke rushed right back in as Naruto sighed in response and began defending, "Face it dobe! Those other losers couldn't match up to me!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes and caught Sasuke's fist in his grip before slamming a fist deep into his body. Sasuke dropped to his knees, spitting out blood and coughing once more. Naruto punted him in the ribs and sent him rolling for a few feet, "I meant what I said. When Kakashi trained you during the month before the finals he said he worked on your taijutsu and speed, how hard did he hit you? What was the hardest that Kakashi hit you?"

Naruto picked up Sasuke by his collar and smashed him in the face once more, "Did he ever hit you so hard that he hurt _himself_? Did he ever hit you so hard you actually lost consciousness for more than a day? If your answer is no then you're way more under me than I thought."

Naruto held him by his collar as Sasuke struggled to get out. Sasuke managed to reel off a shot that hit Naruto in the face, but all it did was force Naruto to turn his head, Naruto quirked his mouth before head-butting Sasuke in the face, sending him falling to the ground holding his now broken nose. Sasuke looked up to Naruto, blood coming through his finger and tears forming in his eyes.

Naruto shot a cold gaze downward, "You think you're strong but you're not as good as you think. You've been lead to believe that you're Kami's gift to Konoha, but you're not, you're just another genin with a bloodline, and that doesn't make you special at all. All you had over everyone else was a leg up and an entire village at your back."

Sasuke stood back up glaring with death in his eyes at Naruto who scoffed at his attempt at killing intent, "I'm done talking to you. Let me show you what I mean the hard way."

As Naruto finished speaking Sasuke jumped away, not really wanting to get in close with Naruto again. Sasuke flipped through hand-signs and put his fingers to his mouth, "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu)!"

The fireball launched at Naruto who didn't move. The fireball collided with Naruto much to the approval of the crowd who up until that point were sitting on their hands. Sasuke smirked at the ruin he had created until the fire cleared and a charred log was left behind, remnants of a kawarimi.

Sasuke scanned the immediate area swiftly, preparing his body for any response that it could take. He turned his head as he saw Naruto emerge from the tree in the arena, rushing at him. As he turned to react he took a sharp blow in one of his blind spots, revealing another Naruto that was currently pummeling him. The first Naruto who had gotten his notice had dispelled while the other Naruto attacked.

Sasuke was reeling from the pummeling that was taking place. The Sharingan was once again proven useless against an opponent that was far faster than he was. It actually made it worse, seeing a punch coming and not being able to defend it chipped away at Sasuke's confidence, but in this case he was seeing entire combinations coming and still ended up taking them.

The dull thump of Sasuke hitting the ground again rang out as Naruto burst into smoke. Another Naruto revealed itself standing on top of the walls shaking his right hand out with amusement on his face, "Good job Sasuke-teme. You technically beat my Kage Bunshin, though he dispelled because he broke his hand on your face, but hey! Who's keeping score here?"

XxX

The jounin were at the end of their rope. This was just too much. Gai was hunched over the rail, his head arched out towards the battle, "A Kage Bunshin… He was doing that kind of damage with just one Kage Bunshin…"

Tsunade had a stone face on as she watched her genin fight, "Now do you see? Did him running through all of your teams get the point across or do you need more evidence to support his promotion." She faced the jounin seriously, "The next time I personally endorse the promotion of one particular ninja you'd damn sure better believe without question that there is a damn good reason for it."

Kakashi was frozen in place before something ticked in his brain, "I need to stop this before this goes too far."

Kurenai shook her head at Kakashi, "It's a little late for that isn't it?"

Kakashi made a move to leave but was blocked by Asuma and Gai, "What are you two doing? This can't go on any longer!"

Asuma sighed in a disinterested fashion, "We all watched our own kids get their asses kicked, so you're staying to watch one of yours beat the crap out of the other one."

Gai nodded, "We all knew the stakes coming into this test my eternal rival. Take solace in the fact that this isn't a deathmatch."

Tsunade raised her voice, "Kakashi, stand down. Do not interfere with this fight."

Kakashi turned to her, "Tsunade-sama, if this doesn't end soon it will escalate. They'll try to kill each other."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "If Naruto tries to kill Sasuke then Sasuke is dead. If Sasuke tries to kill Naruto then Sasuke will end up in the hospital. Naruto won't kill him and Sasuke isn't capable of killing him in return."

Kakashi made to speak again but Tsunade held up her hand stalling him, "Just watch."

"What did I miss?"

They all turned to see Jiraiya standing in the corner. Tsunade frowned at him, "How about the whole thing? This is the last fight. Naruto's been tearing through all of these kids."

Jiraiya looked out to see Naruto walking slowly down the wall back into the arena, "Alright, well at least I got here in time to catch one."

XxX

Sasuke stood once more as Naruto strode towards him purposefully. Sasuke glared as blood dripped down his face, "You aren't better than me!" Sasuke launched a set of kunai at Naruto who just shifted his body out of the way and kept walking.

Sasuke smirked as he placed ninja wire into his mouth and pulled back on it. The wire surrounded and bound Naruto. Sasuke grinned maniacally, "Katon: Ryuuka no Jut-."

Before he could finish Naruto let out an audible sigh and coated his body in wind chakra to sever the wire before continuing his walk towards Sasuke. The Uchiha in question was utterly shocked as his wire dropped limply from his mouth, his opponent still striding over casually. A faint burning on the back of his shoulder was the least of his concerns right now, he had a juggernaut that he couldn't stop coming right for him.

Naruto was whistling a jaunty tune with no expression on his face, further unnerving his dark-haired adversary. He was utterly ignoring the look of fear on Sasuke's face on the outside, but on the inside he and the Kyuubi were freaking out in laughter, **"Keep going kit! Just a little bit more, I swear he's about to piss his pants!"**

Naruto kept his poker face on, 'I know, but what else can I do to fuck with him? I already made two of his best jutsu look worthless and beat the piss out of him. Unless he's stupid enough to try Chidori I don't think there's any more to do to him. Oh well, time to knock him out.'

Naruto's footsteps might as well have been thudding off of the ground for all the good it was doing Sasuke to see him coming. His fight-or-flight mechanism kicked in with a vengeance, 'What is he? This can't be the same Naruto…'

'_Fight him Sasuke…'_

'What? He's been overwhelming me from the start. He's stronger.'

'_You have more power than him… Let it out, show them all your strength…'_

'…I will… Give me more power.'

'_Let your rage take over… He is an obstacle to you, remove him…'_

'Who does he think he is? I'm Sasuke Uchiha! He's a nobody! He's still the same dobe he's always been!'

Naruto stopped his walk as he saw black marks spread across the right half of Sasuke's body. Naruto snorted, "That damned seal again… I'm really starting to hate seals." Naruto saw Tsunade signal her Anbu out of the corner of his eye, "Baa-chan no! Let me finish this! It's still my fight…"

XxX

Tsunade nodded and gave the signal to her Anbu to back off. Kakashi ran up to her, "Tsunade-sama! Stop the fight! Sasuke is giving in to the seal, we have to stop him!"

Jiraiya put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder and shook his head, "Kakashi, that kid has more experience with that seal than anyone else in Konoha except Anko. He knows what he's doing. Just watch and wait."

Kakashi looked out nervously at the battle down below, 'Sensei, what would you have done in this situation?'

XxX

"Anko-chan stop!"

Naruto noticed Anko moving to restrain Sasuke until he spoke up, "Let him get up and fight."

Anko looked at Naruto as if he had two heads, "Kid that's Orochimaru's seal. That tainted thing feeds off of his darkness and amplifies his powers. This isn't a regular fight anymore."

Naruto nodded, "I know, but just stay out of this for me. I can still run circles around this guy, trust me."

Anko frowned and looked at Sasuke who was rising with a sick grin on his face, "Alright gaki… But if it gets out of hand I'm stopping this."

Naruto nodded as Anko got out of the way once more. Sasuke laughed in a crazed manner, "I'm feeling pretty good right now dobe… Let's see you match me now, with my new power."

Naruto scratched his head, "Well for me to match you 'new power' I'd have to hold back even more than I already am." Naruto let a vicious smirk come onto his face, "You know I really hate that seal teme… I have ever since I first saw it."

Sasuke cackled, "So you were jealous of my power in the forest when you first saw it. I should have figured so."

Naruto chuckled, "No I saw it before that. You see I was jumped by these four assholes from Otogakure a long time ago. I was beating them pretty easily at first and then this other guy showed up, and they all had your little demon tattoo too. Anyway, they use it and then they all start taking it to my ass, it was 5-on-1 mind you, and I barely end up getting away. The last guy to show up, I'll never forget his face, he gave me this scar." Naruto pointed to his right eye.

Naruto's eyes turned cold, "I can't seem to get my chance to get square with those guys, but you're here, and you have it too, so you'll be a decent substitute for me to vent on."

Sasuke snarled and ran at Naruto, speed jacked up to the next level. Naruto had been holding back a bunch, because the second Sasuke turned that seal on and came at him it was like the start of the fight, only cranked up to level 11.

Every time Sasuke missed a punch, Naruto made him pay with shots to the body, shots to the face, and thrusts to the throat. Every time Sasuke threw a kick Naruto battered his legs with elbow blocks or would parry with his fists to Sasuke's shins. Sasuke simply couldn't move fast enough to hit him, and Naruto's counters were so sharp that the Sharingan couldn't even help him.

Every single one of Naruto's counters came with the intent to end the fight and if Sasuke wasn't fighting like something reminiscent of a berserker he probably would have dropped ten times over by then.

Sasuke pulled out a kunai and began swinging at Naruto with intent to kill, the mostly civilian crowd knew nothing about the seal, or about Sasuke's lunacy and were screaming for Naruto's blood. Naruto simply kept out of reach and stung him repeatedly with counter hooks and blazing kicks to back him off.

Naruto finally grabbed him by the wrist holding the kunai and began wearing his ass out. With one hand occupied he still had one hand free to wail on Sasuke bare handed and ruthlessly. Naruto's fist bounced off of Sasuke face with every word he spoke, grunting in effort, "You… want… my… life…?" Naruto, content with turning Sasuke's face into hamburger, pulled him forward and punched him in the face as hard as he could, sending him rolling backwards awkwardly, "You aren't enough of a shinobi to lick my boots you spoiled, power borrowing, jutsu thieving piece of shit!"

Naruto roared at him, "Get up! Get up so I can make you suffer! I hope Orochimaru can feel every second of this ass-whupping I'm giving you because we aren't done yet!" Naruto fingered his sword in a manic fashion, "You want to use that seal! You want to make your bed with the traitor? I'm extracting my pound of flesh for it you stupid bastard!"

Sasuke stood with an insane gleam in his eye, "Who do you think you are! I'm an Uchiha you pissant! You will succumb to my power!" Sasuke had electricity surging around his hand with the famous chirping noise in full-effect. Sasuke began a full-on rush straight at Naruto, "Die damn you! Chidori (One Thousand Birds)!"

Naruto gave a grin that chilled the heart of even the most hardened shinobi in attendance as he set his sword in a waiting stance, "Come on down Uchiha… I've got a little friend that wants to meet you, no jutsu necessary my friend…"

Sasuke rushed Naruto down and thrusted his arm, a bursting flash of sparks indicating that he made contact, before coming to a stop on the other side of the whiskered blonde, a smirk on his lips. A short wind rolled through the arena as everyone was standing at attention.

Naruto stood straight up and swung his sword to the side as he walked away. Sasuke stood still until blood bursted from his right arm like a sprinkler. He fell to the ground clutching the arm that had been turned into cold cuts, seemingly by Naruto's sword.

Anko blocked out his wails of anguish and agony as he writhed on the ground. Anko pointed to Naruto for the final time, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"

The crowd remained silent as the only sounds going through the stadium were the billowing wind and Sasuke's cries. The medics hustled out double-time to stanch the bleeding from what was remaining of Sasuke's arm and carry him to get emergency treatment.

Anko caught up to him and saw an uncaring look on his face as he went to sit under the tree, "Hey Anko-chan."

Anko jerked her thumb in Sasuke's direction, "A little much wouldn't you say gaki?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke being carried off, "Nah, builds character. He's lucky he's still even got that arm."

Anko shook her head, "What the hell was that anyway, you beat that jutsu with a sword."

Naruto grinned up at her and showed her the bloody sword, "Wind manipulation. I love my element so much, it's so… efficient. Wind trumps lightning and his control over Chidori was shit in the first place so he never had a chance."

As all of the genin that had not required hospitalization, the jounin sensei, Jiraiya, and Tsunade made their way over to him. Naruto was currently sitting in the shade while wiping the blade on the grass. Asuma walked up to him first, "How do you know about elemental manipulation? That isn't something that a genin should know, when did you learn it?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "If I told you it wouldn't matter because you wouldn't believe me. I can do it, I can control it, end of story." He sheathed the sword back onto his back and sat patiently.

Kurenai frowned at him, "You were unnecessarily brutal against your opponents." She crossed her arms under her bosom, "You seriously damaged more than a few of your fellow genin."

Naruto glared at her, "It's called efficiency. What kind of jounin are you calling _that_ brutal? I was going easy on them, I could have killed all of them, Sasuke included. As a matter of fact, with the exception of Sasuke and maybe Kiba I didn't even hurt any of them that badly so what are you on about?" She glared at him and he gave her one right back, unflinching.

He stood up and tried to get around them, "If you're all just going to bitch about how I fought today then save it. I won, they lost, I owned them all." He turned to the kids close by, "No offense, but come on, you've got to admit it."

Kakashi stepped forward, "Naruto, what you did to Sasuke…" Naruto was about to open his mouth to bitch Kakashi out until he finished his sentence, "I completely understand."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as Kakashi put his hand on his head, "Chidori is a killing technique. I'm sorry. I made him promise to never use it against a comrade and he tried it against you, you did what you had to in order to defend and win. The fact that you left him alive in the first place shows me you value comrades."

Naruto shrugged, "I don't really consider Sasuke a friend or anything, but as long as we have the same headband I have a duty to keep him alive. What about the cursed seal?"

Kakashi's eye widened this time, "You know what it is?"

Naruto nodded, "I've had a run-in or two with Orochimaru too remember?" He didn't need Kakashi knowing he stole information directly from Oto's base in his years prior.

Jiraiya walked up, "I need to do some more research on it. I still don't know how to remove it yet, maybe if I study Sasuke's I can get some new information, sorry Anko."

Anko nodded sadly as Kurenai rubbed her shoulder. By now the crowd was filing out, grumbling disappointedly about how the demon brat destroyed the competition. Naruto snorted, bastards, they could have at least stayed to hear the results.

Tsunade walked over and ruffled Naruto's hair, much to his chagrin, "Good job gaki, you've earned your promotion. I'm sorry, but you can't make the jump straight to jounin right from genin. You need experience as a chunin doing higher-grade missions first."

Naruto would have complained but he needed to keep his cover. No one needed to know he had experience with elite missions and he couldn't just use that as a bargaining chip for an unnecessary promotion. He was a chunin now, and that was good enough for now, "I understand. So I guess I'll get my vest later."

Tsunade smiled at him, "Good work gaki, I knew sticking my neck out like that for you was a good bet."

Naruto grinned and began walking away from everyone to leave, "If you'll excuse me, I haven't been home in a week and I need to get reacquainted with my lumpy-ass mattress. If you need me you know where I'll be. Later."

All of the genin that were still conscious shouted words of congratulations to Naruto, who simply waved over his shoulder and shunshined away.

Asuma shook his head, "Okay, I'm a believer, that kid is scary good." He turned to Tsunade, "Okay Tsunade-sama, what are the terms of this agreement you wanted Kakashi for?"

Tsunade smirked, "Follow me to the Hokage Tower and we'll discuss the terms… You can all come, you might find it interesting to say the least."

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**Chapter up and I'm amazed. I've gotten three-hundred reviews over the course of this story being up for just over a week. That is awesome! This is a successful story that I enjoy writing so it's win-win here for me. Time for me to pump out some chapters for my other stories now, but another one of these should be out by… I'd say Tuesday. I've neglected Fullmetal Shinobi and Naruto: Soldiers of Fortune enough to get this one off of the ground.**

**As always questions and reviews are welcome and comments are encouraged, if I think you write something interesting I'll publicly respond to you, so have at it.**

**Kenchi out.**


	9. Getting Experience

Reader Shoutouts

**anon: He isn't using it yet, but it will be incorporated rather soon so just hold tight on that. And damn the typos, spell-check is still an S.O.B.**

**Matthew88: Spinal Tap is amazing. You see it's subtle things like that that I like slipping in, cookie for you sir. And the Itachi thing, I'm surprised no one did that before either, I laughed my ass off for a good ten minutes when I first thought of it.**

**Stormrune: 400 reviews yay! I can feel my powers growing stronger!**

**werd me: Um… Was it good for you?**

**Gon Freaks: Yeah they really don't ever take him out of it. What the hell is he just going to stay a genin until the end of the series where he dies an f'n virgin? That pisses me off somewhat.**

**Grey vs Ale: Yes, but they never bring up the fact that he only trained Sasuke despite the fact that it was utterly blatant. I don't get why Naruto and Sakura liked him so much, he didn't really do much of anything for them at all.**

**Rufous: He ain't leaving the village… on a training trip anyway. And I'll deal with Akatsuki myself eventually, I'm just getting things set up for a long story at the moment.**

**Cyren Fire: He'll have trouble, just not with any of Konoha's weak ass genin. He'll get into real fights soon enough, trust me.**

**Jay-Jay12393: I just type like that. I'm awesome and can multitask like no one's business.**

**Josh148513: It'll be soon enough, I've got to lay some ground work first and foremost ya dig?**

**JNottle: I'm not really into bashing so much. I mean with Sasuke, it's kind of hard to not bash him, but I'm capable of it. But with the whole, giving people absolutely no redeeming qualities, kind of bashing, I'm not really into that.**

**RoninGrey: Wow. Well it seems that the less active brain cells I have, the better I write. I should get hit in the head more often huh? And thanks for the review, phone typing sucks so I'm sure you were feeling that.**

**TheLonelyVagabond: First of all, great fucking name. Second of all, I never really thought Kakashi was petty or anything, I just thought he was dumb, dumb as hell, and really thought he was doing the right thing with how he treated his team. I never really thought he was a douchebag or anything.**

**Marvolo-Madara: I cannot stand crappy quality chapters so I would never subject anyone to read them, I'm just a bad-ass that can mix speed and quality all in one… I'm special like that.**

**Samuraiguy2: Naruto will get a chick(s) in this story I assure you. And hopefully this chapter will answer a few of your questions.**

**Jyuubi6: That is a bad-ass idea that I will probably end up using. And Sasuke still has his arm, just imagine it with deep, cleaving gashes going all through it.**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Do not comment on this in my presence, I have engaged in full-fledged fist fights over things less important than this. You have been warned.

**Chapter 8: Getting Experience**

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It had been roughly three days since Naruto's performance at the stadium against all of the genin. Tsunade let him be for the time being because he deserved the rest. That was one reason, the other reason was that she wouldn't have him doing anymore D-rank missions with Team 7, and they couldn't go on them anyway seeing as how Naruto had put Sasuke Uchiha on the shelf with the butchering job he had done on Sasuke's arm.

This was part of the arrangement made between Tsunade and Kakashi. Naruto was no longer considered a member of Team 7. It was a good idea, with Naruto having just destroyed Sasuke and Sakura in combat almost effortlessly, the team dynamics, what little there were in the first place, would have been screwed. She proposed to have him go solo and float between teams, either more experienced teams of chunin and jounin to get field experience, or the younger genin teams to give him some experience in leading teams.

This actually kind of worked out in Naruto's favor. For all of his want to get promoted the fact was that while he was in Ne he was used primarily for solo missions, things that only had him worrying about his own back and what he had to do to survive. This would allow him to learn how to fight in conjunction with others. He needed to learn how to work in a team and how to keep his comrades alive when they were with him. He couldn't argue that he wasn't ready to lead a squad of ninja as a jounin yet, he knew that.

So on the morning that our story picks up from Naruto ambled his way through the streets of Konoha on his way to the Hokage Tower to get himself a mission. The looks he ended up getting from the civilians on his usual path were the usual looks of apathy and sneers that he usually got, but when Naruto turned his own eyes onto them they turned away from him. Naruto sighed as he drew closer to the tower.

Upon entering he made his way to the office of Tsunade, which was filled with the other Konoha genin he had fought, minus Sasuke, all of their jounin sensei, and the genin team from Sunagakure. Naruto raised an eyebrow at all of the people in the room. He looked at Tsunade, "So what do you got for me today baa-chan?"

Tsunade threw the paperweight on her desk at Naruto who just ducked it with a smirk. She narrowed her eyes at him, "…Disrespectful brat… I called you here so that you could begin getting to work helping out with the surplus of missions that we have."

She looked at all of the genin in the room, "Things are still kind of shaky after the invasion but we can't turn away any of the work that comes into us. Not only is the money necessary, but we need to keep up with the view that we are strong, so genin like all of you will be getting higher ranked missions more often."

Tsunade motioned for Naruto to come forward, "You will start off with your chunin duties today. You will be leading one of these teams on a C-ranked mission today. Seeing as you will be the highest ranked member on whatever squad you end up taking you will be the leader."

Naruto pointed at the Suna genin, "So why are they here? And can I pick them?"

Tsunade nodded, "You can pick them if that's what you want. Though they aren't really a team for a mission, more like they are the mission."

Naruto thought to himself for a moment, "Okay, I'll go with the Suna kids. I don't really feel like fighting bandits or something right now anyway so whatever I'm doing with them I'll take that one."

He turned to face them and motioned for them to follow him closer to the desk before he stopped in front of Tsunade, "So what's the mission?"

Tsunade handed them a scroll from the C-ranked pile, "The main reason that the Kazekage's children have been in Konoha for so long has been mostly as some sort of collateral while we begin talks for the treaty between our villages. Negotiations are firmly under way so we are returning them to their village. You will escort them there and wait for Suna to finalize the treaty on their own side before you return with a scroll from them."

He looked at her in confusion, "This is C-ranked? Are you serious? It should at least be B. Oh well whatever…" Naruto scratched his head, "So do I get a team for this or what?"

Tsunade shook her head, "Naruto they are a team. You plus them should be a match for pretty much anything that could attack you between here and there." Tsunade tossed Naruto a scroll that he caught wordlessly.

"Flying solo… Okay I guess." Naruto pocketed the scroll and turned to his selected team, "All right, do you guys have everything you need for the mission or do we need to square away some time to get you restocked before we leave?"

The siblings traded looks as Temari spoke up, "We're ready to go whenever you are. When do we go Naruto-san?"

Naruto cringed when she said his name, "Uh, just Naruto is fine Temari, I'm not much for the honorifics." He scratched his head nervously, "All right if you guys are all ready to go then lets head on out, no sense in wasting time. I'm sure you're all sick of staying here."

As the other teams lined up to get their own assignments Naruto lead the Suna contingent out of the office and out towards the street.

XxX

On their way out of the village Naruto found that while the civilians didn't particularly like him due to his thorough dissection of the entire slew of genin the other day, the ninja higher in rank gave him some respect for it. As he walked towards the target gate he got nods of acknowledgement from the chunin he found out on patrol, the jounin out with their genin teams or just some of the ninja out in general.

As he made his way to the western gate the perennial gatekeepers, Izumo and Kotetsu, got grins on their faces upon seeing Naruto and company make their way to the gate. Naruto walked up and revealed the mission scroll given to him by Tsunade, "Chunin Naruto Uzumaki with a mission to Sunagakure alongside the Kazekage's children."

Kotetsu nodded and marked it down on the traffic ledger. The bandage-nosed shinobi chidingly elbowed Naruto, "Hey kid, good stuff the other day at the stadium. You pretty much sleepwalked through all of those kids."

Naruto shrugged as he wrote down his own signature on the page, "Well we couldn't use killing force on each other, I guess they were all holding back too, but they shouldn't have. Kami knows Sasuke didn't… for all of the good it did him."

Naruto handed the papers back to the two chunin and called for the Suna genin to leave with him. As the two chunin watched him walk away from the village Izumo chuckled, "That kid's going to get promoted before us at this rate."

Kotetsu yawned as he went back inside their booth, "I don't really mind too much. Let a kid with some ambition move up in rank, I'll be fine right here."

Izumo sweat-dropped in response to his partner's comment, "So does that mean that you want to watch a gate for the rest of your career? You are one lazy bastard."

Kotetsu gave a small smirk, "Hey, it beats actually working for a living doesn't it?"

XxX

Due to the fact that everyone here was an active ninja, they took to jumping through the trees as their method of travel. Naruto, being bored as all get out, decided to make some small talk as they made their way out of the country, "So how'd Konoha treat you guys? You all look fine if you ask me."

Kankuro grumbled somewhat, "We wouldn't have had to stay at all if someone didn't jump us after the fight with Gaara."

Naruto let a smirk play on his lips, "Well I told you all exactly what I was going to do. You weren't going to just leave so I had to knock you all out. It's not my fault that you didn't watch your backs."

Kankuro still kept his eyes narrowed at him, "I still can't believe we lost so easily. You just clubbed us over the back of the head without us even noticing."

Grinning back at the paint-wearing ninja, Naruto responded, "I am very sneaky sir." He dropped the grin from his face, "How far is it to Suna? I've never been before." This was a lie. He had been to Suna before, but he really wanted to cover up the stuff he did in Ne around the people that didn't need to know about it unless the knowledge was necessary.

Temari moved closer in their formation to speak to him, "From Konoha, Suna is about three days away if we keep at this speed."

Naruto nodded and turned to face them, "Alright, we'll go for as long as you can all stand to travel. Don't worry about me, just yourselves, I might be capable of getting all the way to Suna without sleep myself."

Kankuro and Temari blinked blankly at that. Gaara didn't have energy to burn like that. Though this kid did beat Gaara in his full-transformation after all… it couldn't really be that farfetched. Kankuro glanced back at Gaara and whispered to Naruto, "Hey. Gaara says that you're like him. What exactly does that mean?"

Naruto looked back at him in a nonchalant manner, "Oh that? I have a biju sealed inside of me like him." Naruto took not of the looks of shock on their faces, minus Gaara, "What? Did he not elaborate on what he meant when he said that?"

The two stunned siblings shook their heads. Temari looked back at Gaara who nodded in affirmation. She looked up at Naruto in confusion, "Wait? Why don't you have any powers or transformations like Gaara? We probably wouldn't have even known if you two hadn't said anything."

The blonde boy shrugged, "I don't know. I can do some stuff with its chakra, but I don't really have any transformations or anything really scary like Gaara does to my knowledge." He then added under his breath, "Unless you count the trigger…"

Kankuro put his nerves behind him, 'This kid isn't like Gaara. He won't flat out kill us for no reason. Stop being so scared of him, he's just like me or Temari.' "So, which one do you have if I could ask? You know that Gaara has the Ichibi no Shukaku."

"Oh I have the Kyuubi no Yoko in me." Naruto grinned at them all cheekily, "But you shouldn't go around spreading that. It's an S-class secret in my village, no one my age knows about it. If you do I might just have to pop up and kill you, no big deal." The mirth in his voice couldn't indicate if he was joking about that or not.

The silence brought on by Naruto's proclamation was broken by Gaara of all people, "How did you not end up like me?"

Naruto looked at Gaara dead in his eyes and saw that he was genuinely curious about it, "Well, first of all I ended up making contact with the Kyuubi personally and hammering out a contract of sorts between us. It can't possess me, I can use its chakra when I need to, I let it see, hear, and feel what I do, there's other stuff too but that is some of the big stuff."

Gaara blinked, "I've never tried that before. Shukaku kind of just runs rampant in my mind. Even now it wants me to kill you to get even."

Naruto grinned at him, "I'm so glad you've thought better of trying that. Yeah, the contract wasn't my idea though, it was someone else's. And you say you can't even get into your head safely to make contact without Shukaku fighting for control? Your seal must suck."

The siblings all looked at each other before Temari spoke up, "You know about seals?"

"No." Naruto shook his head in the negative, "But I was sealed by the Yondaime Hokage, who was the best. If I haven't heard of who did yours then they must not be nearly as good." He then scratched his chin, "That might be something to learn though…"

He got a serious look on his face, "But in all seriousness, don't go around telling people that I contain the Kyuubi. I have enough crap to deal with at home with just the adults knowing. If the kids my age are going to know, I'm going to tell them my damn self so that no one can warp their opinions. I was supposed to be a weapon like Gaara, but I ended up getting out of it somehow."

Gaara's curiosity was piqued further by Naruto's words, "You got out of it? What do you mean?"

Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly, "Well I was used for serious stuff, a lot of cloak and dagger operations, until four years ago when I ended up getting caught. The ones that discovered me ended up doing something to make me into that daft, loud, orange-wearing kid that you met at first. Fighting Gaara pulled my old killer instinct out, I thank you for that, and here we are now."

Kankuro raised an eyebrow, "You don't seem too much like a weapon to me."

His sister nodded in response, "You just seem like a really strong ninja, a kid."

Naruto wagged his eyebrows at her, "I'm a sentient weapon you could say. I don't like being all dreary when I don't have to be. When we're like this, no real fighting going on, I can be normal, well as normal as a ninja like me can be anyway. When the fighting starts I can just turn on the side of me that's a killer, it's kind of weird to explain."

Gaara looked at Naruto, "Your teammate, the way you fought him in the stadium, I thought he was precious to you. You said you got strength from defending others and yet you had no problems hurting him."

Chuckles came from Naruto as he contemplated Gaara's comment, "Well, maybe, but I don't really like him so it doesn't really count that much. What I told you was true, but it was more like for the whole village than just my team, I don't even like my team."

"You don't like your team?" Temari looked at him as if he was crazy, "Then why are you on it? Why not get switched out?"

Naruto smiled, "Well seeing as how I'm currently doing this it works out for me. Honestly, working with you guys so far has been more pleasant than my entire time on Team 7. No brooding spoiled pretty-boy breathing down my neck, no sensei that would rather read than pay attention to what's going on, and no pink-haired fan-girl with bipolar syndrome and a hair-trigger right hand. Yep, Temari-chan here is way more pleasant to be around as far as female company goes."

Temari blushed while Kankuro snorted, "Yeah sure kid. Just trade the hair color and the fist for a giant metal fan and you've got Temari."

The girl in question looked back at her younger brother while clutching the fan on her back tightly, "What was that Kankuro? Could you repeat that for me?"

Kankuro rapidly shook his head while Naruto barked out a laugh, "See, at least she gave you a warning. I usually didn't get those before Sakura tried to wail on me." Naruto noticed that Gaara had been staring at him for quite a while, "What's wrong Gaara? Do you need something?"

Gaara kept his eyes on Naruto, "You are a very strange person Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto grinned foxily at him, "Well I don't think you can talk, calling me strange. You look like you want to say something though."

Gaara's eyes turned back ahead as he broke eye contact with Naruto, "It is nothing Uzumaki."

Naruto didn't believe him but let it slide as he kept his group jumping through the trees, "If nothing else we should reach near the border before it gets too dark to proceed any further." A group of nods and his focus was on their direction.

XxX

As the day winded to a close in Konohagakure, Tsunade was still at her desk, going through the most unnecessary necessity the every kage was stuck doing, of course I'm talking about paperwork.

A knock at her door soon revealed Shizune, "Tsunade-sama, Kakashi is here to see you."

Tsunade sighed, "Send him in." She flexed her wrist and hissed, "Damn brat dragging me back here... I bet he just wanted to punish me with all of this writing on so many of these useless forms to cramp my wrist so I can't hit him anymore. Honestly, shouldn't I have an entire team of secretaries to handle all of the mundane crap? I am the Hokage after all."

Shizune blinked, 'Note to self, find out if I actually _should_ be looking for secretaries for things like that.' A yell of her name from Tsunade brought the black-haired girl back to earth, "Oh, um, I'm sending Kakashi in now okay?"

Tsunade motioned with her hand and Shizune disappeared from the door, Kakashi appearing in her stead, with Sakura in tow. As they entered the room Kakashi stood in front of Tsunade's desk, "Hokage-sama, you wanted to speak to me personally about Team 7?"

Tsunade nodded, "Yes, due to Naruto's promotion and as a part of the arrangement made in case he won the entire series of bouts against the genin I'm taking him off of Team 7 effective immediately."

Kakashi's visible eye went wide, "Hokage-sama, I'm aware that Naruto needs to work with others because of his new rank and everything, but why take him off of Team 7 completely?"

Tsunade shook her head, "It's nothing that you've done Kakashi. It's more along the lines of the team itself." She placed her chin on her hands, "Do you really think that after the little show that Naruto and the Uchiha put on in the stadium things will ever be civil again?"

The look on Kakashi's face showed his faith in the matter, "Naruto has shown growth in maturity in leaps and bounds ever since the chunin exam, I honestly believe that he can co-exist with Sasuke and Sakura."

A smirk appeared on the face of the buxom Hokage, "Kakashi you worded that like it was Naruto who got smacked around the stadium." Just as quickly as it appeared her smirk vanished, "Sasuke was soundly beaten by Naruto, driven to the point that he felt the activation of Orochimaru's cursed seal was tolerable. You did warn him not to do so did you not?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, I have, along with using the Chidori against comrades, but it seems he disregarded both."

Sakura felt very small all of a sudden as she saw Tsunade speaking with her sensei, as if she was out of place, and indeed she was. She wasn't even leaping to Sasuke's defense or anything until the Chidori was brought up, "But sensei, I saw Sasuke-kun's arm. Sasuke may have tried to use Chidori, but what about Naruto? He did something to mangle Sasuke-kun's arm."

Kakashi spoke up quickly before Tsunade could, "Sakura, the Chidori is an assassination technique used for only one thing, to kill. Sasuke, by using that, was saying that he had no qualms against killing Naruto. Naruto simply channeled elemental wind chakra to his blade and cut through the Chidori. With that kind of attack, if he really wanted to, Naruto could have cleaved Sasuke in two whenever he wanted if Sasuke was using Chidori. He fought to simply subdue, Sasuke was going for Naruto's life."

Chiming in at that point was Tsunade, "Sasuke will heal within the next few weeks. Naruto didn't do anything permanent, but with him activating the cursed seal I have to ask that you remain on simply D-ranked missions for the time being until I can get Jiraiya to look at it himself again, he left right after Naruto's matches and it will take some time to contact him again."

Kakashi nodded, "Yes Tsunade-sama. What about Team 7?"

Tsunade sighed and turned towards the window, "Well with what has happened I can't in good mind allow Naruto back onto your squad, at least not so soon. I'll find you a replacement in the meantime and by the time Jiraiya gets here you should have someone for your team."

Kakashi nodded, "Of course. That was all I wished to speak about Tsunade-sama. Come on Sakura." The masked jounin led his female student out of the office.

As they walked out of the tower Sakura spoke up, "What about Naruto Kakashi-sensei? He isn't on the team anymore?"

Kakashi looked at the setting sun, "No I'm afraid he isn't. If he was then he would be the superior officer to you and Sasuke and Sasuke would never accept that. His superiority complex would force him to fight any decision that Naruto would make in the field and hamper team effectiveness, and that's not even adding onto the fact that he would probably try to fight Naruto himself if he got the opportunity. No, this is for the best in this instance."

XxX

Back on the trail to Suna it was nightfall and Naruto halted progress for the evening to allow the others to rest. While sending out a clone to gather fish Naruto had started a fire and had boiled some water for a few instant ramen cups. Hey, why not?

While everyone ate they all sat around the fire until finishing the meal. He looked at the siblings and tried talking to them again, "So what happened to your sensei, the guy with the veil on his face. We didn't kill him did we?"

Temari shook her head, "Baki-sensei returned to Suna after the invasion failed. He was the one that found that our fath-… The Kazekage was killed before the invasion ever even happened."

Naruto looked at the others and found that neither Kankuro nor Gaara had much emotion about the matter, "So what happened if you don't mind me asking?"

Kankuro answered him, "Orochimaru had infiltrated our village and had been masquerading as the Kazekage for quite a while before the invasion."

Naruto threw his ramen cup to the side, "I knew about the invasion. I knew about the plan for Gaara and everything. Orochimaru had his shit planned for years."

Kankuro scoffed at that, "Well if you knew then why didn't you stop it or something."

The grinning chunin unnerved him, "That's another secret that's even deeper than the whole Kyuubi thing. I will say that it's half of the reason that I ended up a loudmouth when the chunin exams started, again I can't say thank you enough to Gaara for snapping me out of it."

This confused Gaara as to why he was being thanked, "Why thank me Uzumaki? I tried to kill you and destroy your village. I don't understand."

Naruto shook his chopsticks at Gaara chidingly before throwing them into the fire, "But you didn't kill me or destroy anything did you? All you ended up doing was giving me my fighter IQ back. That's why I'm grateful, because if you didn't do that who knows how I might have ended up, I mean did you see me beforehand?" Naruto shivered, "It gives me the creeps just thinking about it sometimes."

That brought a round of laughs from the siblings minus Gaara. Temari was still curious about some things though, "Naruto. You say you're a host like Gaara? Well how were you treated? Gaara had assassins after him since he was six years old."

Naruto thought to himself for a moment before speaking, "Well it was kind of like him, minus the assassinations for the most part. It was mostly people treating me like crap until I up and disappeared for a while, I just stopped caring for a while and stayed out of public. When I got older nothing really changed, even now I'm just now starting to get some respect in Konoha."

Gaara looked at him, "How did you take it?"

His blonde fellow container shrugged, "I had a few ways. First of all, like I said I just stayed out of public. Another reason is because I was always busy. When I was a kid I always had something to do to occupy my time. The last reason is because eventually some people actually started treating me like a real person, that was probably a big reason why."

Naruto looked up at the moon, "Being acknowledged positively for being you is a powerful thing. When the people around you are just glad that you're alive… There's just something about that that just doesn't compare to most other things… Guys like me and Gaara can relate to that."

He lowered his head and noticed that all three siblings were giving him their undivided attention. Sweat-dropping because he really had nothing else to say Naruto stood up, "Well, you can all get some sleep. I'll stay up and keep watch first."

Gaara blocked Naruto's way with his sand, "Uzumaki I will keep watch for the night. I cannot sleep anyway so it isn't inconvenient to me."

Naruto looked at Gaara and smiled at him, "Sure thing Gaara, thanks a lot then. Alright, I'm going to go drain the lizard before I go to sleep. I'll be back in a flash."

As Naruto walked away and Gaara left to find an area suitable for watching over the camp site for the night Kankuro and Temari were stunned. Kankuro looked at Gaara walking away, "Did Gaara just _volunteer_ for night watch? He never did that before!"

Temari watched the direction Naruto went off in, "I think it has to do with that Naruto guy. Gaara's been like this ever since he fought him remember? He hasn't tried to or talked about killing anyone since then." As she watched him return to camp and pull out his sleeping things she was more curious about the blonde Konoha ninja that had somehow calmed Gaara.

XxX

The next couple of days found the group traveling from the woods to the desert with almost alarming transfer of landscape. The trip was pretty uneventful, with the exception of some dumb bandits that thought it would be a good idea to attack a group of ninjas. They took this opportunity to let Gaara let off some steam in the form of eradicating the lot of them in a wave of sand. Poor bastards never had a chance…

As they traveled they kept up the same routine as usual with Naruto trying to engage them in conversations to get to know them better. With Kankuro he pretty much let slide their introduction back before the chunin exams and started off fresh. It didn't really take long for them to start hitting it off. Kankuro had a strange sense of humor and when coupled with Naruto's dry wit and penchant for picking with people like Gaara, usually ending up with him getting thrown by an arm of sand by Gaara, much to Kankuro and strangely Gaara's amusement.

Naruto took the time traveling with them to also flirt shamelessly with Temari. At first he simply took to answering her questions about how he lived and what he was used to doing as a ninja and asking her the same in turn, but that soon turned to him sidling up to her during breaks and randomly commenting on her good looks and how he'd like to take her to some place called Ichiraku whenever she came back to Konoha during their travels. She didn't use her fan to brain him for two reasons; because he _did_ beat Gaara and then still had enough energy to capture them and jump into the fray of the invasion so she didn't really feel like trying to incur his wrath, the other reason was because on the occasions she did try to swing at him he dodged and then made comments on how he liked strong girls.

Kankuro got a few laughs off of that… right until Temari realized that hitting Kankuro with her fan was no trouble at all.

Naruto even got Gaara to talk sometimes, not very often, but he still got him to speak and that was something. He usually compared biju with Gaara, and inwardly bitched to Kyuubi about why the hell he couldn't get a cool defense like Gaara had, he was sick of getting his ass kicked… Anyway the point is, Naruto was quickly getting close to the Suna genin, the fact that he didn't rub the fact that he beat them in their faces helped exponentially.

And now they were traveling through the desert, edging ever closer to Sunagakure. The setting sun was actually doing very little to sooth the heat on one blonde-haired ninja.

Naruto wiped his brow once again under the hot sun, "Kami, this desert… Why the fuck would people live somewhere so hot? This is ridiculous!" Naruto looked back at the Suna kids who were smirking at his discomfort, "I'll bet you're all loving this right now aren't you?"

Kankuro snorted as he stifled his laughter, "Yeah definitely. You can run through three teams of genin like a hot knife through butter but a little heat and humidity and you can't take it."

Naruto gave him a half-hearted glare, "Watch it make-up boy. I'm really irritable out in this stupid heat."

Kankuro growled at him, "It's not make-up damn it! It's war paint that…!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "…That you steal from your super-hot sister…"

Kankuro finished his sentence, "…That I steal from my super-hot sister!" Kankuro blinked and retracted his statement, "No! Wait! Take all of that back!"

A grinning Naruto looked at the puppeteer, "What? The 'you steal make-up part' or the 'your sister is super-hot part'?"

"Both! My sister isn't hot!" Kankuro felt a glare from behind him from Temari and deadpanned a look at Naruto, "Ugh… damn you kid…"

Naruto chuckled and decided to save Kankuro from his fate, "Yo Temari-chan, how close to Suna are we? I'm kind of on blind auto-pilot up here."

Temari lowered her ill intent towards Kankuro and looked over at the leader of the makeshift squad, "We should be right on top of the village any minute now." Right on cue as they reached the top of a dune a massive dome-esque structure came into view, "And here we are."

Naruto let the others take the lead from this point on as fighting a slew of pissed off foreign ninja due to a misunderstanding didn't really appeal to him at the moment. As they arrived at the opening he noticed the faint glares from the guards and rolled his eyes, 'Woohoo… Trading one village's glares for another, and I can't even kick anyone's ass here or I'll start a war.'

They made their way into the city leading Naruto along. Kankuro turned to get his attention, "Hey, the first thing we should do is let Baki-sensei know we made it back. I'll go find him, you can go with Temari and Gaara to our house until I get sensei."

Naruto shrugged, as the fact that there currently was no Kazekage meant that he couldn't really go straight to his office and give him the information on the treaty, and the council wasn't just going to be called at the drop of a hat for something that wasn't an emergency. He decided that waiting was cool.

The blonde foreigner nodded and followed Gaara and Temari as they made their way through Sunagakure to their home. Naruto eventually ignored the reaction that the citizens of Suna were having towards a Konoha shinobi in their village and took to a pastime that could draw his attention for the remainder of the trip, the 'watch Temari walk and not get caught' game. He had to admit, Jiraiya did teach him something useful besides Rasengan on their search for Tsunade.

The ever useful advice from the super-pervert was, when caught peeking at a girl in the street do not look away as if you weren't looking at her, make eye contact instead. Usually guys like Naruto and himself would end up staring at girls that were kunoichi, a side-effect of living in a ninja village, and they could sense when they were being watched, lying like you weren't looking makes it worse, but letting her know you _were_ looking, just not letting her know what exactly you were looking _at_ is a very good way to get your looks in, and Naruto, being an old hand in espionage under Danzo had a killer poker face. Temari could tell he was looking at her, but the fact that whenever she looked back at him to call him a pervert he was already looking into her eyes ended up silencing her and making her quite flustered at his serious gaze.

Naruto wasn't a pervert. He just had a healthy respect for the female condition. He was a growing young man just like anyone else, so what?

Eventually that had to come to an end as they all arrived at the house of their family, and by house I mean big-ass mansion.

Naruto whistled as he walked through the gates and looked at the massive structure. It was the same color as all of the other desert buildings in Suna, it was just the biggest damn house out of all of them by far, "This is your house? You guys have got a big-ass house."

Temari smirked as they made their way inside, "We _are_ the children of the Yondaime Kazekage. Where did you think we lived? Come on and let's find you a room."

As they traveled to the upper level of the mansion Naruto was confused, "Wait, I thought I would end up getting a hotel or something when I got here. I don't want to impose on you guys like this, it isn't really fair."

Temari rolled her eyes while Gaara just stared at him, "Uzumaki I insist that you stay here. I won't accept anything else." Gaara then left Naruto and Temari in the hall alone.

Naruto turned to his fellow blonde and pointed off in the direction that Gaara went, "Did he just try to be nice and tell me he was cool with me staying here?"

Temari nodded as she kept leading him down the hall, even when Naruto asked why, "It's because of what you did. I think he likes talking with you, it didn't really happen much before he met you, I think he's spoken to you more than anyone else in this village. I'm okay with it too I guess."

"Why?" Naruto was looking around and realized this place was too rich for his blood, "I did kind of get you all captured and all of that other stuff you know?"

Temari waved off his excuse, "It was your job. I'm just glad you didn't kill us or anything, it was an invasion after all."

Naruto grinned at her, "I would never. Killing such a beautiful thing like you would have been madness for me to get over after the deed was done." Naruto once again ducked a swing of her fan that surprisingly didn't break anything in the hallway when she missed.

Temari placed the fan on her back again with the faint traces of a blush on her face. She honestly wasn't used to being flirted with at all. The entire time before this everyone had been too afraid of Gaara to even attempt to get close to her. And out of the blue here comes this kid that not only has the gall to try it, but who doesn't fear Gaara because he'd already beaten Gaara cleanly once before. She had to admit, it was kind of nice for a boy to talk about her like that, and it wasn't like he was bad looking. After ditching the orange jumpsuit he was far better looking than before and the mysterious scar on his face didn't detract from said looks at all.

They came to a stop in front of a door that Temari opened for him, "This will be your room for your stay."

Naruto went inside and had to do a complete spin to fully take in the aesthetics of the room, "This is my room? This is probably as big as my entire damn apartment. Does this room have its own bathroom? What the hell do you guys do with all of this space?"

Temari had a humored smile on her lips, "We're rich so, anything we want would be the correct answer to your question." Naruto chuckled and began setting his things by the bed, "The rest of us are down the hall. If you need something our rooms aren't that hard to find."

Naruto nodded, "Okay, I guess I'll just go to sleep tonight and worry about other stuff in the morning, like the scroll and all of that. No one will probably even get into gear about this until then anyway."

"Okay, Kankuro or I will help you with that tomorrow." She watched as he walked into the bathroom and began splashing his face with water from the sink, "Goodnight then Naruto."

He heard her and yelled out from the bathroom, "Goodnight Temari-chan." As the sounds of her shutting the door rang out through the room Naruto sighed and shut off the water before returning to flop on the bed.

As Temari walked through the hall to reach her own room she had to giggle when a familiar voice rang out shortly after she shut his door, "Oh Kami, even their beds crap all over mine! This mission is awesome!"

XxX

The next day Naruto met up with the Suna council that, surprisingly, showed him more respect than he had received anywhere prior to this, however he chalked it up more to the fact that he was something of an ambassador in this case. After that meeting, which mostly consisted of him sitting and listening to the old men bicker over how this should be taken, Baki assured him he wouldn't have to sit through something like that for the rest of his time in Suna which brought a laugh from the boy.

He and Baki eventually met up with Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara at a training ground and found Temari obliterating the desert-scape. It was then that he was blindsided with a request from the fan-wielding girl.

Naruto blinked incredulously, "You want me to what?"

Temari leaned against her fan staring Naruto down, "I want to fight you, so come on."

Naruto kept blinking at her, "You against me? Really? Why would you want to fight me?"

She huffed at him and began to walk up on him to poke him in the chest, "I saw you using wind chakra and fuuton jutsu back in Konoha. I use them too and I want to see who is better, me or you."

Naruto looked to the others for help but only saw Baki and Kankuro looking anywhere but at them, "Temari-chan, I'm not much for the casual sparring. When I spar, people get hurt, and my jutsu aren't really the probing type, I only have two jutsu right now that don't have the potential to kill you."

Temari glared at him, "So you think I can't take it? Alright, now we're definitely fighting! Get ready Naruto."

Naruto sighed and backed up to set down in a stance, "Someone call this…"

Baki walked forward, "The fight will end when I say or when one of you surrenders. Ready?" He got nods from both Naruto and Temari, "Hajime!"

Temari wasted no time and whipped her fan out to send a massive gust at Naruto. Naruto immediately went on the move and tried closing the distance, but was forced to go serpentine in his movements so that he wasn't lifted clear off of the ground. Naruto drew closer and saw Temari swing her fan at him in an effort to end the fight. Naruto brandished his sword and blocked, sliding slightly through the sand until he gained some footing.

As she pushed against his sword she realized that he wasn't budging, "Why are you so strong?"

Naruto grinned at her, "Because it's more useful than being weak." Naruto pulled his sword away and caught her fan in one hand while sheathing his sword in the other. Temari was marveling at the raw strength it took to hold her back. This moment of awe came back to bite her as Naruto swiftly disarmed her by grabbing onto her fan with both hands and swinging away with it to throw her off.

As she slid through the sand and regained a standing position she saw Naruto holding onto her fan, looking at her blankly, "You want to give up? I'm really not in a fighting mood right now."

Temari gritted her teeth in anger, "Stop underestimating me!" She then charged in and tried her hand up close against him.

Naruto sighed and threw the fan aside as the sandy-blonde girl got ever closer. Temari threw a series of punches that Naruto swiftly swatted aside, however he didn't want to counter and injure her so he stayed on the strictly defensive.

Temari was getting progressively angrier at her inability to injure Naruto, apparently the guy that had been hitting on her for three days and the guy that she was currently in conflict with actually did exist in the same body at the same time. Seeing that during their short skirmish she had gotten her back to her fan she broke off and picked it up, unfurling it with a smirk, "Now what are you going to do?"

Naruto pointed at her fan, "You're going to be dead in like five seconds, just so you know."

She looked at her fan to see a slow burning explosive note attached to it and hurriedly threw it away just in time to see a small puff go off on her fan. As she turned back to Naruto she had no time to react before she was on her back looking up at the sky with a kunai at her throat. She blinked and realized Naruto was pinning her down with a kunai at her throat, "But… What?"

Naruto looked at Baki who announced his victory and he helped her up. She dusted herself off and went to retrieve her fan, "It was a dud?"

Naruto nodded, "Well yeah, did you really think I was going to blow you and your fan up just for a spar?" He took her fan and dusted off the soot from his note before handing it back.

Temari snatched it back heatedly and placed it on her back, "You completely destroyed me… I never had a chance." She clinched her fists, "I'm weaker than I thought I was…"

Naruto shook his head as they met back up with the others, "It's not that you're weak, it's that I'm not a genin, hell I shouldn't even be a chunin. You're chunin level from what I saw during the exams, but I'm a hard guy to fight."

Kankuro patted Temari on the shoulder, "I told you it wouldn't have been a good idea to fight him, why do you think I didn't?"

Temari glared at him, "Because you're a lazy bastard maybe?"

Kankuro frowned, "No. This guy beat Gaara. We didn't have a chance against him, not yet anyway. I want to try, but I know that I'll lose if I do so there's no need."

Naruto scratched his head and tried to walk away, "This is why I didn't want to spar. No matter how I handled it I was going to hurt your feelings and I didn't want to do that." He turned back momentarily, "I like hanging out with you guys. The idea of me doing nothing but spending time with jounin and other adults just because I can fight doesn't really work for me, so I don't want to squash everyone in my age group and make them feel inferior, but it's the only way I know how to train or fight, full-blast."

He gestured to the training ground, "Even when I hold back it ends up like that." Turning back towards town he waved back, "I'll get my stuff out tonight and get a room somewhere, my business here should be done within the week."

He shunshined away, leaving Team Baki out on the training grounds in his wake.

XxX

Roughly thirty minutes later, Naruto shut the door to the mansion to leave just in time for Temari to grab him and drag him back inside by the back of his shirt. Kankuro and Baki sweat-dropped at her display and went about their business.

Temari dragged Naruto up the stairs and back into his guest room before finally dropping him. Naruto stood up and shook himself off, "Any particular reason you just dragged me through your house like I was your battle fan?"

Temari crossed her arms and sat on his bed, "You're not leaving like that. Not because of a simple spar."

A quirked eyebrow from Naruto let her know his mindset on it, "You were just pissed off at me about the fight and you still want me here?"

Temari rolled her eyes, "Duh Naruto. I was mad, yes, but I had just lost decisively. What? Was I supposed to be happy that you kicked my ass? That's not a reason to want to kick you out, that would be petty, especially since I was the one that made you fight."

Her eyes narrowed however, "But you did humiliate me out there and you owe me for that."

Naruto gripped his hair, "Humiliated you? Who else saw it but your team and me?"

Her eyes softened after that as she looked at him with a smile, "You owe me, and you're taking me out tonight." She stood and walked over to him, looking him in the eyes, "Nothing big, just to get something to eat, but you will be paying." She walked out of his room but re-appeared at the doorway, "But it's not a date!" With that she left him alone in the room.

Naruto chuckled to himself, "Now that's my kind of girl. I kick her ass and then she wants to date me because of it."

XxX

That night Naruto had asked her where she wanted to go and she ended up choosing a simple diner, nothing expensive or anything, it was kind or spur of the moment.

The meal was spent with the two of them continuing to talk about their ninja lives. Temari had a good time learning about the strange blonde and he simply had a blast enjoying the company of a girl that seemingly wanted to spend some time with him.

Temari folded her hands and set her chin on them, "I watched the last couple of fights that you had. For some reason you really had it out for the Uchiha boy. What was that all about by the way?"

Naruto had set down the money for their meal on the check, "I hate Oto shinobi… so much. Long story short, they were the ones that gave me the scar on my face among other things. I dislike them immensely, and Orochimaru's cronies with those damn seals on their bodies are the ones I hate the most."

He paused to calm himself down, "I didn't really like Sasuke that much anyway. There was always some kind of underlying animosity, but seeing him, actually using that damned thing pissed me off so much, I couldn't take it."

Naruto looked at her with a smirk on his face, "Who uses something that an infamous S-ranked nuke-nin with crimes against humanity on them gives him anyway? That really isn't the smartest thing you could do."

Temari laughed slightly, "True. I thought he was a genius wasn't he?"

Naruto laughed in return, "Yeah I guess, but they throw that term around a lot in Konoha, I swear. Every year another 'genius' ends up rolling out of the academy and gets pegged as the second coming of the Yondaime Hokage or something. It's ridiculous."

Temari had a smile on her face as their check and cash were taken by the waitress, "Well what about you? What does that make you? You're way better than anyone our age that I've ever met."

Naruto shrugged in his seat, "I wouldn't call myself a genius that's for sure. I actually had to train my ass off to get what I've got, and I'm still nowhere where I should be. There are some dangerous people out in the world, and I've made some powerful enemies that I still need to prepare for."

Temari put her hand on his and smiled at him, "Well I know you'll be ready when the time comes to fight. You're a strong person Naruto."

Naruto smiled back at her, "Thank you Temari-chan. That means a lot to me."

XxX

After a short walk around the night-lit village Naruto escorted the girl to her bedroom door and bid her goodnight, even getting a kiss on the cheek for his chivalry. Naruto smirked all the way back to his room where he sensed someone's presence. Flipping his lights on, he saw the youngest member of the household standing in the corner of the room waiting, "Uzumaki."

Naruto got over his surprise and returned the greeting, "Hello Gaara. What are you doing in here? What's up?"

Gaara stayed in his place as his eyes stuck on Naruto, "How was your evening with my sister?"

Naruto felt the sweat roll down his back at the intent of Gaara's tone. He may have beaten him once before, but last time they weren't fighting in a desert either so he didn't really feel like scrapping with him again, "Uh it was great! Temari-chan is awesome. We had a good time."

Gaara nodded and made his way out of the room, "Very good. And Uzumaki, if you hurt my sister I will kill you. Not Shukaku, me."

Naruto blinked as Gaara's presence left before a door down the hall shut, "Did Gaara just pull the protective brother card on me?" Naruto shook his head and started getting ready for bed, "This mission is weird…"

XxX

The next day Naruto received the scroll from the council, with their offers to Konoha for a treaty. With the bulk of his mission completed, Naruto bid each of the siblings goodbye at the gate. He shook Gaara's hand, bumped fists with Kankuro, and got a hug and a kiss from Temari.

That last one spurred him to a blush as he sputtered out a goodbye and turned to return to Konoha through the desert. Temari smirked at his reaction while Kankuro laughed heartily at the super-strong kid getting so flustered.

Naruto took off through the dunes to return to Konoha for his next assignment. Little did he know how important this next one would be to him personally.

* * *

**Finally I have returned with new readage for the people. I've been busy, very busy, so this took a little while to hash out don't you know. Due to the mountainy, wildery, body aching-y crap that I've been up to lately I have learned to fully re-embrace the concept of doing absolutely nothing, an art that has been lost to some, which can sometimes be the most fun thing in the world.**

**Not much action this time, this was a super-short arc though, it only lasted the one chapter. It's really just to set up for some future debauchery and show what Naruto will be doing for a while after the Sasuke Retrieval arc, which I can't wait to start for some reason. Maybe because I'm going to make it utterly bad-ass, but that's just my opinion.**

**I'm going to go do stuff now so yeah, you all know the drill. The next chapter will be up far sooner than this one was so sit tight.**

**Kenchi out.**


	10. Oh No You Didn't

Review Shoutouts

**yourfaithfulreader: 400+ reviews in one month is retarded cool, I really didn't expect that when I started this and it's amazing. Naruto will have some foils, even Superman had someone that beat his ass every once and a while.**

**Ymere: He won't be all over every girl in the series or something. He'll have friendly relations with other girls like his with Tsunade and Shizune, they aren't into him, that would be creepy (At least right now…), they just like him like friends. Some will be like that, and other times he will be getting girls, it's how this story is going to roll.**

**Stormrune: I kind of am glad that I've left so much wide open in all of my stories right now because I can still swing all kinds of stuff into them as interesting stuff in the manga continues to go on.**

**InARealPickle: It won't be too mush at all, but he will/must get some at some point, I'm not having my Naruto die a virgin like the one in canon is going to. He's supposed to be more of a hard-ass in this story and that will roll over into his personal relationships. It will be clearer later, I'll get the point across at some point.**

**Lol at the review though.**

**Trey of the rebellion: Kenchi-sama? I like it… The 'trigger' will hopefully be cool enough for all of the alluding to it I've done so far, but it isn't coming for a while.**

**May Eve: Well he can't just kill a prominent figure like Jiraiya. He has to take what he can get in life like the majority of people in the real world. Tons of people get a ridiculous amount of shit dumped on them on a regular, and sometimes/all the time they just have to suck it up and take it.**

**Orchamus: All of my insight on watching women has been tested by a man with no shame… myself.**

**Mr. Destructo: Everybody loves the loogie. I think it has been my greatest idea, bar none, so far in writing.**

**JNottle: Advice that is based off of real life experiences my friends, nothing better.**

**CelticReaper: I see a lot of potential for awesome Gaara dialogue later in the story, I can't wait.**

**NaruHarem4ever: Really? You'd wait a year? Awesome… I'm going on vacation then, expect the next chapter on July 4****th**** next year… laters… (Not really. I'm not an ass like that.)**

**anon: He'll use it eventually. I'm not letting that one go.**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Lay's potato chips, the commercial song for Mercenaries 2, Yamaha Motorcycles, Everlast fighting apparel, a long range howitzer for my personal use, a snowboard, or any other things that could be considered cool and bad-ass for a guy like me to possess.

**Chapter 9: Oh No You Didn't!**

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* * *

**

Naruto had cut a hellacious pace through the desert and was out of Kaze no Kuni in one day. The trip through the forests of Hi no Kuni were much easier for him, thus his pace picked up and he stopped for the night only a few hours away from Konohagakure.

The next morning he barreled into the village, dodging civilians and took to the rooftops to arrive at the Hokage Tower swiftly so he could rest or get another mission before it got to be the afternoon.

As he got close to the door he saw Shizune running all about the tower with a frantic look on her face. Raising an eyebrow at her behavior he tried to get her attention, "Um, Shizune-chan. You're moving kind of fast this morning aren't you?" He noticed that she looked somewhat fatigued, "Is there something wrong? You look like you barely slept if you even did at all last night."

Shizune stopped and looked at him, eyes widening when she saw it was him, "Naruto-kun! Thank goodness you're here! You got done fast… Whatever, Tsunade-sama needs you now!" Shizune grabbed and shoved Naruto into her office and shut the door before he could even speak.

He rubbed his arm, "Damn Shizune-chan… Grip." Naruto looked at Tsunade's desk to see her drinking sake and looking down at some kind of papers. Naruto fished in his pocket and walked up to her desk to place the scroll from Suna down.

Tsunade's head snapped up as she had just noticed Naruto right then and her eyes lit up, "Naruto!"

This once again confused him, "Yes, me! Are you and Shizune feeling okay baa-chan? You never call me Naruto to my face and you're both freaking out about something."

Tsunade grabbed Naruto by his cheeks and pulled him halfway over the desk, scaring the crap out of him. Tsunade shook him, "I need you to go back up a team."

Naruto looked confused, "Now? Damn, I just got back. What is it? And who am I going to meet up with?"

Tsunade let go of him and sat down, "I know it's sudden, but I sent out a team of genin to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha from a group of Oto ninja sent to take him to Orochimaru."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Did he leave with them or did they kidnap him?"

Tsunade shrugged, "We don't know, but either way we can't let Orochimaru have the Sharingan, that would be catastrophic for Konohagakure." She sighed and looked at him seriously, "Naruto, I'm sorry to send you out so soon after you got back, but your next mission will be to give assistance to the retrieval team of chunin Shikamaru Nara, and his squad consisting of genin Neji Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Choji Akimichi, and Rock Lee."

Naruto took on a stone-like visage and nodded, "Hai Hokage-sama."

Tsunade blinked in surprise, "Pretty professional brat."

Naruto didn't flinch, "There's a time for being goofy, now isn't the time. I'll leave on your call."

Tsunade nodded, "Go, and hurry and catch up with them, Orochimaru wouldn't have sent anyone weak to bring Sasuke to him. I would send a team with you but we don't have anyone on reserve right now, I'm sure you can tell due to such a high-profile retrieval team being made of genin and a newly promoted chunin."

She remembered something before he could exit, "Naruto wait!" He turned in time to catch a bag with a few soldier pills in it, "Take care of yourself brat. Don't go overboard out there and help those kids get out alive, I'll send back-up as soon as I can."

Naruto saluted Tsunade with a smile and left the office and building in a hurry to rush to his former classmates' aid. Naruto tore through the town at a breakneck pace, completely bypassing the gate altogether in a yellow and red blur.

Sakura, who had been sitting under a tree nearby the gate ever since the retrieval team had left early that morning, had gotten a glimpse of the figure in red and yellow causing all of the ruckus throughout town, "N-Naruto…?"

As he took to leaping through the trees Naruto went off in the general direction of Ta no Kuni, hoping to quickly pick up a trail from either the retrieval team, or the squad of Oto ninja they were in pursuit of. Eventually he came upon a clearing that looked as if it had been the site of a small battle. He surmised that he had to be heading in the right direction so he simply went on auto-pilot and prepared for battle as he raced to catch up.

XxX

Choji was at the end of his rope. Taking two of his family's secret pills wasn't enough to finish this guy off as even when he attempted to squash him with a full on body press after he used Chou Baika no Jutsu (Super Multi-Size Jutsu) the guy just let the strange marks on his body transform him into some kind of red demonic looking creature with wild orange hair.

Choji watched as the powerful ninja edged ever closer with a smirk on his face to end his life. Choji looked at the case of food pills he had brought, seeing the two empty slots and the one that had just one red pill inside, 'The red chili pill… When I take this… It should be enough to finish him off but afterwards…'

Choji steeled himself and lifted the case close to him mouth to pop the pill. Jirobo's eyes widened as he saw that Choji had one more of those twice-damned pills still on him and as he prepared to rush him to kill him before he could take it a sharp slicing feeling across his body sent him flying back as he watched his own blood fly through the air.

Choji held back on taking the pill as he heard a massive body hit the ground hard. Sitting up after much effort on his part he saw a familiar face holding a bloody sword, "N-Naruto."

Naruto looked up at him with his eyes full of fury, softening them upon seeing the state Choji was in, "Choji. How are you feeling?"

Choji snapped out of his thoughts of how he was just saved, "I'm fine Naruto. But this guy is strong, I'm really glad you're here. I almost ended up taking the last of my pills to beat him, but now we can both take him out!" Choji then slowly stood up.

Naruto walked over to Choji, "Do you have any soldier pills on you?"

Choji felt around on his person before he remembered, "No, this guy caught us and drained our chakra at first before I broke off to fight him, I gave everyone else my pills, sorry."

Naruto reached into a bag tied to his hip and tossed Choji a pill, "Tsunade-baachan gave me a bag in case of something like this." Choji nodded and took the pill, noticeably perking up afterwards, "Good, you're better. Now go and catch up to the others in case they need help."

Choji widened his mouth in shock, "Naruto, this guy is tough. We can take him out together and move on, it would be way easier."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, but he broke off from his squad to fight you first, that means that the others with him are stronger. The others might need your help. I'll finish up here and catch up to the rest of you, I'm your back-up after all. Now go, trust me." Naruto had a reassuring smile on his face.

Choji looked apprehensive for a moment before turning to head off in the direction of Shikamaru's squad.

Naruto turned back to Jirobo, smile utterly vanishing from his face as he was hit with a wave of déjà vu. Jirobo angrily stood up and wiped the blood dripping from the wound on his chest, glaring murder at Naruto, "You pathetic trash. You think just because you replaced the fat one that you can make a difference? You're all going to die."

Naruto stayed staring at Jirobo, there was something that just wasn't hitting him at the moment, "I wouldn't be calling anyone fat if I were you chubs. But there's something about you that is picking at my brain…"

Jirobo began slowly stalking Naruto down, "All of you brats are going to die. The moment I activated Orochimaru-sama's cursed seal, your life was forfeit."

Naruto's eyes slowly widened.

Cursed seal…

_Cursed seal…_

"**Cursed seal kit! It's one of them!"** Kyuubi was buzzing with bloodlust at one of the orchestrators of Naruto's lost years.

Naruto's eyes blazed with anger at Jirobo, "Cursed seal! You're one of those five sons-of-bitches that cut me all up in Ta no Kuni four years ago!"

Jirobo looked at Naruto as if trying to remember a blonde kid with a scar on his face until finally realization hit. Jirobo laughed raucously as his memory was piqued, "You! You're almost as much of a pipsqueak now as you were back then!" Jirobo mocked Naruto's scar, "That didn't heal too well did it?" He laughed loudly at his own little joke, "I only saw you without your mask after it was mostly cut through, but that shock bright blonde hair and your short little ass brought the memory right back to me."

Naruto smiled grimly, "I'm glad you find it so funny, I'm glad your last thought can be one that you find pleasant… because I'm going to fuck you up right now."

Jirobo broke out in laughter, "And how are you going to do that? You do remember what happened last time don't you?"

"There are quite a few differences between this time and last time…" Naruto held up one finger, "Last time you all had the drop on me and I was under mass pursuit." He held up a second finger, "And last time it was 5-on-1."

Naruto vanished from sight and slashes began appearing all over Jirobo's body, sending blood all over the place. Jirobo tried to make use of his massive strength to make contact with Naruto to put him away with one clean shot, but in this case it was more like a person trying to focus on the squiggly line of light at the corner of their field of vision as Naruto was far too fast to be caught by one of the lumbering heavyweight's strikes.

After getting kicked in the ribs and feeling what was left of his wind leave his body, Jirobo was huffing and puffing hard, 'This guy… Orochimaru-sama said with this seal I would be unbeatable against ninja like this leaf trash…'

Naruto had a mental smirk going as he drew closer to Jirobo, 'I'm glad Choji softened this guy up so well. At this rate I won't even need to use any jutsu to win. How embarrassing. Oh well, payback is a motherfucker.'

Jirobo had a fire re-lit under him as Naruto strode closer and put everything he had in one punch… that Naruto ended up cutting straight through with his wind enhanced sword right up to the elbow, splitting the arm like a peeled banana.

Jirobo howled in agony as Naruto continued to dice him up, cutting both of his Achilles tendons sending the large boy to the ground in a bloody mess. Jirobo willed his one good limb to move before Naruto drove a sword through it, pinning it to the ground as he stomped on his chest hard, sending Jirobo sitting up somewhat, but this was just so Naruto could plant a nasty punt right under his chin that should have decapitated him or disconnected his neck from his spine had he not been cursed seal enhanced.

Jirobo coughed up a glob of blood, and hacked painfully as Naruto pulled his sword out of Jirobo's arm and poised himself to deliver the final strike. Naruto stood over him and looked down with cold eyes, "Any last words before I send you to get boned by the devil in hell?"

Jirobo had a cocky look on his face, even through all of the blood and dirt covering him. He spit blood out to the side and looked up at Naruto, "Yeah… You may have beaten me… But everyone else on my team is stronger than me, and they all have this curse mark just like me…"

Naruto's stayed his hand for a moment as a strange gleam came into his eye, "Your team… wouldn't happen to have a pale kid with faggy lipstick, a redhead that curses every other word, and a guy with like four extra arms would it?"

Jirobo was confused by his sudden change in tone, "Uh… yeah. It's the same team that expelled you from Otogakure four years ago."

…

…

…

*SQELTCH! CHING!*

*Whoosh!*

***Cue simple, upbeat piano jaunt*  
Oh no!  
Oh no!  
Oh noooo!  
(Yo, yo, yo)  
**

Naruto rushed rapidly through the trees to catch up with the retrieval team post haste. As he leapt through the branches a devilish smirk played on his lips and a manic gleam lay in his eyes as his fingers twitched excitedly to catch up with them again.

**Oh no you didn't!  
**

**Sucka tried to play me  
But you never paid me, never**

**Oh no you didn't!  
**

**Payback is a coming  
You will be running forever **

Naruto's thoughts drifted to how the base of Orochimaru was in an uproar after Jiraiya's exit and how he was eventually discovered before he could make his own escape.

**Oh no you didn't!  
**

**Untill I get my vengeance  
I will never end this mayhem**

**Oh no you didn't!  
**

**I'm a Leaf shinobi  
You ain't gotta prayer you owe meeee…  
**

**Oh no you didn't!**

He remembered the dogged pursuit by four different ninja dressed in Orochimaru look-alike purple belts and how eventually he was forced to stop and fight them. Despite their unique skill-sets he still had the upper hand easily over them all.

**(Harmonic chorus)**

**Oh no you didn't!  
Oh no you didn't!  
Oh no you didn't!  
Oh no you didn't!...  
Didn't you? oh no!  
You didn't pay me what you owe… me  
So now it's over for you!**

**Papapapapapapa Papapapapapapa Papapapapapapa Pa Pa Pa…  
(Yeah…)  
Papapapapapapa Papapapapapapa Papapapapapapa Pa Pa Pa…  
(Yo yo, check it out!)**

Naruto then thought of how the white-haired guy with the bones as a weapon jumped in right as he was winning against all four of his pursuers. He willed them to activate their cursed seals and they began to overwhelm him. The white-haired guy even ended up shooting bones at him. He growled and gritted his teeth as he continued to run.

**Oh no you didn't!  
**

**First you tried to trap me  
Then you bust a cap in my ass  
**

**Oh No you didn't!  
**

**Such humiliation  
Would bring annihilation at last **

He thoughtfully traced the scar over his eye and clinched his fist so hard that it drew blood.

**Oh no you didn't!  
**

**It will be delicious  
When I get vicious tomorrow**

**Oh no you didn't!  
**

**There's no second chances  
You will do the dance of sorrow  
**

**Oh no you didn't!**

**(Harmonic chorus)**

**Oh no you didn't!  
Oh no you didn't!  
Oh no you didn't!  
Oh no you didn't!...  
Didn't you? oh no!  
You didn't pay me what you owe… me  
So now it's over for you!**

**Papapapapapapa Papapapapapapa Papapapapapapa Pa Pa Pa  
(What a fool…)**

**Papapapapapapa Papapapapapapa Papapapapapapa Pa Pa Pa  
(alright come on!)**

**Oh no you didn't!...  
**

**Better watch your back boy!  
…Keep running!**

**This ain't just a game  
…I'll never stop coming**

**I got my arsenal  
…I put out the call**

**And when I finish y'all  
…You'll be a rag doll**

Naruto remembered a desperate retreat to Ta no Kuni's borders that had him perpetually plagued by assaults from any combination of the five powered-up Oto ninja. The last of which almost ended up getting at least his right eye when the guy with the bones pulled out a blade from his body and slashed Naruto across the face deeply during the fight, only ending with him escaping due to a well-timed explosive tag, a lot of luck, and pumping the Kyuubi's chakra to his legs for hours until he collapsed in a pool of his own blood after crossing the border a decent distance, conveniently being the last cognizant thought he had as a member of Ne.

**Fool tried to diss me  
Now you're gonna wish you were dead!**

**Oh no you didn't!  
**

**After I deliver  
Your blood will be a river of red**

**Oh no you didn't!  
**

**Better beware  
When no one's there to defend you!**

**Oh no you didn't!  
**

**So many ways to kill  
It's gonna be a thrill to end youuuuu!  
**

Naruto shivered in anticipation as he sensed multiple signatures up ahead and saw a lot of white webbing.

**Oh no you didn't**

**(Harmonic chorus)**

**Oh no you didn't!  
Oh no you didn't!  
Oh no you didn't!  
Oh no you didn't!...  
Didn't you? oh no!  
You didn't pay me what you owe me…  
So now it's over for yoooooouu oooooo!**

**Oh no!  
Oh no!  
Oh noooo!  
Oh no you di-**

'Kyuubi chill the fuck out! I'm trying to get my mind right before I start fighting again!' Naruto had his hands on his head trying to shake out the song.

Kyuubi sheepishly stopped singing within Naruto's mindscape, **"Sorry kit, but I've wanted this just as badly as you have for just as long. How lucky you are that this ended up being conveniently dropped into your lap. You need to give that old hag a kiss or a bottle of her blasted alcohol when you get back to Konoha for this one."**

Naruto saw Neji and his opponent up above him in the trees, conveniently being the guy with six arms. Neji retreated to the ground where he began to throw gold colored weapons at Neji who was using Kaiten to defend against them.

As Neji rotated and avoided the weapons Naruto snuck around the battlefield, 'Neji is fine. As long as this guy is messing with him with his little punk-ass throwing knives then I can just kill him and be done with it.'

Naruto skulked to the upper levels of the forest while the fight continued down below. By now a giant spider had been summoned and was producing tons of tiny little spiders to wrap Neji in webbing, but he fought them all off with Hakke Hyaku Nijuhachi Sho (Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms).

Naruto saw the black marks that had been spread across Kidomaru's body for quite some time as he stepped his game up and decided now was as good a time as any to finish him. Naruto pulled out a kunai and threw it at Kidomaru before pushing his own hands together, 'Fuuton: Repuushou (Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm)'

The added boost from the wind jutsu sent the high-speed weapon straight into the base of Kidomaru's skull with a dull wet 'thunk' noise, buried up to the ring. Kidomaru's confident smirk turned to a death rattle as the markings from his cursed seal receded and he fell from his place in the trees lifelessly. Naruto grinned to himself and punched the air in victory as he whispered, "Boom! Headshot!"

Neji breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Kidomaru's corpse drop before he deactivated his Byakugan, "You can come out Naruto, I saw you while we were fighting. I didn't think you would sneak up on someone that strong though."

Due to deactivating his 'all seeing eyes' Neji never saw Naruto suddenly appear from his blind spot when just a second sooner he had been in front of him, "I am afraid that you are underestimating the sneakiness sir." Naruto dropped from the canopy, frightening the genius, to find Neji not very worse for wear. Naruto smirked at Neji as they walked closer, "Thanks for holding his attention. Have you been fighting long?"

Neji re-collected himself and shook his head, "No, I don't think we're too far behind either. I assume you defeated Choji's opponent for us when you let him go after us."

Naruto motioned for Neji to follow him as they took off into the woods again to give chase to their comrades.

XxX

Naruto and Neji landed with Shikamaru and Choji looking at their two opponents. Naruto looked over at the gritted teeth on the face of Shikamaru, "What happened?"

Shikamaru wasn't surprised to see Naruto as Choji told him Naruto had freed him up from his own fight, "Kiba… He and one of the Oto guys went over the cliff into the water."

Naruto nodded, "Neji, go find Kiba and help him out. He and Akamaru wouldn't die off of something so simple, follow the river."

Neji nodded and jumped off. Shikamaru breathed a slight sigh of relief, "Okay, but another guy showed up and took the barrel holding Sasuke away. Rock Lee was fast enough to get away and give chase."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "White-hair? Weird marks above his brow?"

After blinking for a few seconds Shikamaru nodded, "Uh, yeah. How did you know?"

Naruto chuckled, "I'm just good like that."

Tayuya was getting upset with all of the talk going on, "Hey! What are you three cocksuckers doing over there!"

Naruto cleaned out his ears, "Wow. Her mouth got even dirtier over the last couple of years."

Tayuya squinted at the new arrival. Her mental capacities were quicker than Jirobo and if you are one of Orochimaru's elite bodyguards you tend to remember the people that end up taking it to your ass in a fight. She raised her finger and pointed at him with a look of fury on her face, "You! You! You fucking spying son-of-a-bitch! Why the fuck are you here!"

Naruto grinned at her darkly, "Aside from trying to get my payback on you fuckers, I'm backing these guys up. Unlucky you. You backed the wrong horse when it came to Orochimaru, now I think I'd pay you back for the shit all of you fucks tried on me back in the day, but your bony friend is my real issue."

Tayuya shook in fright before steeling her resolve, "None of you Konoha shit-stains are getting past me!" Tayuya began playing her flute. Naruto noticed Choji and Shikamaru beginning to fall under it and he rushed her quickly.

With a shrill tweet of the air in her lungs rushing into the flute following a punch to the body, Naruto began battering Tayuya with savage taijutsu combinations. She was no slouch up close, being one of Orochimaru's elites, but Naruto was too fast and too strong for her to take on without her seal and he wasn't giving her a chance to activate it with the ferocity of his attack.

He battered her swiftly anywhere he could hit her. He fought furiously due to the fact that he knew how dangerous her genjutsu could be and that the others couldn't break them as easily as he could… after all, who else had a demon with near infinite power inside them to help break illusions?

Naruto eventually snatched the flute from her hands and backhanded her to the ground. Tayuya tried to rise quickly but went nose to edge with Naruto's blade. She looked up into his eyes, "Ah, ah! If I even feel your chakra start to spike to use that fucking seal I'm gonna start cutting stuff off. Chill out."

Tayuya glared up at him, "Does this make you feel like a man you dickless blonde-haired fuck? Do you like what you're doing to us?"

A slightly chilling glance from Naruto made her subconsciously shiver, "Well considering the events that preceded it I would think that sweet, sweet vengeance would be necessary, luckily for you, I need something from your team and you're lucky enough to be the one chosen for it."

Naruto grinned mischievously at her, "Prisonersayswhat?"

Tayuya looked confused, "Wha-."

Naruto slapped her hard across the back of her head with the blunt side of his sword and pulled out some ninja wire. He quickly hogtied her tightly and turned to Shikamaru and Choji, "Take her back to Konoha and get her locked up, I'll keep going and get Rock Lee out of his situation, the guy he's chasing is stronger than all of these other guys combined."

Naruto then stopped and looked at him sheepishly, "Ah, sorry. I'm kind of running your show here, you're the leader of this squad and everything."

Shikamaru and Choji walked over with Choji hoisting Tayuya's unconscious body over his shoulder. Shikamaru chuckled, "Well you do technically have seniority over me even if it is only by like a week or two, and you're the strongest out of all of us. You go and finish the mission, Neji will find Kiba and help him, and we'll take her back to Konoha."

Naruto saluted Shikamaru and jumped off heading towards the border of Hi no Kuni and Ta no Kuni once more.

XxX

Naruto stopped in a clearing in the forest where he saw Lee doing pretty well against Kimimaro until Kimimaro started shredding him with his rib bones. As Kimimaro moved in to finish off Lee He was forced to jump back after a slash from Naruto. Naruto stood protectively in front of Rock Lee with his sword drawn, "It looks like you're still the best one out of all of them. The rest of them didn't dodge my first attacks."

Kimimaro scoffed at Naruto, "Don't compare me to the trash that preceded you. I am Orochimaru-sama's former choice for a vessel."

Naruto snickered, "Former choice? What happened? Did he cum a little too hard for you and rupture your rectal cavity one night or something?"

Kimimaro's eye twitched as Rock Lee stood back up, "It is good to see you Naruto-kun, this opponent is most vexing to combat."

Naruto looked behind him and smiled slightly, "Hey Fuzzy Eyebrows, good to see you up and about again." Naruto noticed a broken barrel at the edge of the field, "Lee… Where is Sasuke?"

Lee frowned at Naruto's last sentence, "That is what I find truly strange Naruto-kun. Sasuke-kun emerged from the barrel not too long ago and then started laughing most un-youthfully. When I thought he would turn back to Konoha he just kept going out towards the border."

'That's just great Naruto. Ah well, Even if Sasuke pulls that stupid seal out Rock Lee can beat him, I'm sure of it.' Naruto palmed his forehead and slid his hand down his face, "Fuck… Rock Lee, go get Sasuke. I'll fight this guy. He and I have a bone to pick with each other anyway… no pun intended. Go stop Sasuke by any means necessary, go."

"Ossu!" Rock Lee saluted Naruto and took off into the forest.

Naruto turned back to Kimimaro who looked at Naruto in recollection, "I remember you. You are the vermin from Konoha that was discovered trespassing in Orochimaru-sama's lair years ago. I will now rectify my mistake of not finishing you off as my last act for Orochimaru-sama before my life is over."

Naruto looked at him thoughtfully, "You're dying… And killing me is the last thing that you want to do before you go? So be it. I owe you for what you did to my face and my body four years ago. I killed two of the others, captured one and the other is probably being killed by the others as we speak. I still wish I could take a swing at that cross-dressing piece of crap."

Kimimaro pulled a bone sword from his arm and held it out in a stance, "You think that I care that you could kill those other useless pawns? Orochimaru-sama has no need for weak tools."

Naruto drew his own sword and had to get one last jibe in before the fight started, "Well then I guess he won't be missing you too much, because if losing to me makes you weak, then you're going to be considered a weak pawn soon enough."

Kimimaro narrowed his eyes and rushed in, showing Naruto his speed for the first time in years, coming in with sudden thrusts and slashes. The two traded blade strikes, with Kimimaro's being faster and more precise and jabbing, and Naruto's being flowing, moving from swing to a block, dodge, or parry like water. Kimimaro simply slipped out of the way of Naruto's blade and came back with his own attacks. The two couldn't seem to cut the other in the fracas of their movements.

Kimimaro gripped his sword tightly, 'He's still just as fluid with his sword as he was back then.' He looked at his weapon of choice, 'I hope Tsubaki no Mai (Dance of the Camelia) is enough to defeat him.'

Naruto shifted his own sword around in his hands to loosen up. Quickly sheathing his sword he forms a mass of Kage Bunshin that then draw their swords. The original Naruto draws his own and points it at Kimimaro, "I'm trying to shy away from the strategy of just swarming my enemies with Kage Bunshin, but for you, I'll go with the old strategy… In my mind there is no such thing as overkill…"

Naruto signals his copies forward to engage Kimimaro at once. He valiantly fended off Naruto's multiple clones, dispelling a few, but mostly when it came to this jutsu Naruto knew they were disposable so a few clones were nothing, he could just keep on spamming them indefinitely.

Eventually Naruto's Kage Bunshin ended up disarming Kimimaro and they quickly swarmed him before popping sounds rang out in rapid succession. As the clones backed away, Naruto saw that Kimimaro had exposed sharp points from his palms, shoulders, knees, and elbows.

Naruto signaled his Kage Bunshin to try and attack again, but with this new tactic from Kimimaro, Naruto was sending them into a buzzsaw. Kimimaro drifted through them all. Every movement around the bodies he made seemed to cut into them, even when it looked like he wasn't trying, simply running while using this technique seemed treacherous to his foes.

Naruto noticed the last of the Bunshin getting dispelled and he readied his own body for combat. Kimimaro came in spinning wildly with his sharp spines, Naruto had to dodge for his life to avoid to deadly whirling dervish from Kimimaro. Naruto kicked him in his body, which was wide open during his assault and began attempting to slash at Kimimaro in response to his most recent dance.

Kimimaro kept out of Naruto's reach, showing that he was the better man in close range combat. Naruto knew from the last time that they fought that even though Kimimaro had an absurd amount of support he far outclassed Naruto with hand-to-hand combat. This was sort of a problem for Naruto, He was a close-to-mid range specialist, and that just wouldn't do against Kimimaro, who wouldn't be easy to beat in close.

Naruto stormed back in as did Kimimaro. Kimimaro attempted a vicious sweep, the knee bone sticking out to try and cut Naruto off at his kneecaps. Naruto brought his blade down to block and ended up having to jump back and avoid the other spikes sticking from his enemy's body.

Kimimaro kept spinning low as he moved closer to Naruto at a ridiculous speed for being so close to the ground. Naruto eventually timed his spins and hit Kimimaro in his exposed head with a sick low dropkick that snapped Kimimaro's head back hard, sending him sprawling out on the dirt and grass.

Naruto took advantage of his situation and kipped up to his feet from his back to an absurdly high height thanks to the use of chakra to enhance his already considerable strength to finish Kimimaro with a vicious double-stomp to his prone frame from above.

Naruto's feet were caught just inches from contact of crushing Kimimaro's rib cage by… his rib cage. Naruto found one of his feet stuck in the extended ribcage of the bone wielding shinobi. Naruto tried to pull his leg free and ended up making eye contact with him.

Kimimaro looked up at him blanky, "Karamatsu no Mai (Dance of the Larch)." Kimimaro latched on to Naruto's leg with his arms as well and rolled over sharply. Naruto gritted his teeth as a 'pop' sound, signifying an injury to his ankle rang out in both his and Kimimaro's ears.

Naruto rolled away after freeing his limp ankle and Kimimaro followed him rolling also, only with even more sharp spines protruding from his body like a human combine harvester, ripping up ground with every inch that he rolled. Naruto couldn't stand up with his ankle utterly dislocated and Kimimaro was dead set on rolling him over. Naruto, in a last ditch effort to create some space, brandished his sword and stabbed it into the ground between himself and Kimimaro who managed to get his bones tangled into the blades.

Naruto used this time to roll away quickly and realign his ankle into place with a quick snap, letting out a silent yell as he allowed the bone to reset with naught a sound as Kyuubi's regenerative properties worked their miracle powers on quickly making his leg useable.

Naruto stood just as Kimimaro freed his spikes from Naruto's sword by retracting them. Naruto pointed at Kimimaro heatedly, "You are a bastard you know that! With your bones, and your stupid bone defense crap." Even though he sounded angry, Naruto's face showed no anger, only focus and determination on the task at hand, which impressed Orochimaru's loyal soldier.

Lifting his hands up at Naruto he fired bones from his fingertips. Naruto had dropped his sword to make a hasty escape earlier so he pulled shuriken and a kunai from his pouch. He deflected a few bones with the shuriken and used the kunai in his hand to bat away the rest in a risky move. Naruto rushed at Kimimaro, kunai in his grip to attack.

Kimimaro was once again shocked by the vicious nature of Naruto's attack. Naruto swiped at Kimimaro furiously, routinely switching hands and rolling the weapon in his fingers to attack from awkward angles. Naruto brought up a random ax-kick that collided down on Kimimaro's shoulder. Naruto then drew another kunai and placed it between his toes, securing it double-tightly under his sandal strap as he now began using his hands and feet to slash at the last of the Kaguya clan.

The Oto elite was hard-pressed to defend against such an unorthodox attack, and just when Kimimaro thought he had seen the full extent of Naruto's skill he pulled out a third kunai and tossed it high into the air. While he was distracted Naruto ended up getting a few rapid cuts on his person on his face and his chest. Due to his bone density they were pretty shallow, but this meant that Kimimaro was slowly losing ground in the fight.

'This is just as dangerous as one of my dances!' The kunai Naruto tossed fell back to the earth spinning dangerously until Naruto's manic attack incorporated it into his assault. His spastic punching and kicking and frantic movements kept the kunai in the air, still spinning and targeting Kimimaro. He now had Naruto using kunai in his hands and on one foot and had another as a wild card that he always had to look out for in the air.

Naruto made an up-slash at Kimimaro forcing him to bridge back deeply. Naruto got a grin on his face as he took advantage once more and jumped into the air, rotating the kunai in his foot and catching the other that was in the air in his toes in his other foot, both pointing down in a stabbing motion. Naruto stabbed one foot into his chest, then the other, then the other, soon Naruto was literally stomping a mudhole in Kimimaro's chest.

Eventually believing he had done enough with that attack Naruto jumped off of his chest and re-holstered the bloody kunai in his hand and between his feet. Looking over at Kimimaro who was still standing, albeit bridged backwards, but standing regardless.

Kimimaro leaned back up to reveal that Naruto had carved up his chest ruthlessly, with the majority of the puncture wounds and gashes going straight through to his ribs, "That was a very deadly attack you used. I daresay if it was anyone but myself that you used it on this fight would be over, but my kekkei genkai allows me to harden my bones as you can tell among other things, and you didn't slip any attacks under my ribs."

Kimimaro let the black marks from his cursed seal on his collarbone spread all along his body, "However I'm just getting started Konoha trash. I haven't even begun to reveal my true power."

Naruto chuckled lightly as he let a red aura envelop him, "You know bone guy… I honestly have wanted to fight you all and possibly kill you ever since I got my memory back, you in particular, ever since I realized that you and those other temes were the main catalyst to how my life and skills went straight down the toilet almost forever. If you had never injured me so heavily upon my retreat from Oto who knows how I'd be living right now… but that is not the point right now."

Naruto allowed a shroud to envelop his body forming a fox outline as his features became more feral, "You, whether you know it or not, are a loose end to my past life that needs to be tied up. And I can think of no better way, than to fight you and kill you myself." Naruto crouched down in a low mantis stance, showing his claws on his extended two fingers prominently, "Come on albino-boy, show me what you've got, and don't underestimate me… It might be the death of you." He finished with a feral grin baring his fangs.

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**Holy shit Brock Lesnar can take a punch and still keep going! That fight was awesome! Shane Carwin rocked his ass in round one and was pounding him out on the ground but couldn't finish him off before the round ended. In round two Brock got him down and ended up getting an arm triangle for the win. That was an awesome fight, all of the fights were good so I'd say it was worth it to see.**

**Next chapter out because I love you all so much! **

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**Okay it's because I'm restless during the weekends… But so what? The point is that you've got more stuff to read, and I can sleep soundly tonight, everybody wins! If you need to hear the song from earlier go on youtube and type in 'oh no you didn't' and listen to it, it's funny as hell if you've seen the Mercenaries 2 commercial.**

**Alright, I'm done, Kenchi out.**

**(Song is "Oh No You Didn't" by Wojahn Brothers)  
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	11. Judgment Call

Review Shoutouts

**The Epitome of Eccentricity: The song was a one-shot deal. I don't do shit like that, it just fit the situation in my mind, that and I had just heard it again the day I wrote the chapter out and I laughed my ass off before the lightbulb went off in my head. **

**Arlaikeeno: Wow… That's some profound shit… Way break down the dynamic of the fic.**

**road kill609: I write fast because I have ideas spilling out like hell. I have plots and certain angles planned out long-term in advance in all of my stories. If it takes longer than a week for me to update any story then I am either busy as hell and had to prioritize or I'm having blockage on a minute part of the chapter that is eating at me.**

**Sir Omega: I personally found it hilarious when I wrote it myself. And about the Shikamaru thing. For a real-life explanation, it's kind of like how you have a pick-up basketball game and someone on your team has to go home, but he gets replaced by a way better player that ends up ball-hogging and setting up plays and stuff that nobody else can comprehend and stuff. He's basically taking the playmaker spot without doing anything to actually get it. Naruto didn't want to usurp the original leader of a mission. Unless otherwise directed the lead officer of a military operation remains the leader until he is relieved by a higher ranking officer.**

**burgekev000: Why in the blue fuck do I **_**not**_** need a long range howitzer? That's the real question my friend.**

**bakapervert & irae2007: Naruto's use of the kunai was partially inspired by a cutscene from the game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. For those that have actually played that game I got it from the scene in South America where Raiden fought Vamp. It was badass to see and it popped into my head while I was writing, it just came to me.**

**anon: He doesn't have full control, he has ways to bypass this, but he still doesn't have true control, Kyuubi just likes Naruto because of the things he did in the past to earn his respect.**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and it is picking away at my self-esteem day after day. Why can't I have nice things?

**Chapter 10: Judgment Call**

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In the woods, miles away from the river he had fallen into, Kiba was sitting under a tree trying to take cover from his pursuing opponents. As he cradled Akamaru's injured and unconscious body he growled to himself, 'If only I'd been stronger! Akamaru would have never gotten hurt if I had been. I can't beat anyone I face, not any real shinobi anyway… I lost to Naruto twice, and now this guy? What am I doing with myself?'

He grabbed the wound on his stomach where he stabbed himself to injure one of his enemies when they attempted a parasitic jutsu to kill him. He couldn't run any further, he knew he wouldn't have gotten much distance anyway.

"So you've finally stopped running?"

Kiba saw that the connected brothers, Sakon and Ukon, coming closer to him, "You were pretty bothersome to try to take down."

Kiba chuckled humorlessly, "Well, it was a good time while it lasted huh?"

The two sound ninja stalked Kiba down to finish the job when a familiar puppet came rushing onto the scene, chattering and scattering the two brothers to separate from one another and dodge.

"Man, is Naruto the only Konoha ninja that doesn't need back-up or something? He bailed you out and now I'm getting the dog-kid out of his situation."

"I take offense to that. Naruto may have assisted me in my battle but I was far from defeated."

The two voices appeared from the trees to reveal Neji and Kankuro, who was using his puppet Karasu, "Thanks for the directions Hyuuga, I might have been a little later otherwise."

Sakon voiced their opinion, "Who the fuck is this with you two Konoha trash?"

Kankuro and Neji looked at one another and Neji gestured for Kankuro to speak, "I am Sabaku no Kankuro. A shinobi of Sunagakure, ally to Konoha, and here to kill you both."

Their attention fell on the wounded Kiba as they heard him hiss in pain due to his injured abdomen, "Go and help out that kid, I'll beat these two myself."

Neji nodded and went to check on Kiba while Kankuro, Kiba grimaced as Neji helped him get in a decent sitting position to examine him with Byakugan, "You two sure made it right in the nick of time. So did you beat that spider guy back there?"

Neji kept scanning the extent of Kiba's wounds, "Naruto arrived and ended our fight before it could escalate any further. It's a good thing too, because I wasn't sure how I would have beaten him, he was incredibly difficult to attack. We caught up to the team afterwards, but when we got there you and Lee were gone."

Kiba chuckled as he watched Kankuro singlehandedly beating back the two Oto twins, "Well it could be worse I suppose. Nobody is dead yet and I'll be fine." He looked up at Neji hopefully, "Right?"

Neji smirked, "Yes, nothing too vital was hit within your wound, it's just enough to inflict decent internal trauma."

"AHHH!"

Kiba looked over to see a second puppet full of blades that used to be part of Karasu. Kiba turned green as he could surmise what had happened, and poor Neji didn't even turn around as he pretty much saw the entire thing happen in its entirety because he had been looking inside of Kiba… Near 360 degrees of vision _and_ x-ray capabilities… yay.

Kiba voiced the opinion of both boys, "Um, okay? Uh, nice finish I guess."

Kankuro watched the blood oozing out of the bottom of his puppet Kuroari (Black Ant) and turned back to them with a smirk, "Thanks. This puppet combination is one of my favorites." He walked over to Kiba and looked him over, "So how is he?"

Neji deactivated his Byakugan to get the picture of the brothers being impaled and stuffed inside of a puppet out of his orbital sockets, "Kiba will be fine for now but we need to get him back to Konoha for treatment, him and Akamaru. Carrying him might pose a problem and cause heavier blood loss however."

Kankuro grinned at them, "No problem." He went over to Kuroari and knocked on it once to open it as the two corpses rolled out onto the ground. Kiba held back a dry heave and Neji's eye twitched.

Kankuro looked inside his puppet, "Yeah this should be just fine, we can put him in this and carry him that way. He won't be at risk at all."

Kiba got a tick mark on his head, "Like hell I'm getting in that thing! You just killed two people in it! There's still pieces of them inside! And I think they released their bowels when you killed them too because I smell shit!"

Kankuro sighed and moved his puppets along like a kid that was told to get up and go do his chores, "Fine, fine… I'll go wash it out in the river, alright?"

Kiba growled, "Fuck that shit! You better have some disinfectant on you goddamn it!"

XxX

As two figures flew through the woods back towards Konoha The only sound coming from them was actually coming from the thing that one of them was carrying. Tayuya had woken up on Choji's shoulder about an hour after Naruto knocked her out and wouldn't shut the hell up. From calling them pube-less rapists to needle-dick transsexuals she just kept bitching them out.

Eventually Shikamaru ripped her hat off of her head and stuffed it into her mouth as a makeshift gag to get some peace and quiet and now he and Choji were basking in the relative silence of their momentary victory. I say relative silence because she was still mumbling nasty curses through the gag.

Shikamaru was currently thinking, 'This mission went straight to hell faster than I could have ever assumed it could have. My formation was useless when we were discovered and we had to break off into one-on-one fights. If Naruto hadn't shown up we could have been in some serious trouble, those guys were way stronger than us.'

The thought came to a close as they heard leaves rustling nearby. Choji set Tayuya down and prepared to fight as did Shikamaru when Temari landed on an adjacent branch, "Whew, I finally caught up with you guys. I see you had a little scrape of trouble." Seeing Tayuya all tied up and cursing she smirked, "Looks like you didn't need back-up after all."

Choji sweated and chuckled, "Oh… Yes we did. Trust me, we did."

Shikamaru nodded, "It's true. We didn't beat her, Naruto did. Naruto beat two others, captured this girl here, and then went off further to keep up the chase. Choji said the first guy almost killed him one-on-one."

Temari blinked in surprise, "Naruto's out here too? He must have been rushed out even faster than we were. So you're saying the headless Mohawk guy that we saw on the way here and the dead spider guy with a kunai in the back of his head were examples of Naruto saving your asses?"

Choji and Shikamaru nodded. Choji raised his hand, "I was there when he started fighting the Mohawk guy. If the fight stayed the way it started off then yes, Naruto definitely killed that guy."

After picking up Tayuya they set back out for Konoha. Shikamaru spoke up, "So you guys were sent to back us up?"

Temari nodded, "Right after Naruto left Suna we got a messenger hawk from Konoha asking for assistance for an emergency so we left immediately. With the speed we were moving I thought we would have passed him on the way but he must not have been joking about how he said he could run straight from Suna to Konoha nonstop."

Shikamaru chuckled, "You'd better believe it if he told you. Naruto beat three of these guys with little to no trouble. Where are your teammates?"

Temari pointed her thumb over her shoulder, "We split up in the three different directions that we sensed your group in. They probably found the rest of your group by now."

Shikamaru sighed in relief, "That's good… This troublesome mission finally has a silver lining around a gray cloud. Let's get back to Konoha and wait for the others."

XxX

Naruto and Kimimaro stood facing off, Kimimaro using his cursed seal level one form, Naruto activating the Kyuubi's shroud. The two stood still while the wind blew across the field. Kimimaro pulled the bones out of both of his arms to dual wield swords, "Let us begin."

A short quirk of Naruto's lips was all the indication to start that either needed as they moved as blurs across the battlefield. Naruto was dodging Kimimaro's double handed strikes and attempting to counter with his claws. Naruto ducked a dual slash at his head but ended up getting kicked back by Kimimaro. Naruto ducked down low and rushed at Kimimaro's legs, shooting for his knees with a takedown attempts, sweeps, and swiping at his legs and lower torso with his claws while simultaneously avoiding low stabbing attempts from Kimimaro.

Kimimaro was the best all around close range fighter in pretty much all of Otogakure, and a good fighter can tell things about their opponent's style from watching them attack. Kimimaro saw that what Naruto gave up in poise and precise movements due to his influx of power he gained in terms of his bloodlust and ways to cause injury to his enemies. If Kimimaro didn't up his own power himself then the attack would have began to overwhelm him.

After dodging a slash at his face Kimimaro cut into Naruto's hip on both sides with a cross-slash and cut into his chest with rapid slashes that sent the demonically charged blonde backwards. Naruto picked himself up by his sword that he landed by and looked back out at Kimimaro while holding the handle. Where there was momentarily blind rage in Naruto's eyes, cognizant thought made a return, 'Wow… I almost started losing it there for a second. I need to train more using this chakra or else I might not be so lucky next time. I forgot about what too much of this stuff would do to me, one tail is overbearing.'

Naruto pulled the sword from the ground and smirked at Kimimaro before the two vanished and began clashing once again. The sound of bone clashing with steel echoed around the area, as they crossed blades with one another again. Naruto's attacks once again became a fluid match for Kimimaro's sleek movements as the two dealt an equal amount of grazing wounds to one another as they met in a stalemate in kenjutsu.

When they broke off again Naruto threw his sword like a javelin at Kimimaro and at the relatively close range that the two were at it thudded directly into his breastbone, however in barely sunk in at all despite the force used. Naruto scoffed as Kimimaro pulled the sword out and threw it aside, 'Those are some seriously tough bones… that would have run anyone else clean through.'

Naruto backed away and rushed in again, this time forming a Kage Bunshin as a feint to engage with his hands while the original leapt over Kimimaro to end up behind him. Naruto quickly molded wind chakra around his fists and held his fists together before shooting them out to utilize Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God). Kimimaro looked back when he felt the influx of chakra, but this allowed the clone of Naruto to kick him off of their physical clash, hard, sending him into the crushing force of the wind jutsu.

As the attack hit Kimimaro and began pushing him forward at the clone he was kicked by the clone in question formed the exact same jutsu and shot it off at the incoming Kimimaro. The two attacks smashed into one another with Kimimaro in between them. For the time that the jutsu held up Naruto could see that Kimimaro's entire frame visibly compressed under the crushing pressure of the powerful attack.

Kimimaro landed on his feet, panting heavily from the intensity of Naruto's jutsu. Naruto audibly sucked his teeth as he and his clone fired off the attacks once more, smashing Kimimaro between them with even more force this time. Naruto hit him so hard with the attack that he clearly heard the sound of bones cracking on Kimimaro's figure. Naruto's eye slightly twitched, "Tough bones or not… You should be human paste after that, I put a ton of chakra into that one. Nothing short of some kind of metal can stand up to that kind of pressure."

Despite not being killed by Naruto's double Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken it still did damage. The pressure did end up having an effect on Kimimaro. Naruto saw the whites of Kimimaro's eyes turning blood red, meaning that the intense pressure popped blood vessels up there. Blood ran from Kimimaro's ears and nose, even from underneath his finger and toenails. Kimimaro didn't seem to be in any pain, but it was obvious that such internal damage had left him in agony.

"Do you see?" Kimimaro dropped the swords in his hands as he began to transform again, "Orochimaru-sama and his ambition… That is why I fight, for his goals and dream. I am his weapon, and I will allow myself to be broken if it will prevent someone like you from stopping him."

Kimimaro's skin turned brown and six large bone spikes protruded from the sides of his back. In addition to that, a spiky tail emerged from his back and upon seeing that Naruto just could not help himself. He pointed at Kimimaro with a dull expression on his face, "Is that a motherfucking tail? Seriously? You grew a tail?"

Kimimaro stood back up and looked at Naruto with a superior gaze, "This is Orochimaru-sama's gift to me. And with it, I will repay him for all he has done by vanquishing the ones that stand in the way of him and his grand plans."

Kimimaro pulled out his spinal column to form a flexible, spiky chain-staff, "This is the Tessenka no Mai: Tsuru (Dance of the Clemantis: Vine). You are quite skilled to push me this far, but you will not win. Orochimaru-sama has plans for Sasuke Uchiha, it is most unfortunate for you that you will not live to see them come to fruition."

Naruto drew his sword once again, "Well in order to make that happen you're going to have to come over here and fight me, unless you think you can kill me by talking me to death."

Kimimaro snapped his new weapon in a test of sorts, "For the future of Otogakure and Orochimaru-sama you will die today!"

Naruto set his sword in a ready stance and gazed out at Kimimaro coldly, "For someone that seems to have a fetish for saying that they're going to kill me, you sure do a lot of talking."

Kimimaro began whipping his chain-staff at Naruto who found that Kimimaro was far faster in this form than before, 'It looks like this transformation of his isn't just for show.' Naruto took a lash on his shoulder that ripped into his flesh deeply. Kimimaro then hit Naruto with the whip and had it wrap around Naruto's right arm and pull him forward to sink a kick deep into his ribs that freed him from the weapon at the cost of flesh and blood being shredded from his arm.

Naruto held the injured limb and watched his blood drip off of his body and onto the ground before he heard hissing signifying that he was healing somewhat. Naruto growled as he stood back up, keeping his eyes locked on Kimimaro. He decided to go on the attack this time, but every time he took a swing at Kimimaro he ended up getting a lash on his hands. Eventually Naruto roared as he went for a heavy overhead swing, but a strike from Kimimaro's whip sent it out into the distance far from the point of any kind of retrieval.

Kimimaro backed off and began whipping Naruto, cutting into his body and drawing blood with every shot. He struck Naruto across his chest, his back, his arms, wherever he could hit Naruto cleanly he did hit Naruto.

After an endless barrage of strikes from the whip of his enemy Naruto dropped to the ground shaking in pain as blood fell from his body to the grass below, staining the green blades red. His shirt was in tatters and was utterly un-wearable any longer. Kimimaro wrapped his chain-staff around Naruto's arm and jerked him forward, dragging him across the ground on his left side. Naruto eventually regained his footing and Kimimaro's eyes widened as he saw what had been hidden in Naruto's left hand, but he had given Naruto too much momentum and by now Naruto had a full running start heading his way.

Thrusting out his left hand that had a threatening blue sphere spinning in the palm, Naruto shouted out the name of his attack at the top of his lungs as he slammed it into Kimimaro's body, "Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)! Die you son-of-a-bitch!"

As the jutsu drilled into Kimimaro's body, flesh visibly flew from the point of contact. The force from the attack sent Kimimaro flying away at a high velocity, pulling the whip with him as it pulled itself from Naruto's arm, taking yet another bite out of Naruto's already heavily wounded body.

Naruto fell to the ground clutching his bloody arm before he started crawling towards the direction that Kimimaro flew in, trying to confirm his kill.

"What an incredibly destructive ninjutsu. If I had not grown a layer of bone underneath my skin that most certainly would have ended our battle." Naruto saw Kimimaro standing and walking over to him from the far distance that he had been sent. Where Naruto hit him in the body there was the area where Naruto ripped through his skin, a spherical circle of brown and within there was a visible film of white with a spiral groove carved deeply into it with blood slightly seeping through the cracks that the mark formed, the bone he had been talking about.

Naruto punched the ground hard with his injured arm and stood up again, "Just fucking die already goddamn it! I should have killed you four times already and you're fucking standing like a goddamn zombie! I hit you dead-on! I heard it, I felt it! I heard and felt the fucking Rasengan grinding into you, that was a kill shot! You should be split in half! Fuck a kekkei genkai, that shit isn't right!"

Naruto was using as much of the Kyuubi's chakra as he safely could and Kimimaro was outclassing him. It wasn't that Naruto didn't have what it took to go up against him in his second level form, it was the fact that Kimimaro seemingly had nine lives or something, because the Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse) kept Kimimaro from taking the brunt of Naruto's attack damage. He couldn't cut through his bones, he couldn't slip a weapon through the ribs for a stab at his organs, hell he couldn't even crush him with enough pressure to bend iron because Kimimaro could just manipulate his skeletal frame to protect his vital points.

Naruto sighed and picked up a taijutsu stance once again to attack, 'How the fuck can I kill him? He just keeps coming. I know I'm hurting him, I have to be, every attack I'm landing would leave anyone else in critical condition if not kill them outright.'

Naruto didn't have time to ponder too much as Kimimaro brought his whip back out and began attacking again. Naruto did his best to avoid getting anywhere near the bony barbs of the weapon, but Kimimaro kept picking up the pace of his attacks and hit Naruto in his legs, sending him to his knees.

Kimimaro slung the weapon out once more to wrap it around Naruto's body it was stopped by a burst of sand that squeezed between the whip and protected Naruto from further harm. Even more sand then appeared and came at Kimimaro who jumped back and put distance between himself and Naruto.

A smile broke out onto Naruto's face as he felt the familiar presence of his desert friend, "Hey Gaara. What's up?"

Gaara slowly walked up to Naruto, who was still on his knees, and stared out at Kimimaro, "Nothing."

Gaara was suddenly surprised by a bloody Naruto wrapping Gaara in a hug, "I'm glad to see you. I thought I wouldn't get a chance to go after Sasuke. What are you doing here anyway?"

He shrugged Naruto off of him after a moment, "My siblings and I were requested by your Hokage to assist a retrieval team for Sasuke Uchiha. Are you having trouble with this one Uzumaki?"

Naruto was relishing this moment of reprieve from combat due to his injuries and talking with Gaara was allowing him time to heal and regain some energy, "Great, now someone can go back up Rock Lee. I sent him to chase after Sasuke before he could get away. I need you to go help him out."

Surprise was not evident on Gaara's face except for the raised eyebrow, "Are you not having trouble with your opponent?"

Pulling off the remains of his tattered red shirt Naruto chuckled lowly, "Yes, but this is a duel Gaara. I don't get all out of shape about this kind of thing often in a fight, but I need to beat this guy myself to get some peace with myself. Just go and help Lee. I'll be fine."

Gaara looked at Naruto for a moment as the smile left Naruto's face and his stare turned chilly, "I wasn't really asking you Gaara. Either you go after Lee and let me finish this or I'll kick your ass off into the woods until you can't even see the field anymore, and you know damn well I'm capable of that."

Gaara stared back until he stepped back and ran off towards the border, "I will go Uzumaki, but you had better not lose." Naruto waved over his shoulder as Gaara left the area.

Kimimaro strode forward swishing his tail, "That was honorable of you to elect to continue our battle one-on-one in order to keep your comrade alive and safe from my wrath. I will make your death as honorable as I can for trash such as you."

Naruto grinned at Kimimaro evilly, "I didn't make him leave because I thought he would die fighting you, hell I won't die fighting you, because you can't kill me. I made Gaara leave because while I am fully capable of killing you here, it's going to cause me to go a little overboard, and I don't need too many witnesses for this, I catch enough crap without people knowing I can do this."

The Kyuubi stopped focusing on Naruto's fight when he realized what Naruto was going to do, **"Kit no! Wait! Your body isn't sturdy enough to handle the stress that it will cause you! You don't even have enough of your own energy and chakra to attempt it!"**

Naruto didn't answer, instead choosing to undo the bag on his waist and empty its contents into his hand, grin still in place. In the palm of his blood stained hand were three soldier pills. Naruto looked at Kimimaro defiantly and popped all three at once.

After a second Naruto began to twitch as the veins on his head began to pulsate. Kimimaro was curious as to what Naruto was doing at this moment, all of those pills would require an immediate outlet for his chakra or else he would die within less than five minutes.

Naruto expelled as much of his chakra as he could, enveloping his body in an aura of blue, he then channeled as much of the Kyuubi's chakra as his body could handle generating at one moment. The red glow from his body raised up high into the sky. As suddenly as it was all expelled it was all sucked right back into Naruto's body. It didn't dissipate, it didn't fade away as if he had just stopped using it, no. He sucked it back into his body. You could literally see the chakra entering through his pores, turning his skin the color of an angry red, as if his entire body was irritated greatly.

Naruto fell to his knees as he began scratching at his skin and screaming in pain as a vulpine snout began extending from his face while he gritted his teeth, now becoming fangs. Naruto's ears retracted into his head and reappeared on top as his hair turned red. His pores, which were still wide from absorbing so much chakra, began to quickly sprout red hair from them, covering his body in fur. Naruto's muscle mass increased to an added one-half of what it already was, pumping him up considerably. His claws extended even more than they already were. Naruto's spine pushed downward out of his pants and skin and split into two before muscle and skin grew over both segments, followed by more fur to make bushy, white-tipped fox tails. In the end he looked like a werewolf, only as a fox instead of a wolf.

Naruto was kneeled over on the ground panting heavily following the violent transformation. He slowly rose to his feet, looking at Kimimaro with pupil-less glowing red eyes with one black slit in the middle. Naruto chuckled painfully in a warped voice, **"Wow… Ugh, I didn't think it would hurt that much. I guess Kyuubi was right, my body can't take this transformation yet. I'm glad I didn't try the real one, just the bastardized version."**

Kimimaro tried to make heads or tails of what he had just seen. It looked like a level two cursed seal transformation only… it looked natural. The transformations of the cursed seal were entirely generated by the dark, tainted impure enzymes that the seal always had pumping throughout the user's body. Going with the feelings and suggestions that the enzymes would invariably provide you with made you mentally weak, but it was like a drug. Fighting what the seal gave you however could hurt you, as Anko Mitarashi could definitely attest to. But still, it was all an artificial amplifier.

What Kimimaro had just seen Naruto do had not felt dark or unnatural at all. It felt like it was _supposed _to happen. The only time throughout the entire sequence of events that he felt hate and bloodlust and darkness was when Naruto flared the oppressive red chakra that he then absorbed. From that point it was like watching a natural metamorphosis. He was absolutely amazed, "What are you?"

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly, **"I'm whatever you want to call me. It doesn't matter because you're going to die here all the same anyway so for the next few moments you can call me what you'd like."** His fox-like grin that was on his human visage chilled Kimimaro as it showed on his true fox-like features, **"But for the sake of me separating myself from you cursed seal assholes I guess you can call this the Kitsune Trigger."**

Naruto flexed his claws and tested his tails out, smiling as he easily manipulated them, **"Alright enough chit-chat, you've seen one of my trump cards and now you must die."**

Naruto vanished. There was no blur, there was no streak of red, there was only an afterimage that simply faded out of existence. He left no trace of his former presence there, no broken grass, no sound of footsteps, nothing. Kimimaro's eyes were darting all about as he whipped his body all around, there was no way that there was someone that was that fast, fast enough to reveal _nothing_!

Well he kept that theory right until he ended up taking slashes across his body that cut through the skin and muscle straight to his bones. He recoiled from his deep cuts and ended up getting cracked directly in the face and Kimimaro couldn't even tell you what had just hit him. A fist? A shin? A knee? An elbow? What?

The impact of the attack sent Kimimaro rolling back like a rag-doll. He stood and spun around rapidly with his arms out. As he gained speed he let off an endless amount of bullets from his fingers. All around him the field was littered with misfired bones that he was letting off like shells from a mounted machine gun.

Kimimaro was stopped when his legs were taken out from under him, sending him head over heels to the ground. He jumped back up to his feet, "What the hell are you!"

"**Your executioner."**

Kimimaro didn't have time to turn and face the voice in his ear before his arms were grabbed from behind and jerked out of the socket as Naruto had just jumped over him from behind while holding his arms and landing in front of. Naruto leaned far forward, using Kimimaro's weight to keep him grounded and started smashing savage single-leg mule kicks into Kimimaro's torso, as if he were trying to rip his arms off of his body. Naruto then jumped off of the ground and planted a vicious twin-legged double mule kick to Kimimaro's face, letting go of his arms at the same time, sending him flying off backwards.

Naruto looked at Kimimaro, whose arms were backwards at his sides, **"Fix that you bitch."**

Kimimaro simply rotated his arms with a sick crackling noise until they were back in place. Naruto sweat-dropped, **"I didn't really mean do it."**

Naruto then vanished again and hit Kimimaro again and again. He couldn't see Naruto's attacks but they couldn't kill him, it was the ultimate conundrum of combat. Kimimaro couldn't hit Naruto to save his life at this point, but on the flip side Naruto couldn't end the fight himself. Naruto was too fast to be caught by anything Kimimaro could do and was utterly battering him in addition to him having an almost inexhaustible battery at his disposal, but he couldn't fucking kill Kimimaro. It always came back to that, he would not die. It was the embodiment of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object and the fight just would not end.

Naruto was getting sick and tired of Kimimaro getting up from everything he did and just walking forward to try again. After knocking Kimimaro down again Naruto began jumping on Kimimaro's back like a trampoline, savagely flattening him deeply into his own body-shaped crater that was getting deeper and deeper, **"Why! Won't! You! Just! Fucking! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! DIE!"**

Naruto jumped high into the air and landed as hard as he could with his knees into Kimimaro's spine. He scoffed to himself as he knew he would just get right back up. Naruto crouched down on Kimimaro's back as low as he could muster, and jumped with all of his might into the air intent on eradicating the last of the Shikotsumyaku bloodline.

"**Kit!"**

'What Kyuubi? Can't you see I'm getting my kill on here?' Naruto was still rising into the air as he spoke, with eyes locked on Kimimaro set to crush him like an ant.

Kyuubi roared from inside Naruto's head, **"Listen you whelp! You directly went against me once already when you used the Kitsune Trigger, you will listen to me now!"** Naruto kept his ascent into the sky as he was now getting stuck in the clouds, hell he could see the Valley of the End from where he was, **"Your body is breaking down. You weren't properly conditioned to use this form yet as you already knew before you did it! You need to end this. NOW! Use the Imari (Menacing Ball)!"**

Naruto would have slapped himself if it wouldn't have looked silly for a humanoid fox hanging almost 300 feet in the air to slap himself, **"Why the fuck didn't I do that from the start? He ain't gonna get up from that!"** Naruto channeled raw demonic chakra in his hands and formed a sphere before consuming it, 'Yuck… I forgot this chakra tastes like crap…'

Naruto yipped loudly as he fired a beam from his mouth, instead of a ball, that just ended up hiking him even higher into the air as it careened down at Kimimaro, who was stuck inside of his body-sized crater. As it hit Kimimaro it vaporized the entire landscape around the point of impact in a hellacious explosion that rocked the earth and sent debris and other things high into the air with a horrible sound.

XxX

(Konohagakure – Hokage Tower)

Tsunade was sitting in her office with a bottle of sake while massaging her temple, 'This job is going to kill me one of these days…'

BOOM!

The entire tower shook with earthquake-like force as Tsunade fell from her seat onto the ground. Everything on her shelves and on her desk shook and fell to the floor from the force of the tremor. As quickly as it came it passed and she shot to her feet to look out of the window on the ruckus that it caused throughout the village. People on the ground, windows broken, potted plants littering the sides of the streets.

Tsunade listened to all of the panic, "What the hell was that?"

XxX

(Gates of Konohagakure no Sato)

Temari, Shikamaru, and Choji hit the ground and covered up the second the tremors hit. Tayuya had fear in her eyes as she was still bound and utterly helpless. As the bout passed Temari voiced the thoughts of all of them, "What the hell was that?"

XxX

(Forests around Konohagakure)

Neji rubbed his head as he had fallen out of the tree he was jumping from during the shockwave. Neji looked up to Kankuro who had latched onto the tree branch he was on like a sloth to avoid falling, "Is everyone alright?"

Kankuro let go of the tree and landed on the ground, "What the hell was that?"

"What happened!" They both turned around to see Kuroari upturned and heard Kiba beating on it from the inside, "Why did I land on my head? Shit! I'm bleeding again!"

XxX

Naruto drifted down to the ground easily with the use of his tails as a propeller. Upon landing he grabbed his tails and rubbed them, **"Kami what a workout… My tails are gassed."**

Naruto then looked around at the destruction from his attack. He was standing in the middle of a crater that was three miles wide right on top of a pile of ashes that he kicked around, **"I got you this time you dirty bastard."** Naruto gestured to the wreckage that he created, **"Regrow **_**that**_** motherfucker."**

A second tremor happened that was smaller than Naruto's, not that he was on the ground to feel the first one, but it shook him up. Naruto's eyes widened as he heard the voice of a dead man, "Sawarabi no Mai (Dance of the Seedling Fern)!"

A forest of bones jutted from the ground suddenly, catching Naruto off-guard. The jutsu filled all of the immediate area with sharp bones that extended high into the air.

"**Yip, yip, yip! No, NO!"** Naruto was slowly hovering down from the air, tails spinning furiously to slow his descent as he again jumped high into the air to dodge the deathtrap that Kimimaro had set out for him. Naruto eventually latched onto one of the bones that stuck out higher than the others, **"Damn this is one hell of a suicide jutsu! But too bad sucker! You missed!"**

Kimimaro then suddenly emerged half of his body from the bone Naruto was attached to with a bone drill around his arm. His skin was missing and seared off on multiple areas of his body, revealing muscle and parts of his skeleton. Time slowed down as Kimimaro thrusted his bone-drill at Naruto, "Die! I will not lose for the sake of Orochimaru-sama!"

Kimimaro drilled into Naruto before he burst into smoke as a broken ninjato dropped from where Kimimaro had made contact. Naruto was nowhere to be found. Kimimaro's eyes quivered as tears came to the forefront. Blood seeped from his mouth and he slumped over lifelessly. Blood and tears fell into the forest of bones as Kimimaro left the world of the living with one regret, he could not finish off Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto sat on the outskirts of the bone forest panting in relief, **"Oh Kami! That was close… I love that sword soooo much, I need to come back and get it! Kawarimi is amazing!"**

Naruto sighed and let his were-fox features from Kitsune Trigger recede. Naruto began to walk away before he collapsed to the ground in pain, 'Gah! What happened? Why am I in pain?'

His questions were answered by the Kyuubi, **"I told you that your body wasn't ready to use the trigger again and this is the result of your ignorance. Prolonged use of the Kitsune Trigger has cracked every single bone in your entire body. That's what you get for using a technique you weren't ready to utilize… that, and you pretty much almost overdosed on soldier pills."**

Naruto laid out on the ground, twitching occasionally from the pain of his entire body, "I'm aware of that now… And I have to say, after considering everything that just happened…" A smile came on his face, "It was totally worth it."

"Uzumaki."

Naruto's vision was filled with a red-headed jinchuuriki standing over him, "Did you win?"

Naruto gave him a dry look, "Does it look like I lost? Or does the graveyard of bones with the motionless body of the teme I was fighting stuck inside one of them signify that he kicked my ass and killed me?"

A mouthful of sand was given to Naruto as a reply, who painfully rolled over and spit it all out, "Gross! You fucking crush people with that shit!" Naruto noticed Rock Lee's body held by Gaara's sand, "Is he-?"

"No." Gaara used his sand to help Naruto stand up to get a better look. Lee had scrapes and bruises on his face. His spandex suit had holes in it around his shoulder that had sealed itself up from the Chidori. He was still breathing clearly though, "He is still very alive. The Uchiha defeated him, but not without a massive fight from the looks of where they did battle. I believe he even used the technique that he used on me during our fight to match power with the Uchiha."

Naruto punched his own palm, ignoring the pain for the time being, "Fuck… I'm sorry Lee… I just couldn't finish my opponent off to help you fast enough." He turned to Gaara, "Come on, let's go back to Konoha, we both need some hospital time." Gaara helped up in the same manner as he assisted Lee and leapt off for Konoha.

XxX

Kakashi stood still at the Valley of the End. A Konoha hitae-ate was at his feet with Sasuke's scent washed from it by the rainfall. He looked past the statue of Madara Uchiha towards the border of the country, "I failed again…"

* * *

**Two chapters in two days, aren't you lucky? I hope the fight with Kimimaro was good enough for you. I know Naruto didn't necessarily beat him, but I see it like this. I can't think of any way to honestly finish him off. He can harden his bones to the extent that he can withstand getting crushed miles under the ground. WHAT THE FUCK CAN KILL HIM! If he didn't die when he did in canon I don't see who would have killed him? He can take any damn thing, I can see why he was Orochimaru's choice for a body, his bloodline is bad-ass.**

**The trigger is Naruto transforming into a demon fox/human hybrid but that's only the first part of it. It does other things, but he can't use them right now. Because his body had lost its condition from when he was at his best he can't handle the strain of altering his entire bodily structure, hence the damage to his body after the battle, hope that made sense. **

**And I didn't want to see Sasuke fight Naruto again. I read it so much in every fic it's passé at this point to me. There was no way in hell I was going to put Sasuke on Kimimaro's level of awesome, so his fight would still have been one sided and I wanted him to have it out with Kimimaro because I've never written a Kimimaro fight scene before so there.**

**Next chapter will be the fallout from the failed retrieval. And maybe I'll throw in parts of Lee's fight with Sasuke… if I feel like it.**

**Kenchi out. Get your fireworks on!**


	12. Only Human?

Review Shoutouts

**Dan: To the anonymous guy that doesn't understand the difference between blocking and swatting something away and apparently enjoys nitpicking. To block means that you stand in front of it and take the attack with your arms raised, prepared to weather the minimum amount of damage that the blow will give you. To swat an attack away is basically a lazy way of saying parrying; you either check the attack before it even starts, like someone throws a hook and you stun the inside of their elbow to throw off the punch, or you let the attack pass you by and slap the missed punch even further past you to throw an opponent off. **

**If you plan to flame then know something about actual fighting before you start flaming. There is no way in hell that I would have Naruto flat out block a punch from Tsunade, EVER! Comprehend what you read before you try to judge it, and use an actual account next time so that I don't have to do something like this to address you. Cheers.**

**Kalevra: I didn't bet on that Lesnar fight. I wanted to, but part of me was like 'Lesnar's going to get knocked out before he can get it to the ground'. I was half right, he got flash KO'd but Carwin couldn't finish. Now I wish I did because I would have won. And I can't really hint to you how fast he'll move up the ladder.**

**dupel: I don't think so. I think Kimimaro is one of the strongest bad guys in the series, I also think he showed up too early as well.**

**marc: No he doesn't know yet. He hasn't thought about it since he unlocked his memories, but one decent look at a picture could trigger a series of thoughts, who knows.**

**dusk: Yeah Lee is still healing from his injury when this takes place so he couldn't match up, even with the celestial gates.**

**Stormrune: To answer your questions; Naruto's lightning techniques require him to capture his opponent first. He would be hard pressed to sucker Kimimaro into that kind of situation. Wind chakra, Kimimaro's bones could be tempered to be harder than steel and I had him disarmed rather early in the fight. And him being weaker than Kabuto, I still hold on to the belief that Kabuto is a bitch, and will until it is proven otherwise.**

**He won't overuse the transformation for the reasons I listed last chapter, it messes him up badly. He wanted to use it instead of using more tails because the amount of control he had over the tails was still weak. If I had to place it in power it's stronger than one tail, yet weaker than two.**

**I also never remembered anything about him needing a lot of chakra to do most of the things he did with his bones. And finally, this guy fucked up his life. Naruto kept most of his mind state when he was in Ne. When people do terrible things to you it is human nature to want to get revenge. I'm not griping at you, I'm just answering the review, glad you like the story though.**

**Anon: Damn I wish I'd have thought of that when I was writing it! Oh well…**

**anon: The trigger isn't really a tailed transformation. It's just something Naruto worked out with the Kyuubi. It uses the Kyuubi's chakra to trigger it, hence, 'Kitsune Trigger'.**

**road kill609: No they did not do Kimimaro justice in canon. He had Rock Lee and Gaara dead to rights and then he dies. That is sad. I don't consider writing these stories a chore, more like a way to relax and break boredom.**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. And thank God I don't. If I did own Naruto and then I came onto this website I would have to go puke in a trashcan due to the obscene and copious amounts of Naruto/Sasuke yaoi that exists on this website. Let me put this in perspective for you all. Naruto/Hinata is the most prevalent heterosexual pairing on the site. It has 343 pages dedicated to those stories. The Naruto/Sakura pairing had 219 as the 2nd most prevalent hetero pairing.

THE NARUTO AND SASUKE PAIRING HAS FUCKING 987 GODDAMN PAGES WORTH OF STORIES DEDICATED TO IT!

Dude come on, really? Welcome to the internet.

Rant over.

**Chapter 11: Only Human?**

* * *

Naruto sat in his hospital room two days after returning to Konoha from the failed mission to retrieve Sasuke. Naruto was pleased to know upon their return that Rock Lee would be fine, and that the only other member of the retrieval team that needed to be hospitalized other than himself and Lee was Kiba, and he was doing just fine himself.

Kiba had a stab wound to his stomach that he had inflicted on himself. Rock Lee had many miniscule injuries to his muscles, chakra exhaustion, and a wounded shoulder from Sasuke's Chidori that mostly healed after he activated the fourth celestial gate in the battle. Naruto had to chuckle when Lee had recovered enough to tell him exactly how Sasuke had missed anything vital with the Chidori.

_(Flashback – Valley of the End)_

_Sasuke stood across from Lee, the black marks of the cursed seal spread out across his body like fire. He had a cruel smirk on his face as he looked at Lee, who was set in his Gouken stance with a determined look on his face, "Just come back with us Sasuke-kun. I do not want to fight you, not like this."_

_Sasuke chuckled darkly, "But Lee. I want to fight you, ever since you first defeated me during the exams. Didn't you say you wanted to prove yourself against a genius? Well this is your chance."_

"_Very well Sasuke-kun. If this is what it will take, then I will defeat you if I must to bring you home." Lee launched himself at Sasuke to begin engaging._

_(Flashback end)_

Rock Lee however, was not as healthy and ready for combat as he had led most to believe. He had lost a considerable amount of his speed and mobility from the time he had off due to his injury and Sasuke with the use of his curse seal was too much for Lee to handle in his state, even after opening the first gate and attempting the Omote Renge (Front Lotus). The toll it took on his already battered body left Lee a mess, and a sitting duck for Sasuke's Chidori.

_(Flashback)_

_Sasuke's hand was charged with electric chakra as the chirping of Chidori signified his next actions. Lee tried to will his body to prepare a counter or just dodge, but he knew Sasuke would track his considerably slower movements and adjust, either way he was taking the brunt of the attack somewhere vital._

_Sasuke charged at Lee intent on ending his life and moving along to Otogakure, "This is the end Lee! __Chidori (One Thousand Birds)!__" Somehow both boys were able to ignore the streak of red soaring to the earth from the sky._

_BOOM!_

_A loud explosion shook the entire valley, crumbling chunks of the cliff and sending them into the water below. The ground where Lee and Sasuke were fighting was ripped asunder by the force of the following tremor coming from whatever caused the explosion._

_Sasuke who was charging at Lee, intent on ending his life, slipped on his suspect footing as the ground began to crack and crumble. The combination of Sasuke's broken concentration and his face-forward trip made sure that not only would his aim be off, but the attack would not penetrate too deeply._

_Lee shouted in pain as Sasuke's electric fist forced itself into his shoulder, but he was still alive. Alive and still able to fight as Sasuke would soon find out._

_(Flashback end)_

Lee proceeded to activate the necessary gates to utilize the Ura Renge (Reverse Lotus) on Sasuke, (3) but Lee still lacked the necessary force to aptly send Sasuke towards the ground hard enough for the finish, for when Sasuke activated level two of his seal he used his wings to taper out his fall and skid along the ground until he came to a stop. By the end of Lee's barrage he could no longer move and Sasuke simply left him there.

Lee blacked out and was found by Gaara who could not track Sasuke's trail in the downpouring rain that had fallen in the valley and carried him to where Naruto's battle had taken place before carrying them both back to Konoha.

Which brings us to Naruto sitting in his bed at the hospital. Naruto's entire skeletal frame had cracked due to the stress that activating the Kitsune Trigger placed on his body. Tsunade had to do the analysis version of a double take when she went over his injuries at the hospital. She stated that Naruto had to be in excruciating pain due to the extent of his injuries that he neglected to mention were self-inflicted in a way.

After the first day he had attempted to leave, feeling well enough to walk without falling down in agony. But was blocked by Shizune who stated that he was to stay put until released, that was two days ago, and now he was beginning to go stir crazy. But a little bit of boredom was nothing compared to what Tsunade claimed he would have to do on this day.

_(Flashback – The previous day)_

"_You mind repeating that? I think I had something crazy in my ear." Naruto was giving Tsunade a dead-pan look._

_A sigh came from the ample bosomed woman as she looked at the bed-ridden boy apologetically, "You heard me brat. The council wants to hear from you about the mission. They got the information from my Anbu who investigated the battles after it was all over. They know of the reports from Shikamaru on the matter. He listed how it was you that took down three of the ones that took Sasuke."_

_Naruto looked up at the ceiling blankly, "I'm guessing that there's more to this than me just beating a few Oto jabronies."_

"_Right kid." Tsunade sat by his bedside, "They also got wind of the fact that the epicenter of the little earthquake that hit the surrounding area came from a crater with a forest of bone, a place where your scent is thick. It didn't help that there are faint traces of demonic aura in the area as well. They might try to reason that the Kyuubi could be escaping."_

_Naruto looked at her in a stunned fashion, "What do you think they'll want from me?"_

_Tsunade shrugged, "Who knows for now? All you can do is head over to the council chambers tomorrow and we'll find out then."_

_Naruto scoffed and looked out the window, "Well excuse the hell out of me for being a jinchuuriki trying to use his biju. Kami, everywhere else expects their own jinchuuriki to do so. This place is ass backwards baa-chan, I swear."_

_Tsunade patted his hand and stood to leave, "You can check out tomorrow for the meeting and then you can go on home. If you're well enough to get chewed out then you're well enough to sleep in your own bed."_

_(End Flashback)_

XxX

Naruto arrived at the doors in front of the council chambers to find the bear-masked Anbu standing out front, "Uzumaki-san, the council is inside waiting. Hokage-sama said to wait as long as you need to in order to prepare for their questions."

Naruto waved it off, "No need Kuma-san. I do my best when I'm on the spot, I just want to get the gripe-fest inside over with so I can go home and watch my shitty closed-circuit TV."

A snort came from another corner of the hall as Kuma moved and allowed Naruto entrance into the council chambers. As he walked inside he noticed the conversation drop off and most of the focus fell on him. There were almost unanimous glares from the civilian council, and when he turned to bid them a jaunty hello he almost broke down in laughter as they tried their hand at their pathetic excuse for killing intent.

Naruto saw that all of the clan heads were looking at him and he could read their expressions as he made his way to the table he was to remain at. The Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Nara clan heads were pretty objective, the Nara and Akimichi clan heads were actually giving him looks of acknowledgement, obviously being told by their sons about his actions during the mission.

The Inuzuka matriarch was smirking at him with mirth evident on her face, a smirk that he readily returned. The Hyuuga clan head was just looking at him, he couldn't tell what was going on behind those white eyes, damn, Hyuuga's have a great poker face, likewise for the Aburame clan.

Naruto saw the council elder advisers and saw Danzo, but let his face betray nothing, as did Danzo. Naruto knew they would never openly get a chance to speak, not for a long time, and if Danzo found that opening he would find Naruto if he really needed to, there was no need for Naruto to act like a lost puppy right now.

Taking his seat at the table he looked at the elders as if to state, 'can we start yet?' Tsunade then cleared her throat to speak, "Chunin Naruto Uzumaki, you have been brought here at the behest of Konohagakure no Sato's village council for your details on the mission to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha." She turned to the elders, "Those of you that have questions on what happened, you may ask."

Naruto turned his attention to the elders themselves who opened the floor with questioning. Koharu Utatane chose to go first, "Uzumaki-san, if you could, would you give us a verbal description of your experiences during the mission?"

Naruto nodded, "I set out from the village during the morning to catch up to the retrieval team in order to provide adequate assistance to them in case they wound up being outclassed by their opposition. After picking up a trail within the first half-hour I proceeded to give pursuit for about three hours before catching up to Choji Akimichi who was engaged in battle against, now identified, Jirobo of the South. Choji was on the verge of taking the third of the secret Akimichi pills in order to combat his foe when I stepped in and sent him to go catch up with the rest of the team. I then proceeded to swiftly dispatch Jirobo and follow suit in catching up to the team."

The old man next to Koharu, Homura Mitokado nodded, "This much was revealed by young Choji's report and by the Anbu that found Jirobo's corpse following the mission. You may proceed."

Naruto rolled his eyes, 'Then why did you fucking ask me then?' Ignoring that voice in his head he continued, "I then found Neji Hyuuga in the middle of fighting Kidomaru of the East. He seemed to be doing fine on his own, it was an even deadlock, but Kidomaru had yet to unlock the second stage of his cursed seal so I decided to intervene. Neji was able to keep Kidomaru's attention until I was able to launch a stealth attack from a distance that ended his life."

Naruto licked his lips in pause before continuing, "Both Neji and myself then caught up to Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi who had rejoined the main force. Rock Lee and Kiba Inuzuka had been separated from the team while Shikamaru and Choji were being held up by Tayuya of the North. I sent Neji off to find Kiba who had fallen from a cliff into the river below and fought Tayuya along with Shikamaru and Choji. She caught them in a genjutsu, and knowing how much trouble a skilled genjutsu specialist usually has against a close-range specialist, I closed the distance and defeated her, freeing Choji and Shikamaru. I captured her and Shikamaru along with Choji returned her to Konoha as a prisoner."

Naruto then looked at the elders as if expecting comments. Tsunade motioned for him to go on, "Proceed Uzumaki."

Naruto sighed and looked at all of the people. No doubt everyone in the room knew what was next, "I ran ahead and then made contact with Rock Lee who was fighting Kimimaro Kaguya at the time. I sent Lee off ahead to retrieve Sasuke while I stayed to keep Kimimaro from assisting Sasuke's escape. After a prolonged conflict and timely momentary assistance from Sabaku no Gaara I was able to outlast Kimimaro and defeat him, however I was too injured to continue with the mission and had to be assisted by Gaara who had also found and retrieved an injured Rock Lee."

A civilian council member stood up, "So you let the last Uchiha escape did you boy?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man, 'You already know he got away you son-of-a-bitch. You just want to use me as your whipping boy on the matter.' Naruto spoke evenly, "I did not allow anything. He may have gotten beyond the border, but the team and myself did everything we could to prevent that from happening."

Another council member stood and pointed at him, "But you already defeated the Uchiha in combat. If you had just left the battle with the Kaguya to that Rock Lee person then you could have personally stopped Sasuke yourself."

Naruto bristled at the insinuation, "Listen. Kimimaru Kaguya was far beyond any of their levels. He was sick, he was weak, and it still took everything I had to put him down. Nothing that Rock Lee is capable of would have beaten him. No one else on the retrieval squad or the relief team from Suna could have fought and defeated him. He might have even found a way to overwhelm me had he not used the last of his chakra on his final technique, or does a giant forest of bones not register as potentially hazardous to a team comprised of genin?"

The civilians sat down seething at Naruto explanation when Hiashi Hyuuga's firm voice was heard, "The forest of bones… was also inside of a massive crater. The crater was the epicenter for the tremors that struck Konoha. What can you tell us about that?"

Naruto knew there was no need to lie at this point, "Yes, I did it. It was necessary to keep up with Kimimaro Kaguya after he activated the next level of his seal. It's a high price to pay to use that much power however, the force of my technique cracks my entire skeletal frame."

Inoichi Yamanaka was curious as to the nature of Naruto's maneuver, "Would you mind showing the technique to us?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Yes. Yes I would, actually. Not only is it something that really shouldn't be used outside of combat, it's not something that I want people to know about, let alone actually see. You all have your own clan secrets and all of that, well consider this something that none of you have any right to coerce out of me."

Another arrogant civilian stood, "We are the council _boy_. You are a ninja of this village and therefore your secrets are ours to know."

Naruto gave him a look as if to say 'are you serious?' He looked up at Tsunade, "I work for you. Not some petty merchant with a superiority complex. Keep him out of shinobi business." He turned to the council, "The only ones that have even the slightest amount of authority over me are the clan heads, and that's because they're all jounin. Outside of the field the only person here that can tell me to do _anything_ is Hokage-sama. Do any of you have the title of Hokage-sama?"

He got a unanimous shaking of heads, "Do any of you have that kick-ass pointy hat?" Another round of no's, "Well then you can all respectfully stuff it. My techniques are my own, you don't need to know them, you couldn't perform them anyway so the knowledge would be useless."

The civilians broke into an uproar while the clan heads started looking at Naruto with amused respect. The main yells from the civilian council were calling for Naruto's punishment until one of them changed the subject altogether, "You should be punished for allowing the Uchiha to escape! He was the last of our most powerful bloodlines and you send another genin to get him instead of yourself!"

Naruto looked at the ignorant man coldly, "Like I said, Kimimaro Kaguya was far beyond anything Rock Lee could have done to him. Kimimaro would have killed him for sure had I not stepped in, which was my job in the first place. I was sent as back-up, to get them out of unfavorable situations, and that was as unfavorable a condition as they were going to face on that mission."

Naruto stood and began pacing, "Kimimaro could have beaten Sasuke without trouble. Sasuke only had Chidori and a few katon ninjutsu as something that could slow Kimimaro down, and that wouldn't have stopped him. What I did to make that crater, Kimimaro survived it and launched one final attack. As far as I'm concerned, none of them could have kept up with him. And besides, I was sent to make sure they could carry out their own mission parameters, my own were different from theirs and I did what I thought I had to do to achieve both. Rock Lee had not told me that he wasn't in prime condition. I don't know what would have changed if I had known, but that is moot at this point."

"Get back to the other topic! What did you do to cause the crater!"

The room once again got loud on the civilian side as cries of 'the Kyuubi is escaping' among other asinine remarks were being made. The shinobi side were looking bored, most of them knowing full well that jinchuuriki should be able to utilize the power of their demons so this wasn't much of an issue. Tsume Inuzuka even let out a loud yawn signifying how bored with the proceedings she was.

Naruto made subtle motions to the shinobi council signaling 'blah blah blah' and pointing at the civilian side, getting a few smirks on that side. He looked up at Tsunade, "Can I be dismissed Hokage-sama? I've already spoken my peace, anything from this point forward and there's nothing I can do or have any part in."

Tsunade nodded, "You are dismissed chunin Uzumaki." Naruto bowed to her and left the room. As the door closed shut she sighed as another uproar from the civilians broke out.

XxX

Naruto sighed in relief as he jumped along the rooftops towards his apartment, "Well that wasn't as unpleasant as it could have been. Hopefully baa-chan can block any of their powerplay bullcrap against me."

Naruto arrived and opened the door to his apartment to find Kankuro raiding his fridge. Naruto's eye twitched as he grabbed Kankuro by the collar and dragged him away from his food, "What the hell are you guys still doing here?"

Kankuro looked at Naruto smugly as the boy let go of him, "Don't you remember Naruto? You told Gaara we could stay here after he got you to the hospital."

Naruto looked around his apartment, "Does my place look like it can accommodate all of you and me at the same time? Why don't you all go and get a hotel you rich bastards?"

Kankuro chuckled, "Well we got the call to leave so quickly that we didn't have any time to go home and grab any money. We were fortunate Gaara asked you."

A tick mark appeared on Naruto's head, "Gaara asked me when I was hopped up on so many painkillers I couldn't tell that there was a catheter in me! Nothing I could have possibly said in that state of mind could possibly be held as a valid statement!"

Kankuro shrugged, "It's done man. Temari swiped your bed, I'm hitting the couch, and Gaara doesn't sleep so it worked out just fine for everyone."

"Except for me…" Naruto had a perturbed look on his face, "Because you probably ate me out of house and home! I ain't made of money here you know!"

Temari came from the back with a sad frown on her face, "But Naruto… When you stayed in Suna you stayed with us we didn't say anything. Am I really that bad that you can't live with me for a few days?" The look on her face appeared as though his answer would end up breaking her heart.

Naruto was slack-jawed and sputtering, "I-. But-. You guys-. My food-." He eventually threw his hands in the air in exasperation and went to grab his wallet, "Fine whatever, I'm out of here. Don't eat all of my food!"

A grumbling Naruto turned to leave the apartment, shutting the door roughly behind him. Kankuro smirked at his sister, "That was messed up Temari. Playing with the kid like that. You shouldn't mess with his head like that, he might think you like him or something."

Temari shrugged and walked back to Naruto's room, "Maybe I do. I'm going to take a nap for a few hours."

Kankuro sat blinking in place for a moment, "Wait, Temari are you serious?" Temari said nothing as she shut the door to Naruto's room, "Temari!"

XxX

Naruto grumbled as he left his apartment, "I can't believe this crap! What the hell is going on around here? Can I get a little me time?" Naruto decided that since he wasn't going to get any alone time he might as well get some food in him. Going to the place that he was most accustomed to going for his meals, Naruto ended up taking a seat at Ichiraku Ramen.

As he plopped down in his usual seat Naruto sighed, "Can I get some ramen you guys… I really need some relaxation food right about now."

Ayame giggled as she came over with a pen to write his order, "Ramen is a strange food to relax with Naruto-kun even for you. So what do you want?"

Naruto pulled out a full wallet with a wide grin, "Give me one of everything to start, let's say I have money to blow today."

Ayame nodded and wrote out his order before noticing the look on Naruto's face, "What's the matter? You look terrible."

Naruto chuckled slightly before looking up at her with a tired grin, "I'm tired Ayame-neechan, damn tired. I'll be fine I just need some rest, I haven't just relaxed in forever. I can't remember the last time I just sat back and did nothing. I'd say I've earned it."

Teuchi came from the back and greeted the young boy, "Oh, Naruto! I thought you were in the hospital. When did you get out?"

Naruto grinned at him, "About four hours ago. Come on, did you really think that an entirely cracked skeleton could keep me down for long? Who do you think I am?" Naruto's eyes shined as they placed a bowl of ramen in front of him.

Teuchi chuckled at Naruto's expression, "Enjoy kid." He went off to begin washing dishes while Ayame took another customer's order. Naruto began to dig into his meal and ease his mind. He made it until his seventh bowl when a familiar head of pink hair sat beside him.

Naruto turned to Sakura with a face full of noodles and slurped them up while making eye contact. Green met blue as Naruto stayed silent and finished his bowl. Upon finishing Naruto set the bowl aside with a sigh and motioned Sakura to proceed, "Go ahead."

Her eyes trembled, "Naruto, Sasuke-kun I-."

Naruto held up his hand, "You should be asking Lee about this more than me. I wasn't here when he left, I wasn't there when he ran after getting out of that barrel, and I wasn't there to fight him. If I had been then he'd be in traction, sitting pretty in our hospital right now. All I was there for was to make sure the others didn't get in too deep, I never saw him at all."

Sakura looked as if tears would come to her eyes. Naruto sighed and stood up, "Which way do you live Sakura?"

She looked up at him, confusion evident on her face, "Why do you want to know?"

Naruto paid for his food and looked over at her, "Because in the time it takes us to get you home, I'm going to listen to everything you have to say on this matter. When I get you to your door I'll tell you something from me that you need to hear."

Sakura didn't really understand but he was offering to listen so she couldn't really tell him off. So she told him about how she had seen Sasuke attempting to leave, how she confessed to him and what he had said before he knocked her out. Naruto walked and kept his mouth shut, much to Sakura's surprise as she had still yet to adjust to the new Naruto. The walk to Sakura's house took thirty minutes at the pace that they were moving.

Throughout the walk Naruto's face betrayed none of his thoughts. Sakura thought he wasn't listening until at one point when she stopped he instructed her to carry on. He reassured her that he was indeed paying full attention and was working out what he would say when they arrived at her home, so she kept going.

Sakura's throat was dry and she was slightly out of breath because of the amount of talking that she had done, but she had put it all out there. Now she was simply waiting for Naruto to speak as was their agreement. He stood in front of her for a moment saying nothing as he finished thinking about his dialogue. Finally believing that he had worked it out enough, he began, "You really love him? Seriously? No bullshit?"

She nodded and looked in his eyes without falter. Naruto smiled slightly at her, "That's a pretty big claim for someone as young as us to say Sakura. Are you sure? Things can change over time you know? You might not feel this way tomorrow, next month, hell, three years from now you might not."

"I am not flighty about things like this Naruto. I made this commitment a long time ago that I did love Sasuke, and I would prove it to him." She looked away, "I-I really would have left with him that night Naruto."

A frown worked its way onto Naruto's face, "That isn't something you should be saying out loud Sakura. But now what? He's gone. Gone to Orochimaru, the ultimate traitor of Konoha for power, what will you do now?"

Sakura clinched her fists at her side, "Then I'll get strong enough to save him. I won't give up. I'll get strong and then I'll bring Sasuke-kun back myself."

Naruto looked at her for a long moment, "You know that you actually have to take an active interest in your training right? What I did to you in our match was terrible Sakura, you have a lot of work to do. Sasuke might not willingly return even years from now, and if it comes to that, and you don't get far stronger he will tear you apart."

Sakura looked down at the ground sadly as Naruto's footsteps signified his leaving her doorstep, "But, who am I to cut down someone's goal? It's going to take a lot of training Sakura, you really need to up your skills, but it's far from something that's impossible to do. And who knows? If you get your chance to go after Sasuke, I might just want to tag along too."

Sakura raised her head to see a faint smile on Naruto's face as he walked away. Sakura turned and entered her home with her resolve for the future set. Naruto took to the rooftops to head towards the Hokage Tower.

XxX

"Yo baa-chan."

Tsunade looked to see Naruto hanging around her window with a lazy look on his face, "Can you take the door brat? I already have Jiraiya jumping on the sill every time he comes by, I don't need you doing it too."

Naruto shrugged and hopped inside of the office, "It's easier than the door." A smirk came onto his face, "Unless you like it when I kick it open because I personally love it. I would have no problems with doing that for you."

Tsunade's eye twitched as Naruto flopped on a chair in the office, "So what are you doing here brat? Other than trying to get me to put you through the wall?"

Naruto's jovial face fell as he got business-like, "How do you feel about starting up a program for combat medics?"

Tsunade's eyes widened before she went to normal, "I proposed that idea years ago during the last war, but Sarutobi-sensei shot it down. He said there just weren't enough resources to go around then for it."

A grin came onto Naruto's face, "Well why not do it now? You _are_ the Hokage aren't you? Or is that pointy hat something I can buy somewhere for myself? Set it up, and I have someone you should look up first. She doesn't have much going for her except chakra control."

Tsunade laid her face in her palm, "Then why would I want her in the program brat?"

The grin never slipped from his face, "Yes, she's pretty raw. But that's the beauty of it. If there is one thing that I know from personal experience, it's that a blank slate is probably the best thing for a ninja to be when they go into any kind of training. Give her some time and teach her right, she'll be just fine. And did I mention the chakra control?"

"Who is it brat?" Tsunade was interested in the program, and if Naruto had an idea of just who could be receptive to the training, why wouldn't she listen to him, "Is she one of the genin in your class?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, my teammate that didn't end up ditching the village, Sakura Haruno. Check her out, see if she's what you're looking for, and if she is get in touch with her."

Tsunade looked at him as he stood to make his way to the window once more, "What are you going to go do brat?"

Naruto yawned as he turned to face her, "I'm tired. I need some sleep and some time off. Give me at least a week and then give me a new assignment, the cracked bones really do suck for someone who runs around all day."

A smile came onto Tsunade's face, "I put you on medical leave for a bit anyway after you got back. I'll call you when I think you're ready again. You're getting at least a week off. Get some rest. But stop in later this week, I have something for you to do."

Naruto gave her a weak salute and jumped out of her window to exit.

XxX

Naruto arrived at his home that night as the stress of the last few days finally caught up with him. He gave a grunt of acknowledgement to Kankuro who was eating one of his cup ramen and watching his TV. The puppeteer almost choked on his food as he saw Naruto heading back to his bedroom and rushed to stop him.

As he stood in front of Naruto he could feel the killing intent radiating off of the haggard blonde, "You better have a damn good reason for blocking my way or my foot will have a damn good reason for sticking itself up your ass."

Kankuro pointed back towards his room, "I told you Temari took your bed. Well she's in there right now sleeping. If you value your testicles kid I wouldn't go in there."

Naruto looked at Kankuro, then to the room, then back to Kankuro who was shaking his head. He shrugged and moved Kankuro aside, "I'll take my chances. I'll be damned if I'm sleeping on the floor in my own damn house."

Kankuro went wide-eyed as he watched Naruto enter the room and shut the door before running back to the couch, planning to feign ignorance when the fireworks went off.

Naruto took a look around his room to find it far less cluttered, "Well, she picked my crap up while I was gone I suppose."

Turning his attention to his bed he found his fellow blonde from Suna sleeping soundly on his bed, 'How can she sleep so well on my piece of crap mattress? I thought she would have been spoiled by their expensive, comfortable beds at home.'

As he edged closer to the bed Naruto's thoughts were telling him that it would be a damn shame to potentially disrupt the sleep of this girl. Temari looked way too peaceful for him to normally awaken. Too bad he was too tired to pay attention to his logical thoughts.

Naruto edged her to one side of his bed, which she actually did in her sleep quite easily, she must have been a pretty heavy sleeper. He took off his shirt and slid in next to her, turning away and quickly fell victim to the comfort of sleep.

(3 hours later)

A cold feeling was placed against his face, forcing Naruto to open his eyes and deal with the nuisance. As his eyes cracked open he saw Temari's metal fan placed against his cheek. Figuring that she wouldn't hit him while he was asleep he quickly shut his eyes and slowed his breathing. Naruto snapped his eyes open when she shook his face with the fan.

"You're awake! That's good, did you have a nice nap?" He could tell that the fake sweet voice meant that he was screwed, so there was no reason for him to not be a smart-ass at this point. What else could she do after this? _Not_ beat him?

Naruto sat up, rubbing his eyes and looking at her with a dull face, "It was alright. But it wasn't meant to be a nap. It was meant to be a twelve to twenty-four hour hibernation of sorts. Thanks for that. You woke me up…" He checked his clock, "…Nineteen hours early, great."

Temari had a scowl on her face, "I woke up looking at your bare back! What the hell are you doing here?"

Continuing to poke the bear he raised an eyebrow, "I live here. Didn't you know that when you got here?"

Temari pushed him back down on the bed with her fan, "I meant what are you doing in the bed you ass."

Naruto couldn't prevent the smirk from going on his face before he responded, "This is my bedroom. As you can see there's only one bed, mine, and you were kind of in it, so I figured, hey! Roomates!"

Temari began to unfold her fan with an angry look on her face, "Give me one reason why I shouldn't blow you from here to the Hokage Tower?"

Naruto rolled over on the bed and shut his eyes, "I'll give you two; because I just came from there, and because I haven't gotten a non-drug induced sleep in over three days. Now if you're going to use that thing to beat my ass, go ahead, because I'm too tired to care, just don't fuck up my bedspread."

Temari dropped her fan, "Where will I sleep then? And how did you get here without me noticing?"

Naruto cracked an eye, "Where were you sleeping before you knew I was here?" He then pointed at himself, "And, ninja. It's kind of in my job description to be able to sneak up on people."

Silence reigned over the room as Temari thought of something else to say until shallow breathing let her know Naruto had fallen back asleep. With a sweat-drop on her head Temari left the room shaking her head.

XxX

The next day Naruto awoke a strange sound. Not so much strange as it was utterly terrifying.

"NARUTO-KUN, YOSH! YOU MUST JOIN US ON OUR YOUTHFUL MORNING EXCERSICES!"

"YES NARUTO-KUN! YOU MUST TRAIN WITH US TO KEEP UP YOUR YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE DURING YOUR TIME OFF!"

Naruto woke up, stirring Temari from her own sleep while the voices outside kept yelling, "Naruto, what the hell is that?"

Naruto groaned/growled as he sat up, scratching his hair, "Temari-chan go back to sleep. I'll deal with this myself. This is a local problem…"

Temari did as instructed while Naruto stomped to his front door finding Gaara silently watching TV and Kankuro mashing one of Naruto's couch pillows over his head, "Naruto, get those idiots to shut the hell up before I slit my wrists to make the voices stop."

Naruto looked at Gaara who didn't seem to be affected at all. Gaara felt Naruto's eyes on him and turned to face him, "I have plugged my ears with sand to block out the noise. Otherwise I would have killed them by now."

Naruto nodded in understanding and headed to the door where Gai and Lee were outside still shouting about Naruto's 'flames of youth'. Naruto opened the door and inhaled sharply, "SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Gai and Lee stopped at the sound of Naruto shouting at them. The boy was radiating killing intent with bags under his eyes, "I am on leave damn it… This is the first decent sleep that I've had in days… I have no problems training with you both, however I will train with you at an hour that is populated by creatures that are not nocturnal. Now beat it! I'll see you later!"

"YOSH NARUTO-KUN YOU ARE-!"

Naruto turned and blasted them both with murderous intent, "Get away from my apartment building or I will get Gaara to kill both of you! He's in here I swear to Kami! I'm tired and delusional!"

With one last shout about Naruto's youth, both Lee and Gai decided to go off for a few hundred laps around Konoha to wait for Naruto to wake up. Naruto shut his door with a sigh, "Well at least I know what I'm doing today…"

Kankuro sighed in relief, "So now that you're up, what are you going to do?"

Naruto rubbed his head on his way back to the room, "What else? Finish sleeping with your sister. She's very clingy in her sleep, it's awesome." Walking away with a thumbs up, Naruto ignored the look on Kankuro's face.

XxX

Later that day Naruto made his way towards the field that he knew Lee and Gai were using. How did he know where they were? Well all he had to do was run around town and listen for faint, or not so faint, smatterings of shouts for youth, or for repeated yells of 'Lee' or 'Gai-sensei'… It didn't take long.

Naruto arrived in an open field to find the all of Team Gai amassed together, "Oh for fuck's sake…" Just to arrive smack-dab in the middle of one of Gai and Lee's genjutsu moments. As the waves crashed in the sun-setting background Naruto walked over to Neji and Tenten who were stuck staring at the genjutsu.

Tenten shook her head while Lee and Gai got their bro-hug on, "It's like this every day… They seriously can't keep this up every single day. It's a phase… It'll end eventually. Right?"

Neji had his Byakugan on as he tried looking away, but couldn't bring himself to do so, "I can't see through it… What is this? … Oh, Naruto's here."

They both turned to find Naruto trying to avert his eyes from Gai and Lee, "So what got them started with that crap today?"

Tenten smiled at him, "Oh, it was about how they got the 'youthful' Naruto to agree to train with them today."

"Well they were shouting down my door at 4 a.m. so I just wanted them to leave." Naruto picked up some rocks on the genjutsu beach and skipped them across the water, "That's impressive."

The sound of the stones hitting the water snapped Lee and Gai out of their moment, "Ah, Naruto-kun, it is good of you to show up."

The boy in question shrugged, "I didn't have anything else to do today so why not?" He looked around blankly, "So why am I here? I can't even spar with anyone, I'm on medical leave."

Tenten walked up to him, "Medical leave? What's wrong with you? You look fine."

Naruto grinned foxily at her, "I cracked every single bone in my body on the last mission! It's great. I'm in excruciating pain just from getting here!"

Neji activated his Byakugan to look at Naruto and nodded in confirmation, "Yes it's true. Naruto has small cracks on the majority of his skeletal frame, some areas lack damage, but the most used areas of the human body still have some going through them, like his arms and legs."

Naruto cut in, "Which is why it hurts like a bitch to walk. I'm not fighting any of you today."

Neji let his Byakugan fade out, "Why does your face not register the pain that you should be in then?"

Naruto looked at Neji lazily, "Never let 'em see you sweat."

Tenten noticed something strange about Naruto, "Naruto, where is your sword? I see your sheath on your back but not the sword. Did you lose it?" Her eyes had a dangerous glint in them as she stared him down.

Neji backed away while Naruto turned to answer, "Yes, but it wasn't my fault. I lost it fighting the strongest of those guys that took Sasuke." He was then forced to dodge as Tenten threw projectile weapons at him, "Hey! I'm hurt here!"

Tenten held up a fist full of shuriken, "You lost that sword! All of that crap you were saying about me being a user of many weapons and a master of none. Even I know that you should never lose one of your close-range weapons!"

Naruto grabbed Neji and hid behind him, "Hey! I know exactly where it is. It'll just take a few hours to get out there. You can all come with me, Gai-sensei can consider it a field trip or something." He turned to Gai, "Do ninja have field trips?"

Gai's teeth shined as he smiled at Naruto, "A most wonderful idea Naruto-kun! The forest of bone is something that many of the Konoha jounin have heard about but none have seen! What a youthful idea! I will get permission to take you all out that far, for I would be happy to accompany you with my team to retrieve your blade!"

XxX

Gai got them out of the village and headed off in the direction of Naruto's battle with Kimimaro. Throughout the trip Lee, Neji, and Naruto told them the stories of their battles during the mission. Lee told Naruto how he wished he could have tested himself against Kimimaro the way he did and that it would have been better for everyone if Naruto had gone after Sasuke and left him.

Naruto almost fell from the trees they were jumping through in laughter. After he calmed down all of Team Gai asked him what was so funny. Naruto replied with, "You'll see."

Upon arrival Tenten tried to push through the last of the brush to reach the clearing Naruto told them the fight took place in when he grabbed her around the waist. Tenten blushed heavily, "W-What are you doing Naruto?"

Naruto smiled at her, "Watch your step." Naruto then pushed through the foliage to reveal the massive barren crater that he had caused during the duel with Kimimaro. Naruto helped Tenten slide into the pit while the men all jumped down themselves.

Tenten got Naruto to let her go when they landed, blush still intact on her face, "I could have gotten down here myself."

Naruto looked at her with a grin, "I know, but I'm a chivalrous bastard sometimes." He looked around and shook his head, "I thought it was bigger during the fight… maybe it was just the smoke playing tricks on me." He looked back at Lee, "Still think it would have been better to stay behind?"

They all marveled at the sight of all the wreckage until Naruto pointed ahead at the jagged wall of white, "And that's where my sword is."

Their jaws dropped as they got closer to the results of Kimimaro's Sawarabi no Mai. The sheer scale of the jutsu was impressive until Naruto spoke, "Yeah, it surprised the hell out of me when I first saw it. It all sprouted up in like one second, I thought I was dead. I had to Kawarimi with the sword to escape. I'm glad I could see it from the top of the spikes."

They all looked up where Kimimaro's body was still sticking out of one of the spikes. They looked down at Naruto with respect as he started squeezing through the tightly packed bones to reach the area where he dropped his weapon. After a few minutes a loud curse rang out. Followed shortly by Naruto emerging from the bones with the pieces of his broken sword, "Oh man… I have to get it fixed now… Poor sword, you were so great."

Naruto put the broken pieces of his sword into his sheath and started to exit the area to return to Konoha, "Well this was one way to spend the day eh?" He jumped out of the crater and began making his way back towards Konoha.

Neji watched as he left and spoke to Gai, "Gai-sensei, if Naruto was able to do this to the landscape, how strong is he?"

Gai patted Neji on the shoulder, "That's not what you should be asking. Remember why he was in the hospital. After knowing that it happened here and after seeing what the results of such power was capable of, do you really want to find out?"

Lee spoke up at this point, "And if he is anything like myself or Gai-sensei he will not allow this to be his limit either. And that is what is truly scary."

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**It's hooooooot. Mountains suck… I'm going through bottled water like a beached whale up here. Between the training and the going on runs and the just doing nothing I'm always f'n thirsty and I still have a few more weeks up here. Training camps suck.**

**Alright here's your chapter, a cool down phase. There might not be any real fight scenes for a while, it's setting up what Naruto will be doing for the next few years, but hopefully it will be entertaining to read. **

**Alright then, I'm out. Time to clean this shitty place up before evening training so later.**

**Kenchi out.**


	13. Shoulder to the Plow

Review Shoutouts

**wind daffodil kyuuketsuki-san: Naruto's sword broke when he kawarimied with it before getting hit with Kimimaro's bone drill, the final attack of the battle. I don't know if I'm going to give him a special weapon in the future or not yet. **

**raw666: They are against him due to the fact that while they are well aware of the existence and power of the Kyuubi, they don't have any knowledge of sealing or anything, what with fuuinjutsu being an obscure art in the first place, therefore they only see him as a demonic embodiment… yo.**

**Enlightener: His level of competition will begin to up itself dramatically shortly, don't worry.**

**Arlaikeeno: That was a very deep comment yo. I don't think he's a Sasuke in Naruto's body, and hopefully I'll be able to disprove that in the coming chapters… Because I hate what canon Sasuke has become, he's a douchebag.**

**And about the council, they are necessary I guess, but this is a militarily centered government. They should not have any damn say or control over military matters just like in real life, because an army divided is an ineffective one. Orders and commands must come from one place, not many, therefore fuck any influence the civilians have over the ninja, generally speaking of course.**

**rockon5002: It still creeps me out. But thanks for trying anyway.**

**sugoi fyre: (taken word for word from the actual review) "i like your story but... FUCK YOU why cant you not be homophobic you cuntbag. the world can do without scumbags like you who are not only homophobic but incite it as well. have an open mind, you don't have to read it or even look for it but the fact that there is that many pages shows you that more people like yaoi, than straight pairings. outnumbered bitch."**

…**Okay… because I don't like reading about sweaty dude-on-dude action and I despise having to comb through pages of it to find a decent story to read I am a "homophobic cuntbag?" That's great. It's just creepy dude, and the fact that I have had a few untitled pairings Trojan horse it on me seven chapters into the story never really helped.**

**Thomas: They had a rough idea that it was the case, but they weren't really sure, he just confirmed it for them.**

**Trey of the rebellion: The pairings will end up being a harem since I've always wanted to try one, and Danzo will show himself at some point. He is very important to the story.**

**Jranz: Dude I'm sorry for making you remember the horror, but misery loves company. And I'll be damned if I don't let the rest of you in on the truth of the matter like I did to myself, I share knowledge. Anyway, thanks for the compliment.**

**Sir Omega: Meh, it was the middle of a fight scene. I think Kimimaro would be too good to let anyone hit him in his soft spots since they are his only real weakness. And yes you will get your bloody Rasengan craters of mangled body soon, he will actually fight regular people soon.**

**Lanky Nathan: I agree. There is an ungodly amount of it and I see it around every corner, it sucks. And the scenes with the sand siblings and Temari were just pure inspiration, I'm glad it was good to so many people. **

**InARealPickle: That is horrible yo, I don't get where all the 'inspiration' for writing that comes from, but I wish it would go away. And, originally, I just really wanted to write a Kimimaro fight scene, I'm glad you liked how it all played out.**

**Anionbde: 900? I wish you didn't tell me that… That is something that was better left as an unknown-unknown…**

**marc & Freehawk: If he knew about what really happened then he would know his parents, he doesn't yet so no. He just dealt with the hand he was dealt when he worked in Ne, he'll know soon enough.**

**Warslasher: Sorry dude, I have a bad habit of just going off of general reasoning and thinking that everyone else will automatically get what I'm saying. I sent you a message explaining it though right?**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but in theory if I truly believe that I do own Naruto, then I do own Naruto… Now I have to believe that I own Naruto… Maybe I need to go see a hypnotist?

**Chapter 12: Shoulder to the Plow**

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Naruto and Tsunade walked through the prisoner corridors of Anbu Headquarters. Naruto had been summoned by Tsunade during his leave from active duty and was asked to accompany Tsunade and Shizune to Anbu HQ to check out a prisoner. All Naruto was going to do was train in the Forest of Death that day anyway, so he didn't really have any problems with being called out by Tsunade, but he was somewhat confused on what he was doing there.

Picking out his ear as he followed Tsunade and Shizune, Naruto finally questioned his purpose in their presence, "Uh not that it really matters to me or anything, but what am I doing here? Why do you need me to see a prisoner?"

Shizune turned back with a smile and gave him his answer, "A captured enemy ninja is for some reason far too weak for us to interrogate by normal means and they happen to be too high profile to just go ahead with anyway, the info they might have could be vital to us, too vital for us to lose due to negligence Naruto-kun."

That answered part of his question but opened up a few more, "So why the hell am I here again? If their body is weak, get a Yamanaka to go into their mind or something. What do you expect me to do that no one else can? I don't interrogate people, I kill people."

Tsunade, Shizune, and even Tonton sweat-dropped at Naruto's cavalier description of his own on-the-job-skills. Tsunade got over it first, "Because brat, you seem to have a knack for pulling things off when it's really necessary. We can't go into her head for some reason, attempting it injured Inoichi when he attempted to do so. Also, you do need to get some kind of paycheck don't you? Or are the Suna genin reimbursing you for all of the things they're using in your house?"

Naruto face-fell but swiftly pulled himself back in line with the others, "Okay. So who is this prisoner? Are they dangerous?"

Tsunade shook her head, "Not really, since as I've already said, she's very weak right now. Besides, she's totally disarmed and you've already defeated her once already."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "I've only fought one person that could still be alive and possibly be imprisoned right now. What, pray tell, is the real reason you're sending me in to do this for, just so I know?"

Shizune smiled back at him, "Tsunade-sama thinks you have quite a convincing air about you Naruto-kun. If anyone could get this girl to talk without resorting to force, we think it could be you."

Naruto sighed, "Fine… But if she spits at me or does something stupid I'm leaving right after she catches a backhand from yours truly, I swear to Kami. I should have proved my point by how I kicked her ass the last time though so I could just be paranoid."

Tsunade gave him a dry look as they made their way to the holding cells, "Violent much brat?"

Naruto pointed to the hitae-ate on his belt, "My entire job revolves around varying degrees of violence baa-chan. If I wasn't violent, I wouldn't be so damn good at what I do." The group came across the cell that housed Naruto's mark for the day, "All right. Will a guard let me out when I'm done?" The two women and pig nodded, "All right, I'll see you guys when I'm done then."

Tsunade nodded as Tonton oinked and Shizune waved goodbye after opening the door for him. Naruto sighed before slapping himself and putting on his game face before slinking into the cell and shutting the door behind him. He looked across the cell and ended up locking eyes with the red-haired girl sitting on a bed in the corner. Her brown eyes looked at him in curiosity, then changed to anger, and then to fear. Naruto held up his hands in a placating manner as he walked in to let her know he wasn't there to hurt her.

As he looked at her appearance she looked pale, paler than should have been healthy. Her eyes had bags underneath them, probably stemming from some kind of exhaustion, and she did look very weak, spot on with Tsunade's explanation of her condition.

Naruto pulled a chair from a corner and propped it in the middle of the room, taking a seat. He looked over at her, curled up on her bed as she warily looked him over. Seeing that she wasn't going to say a word to him whatsoever, Naruto decided to get the ball rolling, "Hello there Tayuya. I haven't seen you since I knocked you out. I assume Konoha's prison system is treating you well enough."

Tayuya simply kept on looking at him somewhat blankly. Naruto sighed, this was going to be a long day, he could see it already. Naruto cleared his throat, unintentionally getting her attention, "So I guess you know by now that all of your team is dead. Unfortunately, Sasuke still got away, but everyone that went after him from my village is still alive." Naruto saw that that little bit of news brought a smirk to her face, "Ah, so that got a little something out of you didn't it?"

Tayuya finally spoke, "I should have known you were just for show. Kimimaro must have torn your ass a new one when you chased after him huh?"

Naruto chuckled, drawing a confused look from her, "Actually I ended up fighting him until he just flat out died. I was kicking his ass if I do say so myself, I just couldn't finish him." Her eyes widened at the knowledge that Kimimaro was dead, "None of your little squad made it back, and you're the only one that survived. You can thank me whenever you'd like."

Tayuya glared at him, "You think I should thank you shithead? I'm as good as dead you fucking moron! You should have just killed me on the battlefield, that would have been better than rotting away in a fucking detention cell waiting to be interrogated!" She stood up from her bed suddenly, "Orochimaru, the fucking snake, he pulled the plug on the cursed seal, I just know it. That's why I'm so weak for no reason right now. I'm dead to him now, worthless..."

Naruto noticed a dark bruise on her neck where the cursed seal used to be, "You're going through some kind of withdrawal from the seal's power aren't you? That must be painful…"

Tayuya laughed bitterly, "It fucking sucks shithead… I feel like death right now. I guess I knew it would end like this somehow anyway… All that snake had on your village was an element of secrecy and a shitload of pawns like me to move around. I don't see how he got everyone else in that fucking place to believe they can actually take out the strongest hidden village, I knew we were fucked back during the invasion."

Naruto quirked his eyebrow, "You're being awfully forthcoming with the information here. What changed from before to now? You weren't talking to anyone before this."

Tayuya chuckled, "Sure, if you call those misanthropic motherfuckers coming in here asking me questions that I didn't know or that I thought were too stupid to answer, 'talking', then no I wasn't talking." She shook her head pitifully, "After all of the probing shit they asked me stuff like what Orochimaru wanted with the Uchiha kid."

Naruto cut in, "They should know what. Hell, _I_ know what he wants, that_ is_ a stupid question."

She started listing things, "They asked me where the main base in Ta no Kuni was…"

Naruto cut in again, "They should know that too, I told baa-chan that after I brought her back. What the fuck?"

Tayuya continued, "They asked me about how to get the cursed seal off… That bitch in the trench coat and mesh bodysuit was really uppity about that one."

Naruto sighed, "Why the fuck would you know that? Like Orochimaru would tell you how to get his glorified slave collar off of you." He rubbed his temple, "Carry on, I might have to bitch to baa-chan about this shit later."

Naruto noticed Tayuya getting livelier as they continued speaking. It was like she had loosened up or something. Naruto just kept talking to her. He didn't really have anything to do today, and he knew it had to suck being kept isolated by one's self so why not? Naruto listened to her bitch about the cell, and the shitty food, and how she wished they would just do whatever it was they would do with her and be done with it.

Naruto eventually decided to voice something that had been nagging at him for a while, "So why are you talking to me? I mean, I know I came to you and everything, but I really didn't expect to get a word out of you at all."

Tayuya looked at him as if she was pondering the answer herself before she shrugged, "I'm caught, the snake-pedophile has all but verbally declared that I'm being left for dead after he cancelled the seal, you're strong enough to beat Kimimaro by yourself so I know you could do whatever you want with me whenever you want, and fuck Otogakure… I hate that place."

Naruto pulled his chair closer to her bed, "So what? Were you forced into becoming a ninja for Orochimaru and Oto? You didn't want to be a ninja?"

Tayuya shook her head, "Not really shithead. When I was five my home village in Ta no Kuni was attacked, my family and everyone else there were killed or taken prisoner. I ended up stumbling upon a group of the bastards and they caught me and made me start. As far as it went it was either learn or die, so I went along with it. And hell, if you have to do something, why not do it all the way? I was one of Orochimaru's rising elites by the time I was nine years old, he had already put his fucking seal on me by then."

Naruto chuckled, bringing her from her story, "What's so funny shithead?"

Naruto looked up at her apologetically, "None of it, sorry. It's just, you were one of his elites for only maybe a few months probably by time I was caught inside of Otogakure when I was eight. That had to suck going back and telling him that you couldn't catch me."

Tayuya shivered involuntarily, "You don't even know shithead. That bastard even 'disciplined' Kimimaro, who was his favorite little ass-toy after we got back. None of us ever fucked up again after that. We were thrown together in an elite team and here I am today, the last one alive." Tayuya chuckled a little at the memory, "You were kicking our asses though for the longest time, I remember."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly, "I wouldn't necessarily call it fucking up, I guess you could say I was inspired to get away after Kimimaro almost took my eye. You guys chased me for two days. I still can't believe I got away. Ahh, good times…"

Tayuya nodded, "Anyway, yeah, like I said, fuck Orochimaru, I never wanted to work for him and he and the Uchiha can go fuck each other for all I care… Everything that I can tell you, you already know, that teme played his hand close to the vest. We may have been his 'elite bodyguards', but Kimimaro was the only one out of all of us that really ever accompanied him anywhere outside of the base in Ta no Kuni. No doubt he has more, and that one cleared out the second the Uchiha kid arrived, so it would be useless to check it out now anyway."

He looked up at Tayuya seriously, "So what do you think of me? We have been talking for the longest time and you don't seem to be too pissed at all about me being here. I did capture you after all."

Tayuya sighed and laid down on her bed, "Well, I haven't been tortured yet, unless you can call the crap they feed me as torture, so I don't have a reason to be, not at you. This is your job shithead, actually no, your job is to kill. So as far as I'm concerned you could have just slit my throat, left me lying in a ditch and kept moving after you beat me. You may be the reason that I'm locked up, but I wouldn't have hesitated to do the same to you if the circumstances were flipped."

Naruto nodded, "Well talking to you wasn't bad at all. Your language is a little vulgar, but somehow I kind of like that. I'll see if I can come back later this week or something, I'm on medical leave after your bony buddy and me made a mess out of the landscape."

Tayuya grunted in acknowledgment, "Sure shithead. You do whatever you want. It's not like they can torture me until I get over this seal crap so I'm not going to be executed anytime soon."

Naruto chuckled as he made his way to the door and gave it a knock, "So I'm shithead now huh?"

As an outside guard opened the door for the blonde killer's exit, Tayuya gave him a toothy grin from her bed, "Yep. Later shithead."

Shaking his head with a smirk on his face, Naruto shut the cell door behind him and nodded to the guard before leaving to report to Tsunade about what he had heard and done that day.

XxX

After grabbing a short lunch at Ichiraku's, Naruto returned to the Hokage Tower to find Tsunade asleep on her desk. As he entered through the window he saw her face down on her desk, paperwork stacked neatly to the side. Naruto took a second to pick up a sheet from the top and give it a once over. It was an order form from the Anbu trying to get restocked. Naruto's eyes widened once he got to the part that listed the material their kunai were made from, "Man Anbu get all of the good stuff…"

He placed the sheet back down and took a seat a distance away from the desk before making a Kage Bunshin and sending it over to her desk. The replication looked back at Naruto with a pitiful look, "Do I have to? Why can't you do it?"

Naruto shrugged, "Okay… I'll do it." The Kage Bunshin smiled until the original Naruto pulled an elastic from his pocket and shot it at Tsunade from across the room, hitting her right on the ear. Before he could even yell in fear at his creator the Bunshin was dispelled by a nasty right hand from the still sluggish Tsunade who slowly focused her eyes on Naruto who was waving from across the room.

She blinked and allowed her eyes to focus, "Brat? How long have you been here? *yawn* What woke me up?"

Naruto grinned as he moved closer and sat in front of her desk, "A mosquito baa-chan. You scared the hell out of me just snapping up like that and throwing that punch."

She rubbed her eyes, "It felt like I hit something solid… Anyway, I assume that you're coming back from speaking with Tayuya? How did it go?"

He looked down at the ground, "Well, she doesn't know anything that I didn't already tell you right after we got back from Tanzaku Gai. For being an elite, Orochimaru doesn't tell many of his own very much. She is going through symptoms from the sudden loss of the cursed seal, I guess either you or Shizune-chan are responsible for her not being dead from it flat out?"

Tsunade nodded, "It basically poisoned her system and put her into cardiac arrest a few hours after her arrival here. It was touch and go for a while, but she's still too weak to interrogate regularly, or else we risk killing her."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly, "About the whole, 'killing her' thing, you think we can keep her alive? I know that she's an Oto ninja and everything, but after all of the stuff she told me I'm sure that given the option to live somewhere like this as opposed to there she'd take it in a heartbeat, especially now."

Tsunade gave Naruto a chiding look, "How do you know she wasn't lying to you brat? She is an enemy ninja."

In return, Naruto gave Tsunade a dry look, "Who do you think I am? I can tell when lies are being told to me. Not only did she not lie to me, she told me everything that I asked for, even the things that I didn't ask about." A grin then appeared on his face, "Besides, I like that attitude of hers. There's nothing wrong with a rose having a few thorns every now and then."

Tsunade snorted with an amused look on her face, "So you think the girl is good looking? Are you sure you're not any closer to Jiraiya, because you're thinking kind of like him right now."

Naruto laughed and propped his feet up on her desk, "Well she'll be much better when she gets over the cursed seal backlash. And don't ever say that again. I'm no massive pervert, I'm just a boy beginning to enter adulthood and I have no problems admiring the female form from time to time."

"What's the difference brat?" Tsunade asked him with a raised eyebrow, "It all sounds the same to me."

Naruto tapped his head with his finger, "Oh, but it isn't. A pervert will go out of his way to do things like that. Like peek on hot springs or write their own pervert books to get off. I, on the other hand, do none of those things. However, if a blatant opportunity to admire the opposite sex arises I have absolutely no qualms about taking full advantage. Isn't that what ninja are trained to do anyway?"

Tsunade sweat-dropped, "Did you just admit to me that you were a pervert?"

Naruto stiffened up and slammed his hands on her desk, "Hell no! The entire point of that tirade was to defend why I _wasn't_ a pervert. Are you sure _you're_ not closer to ero-sennin, because your mind shot to the pervert possibility pretty quickly."

The two glared at one another until they both broke out in laughter. Tsunade and Naruto calmed down as she fished an envelope from her desk and passed it to Naruto, "Here you go brat, your pay for a B-ranked mission. Use it wisely."

Naruto took the envelop with a wary look on his face, "B-rank? All I did was talk to Tayuya. It wasn't even hard or anything, it wasn't unpleasant at all. Hell, I think I brightened the girl's day up just by talking to her, I'm going back later this week."

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow as Naruto placed the envelop in his pocket, "You're going back? Why would you do that for?"

Naruto shrugged as he stood and made his way to the window, "I don't know. Being all alone like that really sucks. She's not really a bad person, she was just a ninja for the wrong nation, it's no real reason to want to hate her." As Naruto went to jump out of the window Tsunade clearing her throat got him to pause and turn.

An evil smirk was on her face that sent a chill down his spine, "Brat, I hope you don't think you really got away with that elastic crap." She held up the offending band and placed it around her wrist, "You're lucky that you're supposed to be on medical leave right now. Just remember that."

Naruto nodded slowly and jumped from the ledge, shivering slightly when he heard her chuckling evilly behind his back.

XxX

After cashing his check and buying groceries for his depleted supplies, which was not too hard when compared to previous times he did so when on this occasion he said that for every dollar over the average that he was charged he was going to break his foot off in the grocer's ass. The house guests that would not seem to leave apparently seemed stoked to be receiving the abundance of food. Anyway, he decided to try and get his body back into a steady condition, seeing as how he had all but fully healed from his previous injuries. And he knew no better way to get his body used to hostile environments than to head into Training Ground 44, because the Forest of Death was as close to a near death situation as he was going to get until he got an active combat mission.

Upon entering, Naruto took it upon himself to fuck with every species of wild animal he could find, from packs of wolves, to birds of prey, hell he even tried provoking a bear; although he did keep from going too far, like into the restricted northeast corner where all of the truly horrible things were, mostly because fighting a slew of big-ass man-eating spiders and tigers twice his size was something he felt like holding back on at the moment. He had just gotten out of the hospital thank you, let alone the morgue.

So he had been jumping through the woods, getting some exercise and generally running amok amongst the wildlife to satiate his innate desire to generally cause havoc in an unrestricted environment to get his legs back under him.

Landing on the forest floor to take a short breather a small burst of killing intent was his only warning before a kunai passed by his face, cutting his cheek to bring about a strange feeling of déjà vu. He dabbed his cheek and sighed, "Anko-chan. Come on out."

Anko stepped out with a kunai in her grasp and a look of anger on her face, "Don't Anko-chan me gaki. I know you interrogated that Oto kunoichi today, I also know that you didn't even bother asking anything about the cursed seal. Or more specifically, how to get it off of me like it was for her!"

Naruto was immediately put on the defensive as Anko came in attacking. He was forced to dodge the striking attempts from her kunai while trying to calm her down, "Anko calm down! You're being stupid!"

Anko caught him in the body with a hard kick that sent him flying backwards into the trunk of a tree, "Why did you just let that question slide? That damned snake still has his seal on me, he left her for dead and took hers off!"

Naruto growled as he stood back up, "If you would calm the fuck down I could explain everything to you now. Unless you still want to vent your useless anger on me, in which case I will be hitting you back."

Anko chuckled, "I know I saw you run through those genin back during test of yours, but I'm still quite a bit out of your reach my dear gaki."

Naruto shook his head, "I know you know about the retrieval mission, so I have to ask you… What the hell makes you think I can't beat the shit out of you Anko. Why would you try this on me? You can't scare me, I did nothing to you, and any threat that you even try following through on, I'll make you pay for it myself, fuck disciplinary measures."

Anko narrowed her eyes at him, "All right then gaki, I was about to sit and listen to what you had to say, but now I think I'll rough you up a bit just out of principle."

Naruto slid into a stance, "Don't think it will be that easy. Of course I should thank you though, the wolves and the bears were getting kind of easy to take down. You should be able to get the old blood pumping."

Anko licked her kunai, "I'll get your blood _flowing_ gaki." She then threw the kunai at Naruto and headed in to engage him up close her taijutsu. Anko took quick, precise jabbing thrusts at Naruto that he was forced to parry or suffer due to the nature of her attacks. Anko went for the least guarded areas on his body, aiming at his neck, his eyes, even his groin, he really didn't like that last one, as evidenced by the return kick he gave her right back in the same area after one of Anko's attacks landed low.

Both broke off holding themselves below the belt, doubled over in pain, "What the hell gaki, you don't hit a lady there! *cough* What's wrong with you?"

Naruto backed away inhaling sharply, "You punched me in my junk! It was a reflex, and besides, just because you're a girl I'm supposed to hold back? It's not like you women ever guard that spot in a fight anyway so why the hell not? It's open."

Anko growled at him and thrusted her arm out, "Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)" As a mass of snakes flew from Anko's sleeve at Naruto he reached for the sword on his back only to pull out his broken ninjato.

Naruto sweat-dropped just as the snakes hit him dead on and constricted around him. Anko's face took on a victorious look as she loomed over him, "Alright gaki, playtime is over. If you try to move these snakes will bite you, and they are poisonous." She then pulled out another kunai, "Now that you're all tied up, we're going to have our little discussion about what exactly you need to ask about next time you see that Oto girl."

Naruto looked at his scaly bindings and chuckled, "This is all you've got? I'm immune to all of the stuff that your snakes could have." Naruto had already built up an immunity to certain poisons as a precautionary measure before his mission to Otogakure years ago. All of the snakes from the jutsu Anko just used were among the first poisons that he ended up getting over. He began shifting around and, true to her threat, Anko's snakes bit into him. She gasped, she didn't mean to kill the brat, just rough him up a bit. That gasp soon turned to another as he broke the snakes' hold on him.

Upon standing he looked at Anko's slack-jawed face, "What? It's not like they were constrictors or anything. It wasn't too hard." He then decided to engage Anko instead of waiting this time. As he ran in Anko smirked confidently, the kid wasn't even trying to work angles. The sound of something coming into their plane of existence signified that he had made Kage Bunshin during his push forward. As the Naruto in front of her tried to keep the bulk of her attention occupied, the Kage Bunshin he had created were flying around her trying to pick their shots.

Anko did her best to trade strikes with the real Naruto and avoid attacks from the clones, but like she already knew, he was ridiculously fast for someone his age, and when he made contact, like the real one did right in her body with his fist, when the kid hit, it hurt, 'No thirteen year-old kid should hit that hard!'

The one punch from Naruto would have sent Anko flying, had he not grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her back roughly. She almost wished that he had let her fly backwards as when he pulled her forward he smashed her in the ribs with a knee before stepping out of the way for one of his clones to drop a flying kick from behind on the back of her head.

Anko was sent sprawling forward onto the ground and quickly made her way back to her feet to see all of Naruto's clones crouched in front of the real one, ready to react. Naruto crossed his arms and stared out at the purple-haired snake summoner, "Are we done Anko? Or do we keep going? Because unlike you I have absolutely nowhere to be for the rest of the day."

Anko gritted her teeth and tossed a kunai right through the bunshin wall to hit the Naruto within, only to watch it go up in smoke. As all of the bunshin dispersed Naruto's disembodied voice rang out from the trees, "Now that wasn't nice Anko, I just wanted to talk. You want to know why I didn't ask about your cursed seal right?"

She looked around rapidly for any sign of the scarred blonde, "Yes! Why didn't you? If she could get hers off, even unwillingly then I-."

Naruto cut her off, "Because she doesn't know anything about it except how to use it. And Orochimaru may be a genius with ninjutsu, but he's not as good with fuuinjutsu as you think he is. Why do you think he tested his seal on you and didn't just put it on himself? The detriments were too great. He didn't even research a way to take it off of a recipient until he came up with the seals for the Sound Four, Kimimaro, and Sasuke. He can't remotely deactivate yours like he can for the others because yours was made before he was any damn good at making them, there's a reason yours is the first."

Anko shut her eyes tightly, "So there's really no way to get it off of me…"

"I didn't say that…"

Anko's head snapped up with that nugget of news, "You know how to do it? How?"

A sigh came from her surroundings, "I don't know yet. I'm starting to get into fuuinjutsu and every seal can be broken from what I've read, there's just a trick to them all. Orochimaru has something that I need in order to get a good read on what to do with your seal. I have a question though, has anyone ever put Fuuja Houin (Evil Sealing Method) on you?"

Anko blinked, forcing another sigh out of Naruto, "Goddamn it, what is wrong with this village? All right, find Kakashi or something and ask him to place it on you. It should help at the very least until I can think of what to do with it, it could take me years to find out how to break your seal."

Anko turned around as Naruto came striding out of the brush, "Wait, that didn't work. The Uchiha brat had that on him and it broke."

Naruto snorted, "That's because his dumb ass was the one who broke it. The seal is dependent on the will of the recipient, he wanted to use the seal, you don't. It's that simple. He got drunk off of the power boost and called upon it, you just want the damn thing off. The fact that your model is shoddy when compared to the others means that he can't slip subliminal messages through to you to influence you either."

Naruto turned to leave when Anko called out to him, "Wait gaki! How do you know so much about these seals? The Uchiha is the only person you knew that had one and he didn't know a thing about it."

Naruto turned back with a smile, "That is a secret. Some things should just stay buried in some instances Anko. You'll never find out why because only four people alive in this village know, and they aren't very talkative on the matter. One might be, but you have to narrow down who it is first. Later." Naruto then proceeded to shunshin out of the area, leaving Anko alone.

XxX

Naruto slinked back into his apartment later that afternoon before flopping face first on his couch, much to the amusement of the Suna kids… who were still there. Kankuro snorted in laughter as he saw Naruto's disheveled form collapse on his couch, "Long day kid?"

Naruto rolled over and gave him a dry stare, "Why are you still here? It's been a week…" He picked himself up into a sitting position on the couch, "And where the hell are Gaara and Temari?"

Kankuro opened a bag of chips from Naruto's freshly purchased groceries and sat on another couch, "I don't know. Temari said she was going shopping and Gaara… left to go do Gaara stuff."

Naruto nodded as he was facing the TV before something clicked, "Wait, shopping? How can you shop without enough money to even get a place to stay?"

Kankuro was sweating bullets after Naruto noticed his mistake, "Uh, we finally got paid by your village for helping out with the retrieval mission?" 'Please buy it. Please buy it. Please buy it!'

A hard stare was kept on Kankuro for a moment before Naruto relented, "Fine, whatever. But if you bastards are going to keep staying here you're going to start paying for your own stuff. Why are you still here, answer me."

Kankuro crunched on a few chips and passed the bag to Naruto who readily took a few for himself, "It's one of the conditions of our treaty with your village. We must lend out a genin team to help with manpower issues, and we ended up being the selected team since we're already here anyway."

Naruto rolled the bag up and stood to head back towards the cabinet he remembered placing them in at first, "All right, you guys can stay here for as long as you like, the company isn't that bad and my roommate is cute, things could have been worse, all things considered."

Kankuro shook his head amusedly, "You starting to dig my sister Uzumaki? You'd better watch yourself kid, don't overstep yourself on this one."

A chuckle came from Naruto as he sat back down, "I hope you're not threatening me like Gaara did in Suna. I'm just saying, she's hot, and she's sleeping with me in my bed. To just straight jump from having no visitors in your house for years to having Sabaku no Temari sleeping in your bed, it's definitely a noteworthy step up for some random orphan kid."

Kankuro nodded, "I wasn't really threatening you kid, I'm sure Gaara handled that already, he's been getting protective over her lately. It's kind of funny to see."

Before they could continue a knock came at Naruto's door. Naruto rose to greet whoever it was before narrowing his eyes upon discovering the identity of the person filling his door frame, "Ero-sennin."

Jiraiya gave Naruto a serious look, "Naruto, I need to speak with you. Can we go somewhere?"

Naruto turned to head back inside and return to his seat on the couch, "I just got home after a few hours in the Forest of Death, I just got groceries, I'm hungry and tired… I'm not going anywhere, you can tell me here."

Jiraiya sighed and walked inside, "You mind if I had a seat myself?" Naruto simply pointed to an open chair and sat down, Kankuro and Naruto looking at him.

Kankuro thumped Naruto on his shoulder and whispered to him, "You know Jiraiya of the sannin? Kid who the hell are you?"

Naruto brushed the older puppeteer off of his shoulder and let Jiraiya get settled before he spoke, "All right ero-sennin, what do you want with me? I thought I told you that the only thing keeping me from actively pursuing your head was that you're too elite for me to try to kill and that you're too useful to Konoha."

Jiraiya frowned, "I know that gaki, but there are some things that you need to know. Orochimaru didn't take Sasuke's body, he had to take a different one before he could arrive and now has to wait three years before he can try again."

Naruto nodded. At least something decent came out of that mission, "So three years to find the snake and kill him and his vessel before things go to shit. It's almost easy…"

Jiraiya had to chuckle at how Naruto narrowed down the situation, "Well not only that, but do you remember Itachi and his blue buddy from a while back?" Naruto nodded, it's kind of hard to forget meeting and fighting Itachi Uchiha, "The group that they happen to be a part of, Akatsuki, they have also ceased operations for the time being, just about the same time frame as Orochimaru."

Naruto let out a short laugh, "Well I don't really give a damn about the Orochimaru thing, I just care for the sake of the fact that I'm going to be involved somehow, but the Akatsuki thing… Hey, if they want me I should tell Gaara too, they'll probably try something on him as well right?"

Jiraiya nodded, "About you though. I want to take you on a training trip to get you ready for what is to come. You need to be ready to take down S-rank level ninja within three years time."

Kankuro's eyes widened as he again turned to Naruto, "Kid who the hell are you! Who deals with this kind of crap and doesn't even flinch?" He points out at Jiraiya, "He's sitting here telling you a group of S-rank criminals are after your head and you just shrug like it happens every day."

Naruto looked at Kankuro and shrugged, "Meh, if you start every single day expecting the worst you can only be pleasantly surprised."

Jiraiya and Kankuro sweat-dropped as the older man spoke up, "That's pretty morbid gaki."

Naruto snapped icy blue eyes back onto Jiraiya, "I'm sorry, I guess the day before you found me I should have been thinking that someone like you would just let me be or at least let me wake up before you took drastic measures."

Jiraiya looked at the ground, "Damn it kid, how long are you going to hold that over my head? I know it was a mistake, I knew it the entire time it was happening, but it was an order, if nothing else you can at least understand that right?"

Naruto sucked on his teeth, "Yeah, if it was something that ended up being for the greater good I probably would understand and accept it, even though you never tried to get my side of the story before you made me into a retarded four year-old version of my eight year-old body, locking all of my hard-earned skills, strength, and speed away into the depths of my mind. But nothing good came from what you guys did to me."

Jiraiya stood to leave when Naruto stopped him one more time at the door, "Wait." Jiraiya turned to face him only to see the same stone gaze on his face, "During the chunin exams… When I found you, did you agree to train me because of the reason you said, or was it because you remembered what you did and wanted to remedy it if only a little?"

Naruto didn't let him answer, "I'm going out Kankuro, I'll be back later tonight, tell the others." Naruto then utilized shunshin to exit the premises. Jiraiya sighed deeply and followed suit, leaving Kankuro alone in Naruto's apartment, "Wait! What the hell just happened?"

XxX

(Two Days Later)

"So what's eating you shithead?" Tayuya shuffled the deck of cards that Naruto had brought to pass the time. She looked way better now than she did two days ago, her skin had gotten its color back and she looked like she had finally gotten some good sleep for once.

Naruto sighed. He had come to talk to her because he actually enjoyed her company and she could give him an unbiased opinion on things being that she didn't know anyone in the village other than him, and that was only a little bit. They were seated on the floor due to a lack of table in her cell. Due to the fact that she regularly talked freely to Naruto she had not been tortured, nor was it seemingly on the horizon as long as Naruto reported to Tsunade what they talked about afterwards.

"What if the guy that had a hand in screwing your life up was trying to make amends to you, but the wounds were still fresh." Naruto took the seven cards that Tayuya dealt him, "Take them back and re-shuffle, I saw that. Get the cards out of your sleeve."

Tayuya cursed and brought some chuckles out from Naruto, "Well shithead, I would just say either kill him and be done with it, or suck it up and get over it. You can't bitch about it forever, that isn't healthy."

Naruto looked at her as he took the cards that she re-dealt, "Why am I shithead again?"

Tayuya smirked as she drew a card from the top of the pile, "Because you act like a shithead, therefore you are shithead. There's no way I'm calling you your real name 'fishcake'."

Naruto watched her place a card down in the pile and took to drawing his own card, "Sure, sure Tayuya. I guess I'm shithead then. So you think I should just get over it, just like that."

Tayuya nodded as she looked over her cards, "Yeah, I mean is being angry at whoever it is you're talking about actually doing anything for you?"

Naruto grinned as he finally threw down a card, "Yeah, it makes me feel a hell of a lot better about being me, that's for sure."

Tayuya flicked a discarded card at Naruto's head, catching him flush in the face, "I mean is it doing anything practical for you? Obviously not if that was the first thing that you told me. You told me it was an order from the last Hokage, no one is stupid enough to go against their superior's word especially someone that high up in the food chain. You got sealed, I understand. If it was me, I would have killed him, but you're apparently nicer than that, and holding grudges really doesn't seem like your kind of thing."

Naruto grunted as he picked up a card from the discard pile and switched it with his own before laying down a spread of three of his own cards, "Fine… I'll try. I guess he isn't going to leave me alone now after what he just told me the other day so at least tolerating him would be in my best interest. Especially since I can't just beat his ass to make myself feel better, he's still out of my league."

As Tayuya dropped another card Naruto smiled while picking it up and laid the rest of his cards down, "I win Tayuya-chan."

The aforementioned girl raised an eyebrow at him curiously, "Tayuya-chan? Since when am I a fucking –chan?"

Naruto gathered up the cards and remade the deck before standing to exit, "Since I became shithead. Take care Tayuya-chan, I'll see you soon. Stay cooperative and I'll see what I can do for you."

Tayuya flipped him off, "Fuck that Tayuya-chan shit. And fuck cooperating too."

Naruto shook his finger at her at the door, "So you say, and yet you're as docile as a lamb from what I've heard and seen."

Naruto quickly left the scene just as Tayuya started shouting at him, "Get me out of here and I'll show you how fucking docile I am shithead!"

Naruto shut the door behind him, chuckling the entire time and faced the ninja guarding the door, "She's a little playful today. Take care when it's time to give her dinner."

The man snorted and chuckled along with Naruto as the blonde in question made his way out of the building, "You are one ballsy kid, kid."

XxX

As he made his way to Tsunade's office he entered to find Shikamaru inside as well, "What's up Shikamaru, how have you been."

Shikamaru gave Naruto a small smile, "I've been good Naruto, things are about to get troublesome again soon. I've got a mission to go get ready for. I'll see you around."

Naruto gave him a short wave as the lazy chunin walked out, "Don't work too hard Shikamaru." As he left he went to sit down by Tsunade, "How have you been baa-chan?"

After the obligatory inanimate object was winged at Naruto's head and the two settled back down Tsunade smiled at him, "I'm fine brat. Now Jiraiya came to me about something because he never found you to get your answer last night. He wants to know whether or not he can get you to go on a training trip with him."

Naruto sat still, pondering for a moment, "No, I won't just cut and run now. I agree that I need to train myself to get ready for Akatsuki, but I don't have to go anywhere to do it. I don't get what his reasoning for leaving would be for me. He said it himself that Akatsuki aren't coming for me for a few years, so it's not a matter of village security. If he thinks it's because I need to work on using the Kyuubi's chakra, I can do that here, I've been doing it well enough so far and it hasn't affected anyone around here yet, hell I go to the Forest of Death to train for that so there's no issues there."

"Brat, Jiraiya can't stick around to train you himself for all of the three years. He has his own responsibilities to keep to elsewhere. You know about his spy network. Taking you with him would kill two birds with one stone." Tsunade tried to reason.

Naruto shook his head, "No, he either wouldn't focus on one or the other. If I stay here he can give me stuff to work on and let me train, then drop in when he's in Konoha to see how I'm doing. That might make for a more productive schedule for me than simply being on the road. It's kind of hard to train when you never stay in one place for too long. Besides, you still need someone like me to help out with your mission load, and I still want my promotion too, I'm not putting my career on hold for three years."

Tsunade looked at him, thinking about what he was saying, "Are you sure you're not just still upset with Jiraiya? Naruto the man is sorry for what he did. I know that he messed you up badly, but carrying a grudge like that cannot be good for your state of mind."

Naruto waved her off, "I'm still pretty pissed off, but I'm not going to go Uchiha-teme on him over the whole thing. It'll take a while, but at the very least I can try and let him back in. He seemed to genuinely want to train me when we were looking for you, he's trying to make up for it at least. Tell him everything that I just told you, I'll see you later baa-chan."

Much to Tsunade's chagrin, before she could stop him Naruto shunshined out of the room, making a mess out of the papers on her desk, "Damn you brat…" She turned her attention to one of the corners, "Did you get all of that you pervert?"

Jiraiya dropped his transparency jutsu and walked over, "At least he's out of the outright animosity phase. I'm kind of upset that he doesn't want to travel with me, but after how he just broke it down I have to say he has a point. He was so convincing I think he may be mature enough to know about his family, he's a chunin now anyway, isn't that the level Minato wanted him to be before he was told?"

Tsunade nodded, "Are you sure? Telling him might just piss him off even more at you."

Jiraiya sighed and looked out the window, "I hope he sees it as something that was necessary to hide. If he's still upset then I'll deal with it, but the kid still deserves to know at this point. I'll tell him when I get a chance, maybe before I leave."

As Jiraiya walked away he never noticed the figure sitting on a ledge under the window. Naruto scratched his familiar blonde hair as he heard Jiraiya and Tsunade leave the room after shutting the window, "So my old man's name is Minato… I wonder how many Minato's lived in Konoha before the Kyuubi attack?"

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**Ooh! Will Naruto flip the fuck out on Jiraiya when he learns the truth or not? Sh-Sh-Shah! After a longer than usual wait I am back once again to save you all from the monotony of your everyday lives. Yes, me, your paragon of light. Never fear my friends, Kenchi is here.**

**I'm very busy these days, what with finalizing all of my college crap for next semester, so yeah. I'll still post stuff for everything, it will just be slowing down a bit for a little while. All right, I'm out, later.**

**Kenchi out.**


	14. Too Good For Your Own Good

Review Shoutouts

**Lord Ferhad: Yes, yes I am. I find the time because I'm stuck in the mountains at a training camp. All there is to do is sleep, eat, work out, spar with the idiots that are populating the house with me, play Playstation 3, sleep, and do this. Yeah. Oh, and chapter 1 was the prologue so everything is going to be a number behind.**

**marc: I don't know if he'll meet them yet. I need to write more before I make that decision.**

**Lord of Chikens: Please don't rage spam at me. I'm just a man. See, I'm updating, see? No need to be so hasty… let's all get along.**

**Shaitan Elnefi: Hmm… That style you told me about seems interesting. If only I could learn it and figure out how to incorporate it in a fight with the rest of my crap then I'd be set.**

**Arlaikeeno: Yo you're blowing my mind with these intricate reviews, I love it! I have nothing to refute any of that so just pretend I'm nodding dumbly in understanding. If I got into a full-on discussion here I'd be typing for like 15 more minutes.**

**Kalevra: It ain't going over four that's for damn sure. I have a table set up of who I'm debating on, but in the end it isn't much of one really.**

**roshane: Girls never get kicked in the groin it's a fact of combat. Because of the lack of dangly equipment that is wide open they don't guard down there naturally like dudes do. Trust me, I've sparred with women and ended up slipping a leg kick and hitting them low and they don't have the man reflex that we have when we know our nuts are getting blasted. Trust me, your paragon of light has done his field research.**

**MonCappy: I might do something more with it later, but for now that will be as far as he can go with the Kitsune Trigger for a loooooonnnggggg time. And he'll be proficient at fuinjutsu, I wrote him into it already so he will be.**

**Daggi Daggmask: Oh feel free to worship me. Also if you could, mail me fifty bucks, because I need gas/food money. **

**Jreamkage 10: 40%... 40%! What the fuck that's just another thing I didn't need to know today. **

**snipa: It's fun to be so full of yourself. Try it, it's great. I have a blast with my own personal arrogance.**

**oxybusy: He did visit Naruto regularly like in canon, but Naruto still kept up appearances while he was being trained. While he did disappear so that at times the Third Hokage couldn't find him it isn't that much of a stretch to think that Naruto is out and about around town, I mean, who is he going home to?**

**Astronomical Apparatus11: NO SHAMELESS PLUGS! Without paying me for advertisement first. I need money too… shit, this ain't no socialist economy.**

**Lanky Nathan: Congrats sir, you now hold the title for "Kenchi's Most Favorite Review Ever!" Ahh man… Australia is awesome.**

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***I will now be referring to Ne as Root. As a review from oxybusy once said, it flows better. Well I've read the story back and I agree which is why I will be making the transition.***

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Every time I write these B.S. disclaimers I die a little inside. Enjoy the chapter, I'm gonna go get my self-esteem back… by reading all of your reviews! Oh Yeah!

… Right? Right? HELLO!

**Chapter 13: Too Good For Your Own Good**

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Sitting in the middle of a heavily wooded area of the Forest of Death, Naruto sat in lotus position with his eyes shut simply thinking and calming himself with the sounds of the woodland area.

It had been right around a week and Naruto had been wondering how he could find out anything about any Minato that was in Konoha without tipping off Jiraiya or Tsunade since apparently it was all one big secret. He figured Jiraiya _would_ eventually tell him, he would just procrastinate endlessly beforehand and that could take months to years. He needed information now, and since he was damn sure that Kakashi was on the take in this little secret against him he wasn't going to him, and he s_till_ couldn't find Danzo damn it, not that he was still looking, he had quit trying months ago.

It was obvious that this Minato guy was pretty influential in his day, but Naruto was never taught anything that wasn't truly relevant to challenges he would actually face while he was in Root so that didn't help much. And after his sealing his time in the academy was spent with many teachers refraining from helping or really teaching him so eventually he started cutting classes and not paying attention to Iruka-sen…sei…

Iruka-sensei! That was it! He wasn't old enough to really know anything on the scale of this cover-up and he wasn't close to anyone that was trying to keep it buried, he had enough of the general knowledge in Konoha that he could answer his questions, and he was damnably easy to find at this time of the day. He would either be in class, or if school was out he would be assigning missions at HQ… When did that man find time to train?

Shrugging these thoughts aside Naruto broke from his meditation in the Forest of Death and began to make his way to the Academy to find his old schoolteacher.

XxX

Inside one of the classrooms of the Academy a chunin with a scar across his face turned from the blackboard to face his room full of young students, "Now who can tell me the order of ranking in Konoha's ninja system?"

Near the back Udon's hand shot up as he started to answer with a sniffle, "Iruka-sensei it goes genin, chunin, jounin, kage."

Iruka nodded, "Very good, but what about Anbu?"

A little dark haired girl with the tell-tale eyes of a Hyuuga raised her hand to answer next, "Anbu are drafted from any ranking depending on their skill level and amount of potential although their identities are kept secret for the most part. A ninja of any ranking can be Anbu, but they are usually drafted from the level of chunin and up."

Iruka smiled gently at the girl, "Good answer Hanabi. Now next we-." He was interrupted by the abrupt sliding noise indicating the opening of the lower door and a mop of spiky blonde hair poked through the doorway, "Naruto?"

Naruto's eyes scanned the room momentarily before settling on Iruka. Giving the man an old-school foxy grin just because he could, Naruto stepped into class with no further adeu. He looked at the kids in the class and noticed near the back that Moegi and Udon were trying to shake Konohamaru awake to tell him he was there. Getting back to the matter at hand he focused on Iruka, "Iruka-sensei can you help me out really quickly? You don't even have to leave, it's just a question."

Iruka sighed, "You crashed my class Naruto. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Shrugging, he simply stated, "I've done stuff way worse that just 'crash your class' Iruka-sensei. Or have you forgotten? Maybe I can give some aspiring delinquents some base ideas…"

"Boss!"

Naruto simply waved at Konohamaru with a massive grin on his face, "Hey Konohamaru!" He turned back to Iruka and whispered to him, "I think he'll do just fine with a little inspiration don't you?"

Iruka palmed his face, "Please don't make an army of pranking underlings Naruto. I had enough problems with just you, and now you're all souped up and super-strong now, which can only make matters worse, I can only imagine what anyone you apprentice would come out like. You can go ahead and ask your question, I'll see if I can help, but only if you help me beforehand. Because you had to interrupt my lesson I need a favor from you."

Nodding in agreement, Naruto scratched his chin, "Fine, go ahead and tell me what you need Iruka-sensei. I'm in no real hurry, I'm on medical leave and needed something to do today anyway."

"Good, by the way I'd still like to hear about what you did on that last mission if you don't mind later." Iruka smiled at Naruto and turned around to the class, "Alright kids, today I'm going to give you all a little treat. I'm going to break off from the lecturing for today and give you all a chance to ask questions to an active Konoha shinobi." The children in the class started buzzing over talking to a real shinobi that wasn't Iruka.

Naruto blinked in surprise, "Iruka-sensei are there any questions that I can't answer?"

Iruka shook his head, "No Naruto, this is for their benefit so they can ask whatever they want. That isn't a problem is it?" Naruto shook his head and Iruka turned back to the class, "Okay, today we have Naruto Uzumaki here to speak with you. This was an on-the-fly kind of thing so let's go with it."

Naruto moved to Iruka's desk and sat down on it while he overlooked the classroom, "Alright, none of you know me or have ever even spoken to me, except Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi. Raise your hands and I'll call on anyone with a question." As hands shot up all over the room he saw a little brown-haired girl near the front and pointed to her, "You, shoot."

She lowered her hand and smiled nervously, "Um Uzumaki-san, I know that there are ninja that specialize in certain things like taijutsu, or genjutsu, or things like that. What kind of ninja would you say you are?"

Naruto took a moment to ponder the question, "I specialize in killing my opponent." Ignoring Iruka slapping a palm over his face again he elaborated, "I don't know any genjutsu, just how to dispel even the toughest ones if I ever come across any, I'm very good at taijutsu, but I know people that are way better at pure hand-to-hand combat than me, I would say that I'm a ninjutsu specialist, but I'm still learning a lot of tougher ones, I'm decent at kenjutsu, but not as good as I would like to be as I've learned recently, I'm very good at stealth techniques, but I can't really utilize that skill with my current rank yet."

He shrugged his shoulders at her question, "I don't specialize in any single facet of being a ninja but I'm at the very least passable in all of them, if your aim is to be a powerful shinobi you should all keep that kind of mind-set, over-specialization can get you killed. I know at least two jounin that I can beat right now because if I neutralize what it is that they're best at, they can't beat me. Specializing isn't really a bad thing, just make sure that everything else is at least up to snuff."

Iruka's eyes widened as he heard Naruto's explanation of his skills. He was about to tell him to be serious about the situation but as he watched Naruto's facial motions and how he spoke he realized that he was telling the absolute truth. This wasn't empty boasting, it was a tested fact as far as Naruto was concerned, 'I've heard he was that good from others, but is it really that true?'

The kids raised their hands again and this time Naruto pointed to a boy with close-cut hair, "When is the last time that you killed someone Uzumaki-san?"

Naruto scratched his chin, "Um, two weeks ago on my last mission I killed like three people. Well two people, one of them just died in the middle of the fight, I didn't finish him. Next question."

Udon raised his hand and Naruto nodded to him, "Why do you call Iruka-sensei, sensei boss?"

Naruto smirked, "When I graduated Iruka was my instructor, therefore he is my sensei. He's the only man that I call sensei because he's the only one that taught me anything, not even my jounin-sensei really taught me anything." 'Well he's the only one that ever taught me anything that _you all_ need to know about.'

He pointed to a boy with Inuzuka face markings, the boy gave him a wild grin, "Your turn kid."

"How many years have you been a ninja?"

Naruto blinked at his question, 'Longer than you've been alive you little bastard!' Yeah… he wished he could say that out loud, "I'm just starting my second year, I graduated last year, I know Iruka-sensei remembers that little event." Iruka nodded with a grin.

The boy asked another question, "Why is the sheath on your back empty? Are you too broke to afford a sword?" His question got a series of laughs from the people around him.

Naruto glared at the kid, "When you use a sword to attempt to cut grown men in half it sometimes gets broken in the line of duty. In which case you then have to get it fixed you little motherfucker. It's in the shop, I'd be glad to introduce you to the sharp end of it when I get it back."

"Shit Naruto! Stop cursing in my classroom before I kick you out!" Iruka fumed at him.

Naruto turned to Iruka with a fake angry look, "Iruka-sensei you can't say shit in front of the students! What the fuck?"

Naruto chuckled while Iruka was sputtering nonsense and pointed up to Konohamaru who he had intentionally been ignoring to piss him off. Ahh, little kids are so easy to annoy, "Go ahead Konohamaru."

Konohamaru's little glare was a thing of the past as he gave Naruto a toothy grin, "Why didn't you tell me you got promoted boss? I only found out the other day when I saw your pink-haired teammate."

Naruto shrugged, "You didn't need to know kid. Would it have changed anything? I've been a chunin for a while now."

"Liar."

Naruto turned his head towards the little Hyuuga girl from before, "And why are you calling me a liar…" Naruto started in an effort to feel out her name.

"Hanabi." The girl stated matter-of-factly, "And I'm calling you a liar because I saw you fight during the chunin exams and you didn't get promoted from that, no one did. Not even Neji."

Naruto smirked at her, "And you know this because you personally saw me drop the hammer on Neji firsthand right?" Naruto ignored Iruka's comment on language, "There was another test a while after the chunin exams and after that me and Shikamaru Nara got promoted."

She didn't falter, "Then where's your chunin vest? You get a vest upon promotion."

Naruto shook his head, "You do, but I don't like that bulky piece of crap so I don't wear it. It's not a necessity to wear it like it is for your hitae-ate so I don't wear it at all, others do it mostly because they care about people thinking they're elite, or they like the extra padding. Any other questions on my rank or integrity? Because I can keep this up all day until one of you steps on a nerve. Come on, I've got unlimited free time and a whole can of whoop-ass, who wants to set me off?"

Iruka sweat-dropped and decided to intervene before one of these kids ended up getting strangled by a rabid blonde kid, "Okay everyone, that's enough for today. Now Naruto, what was your question that you needed to ask?"

Naruto hopped off of Iruka's desk, "Iruka-sensei how many people named Minato do you know in Konoha, and who would you say is the most famous one? Also could you tell me if he had any kind of relationship with Jiraiya of the sannin?"

Iruka gave Naruto a dumb look, "I thought he was your hero when you were in school? That's what you told me the night before you graduated."

Naruto gave him a deadpan look, "I have made concerted efforts to attempt to mentally block out any and all dumbass remarks I ended up making while in the Academy. Needless to say, due to the potential of overlapping layers of stupidity, there was some mental fratricide. I don't remember."

Iruka raised his eyebrow, "You said it was the Yondaime Hokage."

Naruto's eyes brightened in understanding, "Ah, so I did."

Iruka gave Naruto a dry look in return, "Naruto, that's the Yondaime's name. Minato Namikaze. He was trained by Jiraiya. He summoned toads. He beat the Kyuubi…"

"**And now he's dead and I'm not. Kyuubi – 1, Minato Namikaze – 0, oh yeah."** Naruto ignored the Kyuubi and pieced together everything he just heard.

Iruka just looked at Naruto who was staring out into space with a blank look on his face. Konohamaru stood up in concern, "What's wrong with Naruto-niisan?"

Hanabi smirked smugly, "Maybe his tiny brain fried because he learned something new today."

Life came into Naruto's eyes as they snapped over to her. He started marching towards the door radiating killing intent and cracking his knuckles, "Alright, everyone outside to the practice field! Who wants to spar with a real life ninja? Let's go!"

Iruka moved to intercept him before he could leave, "Um Naruto? We don't spar until Friday, and you're not a student."

He whipped around with a sadistic gleam in his eye, "I need to vent a lot of frustration and pent-up aggression right now. The Suna kids are gone so I can't just beat the crap out of Gaara's sand until I get tired or feel better, and your room full of chibi trainees are the only thing within reaching distance, so either I put the hurt on them, or I put the hurt on you Iruka-sensei."

XxX

(Three Hours Later)

Naruto sat tied up to a wooden chair in Tsunade's office with three Anbu standing around him keeping watch, "Oh come on! I wasn't gonna put them in the hospital or anything! I just wanted to blow off some steam." Tsunade stood from her desk and nailed him in the head. After his head snapped down from the impact he let it sit for a moment before Naruto looked up and grinned at her, "Didn't hurt."

Tsunade cracked her knuckles and drilled him straight in the face, flipping the chair over and breaking it on the ground, loosening his restraints. Naruto looked up at the ceiling and tried to regain his bearings, "Ugh… That chair was bolted to the floor baa-chan…" He rolled over and spit out a tooth. Looking up at the Anbu he shrugged and placed it in one of their hands, "It'll grow back."

Tsunade wiped off her bloody fist and sat back down at her desk, "What the hell is wrong with you brat? You beat up an entire class of academy students. Who does that?"

Naruto stood up and dusted himself off, "In my defense I let them all come at me at once, and I tied one hand behind my back. Consider it a teamwork exercise. Give them all extra credit grades, tell their parents it was sanctioned, everybody wins."

Tsunade snorted, "You're going to catch some flak for this kid. What were you thinking?"

Naruto looked around at the Anbu still in her office, "You mind sending these guys out? This is kind of sensitive information." Tsunade gave him a look that said 'are you kidding?' "Well okay, I mean I was under the impression that Minato Namikaze was important."

Tsunade's eyes widened and she quickly ordered her Anbu out, "What do you know about Minato brat?"

Instead of flat-out answering, Naruto stood and made his way to the wall that had pictures of all of the Hokage in order from first to fifth. He stopped in front of the picture of the Yondaime and stood next to it looking out at Tsunade, "I must be fucking retarded. How the fuck did I not see this?" He gestured between himself and the picture, "He looks just like me. Kami, I'm slow on the uptake."

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temple, "How did you figure it out? We were going to tell you soon."

Naruto chuckled, "Iruka-sensei." He noticed her surprised look, "Oh come on baa-chan!" He pointed out the window at the Hokage Monument, "It's been literally staring me in the face every day for thirteen years. I had to get help to figure it out! I should be pissed off right now! But I'm not, and I don't know why."

Tsunade sighed, "You _are_ angry, you're just repressing it. That's not healthy Naruto, I think it's time I assign you a mission. You need to get out of town and take some of the edge off, I'll have something for you tomorrow. We can talk about this when Jiraiya gets back, he can answer all of your questions. I think you know that you can't tell people about this."

Naruto shrugged, "What else is new? I'm a walking secret. Am I leading or tagging along for this mission?"

"Does it matter?" Tsunade saw Naruto shake his head before she got an evil smirk on her face, "Now I think the crime of assaulting an entire class of students warrants some kind of punishment. Don't you think brat?"

Naruto's jaw dropped, "Punishment? You punched me in the face and knocked my tooth out! What the hell are you going to do with me now?"

XxX

(Four Hours Later)

"This is bullshit!" Naruto yelled as he speared another piece of trash with his stick and placed it in his bag, "I should be done by now, but you won't let me use any jutsu!"

Slightly out of his way, Shikamaru was laying on one of the hills that Naruto had cleared keeping his eye on his fellow chunin, "Hokage-sama called me to oversee your D-ranks for today and gave me explicit orders to make sure you didn't use any ninjutsu to help you complete the jobs faster, this is the last one for the day so calm down Naruto."

Naruto angrily stalked over to more trash in the park, "You're just alright with this because it's giving you the excuse to do nothing. You lazy bastard…"

Shikamaru yawned as he turned his attention to the clouds, "Troublesome, just finish up so I can stop listening to your complaining. Between you and Ino I can't tell who's worse right now."

Naruto chuckled as he stabbed consecutive pieces of trash, "You should take up drinking. It's done wonders for baa-chan, I don't even bother her that much anymore, sometimes she's totally lucid, you'd love it." As he returned to his work he cursed again, "I'm not even getting paid for this crap… Stupid kids that can't fight their way out of a wet paper bag… That Inuzuka kid dropped like a stone. I thought they were supposed to be good at taijutsu."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "It was a class full of seven and eight year-olds."

Naruto pointed his stick at Shikamaru, "Don't make excuses for them!" Naruto closed up the last bags and tossed them on the back of a cart, "Okay, now that hell day is over let's report so I can get hammered."

Shikamaru stood up and the two started towards the Hokage Tower, "You're thirteen Naruto. We're too young to drink."

Naruto flicked the hitae-ate on his belt, "If I can spend all day doing minimum wage jobs and killing people for money I have the right to use that money to purchase liquor. It comes with the status Shikamaru."

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru shook his head as they continued their walk to report in to the mission table.

XxX

Naruto leaned on the counter of the weapons shop owned by Tenten's family while he waited for someone to appear to help him. "Hello Naruto." Naruto lifted his head to see Tenten entering the shop, "Are you here for your sword?"

Naruto nodded and yawned, "Yeah, what? Did you just get back from team training?"

Tenten nodded as she went behind the counter to talk with the scarred boy, "Yep. Gai and Lee said they saw you painting a fence. Why are you doing D-ranked missions? You're a chunin now."

Naruto smirked, "I beat up a class full of kids at the Academy and the Hokage made me do a ton of them. It was great while it lasted… They shouldn't have been talking shit." Naruto noticed a brown haired man coming from the back wiping his hands off, "So, um…Mr. Tenten's dad, how long do you need my sword for. I have a new mission to go on tomorrow, it's the broken ninjato."

Tenten's father reached down behind the counter and picked up a wrapped bundle before placing it on the counter-top, "You paid when you dropped it off right?" Naruto nodded and pulled out a written receipt, "Alright then, she's all yours kid."

Naruto grinned and picked up his sword, testing it out somewhat before sheathing it on his back, "Ahh, I missed this thing. Thanks a lot sir, It's like it never even broke at all." Tenten's dad nodded and headed back to the back.

Tenten pointed at Naruto chidingly as a smile came to her lips, "Don't go breaking it again Naruto. I don't want to see that thing back in here in pieces."

Naruto scoffed, "Yes you do, that's more money for your shop girl. But yeah, it won't break anytime soon. I mean how often will I come across a guy that can make an indestructible bone drill around his arm?" After giving her a two-fingered salute he headed out of the shop for home.

XxX

Naruto went to the only place that he knew there could be no one following him and once again traversed the terrain of the Forest of Death. Once he got himself inside and found a decent clearing he bit his thumb and made his hand-signs for a summoning.

"**Who summoned me out here?"** As the massive plume of smoke cleared it revealed Gamabunta looking down in front of him to see Naruto standing patiently, **"What do you need kid? I told you not to summon me for dumb reasons."**

Naruto didn't flinch from the toad's booming voice, "Gamabunta, I'll be straight with you since I know that you know who I really am. Tell me who it is that I look like." He saw Gamabunta almost drop his pipe from his mouth and nodded, "That's what I thought. I knew you knew."

Gamabunta sighed, letting out smoke from his mouth that covered Naruto, **"I knew it from the second I saw you gaki. I just felt it wasn't my place to say anything about it, and later when I confronted Jiraiya about it after you first summoned me and blacked out he told me everything about it, even the seals. I mean come on kid, I worked with the man for years and then I end up seeing his chibified version sitting on my head twelve years later? I almost dropped us down that chasm we were stuck in."**

Naruto chuckled and lay back on the ground, "So who's ass am I going to kick for this? Jiraiya's I guess… and maybe Kakashi. Did Kakashi know?"

Gamabunta shrugged, **"Not sure kid, but he was your old man's student so it wouldn't be a stretch to say he did. But don't do anything rash. You aren't as dumb as I thought you were when we first met so I know that you're fully aware of the reasons why it was kept from you."**

Naruto sighed and sat up, "Yeah, yeah. The bullshit with Iwa and anyone else that dad beat up on sending assasins after me, the politicians getting to me to do who knows what once they realized who I was, and all of that coupled with the resentment I would have gotten for being Konoha's jinchuuriki wouldn't have gone over too well for me. Man I need a drink…"

A grin came onto Gamabunta's face, **"You remember what I said you had to do with me when you first summoned me?"** Naruto's eyes widened as a deep rumbling laugh came from Gamabunta, **"Resummon me in 15 minutes gaki. Let's see if you can hold your booze."**

XxX

(The Next Day)

Early the next morning Naruto was laying on the couch in Tsunade's office with Shizune running green hands over his head, "What did you do last night Naruto-kun? Why does a thirteen year old need a hangover cure?"

Naruto groaned as the sound of Shizune's voice reverberated through his head like a sledgehammer, "Shizune-neechan… There are some things that you don't need to know about, trust me."

The next moment Tsunade walked through the door and stopped for a moment to stare at her hungover teenage chunin who had her apprentice fretting over him. Shrugging it off as early morning bullcrap she sat down at her desk and pulled up the first piece of her daily paperwork.

She looked up from her work with a quirked eyebrow, "Brat why is there a report on my desk claiming that there were sounds of Gamabunta singing drinking songs at the top of his lungs last night around Training Area 44?" She looked back at the paper and narrowed her eyes, "Also they claim that in a clearing somewhere inside the forest there are around 37 giant spider corpses littering the field. Some were ripped apart, cut clean through, burnt to a crisp, and squashed outright in giant webbed footprints with… Mt. Myoboku Fire-Brand Sake filling up some of the prints?"

Naruto shrugged and held his head, "How do you know the brand?"

"That's on here too." She pointed to the sheet of paper, "Apparently there were around 12 human sized containers strewn about the area."

Naruto smirked to himself as he felt the soothing healing feeling from Shizune's jutsu, "That's some good stuff… Gamabunta's awesome."

Tsunade placed the sheet in the discard pile, shaking her head, "I'm not even going to ask… Why don't you have alcohol poisoning? Nevermind, are you ready for the mission today, or do I have to throw you in jail for being drunk in public?"

Naruto shot up abruptly, "Hey! I was not drunk in public!"

Shizune sweat-dropped, "Naruto-kun I found you blacked out on the top of the building this morning when I came in early."

Naruto scoffed and stood in front of Tsunade's desk, "Hey! I was getting drunk in the _woods_, Gamabunta threw me into _public_. I wanted to be drunk in the forest, which is perfectly legal… arrest him."

A sigh came from the elder blonde in the room as she motioned for Naruto to come and listen to her directions, "This is B-ranked. You're escorting a VIP to Kumogakure alongside a team of two other chunin and one jounin. This should take a few weeks at the least and a few months at the longest due to the fact that there will be negotiations between our representative, who you will be travelling with, and the Kumo higher ups."

Naruto nodded, "So this is just one of those 'get experience' kind of things right?" He felt curious however, "So who are we escorting and who do I have on my team?"

A frown came from the blonde Hokage, "You know what? No, I'm not telling you this time. Get your little ass down to mission control to get your assignments. I shouldn't be handling this, I have people that actually get paid to be doing this instead of me."

Naruto stood staring silently for a moment before simply turning around and leaving the office with naught a word. Shizune looked at her mistress in a huff, "Tsunade-sama that was mean. Naruto-kun didn't do anything."

Tsunade looked up from her work and glared slightly, "Yes he did. The brat had twelve cases of Firebrand sake and he didn't even invite me, how rude is that?"

XxX

After receiving his scroll detailing his mission he made his way to the gate to meet his assembled team. By the time he arrived he found three men waiting to depart alongside an elderly man. The first man had brown hair with one bang covering his right eye. He had his hitae-ate on in a bandanna and wore the usual outfit for Konoha shinobi. Naruto knew this man as one of the chunin that usually guarded the main gate of the village, Izumo Kamizuki.

Nearby was his usual partner, Kotetsu Hagane. He had a bandage on his nose, wild spiky black hair and a goatee. He was also dressed in the usual garb of higher-up shinobi.

The final escort out of them was Genma Shiranui, the man that Naruto remembered proctored the final stages of the chunin exam before the invasion. He had brown hair that reached his neck, a bandanna-style hitae-ate that he wore backwards, the standard ninja outfit, and a senbon in his mouth.

The man they were to escort was an older man with grey hair, a beard, glasses and what appeared to be a perpetual frown on his features. Naruto knew this man as one of the Sandaime Hokage's teammates, Homura Mitokado. This was one of the two elders that Naruto didn't like. The old woman, Koharu Utatane, Naruto somewhat liked, she had something of a more group before one person mindset, but when he was an academy student visiting the Hokage she at least treated him like a regular little kid. Back when he was in Root he remembered Danzo telling him when conversations would begin to revolve around him during council meetings and in most of them Homura was biased against Naruto, which was weird since he usually sided with Danzo, however when it came to anything involving Naruto his mindset was to keep him weak. He was against him entering the Academy after the sealing, he was against him graduating after the incident with Mizuki, and he could only imagine how he bitched about Naruto's promotion following the events after the chunin exams.

If ever there was a time for the emotionless mask he harnessed in Root he'd be damned if this wasn't one of those times… Hopefully he wouldn't have to speak to the old man. Naruto walked up to the only jounin out of the group, Genma, to report in, "Chunin Naruto Uzumaki here for escort mission to Kumogakure."

Genma turned a lazy glance to Naruto and smiled as he remembered exactly who it was, "Good to see you again kid. So you're the last member of my team huh?"

The two elder chunin smiled when they saw their young, scar-faced companion. They headed over to Genma and Naruto while Kotetsu waved to him, "Hey Naruto! You're coming on this mission?"

Naruto let the emotion seep back into his eyes when he saw how casual the others were being with him, "Yeah I am. Are you two actually doing something other than watching the gate for once? When was the last time you two even had a mission outside?"

Kotetsu groaned as the bane of his existence, guard duty was brought up, "Don't remind me kid… Izumo seems to think there's nothing wrong with gate-watching, but I say to hell with it, I'd rather be in the field."

Izumo sighed and shook his head, "There's nothing wrong with that job Kotetsu. We're protecting the citizens of Konoha, there isn't a more important job for us to have." He turned to smirk at Naruto, "Maybe we'll get to see you cut loose on this mission. I know you were holding back during your test and nobody saw you beat those Oto ninja that almost killed Genma, so I'm curious as to how you fight."

Genma stepped in to defend himself, "Hey, it was four-on-two. Raido and I were winning before they used their cursed seals… they didn't annihilate us or anything. Anyway, enough chatter, it's time to get on the road." He walked over to Homura, "Elder Homura, my entire team has assembled. Are you prepared to leave?"

Homura's eyes panned across the amassed squad and he nodded to Genma, "Yes, let's set out for Kumo. It should take us around one week to arrive." As they exited the main gate there was a carriage waiting that the elderly man sat inside with Genma seated in the driver's seat.

Kotetsu took up position in the front of the vehicle while Naruto and Izumo went along the sides. The group of chunin ran along in stride with the carriage as they made their way through the countryside. A little while into the trip Naruto let out an audible groan, "Damn it, I never turned off all of the stuff in my house. I never went home last night." He immediately made a Kage Bunshin that went sprinting back the other way.

Hours later the ninja surrounding the carriage started to converse with one another as they stopped for the night. Homura had long since had his tent set up and had retired for the evening. It was mostly Izumo and Kotetsu kicking old stories between them, but for Naruto it was a welcome change from the monotony of simple travel, "Hey Izumo, do you remember back in the Academy when we made those fudgesicles out of dog shit and one of the senseis ate one?"

The man in question snickered at the memory when he recalled who else was in attendance, "Hey Naruto. How did you pull off painting the Hokage Monument in broad daylight? You hadn't even graduated yet and you got past everyone and outran all of the ninja sent to chase you for like an hour."

'I guess I was subconsciously drawing on some of my training in Root when I did that… Huh, I seem to have done that a lot…' Naruto shrugged, "I've done better things than that since then. You guys know about all of the stuff that happened the week before my test?"

Genma decided to speak up from his position on top of the carriage, "Everybody remembers that. There wasn't anyone that knew somebody that got away untouched during that whole thing. Are you saying you did that stuff?"

Naruto grinned and chuckled, "Well when you put it like that it seems like you don't believe me."

Kotetsu almost choked up, "Wait you _did_ do that? How the hell did you go about doing that? Some people said it was probably you since you disappeared, but there were too many hits in too many places at one time for you to do it alone."

Genma shook his head in good humor, "And what exactly is the kid's specialty? Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. I heard he could make a ton of them but something on that scale is ridiculous…"

Naruto waved it off, "Oh it was all in good fun. Everything I did didn't leave any major property damage and at the most required a few good minutes of work to remedy."

Izumo chuckled, "You seriously pissed off the Hyuuga clan with that flashbomb stunt. That was truly priceless."

Genma looked at the group of chunin under his command, "Naruto. We don't know too much about you except for the little bit of you we've seen and I don't like going off of gossip so why don't you tell us a little about yourself. Why did you want to be a ninja in the first place?"

Frowning slightly he thought about what he should say, 'Well, the reason I became a ninja shouldn't really be too surprising considering how I used to be.' He scratched his head, "I guess I can tell you that. You know how you would always hear some loud kid shouting about being Hokage? Well I wasn't always like that. As a matter of fact I didn't give a damn about being Hokage until then. I wanted to be a ninja before that though. The reason was because I just wanted to be acknowledged for something."

He looked around at everyone that was with him, "I know you all know about what I carry and I know you've all at least heard a smattering of remarks about me that aren't too positive. Well, when I was a kid I didn't know why people treated me so badly, but I saw the ninja of this village, and everyone held them in such high regard, and I wanted that. Now I realize how childish that was, but I never regretted anything. I mean, how boring would my life be if I wasn't a ninja, and what else could I have possibly done except be a shinobi of Konoha? I'm its jinchuuriki! What, was I going to be a shopkeeper or something?"

A round of laughs from the adults around him loosened him up a bit when Izumo voiced his own question, "Hey actually I want to know… what's it like holding the Kyuubi? I just couldn't imagine something like that being inside me."

Naruto looked up at the night sky as he thought about an answer, "Well… Aside from the glares, people pulling their kids away from you on the playground and all of that jazz, it's not really bad."

Eyes widened all around when Kotetsu spoke for the group, "Really?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I mean since I've learned about it there are times when Kyuubi just won't shut the hell up about stuff, but other than that little negative aspect there isn't really anything negative that I can think of. I can use chakra three times as potent as human chakra whenever I need to, it's damn near impossible to kill me without a one-shot one-kill maneuver to finish me off with, I heal ridiculously fast from just about everything, and the Kyuubi is a decent source for a different point of view while in combat. If it weren't for all of the village stuff that I have to deal with on a regular basis I would say that it's pretty cool."

The group sat in silent contemplation until a scowl came across Naruto's face, "My Kage Bunshin is an asshole."

"What?" Was the general reaction to such a random statement from around the campsite.

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, "You know how I sent that clone off to make sure all of my things were turned off at home and everything? Well he didn't dispel after he finished his job, as a matter of fact he spent the entire day doing random shit in my name."

_(Flashback)_

_Naruto's bunshin grumbled as he locked the door to Naruto's apartment after checking the entire house for anything still turned on, "That was a total waste of time and effort. There wasn't anything running up my electric bill in there."_

_He looked at himself and was about to dispel until he heard a bark and saw Kiba running up to him, Akamaru in tow, with a massive grin on his face, "Naruto, oh man… I just heard about what you did yesterday at the Academy. I want to shake your hand." After grabbing Naruto-clone firmly in a handshake Kiba gestured to go somewhere, "Come on, let's get something to eat I'm starving."_

_Now being a Kage Bunshin they're only ever treated as the original by mistake. Despite the fact that they are the by-product of chakra manipulation they still think after they are made even after they complete their orders, and the original never ordered this clone to dispel after completion of his task, and he just so happened to be looking at a golden opportunity for a Kage Bunshin._

_Clapping Kiba on the shoulder a grin came to his face, "Sure Kiba, let's go. Ichiraku's is cool with you isn't it?"_

_XxX_

_(One Hour Later)_

_Kiba and Akamaru looked on in awe as they saw Naruto-clone put away another bowl of ramen, bringing his total of bowls consumed to a whopping twenty-six. Kiba had only gotten two for himself and a plate of meat for Akamaru, "Dude where are you putting all of that? You should have puked about ten bowls ago."_

_Naruto polished off another bowl and smirked at the Inuzuka, "My metabolism is absurd." He quickly received another bowl and dove right in._

_Kiba had paid off his check for his own food thirty minutes ago, but found himself unable to leave as he watched Naruto scarf down insane amounts of noodles and broth one bowl after another, "You know I wasn't going to pay for your food too, right?"_

_After finishing off the broth yet again he nodded, "Oh yeah, I've got that handled." Turning his attention to the chef of his favorite meal, clone-Naruto spoke up, "Hey Teuchi-oji. Put this meal on my tab. I'm going on a B-rank mission so I'll be able to pay it off easily once I get back in the village."_

_Teuchi turned to the clone and nodded, "You've got it Naruto. As long as you pay me it's okay."_

'_Naruto' grinned and gave him a thumbs up, "Don't worry, I promise I'll pay. And I never go back on my word old man."_

_XxX_

_In Iruka's classroom the kids were silently taking notes on his lecture. He was amazed; in all the years he had been teaching he had never had a class completely attentive before. But here 100% of the class was quiet and writing. He figured Naruto must have given them all shell-shock yesterday._

_Iruka's attention was broken when the slide of a door opened up and he heard a collective gasp go up among the students, most with looks of horror on their faces. Iruka turned to see the grinning face of 'Naruto', "Naruto what are you doing here? You're lucky no one's parents put a restraining order on you yet."_

_Naruto-clone's grin only got wider, "Well Iruka-sensei, I felt something was missing yesterday, so…" He turned his attention to the same little Inuzuka boy from yesterday, "I brought my sword!"_

_The kids all eyed any exit they thought would allow them to escape quickly enough when the sound of metal sliding from a sheath rang out. Suddenly all eyes turned to Naruto-clone, "I haven't even tested it out since I got it back. Who wants to help me? Last person in the classroom volunteers."_

_In a rush of little feet, shouting, and piling through entrances, the room cleared of all life except 'Naruto' and Iruka. Iruka simply palmed his forehead and sighed, "You enjoy yourself?" _

_Naruto-clone nodded in satisfaction, "Yeah, I guess that will do. Catch you later Iruka-sensei." With that he shunshined out of the classroom._

_XxX_

_Tsunade was returning to her office following her lunch break. Not really looking forward to continuing her monotonous business of reading and signing paperwork she was looking forward to Shizune's post-lunch slump. Shizune normally would prevent Tsunade from even getting near a sip of sake during the day, apparently able to smell it out like a bloodhound, but the blonde with ample cleavage had deduced that there was a lull in her dark haired apprentice's alertness for a ten minute span following lunch every day._

_Smiling to herself as she took a seat behind her desk she reached into a drawer for her workplace stash. Pulling up the containers of alcohol she noticed they felt extremely light. Attempting to pour some straight into her mouth she caught not a drop from either bottle. As she angrily chucked the empty sake bottles across the room she looked inside the drawer to find a note scribbled out hastily._

Hey baa-chan!

Did you know you had two bottles of sake in your desk? Don't worry I took care of it for you, it may be an inebriating beverage, but man does it hit the spot! But such a drink isn't becoming of a Hokage on the job, therefore I did you a favor and downed the whole thing for you, both of them. No need to thank me, the knowledge of a job well done and the fact that you can now work without being tempted by the deliciousness that was your formerly full bottles of sake is all the acknowledgement I need.

Love, Naruto Uzumaki.

P.S. Your Anbu are ridiculously easy to distract, did you know that?

_Tsunade crumpled up the note and radiated killing intent so strong the civilians walking outside the tower started sweating from it, "GODDAMN YOU BRAT!"_

_(Flashback End)_

"And then my clone spent the rest of his existence drunk dialing random numbers on the phone back at home, throwing firecrackers at Gai and Lee while they were training, and getting kicked out of a general store for trying to play the drums that were set up on display. I don't think I can go back into that store anymore… But, yeah… the clone got a wild hair up his ass and thought that he still had beef with the spiders in the Forest of Death so he went in there yelling and challenging them to a duel, and then he died."

Silence reigned over the camp until all of the men busted out laughing. Even the Kyuubi, who had seen everything the clone had done after it dispelled, was laughing. Naruto waited for the laughter to die down, "How the hell do I know all of that?"

All humor vanished at his question as Genma answered him, "You mean you don't know? Anything your Kage Bunshin does comes back to you in memory. You honestly never realized that before?"

Naruto shook his head and Genma nodded, "Yeah, they say that it's a cool way to train, because anything your clone learns you will get back when you dispel it. It all goes into your head. No one uses it though because no one, even most jounin, can use anymore than one to three of them safely. Hey kid, how many can you make?"

"Upwards of one-thousand."

"Ahh."

Naruto blinked, "Wait a goddamn minute… I could've been getting my mega-train on since the day I became a genin and I'm just now learning this? Who else knew about this?"

Kotetsu raised his hand, "I knew. Kakashi told me a few years ago when I ran into him on a training field."

Naruto fumed, "Kakashi knew? Kakashi knew and he didn't fucking tell me? He was my damn sensei for a year and he couldn't even tell me _that_? I'm going to kick his ass when we get back to Konoha for that!"

Naruto stood up and stomped off into the distance. Genma, being the squad leader, had to ask where he was going, "Hey Naruto, where are you going?"

Naruto didn't even turn his head when he yelled back, "Anger management!"

The men all shrugged and prepared to settle in for the night. The majority of the evening you could hear explosions and sounds of metal clashing out in the distance.

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**As I said in a previous story update for another story, I had no internet for a lot of this week so I didn't bother working too hard on updating, but I'm here now and that's all that matters right? I just felt like being a dumbass this chapter, stuff will get fast again next time around.**

**One Manga is going out. They can't post Naruto chapters anymore which sucks. Hopefully I can find a loophole to that because I'm awesome like that. I've got nothing to really say tonight so I'll leave you with that. Later**

**Kenchi out.**


	15. Say Hello To Mr 9

Review Shoutouts

***To all of those that helped your boy out with the other manga websites, you all have my gratitude… I was pissed off for all of two hours until I started getting the first reviews from last chapter. Thanks a million.***

**I feel too lazy to reply to reviews this time around, I will indulge in my usual method of response next chapter, never fear. Enjoy the chapter my peepulation.**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I should, but I don't. However perception is 99% of reality. If I can get enough people to think that I do then I might as well own it. ALRIGHT! I have a new plan to own Naruto now!

**Chapter 14: Say Hello To Mr. 9**

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The trip to Kuminari no Kuni was highly uneventful. Naruto ended up getting on even better terms with his older comrades, who seemed to genuinely like the boy's company. Up to this point however, Naruto had been having a minor stroke of luck, as he hadn't had to interact with the Konoha elder that they were escorting. The man usually relayed anything he had to say to the team through Genma, who was the leader of the mission anyway.

Naruto had taken the Kage Bunshin training to heart. He was told that the method wouldn't allow him to increase his physical attributes, so he put that on hold for the time being, it wasn't like he could train on that while he was on a mission anyway. Instead, when he woke up in the morning he would create a few dozen clones and send them off to the most remote location that they could find to train in waves. While one dozen clones would train, the rest would sit and watch until the first wave dispelled themselves. After the influx of information the next wave would train, and so on and so forth until nightfall. This allowed him to get down three more of his lost ninjutsu during the week long trip to Kumogakure no Sato, much to his delight. It seemed that the trip wouldn't be a waste of time, at least during the traveling period.

Naruto didn't expect much of a chance for combat here, but Kumogakure was the second most militarized of the five major hidden villages right behind Iwagakure for a reason. He wasn't sure how peaceful things would be and he wasn't looking forward to seeing whether or not his team could run all the way to the border and stay in one piece, and he didn't want to rely on Kumo wanting to avoid a war, Konoha was still weak from the invasion and no amount of bravado by still taking the same influx of missions could mask that against a shrewd strategist. If Kumo wanted to provoke anything, Naruto's team might have to simply bite their tongues and take it at this point in time.

As they reached the top of the mountain the carriage came to a stop at the main gate of the village. Instead of two guards there were two complete squads keeping watch, showing exactly how many ninja Kumo had to spare if they could use that many just to watch one entrance.

As Genma moved forward to get them all inside, Naruto elbowed Izumo and Kotetsu, "You guys getting gate envy here? Getting a familiar feeling?"

Izumo shrugged Naruto off of them, "Very funny kid. There's nothing wrong with watching the gate. Someone has to do it."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah I know. I hope I never end up drawing that job, gate watching is the D-rank mission of chunin-level ninja."

Kotetsu sighed, "You're telling me… I'd rather do border patrol than watch that gate one more time. I die inside a little every time I sit in that fucking booth. I think that thing sucks chakra or something."

Izumo rolled his eyes, "Stop complaining… You're on a real mission now so shut up. And look alive you guys, here comes Genma."

Right on cue, Genma came over and jumped back onto the carriage, "All right. We're going straight to the hotel they've booked for all of us and then we'll get our marching orders from Elder Mitokado when we get settled in."

The three chunin under his command nodded and set their usual position around the carriage as they made their way through town. Kotetsu and Izumo were no strangers to Kumo, having been there during the chunin exams, but seeing that Naruto wasn't even looking around to get his bearing of the village. What they didn't know was that Danzo had all of his ninja memorize the general layout of all of the major shinobi villages, since none of them ever deviated from the basic plan that had been in place for certain villages since the Second Great Shinobi War, where Danzo got all of his information on the village layouts.

Kotetsu tried to make conversation with the younger boy, "So Naruto, you've never been this far north before have you? How you dealing with the climate change?"

Naruto _had_ been that far north before… but he didn't need them to know what had happened the last time he was there. The less people that knew about that the better… seriously.

Naruto kept a vigilant eye out as they walked the streets, they weren't 'safe' until he was told to ease off by his commanding officer, "The climate isn't bad at all. It's not freezing cold out here, it's spring so it's pretty good up here to me."

Izumo gave a short glance over at Naruto, "Naruto it's fifty degrees right now and you're wearing a sleeveless muscle shirt, you don't even have your vest on you. You're telling me you can't feel anything? At all?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nope. And I do have the vest on me, it just isn't on right now. And it's not that cold up here, man up, you're older than me and you're borderline bitching about a foreign climate."

Izumo mock glared at Naruto which went largely ignored by the blonde chunin as they made their way to the hotel. As per the course Elder Mitokado got a VIP suite and the other four were to share rooms. Izumo and Kotetsu, being the most familiar with one another, took one room, while Genma and Naruto took another.

As they all got themselves settled in the rooms Naruto finished first, as he didn't have anything to check or unpack, "So Genma, what are we doing first?"

Genma turned to Naruto and rolled the senbon in his mouth, "Well we were told by Elder Mitokado to accompany him to his first meeting with the Raikage." He saw Naruto stand up to prepare to leave, "By us I mean Me, Kotetsu, and Izumo."

Naruto's jaw dropped before he set his face in a stone-like form, "And I'm not going because…?"

Genma sighed, he didn't hate Naruto he actually liked the kid, a lot. He was good, he had heard from others what the boy had done to Orochimaru's bodyguards when they came to extract Sasuke Uchiha and he had to say that even he would have been hard pressed to do as much, he actually fought them beforehand and lost. However this was an order from the person that was the point of the mission. Homura Mitokado didn't want Naruto there, and Genma's hands were kind of tied in this instance, "It's a command from our boss Naruto… It's not me, trust me."

Naruto shook his head, "What do I have to do for old goats like that to get it through their heads that I'm not a demon? If I was, if I was really a demon or some kind of monster, then I would have started killing them by now. Kami knows I'm strong enough… You've seen the forest of bone right?"

Genma nodded, "Don't talk like that kid… I can understand, but still. There are some things that you shouldn't say, especially to the higher ranked person handing out the orders to you on this mission. Just calm down, get some rest. If we need you we'll get you, just think of this as some rest after the trip up here."

Naruto ran his fingers through his hair, "Alright fine… You're right I guess. I shouldn't have said that, I would never do anything like that to Konoha no matter what." 'I've already done too much for that place to let one old man get to me.'

Genma stood up and prepared to get Homura so that they could escort him to the meeting, "Okay kid, do you have any questions before I leave?"

Naruto nodded, "Do you use the same senbon for as long as you can, like until you kill somebody with it, or do you just swap them out at regular intervals?"

Genma sweat-dropped and made for the door, "I'll see you later Naruto, stay out of trouble."

Naruto scoffed and flopped on his bed, "Who do you think I am? What kind of trouble can I get into _away_ from the meeting?" He noticed Genma hadn't shut the door and was standing in the doorway giving him a deadpan look. Naruto glared and pointed at him, "Nevermind. Don't answer that."

A chuckle came from Genma, "Take it easy kid. Don't do anything stupid while we're gone."

Naruto yawned and waved him off as his tokubetsu jounin commander shut the door. Naruto rolled over and looked out the window, "It's still the afternoon. There's no way in hell I'm staying in here until they all get back. The old bastard said I can't go to the meeting, he never said that I couldn't leave the hotel."

Naruto grabbed the key Genma left for him on the nightstand and slipped out the door to head to the street.

XxX

Naruto yawned as he walked through the streets of Kumogakure. He didn't get too many odd looks just because he was a foreigner. He chalked that up to the fact that there were a lot of blonde people in Kumo, as opposed to in Konoha where only the Yamanaka Clan and Tsunade had blonde hair.

While he found it to be a decent waste of time to partake in looking around, Naruto wasn't too happy at the moment, 'I can't even train here. It's not like they'll let a foreign shinobi like me just use their training areas or anything. What am I supposed to do while I'm here then?'

He eventually ended up wandering over to a training field anyway, although it was by accident. While wandering about on the outskirts of the village he found an open area bored out from the side of the mountain at least a mile wide. Inside he saw two ninja engaging in a spar and realized where he was. As he turned to leave a cool sounding voice came to his ears, "This place is off-limits to civilians."

Naruto turned around slowly with a frown on his face, "Well if I see any civilians I'll be sure to let you know then."

The girl noticed the hitae-ate attached to his belt "Hmm, so we have a Konoha ninja spying on us do we?"

Naruto sighed, 'Goddamn it… This is just what I was trying to avoid…' Naruto placed his hands up in a placating fashion as he came face-to-face with the blonde girl a few years older than him. Her hair stopped roughly around shoulder length and like him she had blue eyes. She had a low cut short skirt outfit with mesh armor underneath it, a short sword horizontally held on her lower back, and what appeared to be a modified Kumo flak jacket that simply wrapped around her stomach, and Naruto could see why it was like that, because her chest size was huge, 'Damn, she's only a bit older than me and-… Don't stare dumbass! You're already in deep shit as it is!'

Naruto, with much effort on his part, lifted his eyes to meet hers, "Listen, I found this place by accident. I didn't even know it was a training field until I heard fighting sounds coming from directly behind you. I'll just turn around now and head back towards town okay? I don't need any kind of B.S. right now…"

"Samui." The blonde woman stated when she felt Naruto reaching for her name, "You have me at a disadvantage right now. You know my name and yet I don't know yours."

The two blondes kept passive eyes on one another, Naruto out of masking anything that might set a situation off, and Samui because that was just how she was. Deciding that diplomacy was the quickest course to getting out of dodge, Naruto decided to satiate her with the information she requested. It's not like anyone knew him or anything, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I'm just here on a mission and was granted some down time. I was wandering about okay? No need to cause a ruckus. And tell your team that if they want to sneak up on me they need to do a better job of it."

Naruto jerked his head in the direction of upraised craters, prompting two people to emerge from the area. One of them was a dark skinned boy, also a few years older than Naruto, with spiky white hair, black eyes, grey pants, and a grey hoodie with the white Kumo flak jacket over it. Naruto could see a long katana on his back, signifying that he was at the very least a competent swordsman.

Next to him was dark skinned girl with amber eyes and long red hair. She had her hitae-ate in a bandanna, a grey short sleeved long dress, the Kumo flak jacket, and a katana on her back.

These were the two that he had seen sparring before he turned to leave. Apparently they went around to try and cut him off from leaving so easily. Naruto resisted the urge to slap his hand to his forehead, "Can I go now? I kind of have to get back to my hotel before my team leader has to come out looking for me."

The male of the team gave him an appraising look, "Maybe he's going to report back on Kumo's secrets and just stumbled on us while he was making his escape?"

Naruto almost face-fell at that, 'Great… Now I've got a guy that overanalyzes everything. This is what I needed right now… yeah right.' Naruto could see the situation could unravel at any moment and just wanted to leave, 'Why did I leave the hotel room? Even when I'm not trying to start stuff, things like this happen. It's like I'm a magnet or something.'

The red-haired female noted the ninjato on his back, "You have a sword. Maybe you were spying on our kenjutsu to take back to Konoha."

Naruto's voice held a slight growl, "You have a katana and I have a ninjato, it's shorter, your style would be useless to me. Let me go already damn it…" He turned his glance to Samui who was still looking at him with an unreadable expression, "I've tried to be civil about this, like I said I just want to leave. But if you don't all back off of me I'll move you myself."

She bared her teeth at the boy, "You think you can take on three chunin? By yourself? I'd love to see you try."

Naruto coiled his muscles, "You're not going to let me go so easily are you? *sigh* This is a waste of everyone's time! I have somewhere to be, I was just killing time, I'm on a mission!"

The calm boy nearby nodded in agreement, "Yes, to spy on the inner workings of Kumogakure."

Naruto had to slap his hand to his face this time, "Alright, I don't care anymore, international incident or not. Either get the fuck out of my way and let me go back to my hotel, or I'm going to kick all of your asses… and then go back to my hotel."

The dark-skinned girl was about to draw her sword when the Kumo blonde walked closer to Naruto and stayed her from attacking with a movement of her hand, "Karui, Omoi, calm down." She looked the foreigner up and down, "You have a very short fuse do you know that?"

Naruto gave her a dry look, "I'm getting the third-degree from people I don't know, telling me that I'm doing something that I'm not. And they won't leave me alone, of course I have a temper, you're all pissing me off." He shrugged, "I _do_ actually want to train, but there's no way a foreign ninja here on a diplomatic mission is going to be able to get permission to use the training fields for no good reason. I guess I subconsciously carried myself here, I was just wandering around."

Omoi pulled a sucker out of seemingly nowhere and put it in his mouth, "What kind of diplomatic mission would a Konoha ninja be carrying out here?"

Naruto shrugged, "How should I know? I'm just the muscle, the rest of my team are with the guy we're protecting."

This brought the lifting of a dainty eyebrow from Samui, "So you're a ninja sent here on a diplomatic mission from Konoha that just so happened to be let go from the rest of your group. That sounds somewhat familiar doesn't it?"

Naruto let off a sweat-drop. It did sound familiar, because that was basically what Kumo tried to pull on Konoha years ago when they came to negotiate a treaty. One of the diplomats attempted to obtain the Byakugan for their village by kidnapping Hinata in the middle of the night. It was the story that Neji told during the chunin exams, and it almost resorted in another war when Konoha was still weak from the Kyuubi attack that had taken place three years prior.

'Do they really think this is some kind of revenge espionage kick?' Naruto really just wanted to knock them all out and go about his business, but that would probably make things worse before it made them better, "What do I have to do to make you all leave me alone? Seriously, I'm going to get in trouble if I stay here for too long without checking in."

Omoi scratched his head and looked at his two female teammates, "Maybe we should let the kid go. I mean look at him, he doesn't seem dangerous at all, that scar is a nice touch, but he doesn't look like he can cause any kind of ruckus by himself, even if he was lying."

Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes, 'Gaara's smaller than me and nobody says that shit about him. Everybody's on pins and needles around him… why am I so short?'

Karui walked around Naruto, taking in his appearance, "Just because he can't be anything more than a genin doesn't mean anything. Look at him and his gear, you don't just carry a sword around unless you're pretty good at using it, it doesn't work like that. I can see some outlines of scars on his body through his shirt too, he's dangerous alright."

Samui spoke up, "Maybe we should take him in just in case." The two others shrugged in agreement and Samui nodded as to confirm their plan of action.

Naruto sucked his teeth, this was not what he needed to happen. One day in a foreign village that Konoha wasn't on the best terms with and he already found himself in what could be a mess. It wasn't his fault damn it! He didn't do anything!

"What are you all doing?"

All eyes turned towards the summit of the slope to see another blonde, this time significantly older than Naruto, he would estimate at least seven years his senior in this case. Karui's eyes widened as she saw who it was, "Yugito! We just found this Konoha ninja snooping around. We didn't know what he was doing here."

Naruto scoffed, "I told you already damn it. I was wandering around and ended up here by accident, I'm not repeating myself again. What am I, a damn tape recorder?"

The woman known as Yugito looked down on the Konoha ninja that the three other Kumo chunin had 'captured', "Take him to the Raikage."

'FUCK!' Fighting was now the stupidest thing he could do. He was wary back when it was three chunin on just him, now they were joined by someone that could actually give them orders, undoubtedly making them stronger than the others. Before he might have been able to simply kick their asses and _maybe_ disappear until it was time to leave, he really doubted that Homura would ever ask him along on guard duty anyway, but any kind of fight he engaged in here would be coming down on his head.

Being sensible was the only option he could take. There was no room for crazy bullshit ideas to escape that only worked in movies, "Fine whatever. If this will clear everything up then I'll go."

Yugito nodded, "Good choice. You couldn't have gotten away." She looked to the other Kumo ninja, "Tie him up."

Naruto had his hands bound behind his back by Omoi. This was too much for him, but again, fighting would have ended really badly for him even if he did end up winning. As the boy trailed some of the rope he tied Naruto's hands with out in front and began to walk and attempt to drag Naruto he felt that there was too much slack in the rope. When he turned around he saw the rope down on the ground and Naruto rubbing his wrists.

Yugito narrowed her eyes as the younger Kumo nin all got into ready stances. Naruto looked at them all coldly, "What? It's not my fault he can't tie a knot that I can't break. I've taken your bullshit without kicking your asses, I'm going with you to see your Raikage so he can prove why I'm here, and I'm taking it all in stride, but if you think that you're tying me up and parading me through town like a trophy then you can all go fuck yourselves, verstantlich?"

Karui took offense to Naruto's tone, "You're not in Konoha. You can't just do as you like here you know?"

Naruto crossed his arms across his chest, "You're damn right I'm not in Konoha, if I was in Konoha I would have just beaten your asses the second I knew you weren't going to leave me alone and left you here. I didn't know tying up random foreigners was big in Kumo… but anyway, you can take me in right now as I am, hell I'll probably head over myself to complain about you seeing as how I can't do anything myself or else I'll start a war."

Sick of standing around talking to a brick wall, also known as Kumo ninja, Naruto maneuvered his way through the chunin around him and stalked up the slope to the top of the mountain. As he reached the top he spared a glance at the oldest Kumo kunoichi, Yugito.

Not really able to understand, he felt some kind of familiarity with her, **"Huh… So that's what happened to Nibi."**

Naruto blinked in confusion as he was now being escorted to the Raikage Tower by the Kumo contingent. This was the first thing that Kyuubi had said to him today, and of course it had to be confusing, 'Kyuubi, what are you talking about? Nibi?'

Naruto felt the effects of a phantom slap on the back of his head, **"Kit don't you remember when Danzo briefed you on the other jinchuuriki back when you were in Root?**"

Naruto's eyes widened in understanding, 'Oh, yeah… I forgot.'

_(Flashback – 6 Years Ago – Naruto age: 7)_

_Naruto had finished Danzo's training regiment one year ago and had been running through the paces of what Danzo had demanded of him in addition to a few missions close to Konoho that had him staying in Hi no Kuni. Currently however, Danzo was planning on sending Naruto to Kuminari no Kuni, and if the shit hit the fan while he was there he needed to know exactly what it was he would be up against._

_Seated in Danzo's office he was looking over the table at the man that trained him, "So Danzo-jiji, what do I need to know before I leave?"_

_Danzo flinched at the 'Danzo-jiji' that had come from the young operative. Even after roughly three years of conditioning he couldn't break that little facet of Naruto that was so expressive… however contrary to Danzo's not-so-old beliefs it didn't make him any less effective. He handed Naruto a folder that when opened revealed pictures of two people. The first was a blonde teenage girl that was significantly older than Naruto. The second was a heavily muscled dark skinned man with sunglasses and pale blonde slicked back hair._

_Naruto shrugged in his chair as he resisted the inexplicable urge that all children had to swing their feet when they were dangling off of the ground like his currently were, "I don't get it. Who are they? Am I supposed to kill them Danzo-jiji." Naruto wouldn't have been surprised if Danzo was sending him on another assassination mission. The man seemed to love testing Naruto's skills in that department, his last three missions had been to kill a certain person._

_Danzo would have chuckled if he wasn't trying to keep such a stoic façade, "Oh Kami no. I've invested too much time into you to let you go off and get torn to shreds by them. You're not ready for them Naruto. Not yet at least, just give it some time and you'll be more than a match for either one of them. But right now consider them your biggest threats. The place I'm sending you to for your next mission won't hesitate to dispatch one of them to kill you if they are alerted to your presence."_

_Naruto blocked a yawn. Danzo-jiji's briefings were so boooring! "Yeah… Danzo-jiji, just tell me where I'm going and what I'm doing and I'll be back in the compound in a week."_

_Danzo slammed his useable hand on the table, leaving an imprint, "Damn it boy listen to me!" Naruto cringed, even though it didn't happen much, when Danzo got angry it meant that there was good reason for it._

_Naruto lowered his head, "Sorry Danzo-sama. I'll be silent now."_

_Danzo looked at Naruto blankly and nodded before continuing to make his point, "I'm not doubting your skill Naruto. I'm positive that if I had you fight a student in Sarutobi's academy today you could wipe the floor with every single one of them effortlessly, same for all of his genin as well. However these people are beyond your level because not only are they the true elites of Kumogakure, they share your burden."_

_Naruto's eyes widened, "They're jichuuriki too?"_

_Danzo nodded, "Jinchuuriki Naruto-kun, not ji-, jin-. And yes they are. The girl is Yugito Nii, fourteen years old, jounin, and container of the Nibi no Nekomata, the two tailed monster cat. The man is Kirabi, also known as Killer Bee of the Yotsuki clan. This one is the most dangerous of the two, his brother became the Raikage after the Hyuuga Incident a few years ago and he is known as the Guardian of Kumo."_

_Naruto took a glance at the pictures, "So you know who Kumo's jinchuuriki are? Do they know who I am?"_

_Danzo shook his head, "You my boy are a pretty wel kept secret. Because no one can openly talk about the fact that you house the Kyuubi in public that has made it so that the information could not slip to any visitors with a penchant for eavesdropping, add onto that the fact that you rarely go out in public and it's like you barely even exist to the world. You only appear enough for people to not question where you are too often, but I digress. Both are far more experienced than you and are capable of using vastly more of their tenants' chakra than you are currently capable of handling with your pre-pubescent body, even though you train to utilize it effectively…"_

_Naruto looked down at that. One of Danzo's conditions for training him was that he had to demonstrate sufficient use of the Kyuubi's chakra. While he could form a chakra shroud he still didn't have any skills that he could use alongside it other than highly improved speed, strength, and reflexes._

"_Naruto-kun." Naruto looked up to see Danzo shaking his head, "I was never expecting you to show complete mastery over it at such a young age. Still, I expect results in the future. However, in the meantime, if you run across either of these two on your mission I want you to abort immediately. This mission is not worth losing one of my prized investments, understood?"_

_Naruto nodded, "Okay Danzo-jiji. I'll stay away from these guys."_

(End Flashback)

'So this is that Yugito person… I wonder if I could beat her now if we ever fought.' Naruto looked her over. She looked very strong and confident in her ability. He wondered if she sensed that he was a jinchuuriki like herself the way he had just a moment ago. Naruto panned his eyes over to her. Now that he was close he could tell that her eyes were somewhat reminiscent of a cat. She caught him looking at her, forcing him to avert his gaze ahead as the tower came into sight.

Naruto, guided by his 'guards' strode into the ground floor of the tower. As they entered Naruto smirked as he saw Izumo and Kotetsu seated on a couch by the stairs leading up. He whistled over in their direction to get their attention. At seeing the blonde corralled by the group of Kumo nin the men hopped to their feet ready to defend their little buddy, "Naruto what happened?"

Naruto shook his head, "This is one paranoid place. I found a training field by accident and got accused of spying, and it's not like I can kick their asses or I'll be the one in trouble."

Kotetsu was ready to start something over the young blonde chunin, he got enough bullshit back in Konoha, he didn't need it here too, "Did they do anything to hurt you?"

Naruto shook his head, "They were about to tie me up. But if they had pushed the issue with that then all bets would have been off and we would have been fighting." He looked around, "Where's Genma?"

Izumo pointed up, "Genma's with Elder Mitokado. He's speaking with the Raikage's advisors right now."

Samui pushed Naruto forward, "So the Raikage is free. Good, we can settle this now."

Naruto slapped the girl's hands off of him, "Hands off. I'd say that this settles what I'm doing here. I mean, this is my team after all. But if you want to continue to make obsessive asses out of yourselves then by all means, let's go."

With that they all went up the stairs and stopped in front of a secretary's desk. After a short word with the woman there they all entered the office of the most powerful man in the country. A massive man seated behind the desk in his traditional kage robes looked up from whatever was on his desk, "Yugito… Samui, Omoi, Karui. What are you all doing here surrounding this Konoha ninja."

Karui pushed Naruto forward, causing him to glare back at the girl, 'You're so lucky that this guy would kill me before I could even get a shot off edgewise or I would backhand you right here, right now.'

Omoi shook his head at Karui's upfront abuse of the kid. Samui sighed at her teammate's brash action, "Raikage-sama, we found this Konoha ninja overlooking one of our training sessions. Being that we are trained by Kirabi-sensei we figured he may be trying to steal some of Kumo's hidden techniques so we elected to escort him here."

Naruto snorted, "If by escort you mean give me an ultimatum to either fight all of you and get my ass thrown in prison for sure, or be dragged through town like a goddamned prisoner of war, then yes you 'escorted' me here."

The Raikage shot his eyes to Naruto. Despite the physically imposing size of the man, Naruto still wouldn't give him any tells that he was actually intimidated. I mean what's the worst thing that could happen? They kill him?

The Raikage rubbed his white mustache, "I am the Yondaime Raikage of Kumogakure. My name is A boy. What is your name?"

Naruto looked at the man in the eye, "Naruto Uzumaki, chunin of Konohagakure no Sato, ninja registration number 012607."

A raised his hand to stop him from talking, "Enough Uzumaki-san. What are you doing in my village? Are you conducting espionage under the guise of a diplomatic mission?"

Naruto sighed, "No Raikage-sama. I was bored so I walked around the village and came across a training field. I tried to leave immediately, but by the time I realized where I was your ninja had seen me and accused me of spying."

A gave him a stern look, "And were you?"

Naruto flicked his ninjato on his back, "I couldn't use your style anyway. Honestly, I just… *sigh* got lost on the road of life…"

XxX

(Meanwhile in Konohagakure)

Kakashi turned his attention from the Memorial Stone to look up at the sky. Kakashi uncharacteristically pumped his fist in the air in victory, "Yes… I've finally got one of them."

XxX

(Back in Kumogakure)

Naruto felt a shiver go down his spine, 'I just made someone very happy just now…' Going off in his own world for just a moment he was asking himself what he could have done to warrant such a feeling.

Eventually the Kumo ninja noticed his lack of attentiveness at the current preceedings. Karui walked up and poked the boy on the shoulder, "Hey, listen to Raikage-sama. I don't know how things are done in Konoha, but here we listen to what our kage has to say." This did nothing to spur Naruto from his line of thought.

"Hello Kumogakure!"

A slapped his hand to his forehead, "The man has no sense of timing I swear…"

The doors to the office were blasted open as an exact copy of the photo Naruto had been briefed on in his adolescence burst through the doors. He walked past everyone in the office and right up to the Raikage's desk, "Yo big bro! Hachibi-sama is back from his latest mission!"

A's eyebrow twitched as he watched his little brother, who had a massive grin on his face, "Kirabi… I'm happy to hear that, but could you have waited until I was done before you came in?"

The man in question scoffed, "Waiting out in the hall is for chumps, you're saying I'm less important than one of these lumps?" He turned around and saw his team standing and looking on with sweat-drops on their heads, "Hey students of mine! Is my big bro giving you your daily shine?"

Yugito sighed and walked forward, "They came across a suspicious Konoha ninja and brought him here. He's standing right next to you."

Naruto had moved directly out of the path of the desk the second he heard the door bust open and simply watched from the side, 'This guy is worse than I was when I was sealed…'

Kirabi turned his attention to the young boy next to him, making Naruto somewhat uncomfortable because the man was towering over him looking directly down. After a moment Kirabi stuck his fist out, "How ya doin' Mr. 9?"

Naruto blinked in place before slowly sticking out his own fist and tapping it against Kirabi's. Samui pointed at Naruto after hearing what Kirabi called him, "Kirabi-sensei, his name is Naruto Uzumaki, not Mr. 9."

Yugito shook her head, "He wasn't referring to just a simple name, he was referring to the tailed beast that he has within him."

Naruto sighed and shook his head, "Thanks for that… because I really needed everyone in the room to have another reason to be suspicious of me." Noticing that all eyes in the room were on him he grunted in affirmation, "Fine, alright. Since I'm stuck here, Yugito knew already, and Hachibi guy over here busted me out anyway I guess I'll tell you."

Kirabi stomped his foot childishly on the ground as Naruto thought about the best way to go about speaking. Somehow his thought process was uninterrupted by the large man's ranting about how it was 'Hachibi-sama' and not 'Hachibi guy' as Naruto had put it. Eventually he figured the best way to explain himself to the room of people and tuned in to Kirabi's rant that he figured was directed at him when he noticed that he was looking at him, and that everyone else looked like they wanted to strangle the Hachibi jinchuuriki for not shutting up.

Naruto however, had not been listening to a single word that had been said and was forced to say the only thing he could in this situation, "I'm sorry, did you say something?" Another shiver went down his spine, 'I'm making someone's day right now.'

The silence permeating the room after that was unnerving, "What?" The stares from everyone around him was starting to piss him off, "What the hell is wrong with you all? Did I say something wrong?"

Omoi pointed lamely at the blonde boy, "Y-You ignored him…"

Karui followed up, "No one ever does that… ever."

Getting tired of the odd looks he was getting and seeing his opportunity to leave staring him right in the face, he began to slink towards the exit, "Okay, well if anyone still wants to speak to me in a less hostile environment I will be staying at the hotel that the Konoha dignitary is in. Goodbye."

XxX

By the time he made it back to his hotel room it was nightfall and Naruto was not looking forward to getting his butt chewed out by Genma once he caught wind of what had gone down today. As he entered the room he saw Genma laying back on his bed seemingly relaxing, "Have a good time out there?"

Naruto glared half-heartedly as he sat on his own bed, "Whatever Izumo and Kotetsu told you I would just like to say that it was one-hundred percent not my fault."

Genma chuckled, "Now do you get what I meant when I told you to stay out of trouble? You're like a magnet for stuff like this kid. I've read your file, the stuff you did in one year as a ninja most people don't get close to touching until their third year at least. Just the sheer amount of troublesome situations you get yourself into could have been stretched out to two years when compared to someone else. It's no wonder you're strong, if you were weak you'd have died after the first incident."

Naruto lay his head back on a pillow, "I almost got into a fight with three Kumo ninja today that accused me of spying. Me! If I wanted to spy on them they never would have known about it." He turned serious, "They know about me and the Kyuubi."

Genma's senbon fell from his mouth, "Are you sure? How could they find out about it?"

Naruto looked up at the ceiling blankly as he spoke, "I met both of Kumo's jinchuuriki today. Both of them could sense that I was one too and they called me on it in front of the Raikage…"

Genma bit his lip, "That's not good… They might use that in negotiations tomorrow…"

Naruto gave him an odd look, "Who cares if they spread it around that I'm Konoha's jinchuuriki? Yes it's a shame that the secret finally got out, but hey… thirteen years is a long time to keep a secret like that from the majority of the world. Tell Old Man Homura not to worry about it too much, tell him to act like it doesn't bother Konoha that the secret is out. Honestly it doesn't bother me."

Genma gave the boy an odd look, "So you don't really care that your entire generation will learn that you house the Kyuubi? Not even if they turn away from you or hate you for it?"

Naruto gave a bored look to him, "I've already alluded to two people at least, that I have the Kyuubi in me, the second the news comes out things will be clearer to a whole lot of people. Hell I may just ask Tsunade-baachan to just flat out tell everyone in the whole village, I mean, what do I have to lose? No one my age can kill me if they do take the news wrong and it couldn't make the adults feel any differently about me could it? They already knew, and however they treated me beforehand wouldn't change if the news was open for everyone to know."

Genma shook his head, "You're a ballsy kid, kid."

Naruto smirked, "So I'm told."

XxX

(The Next Day)

Naruto was sitting on the roof of the hotel meditating. Since he was once again prevented from accompanying Homura to the meeting like the rest of his team and he couldn't actively train, he took it upon himself to meditate and get more in touch with what he liked to call, much to the Kyuubi's chagrin, his furry side.

Inside his head he found himself in the familiar bedroom of his apartment and went searching for his giant demon of destruction. Looking outside he saw the massive fox sunning itself of all things. Shaking his head he made his way down and cleared his throat to get the Kyuubi's attention. The demon cracked open one eye to look at its jailor, "Are you serious? I gave you free reign to create stuff to hunt, do whatever you want with my mindscape's citizens, wreck any of the buildings in here that you want, basically to blow up anything and everything you want, and you're sleeping?"

Kyuubi yawned as it lifted its massive head to look at Naruto properly, **"Mortal, as fun as it was destroying your mindscape Konoha over and over again the fact that it rebuilds itself kind of takes some of the luster out of the carnage. I mean, as great as it is to slaughter wave after wave of defenders, seeing the entire place rebuild two hours after you've eradicated the place of any and all signs of life kind of irks you after a while."**

Naruto sweat-dropped, "Uh huh… Okay, the reason I came. How do you think I stack up against the Kumo jinchuuriki?"

Kyuubi didn't think on it, **"The female would be a tough match for you, but you could defeat her without activating the Kitsune Trigger. She doesn't have enough control over Nibi to keep her mindstate stable during the fight, it would be far more difficult than your fight against Shukaku, but you would still win. The Hachibi container on the other hand, would destroy you, no question. He has full access to his biju's chakra and perfect control over it. Even if you activated the Kitsune Trigger or went to your limit of my chakra that you could use he would go straight to eight tails and tear you apart, do not fight him… ever… no matter what."**

Naruto grumbled, "I still can't win… I've got to be the worst jinchuuriki in the elemental nations. I might as well be a regular person for all the good that using your chakra does me. This guy has full control and all I can handle right now is three tails worth without going insane with bloodlust." Naruto had tried pushing himself to his absolute limit a few days before leaving on this mission. He cleared it with Tsunade first and went deep inside the Forest of Death in case things got too tense. Good thing he did too, because he flipped out at four tails and went on a rampage, slaughtering any animal stupid enough to try and take down the boy.

He didn't remember how he settled down, but he did smell the presence of one of Tsunade's Anbu after he woke up.

Kyuubi sighed and snorted, blowing Naruto back a few feet, **"You are far from a weak container kit. The other jinchuuriki have natural advantages over you due to the amount of time they have had with their demons. You are thirteen years old, have been training to utilize my chakra since you were five, and were forced to stop at the age of eight for over four years. To get full mastery over three tails of my chakra in technically four years of training is a feat that I don't think any other jinchuuriki can claim to make since they began training around the same age if not older than when you began."**

Naruto nodded to the nine-tailed demon, "So anything you need while I'm here? Anything you want me to tweak about my mindscape?"

Kyuubi batted its tails lazily, **"Other than saying that I want you to release your memories so I can watch your old missions, no not really. Get out of here kit."**

Rolling his eyes, Naruto grumbled that it was his mind, bringing a fanged grin to the fox's face before the blonde faded from his mind.

XxX

Naruto suddenly reached out and grabbed a hand that was reaching for his face, "Don't do that please." He opened his eyes to find the team from yesterday looking at him with the red-haired girl's hand in his grasp, "What are you guys doing here? Is meditation against the law for visitors now too?"

Karui ripped her hand from his grasp, "Why did Kirabi-sensei tell us to come and find this guy and talk to him? He doesn't seem special at all."

Omoi walked up and looked at Naruto who was still seated on the roof, "Didn't you hear yesterday? Kirabi-sensei and Yugito said that he has a demon in him like they do. I'm really glad he didn't try to fight us yesterday or we might be in the hospital right now."

Naruto wanted to get up and walk away, he saw nothing good coming out of this, when Samui, the blonde girl around his age spoke, "We would like to spar with you Uzumaki-san."

Naruto let a small smile cross his face, "Oh hoh, so you remember my name from yesterday do you?" Naruto looked at the three Kumo ninja, "Fine, I'll fight you. We need to go somewhere where I won't get in trouble for any collateral damage though."

They all nodded and led Naruto off away from the village. As they exited the gates and noticed how no one moved to stop them, while in Konoha he would have needed permission to leave, but these people could leave whenever they wanted. After heading over and around the numerous mountain ranges surrounding the village, Naruto brought this up, "Hey why can you guys just leave whenever you want. If it was me then I would have hunter-ninja on my ass before I reached the next town." 'Of course that may partly be because I'm a jinchuuriki.'

Omoi answered for him, "We're trained by Kirabi-sensei. He doesn't live in the village and when we were genin he got sick of having to come and get us every day for training so he got us permission to leave of our own will, mostly so we could come to him instead of him coming to us."

Naruto nodded, "So where are we going anyway? We have to be at least fifteen miles out by now."

"We're almost there. We're heading to where Kirabi-sensei lives and trains. Unraikyo (Valley of Clouds and Lightning)." Omoi pointed down as they reached the summit of another mountain. It was a relatively large place, with a series of tall peaks coming out of a large body of water.

All four ninja slipped down the slope to the water below and stood on the surface as Naruto took note of the environment, "This is a really nice place… Your sensei lives here? I really like the looks of this place."

Nearby, Naruto saw what looked like a mountain peak that was cleaved to make some flatland for training. After they all reached the platform, Naruto shook his shoulders out and looked at the three who were looking at him intently, "So how are we doing this? Is it one on one or are you all coming at me at the same time?"

The team looked between each other at him. Samui gave him a strange look, "Do you really believe you can take us all at the same time?"

Naruto gave her a deadpan look and slipped into a taijutsu stance, "No, I just said that because I'm a masochist and getting my ass beat is how I get my jollies. Of course I think I can or I wouldn't have said it. And because you took so long I'm not giving you the option, come at me, all of you. Give me your best shot."

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**I'm feeling lazy yo. This chapter took way longer than it should have because I got sidetracked so easily it was absurd. I'm finally back from my mountain excursion and am preparing for another semester of good old-fashioned American college in one month. God I hate school… I hate it so much. The only thing worse than school, is paying for school, and I'm doing that. Whoever said college is the best time of your life must have been rich, because 90% of the time I was either extremely hungry, extremely stressed out, very angry, or ridiculously tired, and the other 10% I was asleep or otherwise completely lucid.**

**Rant over**

**Next chapter, Naruto vs. Team Samui. Get ready for chills, thrills, and spills… I feel lame for writing that. Oh well.**

**It's Saturday… I'm home… Put together the pieces on your own because I'm gone.**

**Kenchi out.**


	16. Kumo Chunin Vs Konoha Root

Review Shoutouts

**Hikari no Minerva: Writing for Killer Bee is annoying and difficult. Seeing as how his character has been firmly burned into my frontal lobe over the past year I can't not write him the way he's supposed to talk, but I hate myself when I do it. And Gai and Lee's genjutsu is epic, I laughed when I first saw that instead of involuntarily cringing like when I first heard Killer Bee.**

**Lansday Larry: You'll get it. I have plenty to work with, and time to hash it all out in my head due to my shitty job that requires little to no focus.**

**acepro Evolution: Maybe. All of Danzo's wind jutsu are high level stuff, which means that time must be spent to master them, however… *clears throat* Kage Bunshin. If I think the attacks fit his style I might add them in.**

**And I don't know what WICKET UN TUSH ON LEG means, but it sounds provocative.**

**SemenDemon: Best. Name. EVER.**

**LoveLifeForever: Naruto in this story is not stupid enough to say some shit like that out loud. As entertaining and as plot thickening as that would be I cannot on good conscience add that in. Maybe in another story because that screams entertainment to me.**

**JPMod: The key to getting them all to jump on Naruto's case… Samui, catching a foreign ninja watching you from a distance in a highly militarized place like Kumo would sound some alarms. Omoi, over-thinks everything, and add that to the initial paranoia and the fact that Karui is something of an emotional hothead is a quiet storm.**

**Jyuubi6: Well then Asher Roth needs to come back and try surviving for six months on 200 dollars and tell me how much he loves college then.**

**cjonbloodletter: I cannot divulge that information publicly, as it would cause an uproar around the country the way it did locally when I used it to trap my high school during graduation week for my prank. However Google and other search engines do not share my moral compass, so I would try there.**

**LestatV3: Why thank you, I try.**

**Lanky Nathan: I am in awe of the reviews that this thing has gotten. Seriously, I didn't see this coming at all. I literally thought the basis of the story up over the course of a twenty minute shower and wrote the first 2 chapters the second I hopped out. 1000 reviews in a month and a half… sweet.**

**clippit: I cannot find it in me to write a prolonged Killer Bee scene without bashing my head into the desk. If I could there would be more Killer Bee humorous lines, but I can't. Every line I write makes me die a little inside.**

**Penc0405: In order for me to teach you I would have needed to have had access to you when you were 5 years old like I have for every other kid in my family, but there is an entire generation of Kenchi influenced brats slowly growing up. My awesome will not die with me, I guarantee it.**

**Kalevra: Weed does make everything better, especially sparring. Me and one other guy train and spar drunk and high all the time. Our reasoning is: if we were going to get in a street fight we would probably be high and/or drunk anyway, and we want to be prepared.**

**Rokuro Yagami: It does seem like it, but right now there are certain factors barring that. For years jinchuuriki had been pitted against one another as deterrents and opponents. I would imagine that most jinchuuriki aware of this would be somewhat wary of foreign ones. Also, Akatsuki's goal isn't really clear yet. All they knew at this point was that they worked cheap and that Jiraiya knew that they were after Naruto for the Kyuubi. The other jinchuuriki don't really know that they are in their sights yet therefore there is no real common enemy yet. And now I'm ranting…**

**Demonkid: Lucky… I'm a straight A-B student, can get straight A's to save my life… And finals week is awesome to me. Take one or two easy tests a day, sleep, and then go home. Like clockwork. **

**VanillaIce1: I did think Naruto was a chump container. He didn't have anything cool going for him except going bat-shit crazy and that isn't really an advantage. I'm not going with 3 years worth of storyline, significant chunks of time will be taken up to keep things moving steadily.**

**Jay-Jay12393: I'm glad my on the spot improv to throw in a Kakashi line got over so well with everyone.**

**Dante3333: Shikamaru is awesome. And his awesome will be shown very soon, trust me.**

**You will fear my laser face: *cries quietly in corner***

**bakapervert: That will happen when he starts messing with his seal. Seeing as how my Naruto never is going to come close to pulling the thing off of his body he won't meet his dad until he tampers with the seal like I'm going to make him do later.**

**CelticReaper: In Japan for some reason they wrote it 'A' but pronounce it 'E'… Weird…**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I was Kishimoto I would write a fanfiction just to mindfuck people. I guarantee if he could prove it was him he'd have so many reviews it would be retarded, most of them would be flames bitching him out about canon, but still. 70000+ reviews looks good no matter how you get 'em eh?

Happy 1000+ reviews to me! Who knew I had it in me? I did!

**Chapter 15: Kumo Chunin vs. Konoha Root**

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"…Give me your best shot." Naruto stood in a reactive stance, awaiting any kind of action from the team of Kumo chunin. The looks on their faces ranged from deep thought, to rage and offense, to… no visible reaction. Naruto sighed, "If you don't come to me I'll come to you, and trust me, that's the last thing any of you want."

Karui growled at him, "Who do you think you are? What makes you think you're so goddamned better than us? That 'Konoha is the strongest hidden village' stuff is bullshit!"

Naruto blinked in confusion, "That's not it at all. I don't think I'm better than you, I just want a serious challenge."

Samui kept her impassive eyes on Naruto, "What do you mean? One-on-one is enough of a battle for you isn't it?"

Naruto chuckled, "I'm sick of one-on-one fights. I haven't had a good fight where the odds were against me in years, and you all look like a fantastic team. This is a perfect time to see whether or not I still have the stuff that I used to be made of back in the day, but that's another story for another time."

Omoi's eyes widened, "What do you mean, 'what you used to be made of'? You're just a chunin, and you're younger than us. How many situations could you have been in that pitted you against multiple opponents by yourself?"

Naruto shook his head, "There are some things that are better off left locked away. You don't need to know that and hopefully you'll never find out. But put it this way, I have a minimum of 9 S-ranked shinobi planning on coming for my ass and they travel in pairs. I need to get used to fighting a bunch of people at once and this is the best place to start so bring it on already!"

After a moment they still didn't attack. Shaking his head Naruto reached into his pack, putting them all on guard. Before he acted a smirk adorned his features, "You're all going to make this way too easy." He quickly threw a smoke bomb to the ground, enshrouding himself and masking his movements.

A mass of shuriken flew from the smoke, forcing all of Team Samui to dodge accordingly. In the middle of their evasive actions three Naruto's flew from the smoke and began engaging each of the team members separately.

Omoi drew his katana and began clashing blades with one of the Narutos, 'He can make solid bunshin? Which one is the real him?' Omoi then took a hit to the face when Naruto freed one of his hands from the blade and shifted to one side. As Omoi jumped back and rubbed his face he looked at a smirking Naruto, 'I really hope this is the real one because if this is one of his clones…'

Karui attacked instead of defended once she engaged her Naruto in kenjutsu. She was amazed at how fast he was. He was only using his sword to defend and was simply hitting her when she was open. She couldn't get a mark on him so far, it was making her angry, and that was what made her easy to defend against as far as Naruto was concerned, "Omoi! How are you doing against yours?"

Omoi looked to her and ended up eating a boot to his stomach for his troubles. After rolling back on the ground from the force of the kick he spit on the soil and spared her a momentary glance before refocusing, "Just great can't you tell? I'm just letting him beat my ass all over the valley."

Karui dodged one of her Naruto's punches and forced him to back off with a wild slash, intending to cleave his arm off, "Samui, what about you?"

Samui didn't answer as she was currently engaged in a deadly dance with the Naruto she was currently fighting. Samui's sword was so short that her Naruto wanted equal sport, and instead of drawing his ninjato drew dual kunai and fought her like that.

Samui was amazed at just how strong the boy was. He was absurdly stronger than her. It took almost all of her own strength to keep just from sliding backwards when she blocked one of his strikes, and she wanted nothing more than to visibly wince and cringe whenever she blocked one of his attacks that used both of his arms. His size truly belied his actual physical presence, he was shorter than her, and his muscles hadn't looked like they had much power, until he actually used them, and then every single muscle fiber, every facet of his definition came out for her to see when he tensed up to block or attack.

She let out a short gasp as Naruto kicked her in the ribs and sent her flying back. Her trajectory ended up sending her right into her fellow female teammate, hard enough to throw her to the ground as well. Omoi broke off from fighting his version of Naruto and jumped to the side of his teammates while they picked themselves up and cleared the cobwebs.

Karui coughed up a little blood as she stood up, "Okay… So this guy really can fight all of us at the same time and do pretty well. He can use solid clones, and I can't tell which one is the real one. We can't even hit one of them to find out."

Samui dusted herself off, "Until we can destroy one we're at a disadvantage. One of us should try to keep the attention of two while the rest of us double team the other. After we defeat one of them we can rush to help the remaining member and turn this into a three-on-two fight."

Karui set her katana in a battojutsu stance, "Right then. I'll be the distraction, you two just hurry up and finish your target quick before these guys kick my ass." With that she ran at the three Narutos with a battle cry. She separated them with one swing, sending two in one direction and sending the last one off in another direction.

As the last clone landed from his dodge he had to do so again when Samui called out her jutsu, "Raiton: Hagane no Tsubasa (Lightning Release: Wings of Steel)!" Samui swung her sword and sent out a wave of electric energy at one of the many nearby peaks. Her jutsu caused a rockslide intent of crushing Naruto. The blonde was forced to jump off of the platform and evade on top of the water as chunks of rock smashed all around him.

However dodging the absurd amount of rocks allowed Omoi to get close enough to cut into Naruto while he was focused on dodging. As he cut into Naruto and watched his pupils shimmer Naruto burst into smoke. Omoi popped a sucker into his mouth and made his way back to Samui, "That was a clone, the real one is with Karui, we need to get over there."

Samui nodded and the two rushed back across the landmass to assist their red-haired teammate. As they arrived they saw that she had gotten rid of one clone and was fighting the one remaining Naruto, but was taking a beating. He had long since sheathed his blade after Karui had somehow lost hers, it was sticking out of the ground a good distance away. Karui was trying in vain to match blows with Naruto but was taking a somewhat lopsided beating.

Naruto was no longer simply dodging and countering, he was coming right at her, and with the speed advantage he had over her he was taking sniping shots at her, pushing right through any guard she could put up. No mercy just because she was a girl, he knew that a woman could flatten him just as fast as any male could.

Hurrying to the scene of the fight, Samui went to retrieve her sword while Omoi went in to bail her out of trouble directly.

Naruto backed away after a slash from Omoi got him to leave Karui alone. Omoi helped her steady herself, all the while keeping his eyes dialed on Naruto, "Karui are you alright?"

Karui gave him a weak smile, "I killed one of the bastards, but I think that just pissed him off." Samui arrived alongside them and handed Karui her katana back, "I needed this."

She righted herself and stood on her own power, "This guy isn't even using his demon's chakra and he's been beating the crap out of us. He wouldn't go that far in a spar right?"

Samui held out her short blade, "He shouldn't, but it shouldn't matter. Kirabi-sensei has used the Hachibi's chakra against us and he is far more powerful than Uzumaki."

Naruto must have heard this and taken offense to it because he immediately came rushing in, ninjato drawn back for an attack. Samui took the brunt of the attack as she stepped out and defended for her team while Karui and Omoi flanked him and attempted to cut into him. Naruto let one hand off of his sword and drew a kunai to block the two other Kumo nin's blades.

Currently stuck in a deadlock, it amazed all of Team Samui how this boy was able to hold all three of them off all by himself at the same time. As the sliding of metal was the prevalent noise in the valley a low hissing noise could be heard. Omoi immediately knew what the sound was, but he couldn't believe it, "No… No way… No one's that insane…"

Naruto grinned maniacally as on the front of his shirt there was an explosive note, burned almost all the way through. His grinning face mouthed the word 'boom' as Omoi and Karui stopped their attack on Naruto and rushed to relieve Samui from Naruto's attack, pulling her away and sprinting swiftly from him as a massive explosion rang out, engulfing Naruto and shocking his opponents.

Karui's eyes widened as the flames died down, leaving a small scorch mark on the ground, "He, he blew himself up."

Omoi, had bitten down on his sucker and spat out the stick, "This guy is crazy… Even if that was some kind of trick, that explosion was real, he could have blown himself up."

Samui kept her eyes peeled for anything, not believing the fight was over just like that. There was no way it was that easy. Who blows themselves up in a spar anyway? No, he was still around, but where?

Chuckles were projected throughout the valley as all three members were looking frantically for Naruto, "Congratulations. You beat my team of Kage Bunshin."

Panting came from the team as they craned their necks about, trying to identify where Naruto was. They had just been beaten down by mere Kage Bunshin, not even with the real one mixed within. He hadn't even shown himself since the fight started. They all went back to back in order to search more effectively, but still could find nothing. Karui yelled out, hoping to get him to expose himself, "Come out and fight us you coward!"

After a second his voice was heard again, "Now why would I want to do a thing like that? It's three-on-one. Who attacks head on when it's three-on-one? Besides, it's a ninja's job to fight from the shadows. While I myself enjoy a good fight every now and then, I love it when my opponents never see me coming just as much. It means I'm actually doing my job the right way."

The valley went silent once more as a subtle amount of killing intent washed over them from Naruto. Not enough for them to choke on, but enough to make them believe that if they couldn't find him they would pay dearly for it, in other words, just enough to make them panic.

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Skill)"

Naruto's hands burst from the ground between all of them and latched on to Karui and Omoi's legs while Samui got away, he only had two hands after all. He swiftly dragged them underground up to their heads. When Samui saw her teammates both temporarily taken out of commission she ran over to free them until Naruto burst from the ground right by them.

Omoi wriggled, trying to get free, "When did you place yourself underground?"

Naruto frowned at them, "People are pretty predictable in fights. Whenever there's a definite center of the fighting area people love taking the center of it. I set the jutsu up the moment I made clones in the smokescreen, all I had to do was wait for you to beat them all because I knew you'd take the center of our platform while you looked for me afterwards."

He kneeled down and patted Karui on the head, pulling his hand back before she bit him, "I should pat myself on the back. I've never even been here before and I was still able to use the terrain to my advantage in order to manipulate the battle."

Karui smirked at him, "We're not done… Raiton: Enryuu Jiseitai (Lightning Release: Body of Electric Flow)!" The ground around herself and Omoi loosened up as they burst from their place and attacked Naruto, not even bothering to use their swords.

Omoi went low with a sliding kick while Karui ran at Naruto high, "Lariat!" She lashed out at Naruto with her entire arm, attempting to take out his head with her bicep. Naruto took a chance and ducked low, launching himself at Omoi leading with the crown of his head, crashing into the boy's face as he slid towards him. The two rolled forward with Omoi landing on his feet and Naruto ending up on his back, holding onto one of Omoi's arms. While he held a grip on the white-haired boy, pulling him in as he shot an upkick at his face, nailing him right under the chin.

Omoi stumbled back but Naruto kipped up off of his back high into the air to deliver a falling haymaker to Omoi's face before he could recover. Naruto knew that he had hit Omoi perfectly on that shot as he felt the boy go limp the second he made contact, 'One down.'

Karui went back to where they had burst from the ground and tried to retrieve her sword until a sharp kick to her back sent her flying on her face. Naruto was simply standing guard by the hole with the swords in them until Samui re-entered the fight. Her short sword cut him on his arm, forcing him to curse himself for not being more attentive to his surroundings, he was fighting multiple opponents after all.

Samui wasn't allowing him to reach for his kunai to fight back like he did before so it was a strictly dodging game for the boy. He grimaced sharply as shuriken embedded themselves in his back, and that painful distraction led to him taking a cut across his chest before he could back away.

Naruto got some space and got the two girls in his sights, sighing as he dabbed at the slash on his chest, "I liked this shirt… Why do my shirts always get cut to ribbons when I fight people with swords and sharp things?" Shrugging to himself when he didn't receive a response he saw Karui moving for her katana again. Seeing Samui move to watch her back while she went for it, a little misdirection was called for in this circumstance.

Naruto made seven kage bunshin and handed off kunai from his own pouch to them all. Three of the Kage Bunshin chucked the weapons at Samui, forcing her to dodge aside while the other four threw them at Karui, who took refuge in the hole with her sword in it. She smirked as she re-emerged, but the smirk died when she saw the sadistic one gracing Naruto's face.

Both girls saw him attempting a string of hand-signs. When Samui went to intercept him his clones cut her off at the pass and forced her to defend herself instead of her red-haired teammate. Meanwhile Naruto finished his hand-signs, "Raiton: Denkai (Lightning Release: Electric Field)! You're stuck!"

Karui tried to escape the electric prison and yelped as volts of electricity flew through her body when she touched the edge of the barrier. She looked over and saw Naruto's clones, who honestly couldn't engage Samui for long in direct combat, keeping her on her toes and preventing her from stopping Naruto, who had to remain stationary while holding the final hand-sign.

Naruto whistled sharply to Karui to get her attention away for attempts to escape, "I can make this jutsu much nastier with five more hand-signs. You should give up now before I decide to just use the branch techniques I have from here, this is checkmate for you."

Karui reluctantly conceded defeat and Naruto dropped the jutsu to allow her to go to the unconscious Omoi so they could leave the immediate area and allow Naruto to fight Samui alone. Naruto got back in his taijutsu stance and watched Samui do the same, "I could ask you to surrender now, but I won't. You know by now not to hold back on me, so I'll skip that part. Let's get right to the fighting shall we?"

"Raiton: Raikyu (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball)!" Samui quickly gathered lighting chakra in her hands and launched an electric orb at Naruto.

The defending blonde quickly made hand signs, held the last seal, and stomped his foot on the ground, "Fuuton: Fuugekitai Kabe (Wind Release: Wind Repel Wall)!" A spherical wave of wind came from Naruto's body in all directions, forcing Samui's jutsu to dissipate. Naruto came rushing in head on to attack her.

Samui drew her short blade once again, ready to test herself against the real Naruto this time. His rush was so basic she timed her first swing in conjuncture with the speed he was running at, timing it for just when he got into her range.

With a smirk on his face, Naruto pushed wind chakra from the front of his body to immediately halt himself just outside of the range of her longest swing. Stopping on a dime the way he did, it was too late for her as she had put everything into the one clean shot she thought she was going to get. This left her dangerously over-exposed and off balance, allowing her to disarm her and flip her to the ground.

She tried to start another jutsu but Naruto jumped over her prone body while in the air and linked his fists together before thrusting them out, "We're done! Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"

Samui uncharacteristically screamed in pain as she felt a crushing pressure push down on her form from above, locking her in place and forming a shallow crater the shape of Naruto's linked fists and the size of two human bodies. As the force subsided she coughed up blood and stayed in place as she found a knee situated on her belly and a kunai to her throat.

As she looked up at Naruto with cold blue eyes she found him looking down at her with the same. Sighing, she finally spoke, "I yield… You win."

Naruto's eyes lit up as he smiled and helped her to her feet. By now Karui and Omoi were able to get up and had made their way over to the other two. Karui rubbed her arm and looked away sheepishly, "Damn, we barely even scratched the real you. How did you beat us like that?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "When I was little I was trained to be an assassination specialist in addition to heavy combat, which was my main focus, this is the kind of thing that I'm good at. I didn't even use many of my higher profile ninjutsu because they're really dangerous and are intended to scar and kill."

Omoi gave Naruto a goofy grin, "I couldn't even come up with a strategy to use against you fast enough. You were too good at disguising your movements so I couldn't come up with a real idea that could flush you out. When you were out in the open you were all over us."

Samui walked close to Naruto, putting him somewhat on guard; hey, no one likes it when people suddenly walk up on you. After a moment she gave him a small smile, "We really need to work don't we? You beat us so easily you didn't leave any doubt about the outcome didn't you?"

Naruto sighed, "If it was a real fight instead of a spar you would have all attacked me when the fight started instead of underestimating me and that would have made the bout more interesting and closer. I'm not saying you would have won, but this still helped me out. From experience, S-rank ninja are somewhat arrogant, even to other S-ranked ninja, and they probably would have done the same thing that you did."

"Whoa! Mr. 9 I have to say, that battle of yours sure made my day!"

Naruto involuntarily twitched as a familiar voice from yesterday rang out from the peaks surrounding their ring. Naruto turned to Samui with a slightly perturbed look, "Ugh… I knew he was watching this the entire time, I could feel him. Why is he here?"

Samui raised an eyebrow at the actions of the one who had just defeated her entire team, "Omoi already told you. Kirabi-sensei lives here. It's not that hard to believe that he saw the fight. His home is right there." Samui pointed up at the house that was seemingly dangling from one of the peaks.

Kirabi shunshined next to all of the younger ninja and clapped Naruto on the shoulder, "I had to pinch myself like some kind of dream, I thought there was no way that you'd beat my team!"

Naruto's twitch became more pronounced, "Please stop rhyming…"

Kirabi ignored him, grinning the entire time, "No can do Mr. 9! The Killa' Bee can't fight the rhyme!" He turned to his team, "Now that you all saw how this kid came to play, what did we all learn today?"

They all took this as a normal occurrence, while Naruto wanted to bash his head in with something blunt, 'Don't start a war, don't start a war, don't start a war.'

Omoi looked at his sensei, "Don't judge a book by its cover. We all thought that because he was younger than us we were stronger. We didn't even care that he was a jinchuuriki like we found out yesterday, just that he was a kid."

Naruto grumbled, "I'm not strong because I'm a jinchuuriki you know. It helps, but I'm strong because I damn near killed myself, almost literally, for years to get this good. I'm not even that good at using my biju's chakra. That was all me just now. The Kyuubi always said he wouldn't tolerate a weak container."

Naruto looked up at Kirabi, "The Kyuubi also said to stay the hell away from you in a fight, because you would completely smash me the second I turned it into a biju pissing contest… You have unrivaled control over yours, I can only handle three tails worth of Kyuubi's without going insane. *sigh* Why did I say that out loud?"

Kirabi's grin widened when Naruto admitted that, "To admit that kid, your balls area made of brass. Acknowledging that I can kick your ass."

Naruto frowned at him, "You're older than me by like twenty years. You have at least thirty years of experience with yours. You may have unrivaled control over the Hachibi, but I make up for that in my own way." He clinched his fists at his side, "I try to do as much fighting as I can without relying on anything from Kyuubi. I only bring any of my skills that it provides out into the open when I truly have no other choice. Most of the other jinchuuriki on record just use their demons to flat out annihilate anyone in their way without developing their own skills too much, Suna's jinchuuriki is like that, I beat him in his fully transformed state without even really tapping into Kyuubi's chakra, and I had other disadvantages too that I'm not going to get into."

Karui looked at Naruto strangely. Beating a jinchuuriki is no joke, even for another jinchuuriki. This kid did it without even using his demon to match power. They all knew how Suna's jinchuuriki was repelled during the invasion of Konoha, but information on how it happened was scarce, and now, looking at the kid that was claiming to be the one that stopped him singlehandedly, she realized just how far out of their league they really were when they challenged him, "How are you still a chunin? With power like that you should be a jounin like Kirabi-sensei or Yugito."

Naruto shrugged, "That's what I've been saying for months, but Tsunade-baachan seems to think I need to stop and smell the flowers so to speak because she didn't fast track me after I beat all of best genin into the dirt without taking a shot. Hopefully I can get some serious missions to convince her to promote me."

Samui bowed to Naruto, making the boy sweat-drop in discomfort, "Thank you for sparring with our team Uzumaki-san, you've showed us how much further we need to go."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he looked away from the bowing girl, as the urge to stare down her shirt was nagging at the back of his mind… or was that the Kyuubi? "You don't need to bow to me Samui. And please just call me Naruto, honorifics kind of piss me off."

Samui rose back up, "Whatever you want Naruto-san."

His sweat-drop got more pronounced, "It's a start I guess…" Naruto looked at all of the Kumo ninja, "So are we going back to Kumo now? Because my squad leader Genma is going to be pissed when he can't find me. I can already smell the reprimands that I'll be getting when this mission is over. Nothing like getting your butt chewed out to make you feel like a kid."

Naruto looked around in order to get his bearings and took off in the direction that he figured was Kumo. Omoi walked up to his sensei as they all watched the blonde boy leave the vicinity, "Kirabi-sensei, why didn't you ask to fight Naruto? I thought you would have been all over that."

Kirabi looked at his student and ruffled his hair, "There was no need little Omoi. I already knew I could beat that boy. He said it himself, with my experience and power, he'd have been in the hospital in half an hour."

Karui held her ribs, "Man that guy hits hard. Are you sure sensei? The only person that I remember ever hitting me any harder than him was you, and this was a spar between foreign ninja. I'd say he would have pasted my organs if we were fighting for real."

Samui and Omoi moved to help her walk out of the valley while the blonde girl chipped in with her own input, "Naruto-san stated it himself, he couldn't beat Kirabi-sensei in a real fight. Sensei has way more experience and raw power at his disposal. It was big of him to actually admit it. Though I am still confused as to why you didn't fight him Kirabi-sensei. You were never one to turn down a potential challenge."

"It's because even your sensei isn't crazy enough to go against Raikage-sama, brother or not."

Yugito appeared from behind one of the peaks to meet up with her fellow Kumo nin, "A fight between the jinchuuriki of different countries is not something that should be done outside of the battlefield, even this small fight that you all had is somewhat pushing it. Jinchuuriki are not only weapons, they are political tools, and with the Konoha delegate in town a fight between either of us and Naruto could end badly for the relations of our villages regardless of the outcome."

Kirabi acknowledged his fellow jinchuuriki, "Yugito-chan, watching Mr. 9's fight too? You do know that he could see you?"

Yugito blew off the large man, "He could see you too. I was never hiding, I just wanted to see him fight. I'd been following since the others picked him up in town." A smirk came to her lips, "He's very good. I do think he would have still had the energy to go a few rounds with one of us if he had stuck around or was allowed to fight. He fought a very conservative style. All things considered he really didn't use that much chakra as far as jinchuuriki are concerned."

Kirabi grinned, "Looks like you've taken a shine to Mr. 9! If that look on your face is any sign."

Yugito narrowed her eyes at Kirabi, "I just said he was strong. He's younger than me, I could never be into a kid like that."

"**I don't know kitten. Five years isn't that much of an age difference is it?"** Yugito blinked at the voice in her mind.

'Nibi shut up! He's just a kid! A kid that could kill three-fifths of the people standing here yes, but still just a kid!' All Yugito got was a chuckle from the back of her mind.

"**Whatever you say kitten… Acting like his fight didn't turn you on just a bit."** Yugito blushed and walked away before anyone could see it. Samui however, caught it before she could get away and narrowed her eyes.

XxX

(In Konoha)

Sakura stood with her hands hovering over a fish and glowing green. The focus on her face was intense as she attempted to bring it back to life through use of Shosen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique), taught to her due to her training under Tsunade.

Sakura had been confused at first after Team 7 had been for all intents and purposes disbanded following Naruto's promotion and downright distraught following Sasuke's defection to Orochimaru so it gave her somewhat of a pickup when she was told that she was to be the first selected to train in the new medic-nin program set up by Tsunade. This meant that she was trained and overseen directly by the legendary slug sannin herself.

A small smile came to her face as she recalled asking why she had been chosen, let alone the first chosen, to be in the program. She remembered the smirking face of her master telling her to credit it to Naruto.

"Hey pinky!"

Sakura broke her concentration to look over at the Oto kunoichi that was captured by Naruto during the retrieval mission, Tayuya she was told her name was, "What do you want?" Sakura stated in a cold tone. She knew that the girl was under direct protection of Tsunade due to the copious amounts of information she handed out after being caught during the retrieval mission, and also that Tsunade told her that any attempts to cause physical harm to the girl would end with Naruto breaking his foot off in her ass, she had finally come to terms with the fact that Naruto was one-hundred percent willing and sure as hell able to go through with such a thing on his 'Sakura-chan'. Not that he had even called her that since after the invasion.

However she also somewhat blamed her for getting Sasuke out of the country and into Orochimaru's hands. It was a useless grudge right then anyway; even if Naruto wasn't around to beat her ass for harming Tayuya she wasn't too sure she could pull it off herself anyway. Instead she treated the girl with cold indifference, which suited Tayuya just fine anyway, if you didn't like her she wasn't going to fall all over herself to change your mind.

Tayuya shrugged off her tone, "Tsunade sent me to tell you to rest for now. It's time for you to knock off for the day."

Sakura frowned and nodded, "Why do you call me pinky and yet call Tsunade-shishou by her name."

Tayuya smirked, "I may be pretty vulgar and everything, but I know well enough to not piss off people that can kill me, and that Tsunade lady sure as hell can. The only reason I don't call shithead by his real name is because he let me call him shithead and get away with it."

Sakura sweat-dropped as she heard Tayuya's name for Naruto, although calling him a baka as if it were his given name for roughly four years and trying to wail on him didn't really seem better. Kami, why didn't he ever kill her with his bare hands again?

XxX

Elsewhere in Konoha, Team Gai was still hard at work training their skills, even during the waning light of sundown. Tenten and Neji were seated off to the side as the brown-eyed kunoichi was starting to lose her patience, "Lee! Gai-sensei! Can we please go home now? Maybe you two can train until you can't even see your nose in front of your face, but both me and Neji have things to do back home!"

Gai halted the ongoing spar between him and his clone-like pupil, "My dear student Tenten, our flames of youth will light the darkness of the night! I am simply instructing Lee on how to defeat his eternal rival, a struggle that I myself can understand and respect!"

Neji rolled his pupil-less eyes, "Yes, I understand he wants to beat me, but do I really have to be here to witness him training to do so?"

Lee, who was stuck in his stance waiting on Gai, blinked blankly and stood straight up, "I am sorry Neji-kun, but despite my desire to overcome you in battle you are no longer my rival."

Neji almost dropped his jaw in shock ,but his Hyuuga stoicism kept him for breaking into joyous dance and jinxing himself, "Really? Who is your rival now then? Do I know him?"

Lee's eyes burned with literal fiery intensity, "Naruto-kun! The way he simply defeated you all effortlessly, and dispatched an opponent that I myself was being overwhelmed by when he interfered! He even made defeating Sasuke-kun look easy even while he was under the cursed seal's influence… He is truly the measuring stick of which I will need to compare my flames if I ever want to achieve my goal of being a splendid taijutsu using ninja!"

Neji nodded outwardly while on the inside he had already started making plans to build a small shrine to the blonde destroyer of men, 'Naruto Uzumaki you have already freed me from one burden, one that I was sure would follow me even beyond death unlike my seal. I now have no doubts about your ability to change the Hyuuga Clan in time.'

Tenten sweat-dropped and then began worrying for her blonde friend's future sanity, "Lee… Just don't bug him too much. I don't want Naruto-kun to kill you to get the voices out of his head." Neji smirked at hearing Tenten call Naruto '-kun' and was about to call her on it before Lee broke into a 'youthful' rant.

However it was too late. Lee had gone off on a tangent, "Yosh! I will challenge Naruto-kun to a challenge of his choice upon his return to Konoha just to prove that I can defeat him! And if I cannot win I will carry each of my teammates up and down the Hokage Monument one-hundred times each, and if I cannont do that I will-."

While Gai stood alongside him crying tears of pride, Tenten and Neji simply walked off towards their homes… This could continue on for hours and it was already getting dark.

XxX

(Back in Kumogakure – Nightfall)

Genma stood over Naruto, who was seated on his bed with a firm gaze affixed on his displeased superior. Rolling his senbon in his mouth he sighed heavily, "Kid you seriously need to let us know when you're going to go somewhere and you don't think you'll beat us back to the hotel. We almost had a mini freak-out about where you were until you came ambling back in."

Naruto knew he deserved this. In his defense he didn't know he was actually leaving the village altogether when he decided to take up Team Samui on their invitation to spar, but still, that was no excuse.

Naruto sat through Genma's half-hearted tirade. Honeslty he knew it really wasn't Naruto's fault… fully, but he still had to get it into the kid's head that things like this couldn't happen on missions. What if there were people actively trying to kill them?

Naruto took the lecture with a grain of salt. He wasn't mad at Genma, he was the leader of the mission, and what do leaders do when easily preventable mistakes are made? You chew someone's butt out. Naruto could now see why he wasn't ready to be a jounin, he was still working like was flying solo. Sure he spoke to his team, and was on good terms with them all. He listened to them, seeing as how they were his seniors and wouldn't go against orders from them, but he was still used to being left to his own devices, doing things at his own pace and in his own way, things like that.

When it came to actual team situations not even his dobe self had much experience. When Team 7 had missions things ended up with them usually doing their own thing, and doing their own thing usually ended up with Naruto being by himself, very little teamwork utilized. Oh well, he had plenty of time to fix that now that he was in a situation where he could learn about it.

Genma sat down on his bed and sighed, "Kid you are just a massive headache. This whole thing was supposed to be like a giant vacation, and now I'm playing den mother to your twisted ass."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Sorry for being different Genma. I suppose you'd rather I be a cookie-cutter design ninja, a.k.a cannon fodder, or a loud punk with more mouth than skill."

The tokubetsu jounin smirked at Naruto, "I don't know kid, you seem to have a lot of mouth to me."

In return, Naruto grinned at him, "I never said I didn't. But the comparison was more mouth than skill, I'm pretty sure that if I talk about something I can back it up."

XxX

Omoi, Karui, and Samui, following the spar with Naruto, were escorted by Yugito to the hospital for the beating that they took from Naruto. Omoi ended up with a mild concussion a cracked jaw, and a nasty shiner. Karui had bruised ribs, a few marks on her face that would take a few days to fully fade, and an injured wrist. Samui had light internal injuries and a mark on her torso in the shape of a thirteen year old boy's fist.

Karui was limping lightly as they all walked with one another towards each of their respective homes for the night, "That guy beat the crap out of us… I haven't been beaten like that by anyone our age ever."

Omoi mumbled a response, "He did tell us to take him seriously, it's not like he didn't warn us."

Karui glared at him, but couldn't physically do anything because they were both pretty hurt, "I know that dumbass. Hindsight is 20/20 isn't it? I still can't believe Naruto is a jinchuuriki. He doesn't fight anything like Kirabi-sensei or Yugito."

Samui nodded, "Kirabi-sensei is more of an overwhelming force of nature in battle. Naruto-san is something more akin to a skill fighter, he only engaged us directly when he had determined exactly how much effort was required to defeat us all with minimum damage. According to the people at the hospital he never showed up there, that means a few shallow cuts in his body that weren't even worth healing were all we inflicted on him."

Karui let out an incredulous noise, "That's so cool though. He's our age and he's just like Kirabi-sensei, without the lame-ass rapping."

Omoi mumbled through his jaw, "He's still not stronger than Kirabi-sensei though. Do you think he could put up a fight against Yugito?"

Samui smiled lightly, "I don't know. He's pretty cool though."

Karui's jaw went slack at her female teammate's statement, "S-Samui he's two years younger than us! And he's not even from this country, he's from Konoha! How can you think anything like that about him?"

She shrugged and rolled her shoulders, "I can think what I want about him. Who cares how old he is? That kind of thinking is what got us beaten so thoroughly in the first place, remember?" As they arrived at her house she started to walk towards her front door, "I wonder if he's any good at giving massages…"

Karui stared at Samui as she went inside, "She's not serious right? She's joking isn't she?"

Omoi shook his head and patted her on the shoulder to get her to move along.

Nearby however, a middle age man with black hair wearing a Kumo hitae-ate stopped and looked at the young ninja, having eavesdropped on their conversations, and clinched his fists in anger.

XxX

(Several Hours Later)

Due to a lull in the meetings, Homura instructed his guards that they were free to do as they wished until he called for them, be it in a few hours or a few days. Well Kotetsu and Izumo were banking on a few days seeing as how they bragged loudly to Genma, who decided to join them, and Naruto about how they were going to go get loaded and laid later that night.

Naruto simply gave them a simple glance and stated in a deadpan voice that if they had to brag to a 13 year old kid about _possibly_ getting some then there was something wrong with them. The two chunin slinked out of the room with a proverbial raincloud over their heads, amid much laughter from their squad leader. This however did not prevent them from heading out and making an attempt, but Naruto had to make one more crack.

"Going shopping for the gift that keeps on giving are we? Well just remember, soak your balls in rubbing alcohol at the end of the night. It kills stuff like that. And stay the hell away from me for a week, if I catch something out of simply being in your presence I'll kill you both."

Genma waited for the two to leave before raising a questioning eyebrow to Naruto, "Will that shit really work?"

Naruto snorted in amusement, "Fuck no, but I guarantee that their drunk asses will try it later, and we'll know when they do, trust me."

But I digress. Naruto had long since retired for the night, without imbibing in the alcoholic influences of nighttime living the way his teammates were out and about in an attempt to do. After fighting an entire team, no matter how little damage you take, the adrenaline from the fight will end up making you somewhat tired after the fight and thus the young blonde had no qualms about heading straight to sleep after being left alone for the evening.

XxX

Kenta Marechiyo had to watch as Kumo backed down from war with Konoha during the Hyuuga Incident eight years ago. While a lot of Kumo's higher ups were upset that the plan failed, and most of the general population were pissed off at the higher ups for almost forcing another war. However this held different water when it came to Kenta, as it was his older brother that had been sent over to go through with the plan.

Kenta had accompanied him and had been promised that it would be a cakewalk, as he didn't have to actually bring down a full grown Hyuuga, all he had to do was kidnap one of the little girls to bring back and, for lack of a better term, breed. Too bad for him the little girl he took was the daughter of the clan head… and the clan head came looking for him… and he kicked his ass and killed him.

So when Kumo pushed for Hiashi Hyuuga's death and his body to be sent over to Kumo he felt his brother had actually died for something, until he realized that Kumo had been gypped and that they were sent a Branch Hyuuga, Hiashi's brother, instead. Kenta was enraged that Konoha had fleeced the village that way. He held his grudge long after anyone else from Kumo dropped theirs, and when he learned from those kids that Konoha's jinchuuriki was here he had to take this chance to cripple the village that held his hatred.

It was excruciatingly easy to find out which hotel housed the Konoha group, everyone knew that they were there by now so there was no real secrecy about their presence. Hell, even finding their hotel rooms were simple, the only one he couldn't get access to or info on was the VIP room which was okay with him, he wanted the jinchuuriki.

Picking the lock was child's play and upon entering the room he grinned as he realized that there was only one person there. In the moonlight he saw a small blonde boy, but upon seeing the whisker marks on his face he brandished his kunai and stalked forward. Time to take a shot at Konoha.

As he moved the kunai towards the boy's neck the boy's hand shot out and held his hand in an iron like grip.

"Yeah… Don't do that." Naruto's eyes slowly focused on the man standing over him, "Hello assassin. Not what you were expecting am I?"

The man couldn't draw his eyes away from the stone cold blue eyes that seemed to bore into his brain. Trying to pull his kunai away from the deceivingly strong boy he tried to stall, "How did you know I was here?"

Naruto huffed through his nose and broke the man's wrist, forcing him to drop the kunai, "You tripped my wire." He motioned his eyes to a wire wrapped around his finger, set up in front of the doorway and by the window, "Now let's kill you and be done with it shall we?"

The man hissed in pain and cocked his other fist back to slug the brat in the face before he ended up catching a bare foot to the face that sent him flying back into the door of the room. Naruto stood up in a crouch on his bed and smirked at the man, "You're so fucked, I'm telling!" Naruto said in a childish way before fleeing through the open window.

The man growled and gave chase. If that little bastard actually made it to the Raikage's office he _was_ dead. It wouldn't matter that his brother was so highly ranked before his death, as the current Raikage was against the entire plan altogether back in the day. It was common knowledge around the ninja population that the man was almost fanatical when it came to his hatred of Konoha, so it could be easily stated that he tried to kill their jinchuuriki.

As he ran across the rooftops the Kenta panicked. He gave Naruto at least ten good seconds to disappear before he gave chase. Whether he knew it or not, ten seconds was seven seconds too long to give Naruto when you wanted to directly capture him. Cursing at himself for his own stupidity to allow the boy time to get away he attempted to head straight to the tower to cut the boy off at the pass.

When he reached near the tower some odd five minutes later he grinned to himself, the boy hadn't arrived or else the alarm would have been sounded, and a chuckle almost came from his throat as he saw the boy land nearby on the same rooftop, "Looks like you're not too fast boy."

Naruto grinned sheepishly at the man, "I guess not huh? Oh well, it's not important how fast I go anyway."

Kenta gripped a kunai in his unbroken hand, "Oh really? So I'm guessing with talk like that, you don't mind if I kill you."

Naruto shook his head, grin still in place, "Well I don't know what you want with me but I don't care if you kill me." He saw the man coil to attack, "Because I'm just a motherfucking decoy. Say cheese!" Naruto pointed off to the side where another Naruto smiled and burst into smoke.

XxX

(Meanwhile)

Elsewhere, Naruto had found the mansion of the Yotsuki clan and was already inside, having been invited inside by A quickly after being surrounded by ninja, and was currently seated in his study, "Hmm, well he definitely had intent to end my life."

A shook his head at the boy in front of him, "And how do you know this? As a matter of fact Uzumaki-san, why didn't you just kill him flat out?"

Narutot grinned cheekily, "Well my original plan actually was to just kill him and _then_ tell you what happened, but I have a feeling that wouldn't have worked out too well for my Konoha contingent. Are your ninja on him yet?"

A nodded, "I sent them out right when you told me about this assassin. Kumo has no involvement in this man's actions, I hope you don't hold this against us, trust me, he will be punished for this. His hatred for Konoha has gone on for too long, this could have been seen as an act of war if he had succeeded. He'll be executed. Good riddance, the last remnants of an outdated era."

Naruto waved it off, "I get it. It's no big deal Raikage-sama, if people in Konoha try to kill me I guess I should expect it elsewhere too huh? Hey, could I handle his punishment?"

A nodded and sweatdropped as an evil smirk came to Naruto's face, 'Man, this kid is weird, and not the weird that I'm used to. Now if he burst out into rhyme, that would be familiar…'

XxX

(The Next Morning)

"AHHHHH!"

As a loud pair of screams ripped through the hotel, Naruto awoke from his slumber with a smile on his face and looked over at Genma who was looking out the window with a cup of coffee in his hand, "Good morning Genma! Have a good night last night?"

Genma looked over at Naruto and frowned somewhat, "I'm nursing a bit of a hangover kid. So what did you do when we left last night?"

Naruto sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Oh not much; meditated for a bit, I went to bed, got attacked by an assassin, and went back to bed. Yeah, it was pretty boring."

Genma looked over in surprise but simply ended up shaking his head, "I swear to Kami kid, the shit that you get into just by being around… I can't even reprimand you because you don't do anything."

Naruto scratched his head as he walked to the bathroom, "Tell me about it." Naruto poked his head out back through the door with a grin, "Oh, and clear your schedule for today, I've got something for you guys to see."

* * *

**Took a while to post when compared to my usual speed, but that is because I have just read the second best book I've ever read in my life and it was awesome, Be Ready When The Shit Goes Down: A Survival Guide To The Apocalypse by Forrest Griffin is fucking amazingly hilarious. His other book Got Fight is better, but this one is damn good too.**

**Anywho, I'll wrap up the time in Kumo next chapter and hell, I might even post two chapters at the same time next time out, because I'm nice like that. No need to thank me in advance, it is a labor of love…**

**Okay, fucking thank me in advance and then when I do it. Your paragon of light commands you!**

**Ah-hem… Anyway, read and review, and enjoy your weekend.**

**Also to those of you that follow MMA I am thinking of making a stupid bet, but the odds are soooo overwhelming that if I win I am getting paid! Tomorrow night Anderson Silva, the UFC Middleweight Champion will be fighting Chael Sonnen. And the odds against Sonnen are so bad that if I fucking put in twenty bucks and win I'll have a sweet little chunk of cash to go back to school with. It is a dumbass long shot, but I have faith that a hamstring tear, a meteor with pinpoint accuracy, or some other freak injury will occur at the opportune time and net Sonnen a win somehow. I'm a risk taker… a bad one, but a risk taker nonetheless.**

**Naruto's Kyuubified form is kind of kickass to me. And Gai is finally going to fight Kisame once and for all. For God's sake do not fucking kill Gai off to piss Naruto off and wipe Kisame off of their plane of existence. The world needs more youth. Speaking of Gai, I still want him to check out the Falls of Truth, and I was disappointed when it was interrupted, I smelled comedy gold and now want it delivered. DO YOU HEAR ME KISHIMOTO? DELIVER! **

***clears throat* Too much testosterone… Kenchi out.**

**P.S. Credit is due to VynosNeptune for his Custom Elemental Ninjutsu postings. Very helpful stuff.**


	17. One Bad Little Boy

Review Shoutouts

**griffin blackwood: New fans of mine are always welcome!**

**Murasaki Tsukimaru: Like I always say; fighting fair is for people that don't know how to avoid losing correctly.**

**Narutomaniac: How could I fix that? It was a part of the storyline before I started the story. And that is an incredibly good point, that is definitely something to think on when I write another fic. Thanks for reviewing.**

**dragonshaun9: It's okay, I've been bitching about the lack of quality reads these days too. Good stuff is getting harder to find. And when I found out about the statistics I dropped a few chapters ago I just had to share my pain with the world. Misery loves company.**

**golfaholic: All those questions and more will be answered on Dragonball Z! **

***coughs* I mean, The Sealed Kunai!**

**DonutBeagle: Yes, he's kind of enigmatic like that. He was twisted near the end, but his intentions were always for Konoha, which makes him interesting to write. Danzo will be a major player in the future.**

**PhoenixFTW: You can rant, rants are cool. They up my review count and are oftentimes awesome to read so feel free to rant when you review. I'm always reading.**

**Dark Lord Namikaze: It shall be done…**

**sabl: They will fight eventually, and I will make it utterly epic, but it ain't coming for a while. Enjoy in the future.**

**dbtiger: I won't be giving Naruto the training with Kirabi, at least not yet. He needs to fuck with the seal for him to get more control, like what Jiraiya tried to do and failed epically trying and like what he did at the Falls of Truth.**

**You will fear my laser face: Damn you… I will get your respect one of these days!**

**DaveInACave: That is an epic idea that must be utilized. **

**greywizard-dumblemort: He's a smartass outside of fighting and so am I, so if I have done that, it's subconsciously done, not intentionally. And I like to keep things as realistic as I can in a story where preteens learn how to spit fireballs and kill people for money.**

**He wanted to kick Jiraiya's ass, keyword is '**_**wanted to'**_**, you know how you say things like 'I'll kick such-and-such's ass'? It's like that. You say that you'll do it, but you know that either you'll never get the opportunity or that the person you speak of would turn you into a chunky puddle if you tried. His skills will increase in the wind department soon, I'll be all over that before you even realize it.**

**Aarik076: I have tons of cousins and uncles that have done military service in various branches, my father as well, and I work with people that punch others in the face for a living. The combined influences of the two end up with a bastardized sense of humor coming from both sides, thus you have me. Ain't I lucky?**

**battousai222: I guess throwing in a scene where Naruto actually trains would be prudent wouldn't it? The seals will come, as I have promised, no worries.**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Anderson Silva however, does own Chael Sonnen, as is evident by the fact that my 20 bucks are now owned by the bookie that I placed the bet with. What I'm saying is that I don't own jizzy-jack. Now on with the chapter!

**Chapter 16: One Bad Little Boy**

* * *

"**Kit have I ever mentioned that you're my favorite container ever?"** The Kyuubi stated with a grin. Ever since it had found out what Naruto had planned for his would-be assassin's execution he was all smiles.

Naruto rolled his eyes once again as he made his way towards the Raikage Tower, 'I'm pretty sure that I'm your only container. And seriously, _this_ is why you think I'm great? Not because I took you out of that musty cage, not because I gave you free reign to run roughshod over my mindscape village, and not because I let you see what I see, feel what I feel, and all the nine yards. No, the reason you think I'm awesome is because of my preferred method of execution.'

A vulpine grin that Naruto could just feel inside of his head pulled across the demon lord's lips, **"Exactly." **The Kyuubi chuckled upon hearing Naruto scoff, **"And you **_**would**_** think that you were my only container wouldn't you?"**

Naruto let a look of surprise cross over his face as he almost stopped walking, 'Wait, what? You're saying you've had a jinchuuriki before? Who was it? Were they better than me? And is the fact that only I'm killing the bastard that tried to kill me really a good reason to label me as the best?' He asked the last question almost mockingly.

Kyuubi sighed, **"The first one simply kept me locked up for the most part and never really did anything at all, not even really tried to get any semblance of control, I was just pretty much ignored for the most part. The second one was much the same, she never really willingly tried to come into contact with me and thus my prison, A.K.A. the mindscape in which I am kept, fell into a disheveled state, in other words it deteriorated into the sewer that you first met me in."**

Naruto nodded to what appeared to the people in the streets to be himself as he thought on his prisoner's words, 'True, true… I can see how that would already put me leaps and bounds ahead of them.'

Kyuubi continued, **"Both of them also held the ability to restrain my power. My first jinchuuriki had very close ties to the Shodaime Hokage and with his ability to restrain the biju with his Mokuton he ended up passing off some of the ability to reign me in to that person's already impressive skills. Did you know that my first container sealed me into their own body? I'll tell you those damn mind chains were a real pain in my ass too. The next one was much the same, like I said, only more with the mind chains, and then there was you. Of course I was never used that much, why do you think that Gaara had so many tricks with his biju and you don't? Because every jinchuuriki that Shukaku was sealed in actually used it, it had to develop tricks and add-ons to survive. I was never really used, therefore all I taught you was the Imari, because I never had to come up with anything else. I'm just glad that you had enough imagination to come up with your own stuff."**

'And then there was me…' Naruto repeated in his head, 'What about me?'

Naruto saw the Raikage Tower coming in sight as he continued listening on to the Kyuubi, **"You didn't chain me down to anything. As a matter of fact even after you realized that I was the one that had nearly eradicated your home years ago you still treated me levelly. You not only actually let me see the outside world, you took it upon yourself to renovate the dreary sewer I had been in up to that point. And you have little to no problem giving into your natural bloodlust that comes with the territory of possessing me, even if you do only venture to that damned Forest of Death to indulge me."**

Naruto rolled his eyes, 'Well I can't exactly go around killing random people whenever I want now can I? You'd better love me for what I'm about to do then, because this is going to suck for this guy.' Naruto saw his team standing outside of the tower, two with angry looks on their faces, and the other with a simple bored look on it with a senbon for added effect. Naruto grinned as he walked up, "So I assume the old man had some dealings to work out with Kumo's brass. How's everybody feeling today?"

Kotetsu glared down at the shorter chunin, "You're so lucky that beating the crap out of you would get me thrown in jail kid. You're a right bastard you know that?"

Naruto waved it off, "Hey, I'll bet the alcohol burned the hangover right out of you didn't it? Now you're fit for service today, and you're going to see something cool in a bit. Well, not so much cool as terrifying."

Izumo looked at the boy who was being very cryptic as to why they were there, "What are you talking about Naruto?"

Naruto chuckled, "I was attacked by an assassin last night. The Raikage's going to let me publicly execute him today."

Genma looked at the stunned faces of his older team members, "Naruto I should have known you were so chipper about something today. No wonder you wanted us to come. What are you going to do to the guy?"

Naruto walked up to Genma and whispered in his ear. The tokubetsu jounin looked at the boy and shook his head, "You're crazy kid, I swear."

Naruto grinned up at him, "Being crazy is the only thing that's kept me from going insane." With that, Naruto walked inside the tower and left his team on the outside to ponder amongst themselves.

XxX

A sat at his desk with the now recovered, for the most part, Team Samui standing in front of him. The girl that was the team's namesake stood straight and composed, "Team Samui reporting for a mission Raikage-sama."

A looked at the group of chunin. Karui still had a few bruises on her face, Omoi still had the telltale signs of a broken jaw, and Samui herself, while not showing any signs of outside trauma, still showed her own injuries by the way that she made no real sudden movements, probably due to the soreness of her ribs.

Sighing as he saw the expectant faces of the ninja A spoke, "Denied." He then steeled himself for the shitstorm to come.

"What!" Karui, predictably, was the first one to explode, "What do you mean we can't take any missions? Why? What did we do?"

A rolled his eyes, "If you want to take a D-ranked mission feel free, but I'm not sending you on a mission where there is implied combat. Not in the condition that you're all in, or did you think that I wouldn't find out about your little challenge to Uzumaki? It's kind of hard to hide the existence of the battle when said battle ends up putting you in the hospital."

All of the team had the decency to look sheepish. Before the conversation could continue, the Raikage's secretary knocked on the door and upon hearing a booming 'enter' made her way into the room, "Raikage-sama, you have a Naruto Uzumaki here that says you told him to show up today."

A nodded to the woman, "Go ahead and send him in." His secretary left to fetch Naruto while he turned his attention back to his team of chunin, "Speak of the devil, he's here."

Samui voiced a question, "Raikage-sama, why is Naruto-san coming to see you today?"

A decided to inform his ninja on what the boy was doing there, seeing as how he had somewhat established some sort of relationship with them, "Uzumaki was attacked last night by one of our ninja in his hotel room. Instead of attempting to deal with the man himself he avoided international incident and came directly to me. I have ordered the man be executed, and Uzumaki has asked to perform the service."

Karui gave Naruto a somewhat appalled look, "You _volunteered_ to perform an execution?"

Naruto shrugged, "It was either kill him last night and get into some village relation nightmare scandal, or kill him today. No one tries to assassinate Naruto Uzumaki for personal reasons and lives. If it was a mission I'd still be pissed off about it, but I would have understood, you've gotta do what you've gotta do. This guy was simply related to the guy that tried to kidnap the Hyuuga Heiress a bunch of years ago, had a gripe against Konoha ever since, and decided to try and put down their jinchuuriki to cripple our strength. Personal revenge against me is fine, you just better make sure that you finish me off when you try it or else you'll have hell to pay."

Karui looked at the boy that had just broken into an entire explanation over her question, "Did you know that you are extremely mentally unbalanced? What kind of kid just up and opts to execute people like that?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "In the last year alone I've met a kid who's entire life mission is to kill his older brother who killed his entire clan when he was no older than we are now, a kid that had suppressed aggression issues that he took out on his younger female cousin, a kid that randomly crushed people with sand and called the demon inside of him 'mother', and a kid that walks around outdoors in broad daylight in green spandex, a bowl-cut haircut, and routinely shouts at the top of his lungs about youth while hugging and crying a man that looks like his father only with bigger eyebrows." Naruto put a small smile on his face, "Compared to most of the people I've met I'd say that I'm not that bad at all. If you'd met me six months ago, then you would say that I'm fucking strange, stranger than now so yeah… don't talk to me about weird or unbalanced, little miss 'my sensei routinely breaks into rhyme for no reason whatsoever'." Naruto finished while winking at the girl and clicking his tongue at her.

Karui blushed at way that Naruto had just addressed her while Samui eye twitched faintly at her side. Naruto turned to face A with a smile on his face, "So where's my late night unwanted visitor? I hope you guys didn't break him too badly over the night because I need him fully receptive to pain for what I have planned for him."

A was curious at what exactly a small boy could come up with to kill a prisoner in a public display, "What exactly do you have planned as far as the execution itself goes?" Naruto walked over and whispered his idea in A's ear. A pulled away from him, "What kind of kid comes up with that kind of thing?"

Naruto again shrugged, "All I need is something to hide my identity while I do it, because I don't need people from your village hating me for killing one of its ninja, even if it was warranted." Naruto looked around the office blankly, "You wouldn't happen to have a cloak or something that could cover my appearance would you?"

A made a face and noticed the team that was standing in his office, "Alright, if you kids want a mission I have one for you. Go get Uzumaki here something to cover his identity with before the execution in a bit."

Naruto stood gaping at A. Naruto wasn't dumb, he was well aware of the majority of things that went on around him and by listening to the 'mission' that had just been assigned to a team with two women he had come to a conclusion that he confirmed when he looked over at Team Samui's lone male member looking downtrodden, 'Did he just fucking give them free reign to play dress up with me?'

Naruto opened his mouth to dispute how he didn't need any help, that just a really long cloak would be adequate, when Samui laid a hand on his shoulder and spoke, "Of course Raikage-sama, we'll complete this mission to the best of our ability."

Naruto was then pulled out of the room by Samui and surprisingly even Karui by his hands. Turning back, he saw the smirking face of the Raikage and began cursing him out under his breath as the deep seated chuckles came from the massive man.

XxX

(Two Hours Later)

Arriving back in the tower, Naruto's eyes were well hidden by his new apparel that his female companions so readily picked out for him. Omoi was simply standing in the background with an amused look on his face. Naruto stood in front of the Raikage while the women stood back with satisfied looks on their faces. Samui because she got to see what the new guy looked like underneath his shirt by 'accident', and Karui because she had just spent the last two hours more or less ordering around the guy that had thrashed her soundly the other day.

Naruto's new look was a sleeveless hooded gray vest that draped far enough over his face to cover all of his features, except for his mouth, in shadow, his pants were black and taped off at the ankles, he kept the black bracers on his forearms, and had black shinobi sandals on his feet.

Naruto smirked as he formed a cross symbol with his fingers, "One last touch to my identity, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)." A clone of Naruto sprang into existence and promptly transformed into what he wore when he came to Kumogakure in the first place, "Go and find Genma, Kotetsu, and Izumo and stay with them until the execution is over, then leave the area and dispel so I can change and catch up with them."

His Kage Bunshin nodded and left the room to find his team while the original turned back to A with a toothy grin, shadow covering the rest of his face, "Now where's my victim for the day? Kyuubi's getting testy."

XxX

Naruto sat meditating in his hotel room after carrying out the execution of Kenta Marechiyo. The reason he needed to steady his mind this time? Random happenings of an unexpected nature occurring around his person.

Not to say that the happenings in question were unwanted. No not in the least, they were very welcome as far as he was concerned. But that didn't make them any less strange. The first was what had happened with his Kage Bunshin after he had it leave the premises of the execution site.

_(Flashback – Roughly ten minutes after the execution)_

'_Naruto' had wasted no time in leaving the immediate area after his creator's little show. Dispelling in front of the Kumo shinobi might have blown his cover, which could lead to some ill will from them and maybe even retaliation somewhere down the line at a later time from angry nationalists that might have been thinking that Konoha was trying to push around some political weight that it didn't have._

_Clone Naruto went as far as he could, heading into the residential area of the village where he was positive that no one would see him dispel. In an alley he figured that he was as well concealed as he was going to be when a shadow blocked the alley entrance._

_Sighing to himself the clone focused to see that Samui and Karui had followed him to the alley, "What are you guys doing here? I need to dispel before boss gets caught, people can't realize that I was the one that did all of that yet."_

_Samui looked down for a moment before steeling herself somewhat and walking closer to the clone, "So anything that you know, Naruto will learn after you dispel?" She asked, getting a nod in response, "Well then, when does he leave Kumo?"_

_The clone thought about it for a moment, "I have no clue. I was never told how long we would be staying so your guess is as good as mine. Why do you want to know? And where is Omoi, did you guys ditch him?"_

_Karui walked up, "Omoi said he didn't need to be here for what we wanted to say to you. Say, if you don't have anything to do while you're still in the village why don't you come and find one of us? We can do something with you."_

_Clone Naruto blinked, 'Are they hitting on me? Sweet! Boss himself never even gets hit on and I'm just his freaking clone and two girls are trying it!' Giving the girls a million-dollar smile he gave them an answer, "Sure thing girls, and if you want to talk to me while I'm still here then you know where to find me right?"_

_Both girls nodded as Karui gave him a smile, "That's great! I guess we'll see you around then?"_

'_Naruto' nodded, "Sure thing. You two shouldn't be that hard to find right? I'll see you girls later."_

_Karui waved to him and left the alley. Samui lagged behind however, waiting until her teammate was out of sight before turning back to Naruto, "Naruto-san."_

_The clone held up his hand to stop her, "Samui I'm sorry, but I can't take the –san stuff. You don't have to use any honorifics with me. Just call me Naruto, it's alright, I won't mind."_

_Samui nodded and took a breath, looking somewhat nervous, a sharp contrast to what Naruto had come to expect from her personality. Quickly moving up close to him she planted a kiss on his cheek, "I hope to see you soon Naruto-kun."_

_As he watched the girl sway her hips somewhat as she left him in the alley a stupid grin rolled onto his face. Chuckling to himself, Naruto-clone dispelled himself._

(End Flashback)

Yeah… he didn't see that coming. How the hell was he going to work that one out in the end? Who knows? But the ride down promised to be super-fun if he would have his way with it.

That seemed like enough to fill his day with suggestive thoughts of potential situations, and the silence that he was receiving from his inner fuzzy was much appreciated, he didn't need any perverted jokes or lewd suggestions from the Kyuubi today thank you. Unfortunately, or very fortunately in the view of the certain others (Naruto included himself in this line of thinking), his day didn't end like that.

_(Flashback – A few hours ago)_

_Naruto had hustled back to his hotel room after receiving his clone's memories and changed back into the clothes that he had come to Kumo with. Couldn't be seen in the new stuff after going through all of the trouble of hiding the fact that it was you in the first place right?_

_After washing the blood off of his body and changing a knock came at his door. Grabbing his sword and walking to answer it he opened it to find the smiling face of one Yugito Nii. This confused Naruto, as he hadn't really interacted with the girl at all since he had been in the village, save for the few minutes when they first met, "Hi there Yugito, how are you doing? Can I help you?"_

_Yugito nodded and Naruto motioned for her to enter the room. Yugito took a seat on one of the beds in the room and patted the spot next to her for Naruto to sit on. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the girl's cavalier attitude, but acquiesced to Yugito's silent request. Looking the girl over as he sat down now that he had time to let his eyes wander, he would agree with his earlier thought that Yugito was about four or so more years older than him, which begged the question, what was she doing here talking to him._

_He didn't sense any hostile intent coming from her so she wasn't here to fight, or challenge him or anything. And with two girls from the village seemingly interested in him as it was, there was no way that another one was right? Especially one that was this hot and older than him._

_Naruto looked up into Yugito's eyes to get a bead on why she was there and just decided to come out with it and ask, "So Yugito, what brings you here?"_

_Yugito smiled at him pleasantly again, "Well I just want to get to know you a bit Naruto-kun."_

_Naruto almost gulped nervously, 'Naruto-kun? I had to force Samui to stop calling me –san and Yugito's calling me –kun right off the bat?' Getting himself under control he cleared his throat, "Well what do you want to know? I'll answer what I can, but I don't see why you would want to know anything about me."_

_Yugito shook her head, "You just don't recognize the fact that you're interesting to people do you? You're a respectably strong ninja even among chunin and jounin from the way your team treats you and you're only thirteen years old. You're a jinchuuriki like me and Kirabi, and you don't seem utterly insane like he is."_

_Naruto gave her a questioning look, "Speaking of which, you don't have any quirks on that kind of level do you? Because here there's Kirabi, and then in Konoha I've got two people that I know that can match his crazy, and all of these people seem to want to talk to me for some reason, it's like I attract eccentric people."_

_Yugito giggled, "No I don't have anything quirky like that Naruto-kun, and Kirabi is okay in doses, you just have to get used to him." She looked at him softly, "I kind of want to know what makes you tick. You're a very good ninja, but you seem like such a nice person. Your diplomat doesn't seem to like you though from what Raikage-sama told me."_

_Naruto nodded, "Yeah most of Konoha's old fogies don't really see me in a good light. It's okay, if they really have a problem with me then they're all free to try and do something about it. I won't be their doormat or scapegoat though. I promised to protect Konoha itself, not necessarily the assholes in it, so in case anyone tries to pull any bullcrap on me they can get the same thing that guy got today."_

_Yugito looked at him curiously, "That was you? Who am I kidding, it makes sense. Who else is that short and allowed to carry out executions? So he tried to kill you?" She got a nod in response, "Have people in Konoha tried?"_

_Naruto nodded, "Yeah, but not for a long time. I guess the stupid civilians got sick of getting their asses kicked by a kid and smartened up. You're right I am a nice guy, until you try to kill me, then I'm a complete bastard as Kenta Marechiyo could attest to, if I hadn't cleaved him into five segments."_

_Yugito nodded, "True, so tell me then. What makes Naruto Uzumaki tick?"_

(End Flashback)

Naruto and Yugito just spent the afternoon talking to one another. Yugito was actually a sweet girl that could relate on some level with Naruto, at first she wasn't trusted much either, but when Kirabi earned the people's trust by proxy his reputation trickled down to her somewhat as she also had gone through much for her village. She told Naruto that eventually his village would love him the way they loved Kirabi if he could just prove his skill and loyalty to them the way he did.

Naruto heard the heartfelt way she spoke to him and didn't have the heart to tell the girl the reason that they would probably never fully trust him and that he would eternally be walking on eggshells around them. He was now forever linked to the Kyuubi, the thing that had come within a hair of destroying the entire village of Konoha. The only way that he would be able to earn their full respect would be if he somehow defeated an enemy that was terrorizing the village and killing countless villagers single-handedly when no one else could stop them but him or something, you know, a one-in-a-million kind of scenario that only happens in manga and stuff.

As they both noticed the sun starting to set, Yugito stood up and thanked Naruto for taking the time to speak to her. She also told him that if he wanted to find her for any reason at all she would always be free for a cutie like him. He had to fight down a blush on that one, and had to stem blood flow to another place as he watched her leave the room and walk down the hall, because much like Samui she certainly made a show of it for him.

Naruto couldn't believe it. The only interaction with these girls that he had so far up to this point had been crashing the Raikage's office, kicking two of their asses with the other watching from a distance, and being arrested and hauled to the aforementioned Raikage's office.

'How the fuck do those interactions get hot women like that to like me? I didn't do anything, was I really that bad-ass? I was just being me.' Naruto was thinking to himself, 'Dude I can't even get a girl being a nice guy, albeit pretty dumb guy, back in Konoha for years, and here I just acted like a borderline psychopath and three girls just now showed interest in me. I guess that pretty boy Sasuke had it right after all, the more fucked up you seem the more women seem to flock to you.'

"**Kit if you really start thinking like that, the next time you come in here I'll chase you and eat you…"** Naruto heard from inside of his head. Kyuubi never really liked the Uchiha clan that much, even back before Naruto even met Sasuke, but it refused to elaborate on exactly why. After running through most of the interaction that he had with the boy Naruto just figured that it was his personality, it was certainly abrasive enough, **"Just go with it. Whatever happens will happen. You're leaving soon anyway, you won't have to deal with it again for a while after this so go and spend some time with them, maybe you'll like one. And you really need to ditch all of these males that you're hanging around anyway."**

Naruto sweat-dropped, 'You mean my team?'

Kyuubi grinned to itself, **"Yeah… Kit your team is a sausage-fest, go and find those girls tomorrow or I'll sing for the entire day out loud."**

Naruto's jaw dropped in horror, 'Oh come on! Why would you do that? I didn't even piss you off! You haven't done anything like that in years, why now?'

"**Well your real memories were sealed up until a few months ago so the inside joke would have been lost on you. And you have pissed me off like that since then, but I've been very lenient."**

A pale hue covered Naruto's face, 'You're kidding right? You wouldn't do that to me would you? We're friends-, well not really friends, but you get the point… right?'

"**Hey kit do you like Wings?"**

'Wings?'

"**Love take me down to the streets!  
Love take me down to the streets!**

'**Cause when you don't get fed at home…  
You gotta give the dog his bone…**

**Take our lovin' to the streets!"**

Several hours later Genma found Naruto lying on the hotel room floor frothing at the mouth mumbling lowly, "That's not Wings…"

XxX

(One Week Later)

Despite not being trusted enough by Homura to actually protect him during this trip, Naruto found that there was plenty for him to do in a foreign village. On the first day he simply found Yugito and trained with her for the day. The girl was at first surprised that the boy was able to keep up with her, but remembered that he was no slouch and that the Kyuubi could pick up his slack if need be.

Yugito even took it upon herself to teach him a lightning jutsu or two when he stated that the ones that he knew were very specialized. Naruto would have tried teaching her some wind maneuvers in return, but Yugito's elements were lightning and fire, and that made it hard for her to learn those techniques, she appreciated the effort though and said she'd keep trying to learn them.

The second day he was quickly found by Kirabi and was forced to follow the man around Kumo all day running errands with the man. Errands consisted mostly of standing by while the man stood on top of the Raikage Tower while he tried rapping to the masses, he even introduced Naruto but thankfully left out the Mr. 9 stuff.

After that Naruto saw firsthand how beloved Kirabi actually was. There were kids coming up to him, some asking for his autograph, some asking him to do a rap (Naruto cringed when he actually went through with the request), hell there were kids trying to rap to him. It made him wonder if things could ever be like that for him, he smiled when he realized that it was getting there, slowly, but it was. For better or worse he already had his own chibi-brigade that followed him around whenever he was in town so that was step one it seems.

The next part was when Kirabi went to his team's houses to tell them that he had a mission away from Kumo for a while so training was put off. He learned that Omoi and Karui were related, he kind of didn't see that coming, they seemed too different to him. Their parents were dead so he could relate with them like that, though he wisely didn't bring that up, that would have been stupid. He simply played the straight man to Kirabi's over the top B.S. that he could tell was working on Karui's nerves.

Upon departing from their house, Naruto probably had his moment of the day when Kirabi actually broke into Samui's home when she didn't answer the door. While Kirabi was roaming the house looking for the girl, Naruto simply stood in a hallway waiting for the eccentric man to give up so they could go. While he was standing there he was graced with the sight of Samui emerging from her bathroom after a shower, clad in only a towel, and that was enough for Naruto's mind to get to work. Strangely enough, Naruto didn't get the beating for that, Kirabi did. Naruto dragged the man out of the house in pieces while apologizing and explaining to Samui who just looked at him with a blush on her face.

After dragging Kirabi to the curb outside of her house he even offered her a massage as an apology, somewhat jokingly, mostly just to see what she would do, he was either expecting a stuttering decline to his offer or a rage-filled chase with her still clad in a towel which would have been great. After a slightly shocked look she smirked at him and invited him inside, yep… good day to be the kid.

The next day Naruto decided that seeing Samui would have been somewhat detrimental to his health after basically seeing her naked the day before so he simply stayed in the hotel room. Izumo and Kotetsu eventually made their way to the room and ended up playing poker with Naruto. The end result was Naruto taking all of their money, plus I.O.U.s from both men in the amount of their mission paychecks, another good day to be the kid.

Karui and Omoi found Naruto the next day after training him and dragged him out of his house to show him Kumo so that he knew what he would want to do next time instead of just training and staying in his room. Running into their teammate Samui later on they decided to make a day of it and ended up seeing a movie. Naruto didn't really care about the movie as he ended up spending the majority of it working on his growing flirting skills. Mostly with Samui, but also with Karui when he was certain that he wouldn't be hit for it.

The end of that day saw him sitting on the roof of his hotel listening to Yugito play her shamisen for him, as she had asked if she could a few days before and Naruto agreed, wanting to hear someone else besides him play an instrument and also thankful that her innate musical talents came in the form of a more pleasant instrument to relax to, unlike him and his apparent skill with drums.

That marked his last day in Kumo as negotiations on this end of the table had ended and Konoha had to leave and receive word on the results while simultaneously preparing for a representative from Kumo to come in the near future.

XxX

After hunting down all of the people that he had ended up getting on good terms with during his stay in Kumo and saying goodbye, Naruto and his team set out for home, with Homura once again in a carriage that was steered by Genma.

Kotetsu yawned as he kept in pace with the carriage rolling down the paths, "Man, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss gate duty."

Naruto snickered to himself, "Well you do tend to feel fondness for things that you do well, I guess you would miss that job huh?"

Kotetsu glared at the blonde boy, "Hey, don't knock gate duty. It's a steady, easy job, your friends can come and talk to you when they want to, you get the gossip from all of the good missions firsthand and before anyone else, and the people watching is amazing."

Izumo looked over at Naruto, "So Naruto, are you going to try and join Anbu? From what I've heard and from what I've seen you might not be too bad at it."

Naruto held back the urge to roll his eyes, 'Baa-chan won't let me do it. Oh well, it's not like I need to jump back into the direct murdering of people yet, as long as I keep getting strong enough for those Akatsuki losers then I'll be fine. Whatever happens, happens, just like the fox says.' Turning to answer his partner's question he smiles, "I'm in no rush. I'm only thirteen, unless you want another Itachi-esque prodigy to rise up so you can say you worked with me when I get famous."

Izumo and Kotetsu snorted with laughter and even Genma cracked a smile from his place on the carriage, "Whatever you say kid."

Naruto grinned to himself, 'Yeah… things will get hectic enough all on their own. I'm in no real rush…'

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**A short chapter with mostly filler by my standards, but you'll be getting another one shortly so stifle. **

**Damn it Chael Sonnen, you were so close to getting me 250 bucks, so close. 2 minutes away from winning a blinding unanimous decision over Silva, but he just couldn't keep that submission defense up and ended up getting caught in a triangle choke. Damn, he was kicking Silva's ass too, he did everything but finish the fight. I sure didn't see that coming when I sat down to watch the fight.**

**Alright, another chapter will be along in the next 24 hours at the absolute latest, hell, if it takes 12 hours then I'd say that I got seriously held back by something so clam up and sit down, I'm following through with what I said. We're going back to Konoha for some genin goodness and more Konoha storyline interaction with Naruto and what his change has done to certain people. Right now I've got stuff to do so, laters.**

**Kenchi out**

**P.S. Bryan Danielson is the man… for those that get the reference.**


	18. Home is Where the What?

***Chapters are too close together for review shoutouts. Maybe next time chums.***

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Disclaimer: If you're reading this then you read the last chapter as well, because of that you can just hit the back button and read that disclaimer because I'm too lazy to write the same thing twice.

**Chapter 17: Home Is Where the What?**

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The amassed team of Genma Shiranui, Naruto Uzumaki, Kotetsu Hagane, and Izumo Kamizuki stood in front of the Hokage's desk, having just given their report on the mission to Kumo. Tsunade had to rub her forehead at the report, "Naruto… how do you get arrested in Kumo after being there for four hours tops?"

Naruto shrugged, "Hokage-sama, Murphy's Law just loves me like that I guess. Come on now, are you really surprised by this point that this stuff happens to me even when I _don't_ instigate it? You should know this by now."

Tsunade sighed and waved it off, "Alright, other than the extracurricular activities of someone here." She said while looking at Naruto, "Good work. You're all dismissed and have a few days of leave."

The group nodded and turned to leave, "Naruto you stay." Tsunade said before he could exit the office. Naruto turned back around to face the blonde woman, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Naruto walked back over to her desk and leaned on it, "What do you need baa-chan." The toothy grin on his face let her know that he knew this was personal more than anything else, "I need to get some sleep and then head into my favorite place to get some destructive new jutsu down."

Tsunade shook her head in amusement, "Alright brat, I asked you before, but I'm going to try it again. How strong do you think you are?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "In a straight up fight or when I get the drop on somebody?"

Tsunade blinked, "Both if you know."

Naruto though about it, "Well I'm good enough from the shadows to kill one of Orochimaru's bodyguards before he even knew I was there, and I can stay hidden in an enemy stronghold for months at a time if I had to, I don't really like that though, it's nervewracking." He started pacing around her office, "What would you rank Orochimaru's right-hand man Kabuto and Kimimaro Kaguya if you had to?"

Tsunade understood where he was going with that. It was hard to rank yourself, so he was comparing himself to others, "Both of them would be considered jounin level."

Naruto nodded, "I don't really count Kabuto though, he didn't try fighting me for real until I had him beaten so I only have experience against one jounin level ninja since my promotion. You just promoted me like two months ago, are you really looking to do it again so soon?"

Tsunade picked up Genma's written report from the desk, "All of your teammates have stated that you might make a good candidate in the future for Anbu. I already figured that you would be a jounin in a year or two if you keep growing. Now enough about that, what did you actually do in Kumo, your report says that you spent some time with a few of the people there but you didn't elaborate at all."

Naruto sat down in a chair and smiled at Tsunade. She was very good to him after he had brought her back to Konoha. It was something akin to a sibling-esque relationship, she was his boss, but she legitimately cared about him. Naruto was very grateful to her for this, he probably would do anything in his power that Tsunade asked of him, even if he didn't directly answer to her, "I beat up an entire team of Kumo chunin that challenged me to a spar after my arrest, by the way there were two girls on that team and they seem to like me. I met Kumo's two jinchuuriki. One of them is utterly insane, like on the level of Lee and Gai, insane, but the other one is a few years older than me and she's _hot_. She's a sweetheart too."

Tsunade's eyes gleamed, 'Finally I might have some ammunition on the brat. Drink yourself into a stupor without me will you? I'll show you.' "So what else brat?"

Naruto ignored the look as he kept listing things off, "Let's see, I made Kotetsu and Izumo give themselves alcohol burns on their testicles, I won all of their money, by the way place their paychecks for the mission in my name, and some guy tried to kill me. Oh! And I also-."

"What?" Tsunade almost roared at him, "Someone tried to kill you? Who? Did Kumo order-."

Naruto had to place his hands on her shoulders to calm her down, "Whoa, whoa! Calm down baa-chan it's okay. He _tried_ to kill me, but he got captured by the Raikage's forces and I got to execute him the next day."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "That was in the report wasn't it? So what did you do?"

Naruto sat back down and leaned back in his chair, "I had him hanged, drawn, and quartered. I did it myself."

That method of execution hadn't been done since the Second Great Ninja War. Particularly brutal method that, "How do you even know how to do something like that?"

Naruto let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like 'Root' and Tsunade ended up nodding in understanding. Naruto stood up and stretched, "So where's ero-sennin? Is he here so I can start my training or am I on my own for the time being?"

Tsunade shook her head, "He's out gathering information on a lead on the Akatsuki, trying to find out exactly what they need the Kyuubi for, he's also trying to find out who other members are. He'll be back in a few months, I'll clear your schedule for that point in time and let you know in advance."

Naruto made a grunt of affirmation and walked towards the window, "Alright then, like I said before; I'm going home, taking a nap, getting some food, and then I'll be spending some quality time in the Forest of Death in order to avoid collateral damage from the training I'm going to go do. If you need to find me then that's where I'll be."

Tsunade turned her head as he walked past her, "Brat take the door for crying out loud."

Naruto grinned as he pulled the window open, "What was that baa-chan? The wind is kind of heavy today, did you say doors are for losers? Because I agree with you wholeheartedly on that front. Tell Shizune-neechan I said hi!" With that, Naruto jumped out of the open window and vanished in a shunshin.

Tsunade slapped her forehead, "Great… Now both the brat and the pervert get their jollies from going in and out of the window."

XxX

Naruto opened his apartment door and wasted no time in dropping face-first on his couch with a massive sigh, "*sigh* I need a bigger house…" Naruto simply lay still face down while his door opened silently and slowly. The figure crept through the living room until Naruto's voice rang out, "If you want to keep all of your limbs attached I would stop moving forward if I were you."

"Wow shithead, nice to see you too."

Naruto lifted his head and rolled over to get an eyeful of Tayuya, "Tayuya-chan? What are you doing in my apartment?"

Tayuya rolled her eyes, "I heard your door open and heard your loud-ass buffalo noise when you dropped on the couch. What, are you not happy to see me?"

Naruto shook his head, confused, "It's not that, it's just, what are you doing here?"

Tayuya gave him a grin, "I live in the complex. I'm actually right next door to you shithead. Surprise!"

Naruto's jaw dropped as he mulled around what she had just said in his head, "So you're out of confinement?" He got a nod in response, "And they're letting you stay?" Another nod, "And you actually chose to live in this complex of all places?"

Tayuya sighed, "Listen up, I'm an Oto kunoichi shithead. There isn't a person in this place that isn't paranoid about me, you're the only person that would treat me decently, therefore I want to stay close to you until things look up for me."

Naruto sat up straight on the couch, "If you want I can help you booby-trap your place if you're worried about that."

Tayuya let out a laugh, "Maybe later shithead. So where have you been?"

Naruto moved over and let her sit down as he stood up and walked to the kitchen, "I was in Kumo. It was just a guard detail, nothing really strenuous, I kept active and I learned something pretty cool that I need to go test out full scale later, I was going to go train."

Tayuya frowned, "Who the fuck trains right after they get back from a mission? Give it a day at least. Kami, do you ever rest?"

Naruto grinned at her as he began boiling water for his ramen, "Not really. I've got things to prepare for, I can rest when I'm dead."

Tayuya walked over and poked Naruto in the chest, "Listen up, I've been spending time with two full-fledged medic-ninja and one that's in training and that kind of ended up beating some basic fucking knowledge into my head. Don't push yourself, I know you're some kind of demonically rage-ahol fueled juggernaut of energy, but everyone needs down time."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Tayuya-chan, I just got through with resting before I took the last mission. It's not like I'm burning out, how could I? I'm thirteen." Naruto stopped stirring the ramen he was making and placed the spoon in her hand, "Stir. I need to go get something."

Tayuya grumbled, but carried out Naruto's request, "Stupid shithead making me stir his stupid fucking ramen."

"Language." Naruto walked back into the kitchen with a smirk, ignoring Tayuya's muttering of 'fuck you', "Now what would you do if you had your flute back? You wouldn't try to kill me again would you?"

Tayuya gave him a deadpan look, arm still stirring his ramen, "I can't beat you even with the flute. Orochimaru made us specialize when we were training, genjutsu is what I'm best at and you can walk right through it. Besides, I like Konoha a hell of a lot more than Otogakure, here I don't have to worry about some goon trying to take advantage of me when I let my guard down."

Naruto nodded, "Good answer. Here." He threw something at her from behind his back.

Tayuya caught it and went wide-eyed, "My flute! But I lost it during the fight."

A snickering laugh came from Naruto as he took the spoon back from Tayuya and kept stirring while he turned his stove off, "Who do you think took it from you in the first place? What, did you think I just dropped it in the forest and left it there? I've been keeping it."

Tayuya just kept looking between her flute and Naruto who just kept on grinning, "Now you can register as a ninja for the village and can get a rank higher than genin and avoid the grunt work of D-ranked missions." He noticed she hadn't moved yet, "Are you happy?" She nodded, "Good! You can go on home and start cataloging your jutsu for tomorrow."

Tayuya nodded and walked out of Naruto's apartment almost zombie-like, eliciting laughter from the boy as she shut the door behind her. Grabbing a bowl for his ramen he smiled to himself, "Glad to help Tayuya-chan."

XxX

(The Next Day)

Naruto's personal obstacle course of death that had used to hone his reflexes and increase his speed since he had gotten his memories back wasn't really an obstacle course at all. Naruto would make a random number of Kage Bunshin and send them out into the heavily wooded areas of the Forest of Death and have them set traps, hide themselves in order to attack him during his dash, attract animals that had the potential to harm him, and anything else his twisted clones could think of to hurt him. He would make the clones, meditate for three hours, then he would begin his deadly game.

Naruto would traverse the rugged terrain back and forth five times each. Each time was a length of 5 kilometers from a starting point in the forest to the gate leading to the outside and was fraught with peril. His clones were utterly ruthless in their attack and despite their one-hit limit that they could all take they were more of hit and run type attackers, engaging Naruto himself when he was not expecting attack and fighting to kill. In Root they would do the same, only with real people so it was never as many as it was when Naruto used Kage Bunshin, it was also done in a long corridor that Danzo manipulated to his liking for whatever situation you were training for.

This training was two-fold. Not only did it allow Naruto to train himself on speed, evasion, and trap detection, it also worked on Naruto's ability to set traps and ambushes. Being able to see both sides of the conflict, both from his own view and from the memories of his Kage Bunshin, allowed him to analyze what he did right and wrong on both fronts, and to adjust for using the traps on other ninja in real-life combat situations.

After finishing his 'warm-up', Naruto called his remaining Kage Bunshin out into a clearing and made even more, around three hundred or so. Looking at them all he began barking orders, "Split into five even groups!" The clones scrambled to follow his orders, breaking off into five groups in even rows, "First set of you, find a spot and get to splitting leaves, any review work is still very much needed! Also I want you to work on kunai balancing!" Pointing to the next group he continued, "You all will go back through our jutsu catalogue and start getting down the ones that we still can't do." He looked at the last group, "You all will be on stealth detail. You will be following people of interest and shadowing them. Do not get caught, this is on my reputation here. I expect some cool memories upon your dispelling at sunset. Now go!"

Naruto cracked his neck and made his way deep inside the forest for some live-fire combat training, "Oh spiders… you and I still have a gripe…"

XxX

Team 8's training for the day was driven to say the least.

Ever since Kiba and Shino's humiliating one-sided losses at the hands of Naruto, both had been training hard to catch up to the boy that had blown right past them. Kiba worked on his speed and combination tactics with Akamaru and was also trying to teach the puppy how to better defend himself in case they ended up being separated or one of them went down in battle. After hearing how Naruto dealt with the majority of the Sound Four with little to no effort in the least and how he himself instead had to be saved at the last second by Neji and Kankuro, Kiba resolved to somehow get to the blonde's level.

Shino was inspired by a combination of his crushing defeat by Naruto and the knowledge of the Sasuke Retrieval mission that had failed. It was almost a prerequisite by this point for all jounin sensei to venture to the site of Naruto's battle with Kimimaro with their genin cells in order to either inspire them to work harder, or to let them know just how powerful Naruto was. The sight of the countless bone spires sticking out of the ground, and the knowledge that Naruto was able to outlast such an enemy on his own planted a seed into Shino's head that if he didn't want to be left behind even more than he already had been then he needed to improve and fast.

Kurenai watched as her two students stood at opposite ends of the training ground with her lone female charge standing between them. In a blur, Kiba and Akamaru charged the blue haired girl and launched the Gatsuuga directly at her. On her other side, Shino unleashed a torrent of insects at her. Opening her eyes with her Byakugan active she began spinning and directing her hands in precise and exact locations all around her.

A field of chakra as precise as lasers surrounded her body, bouncing Kiba off and actually shredding Shino's kikai insects on contact.

Kurenai had to smile as her most timid student had come up with her own technique on par with the Hyuuga Clan's Hakkesho Kaiten. The Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho (Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms) was more tailored towards Hinata's flexibility than the rigid form that the Kaiten required from its users. The fact that she came up with the technique on her own without help, except to test its development was incredible to Kurenai.

Kiba stood up from where he was launched off, holding his head that had a gash on it, but with a smile on his face as his ninken came bounding up to him, "Wow Hinata, that was rough… And you're saying that it's not finished yet?"

Hinata smiled as she turned off her Byakugan and dropped her stance, "No, it's close though. I'm not sure what it would do against an attack from all sides the level of your Gatsuuga, but when focused in just a few areas it should be fine."

Kurenai smiled, at least Naruto's utter thrashing of everyone's genin in front of the entire village did good things for the majority of them, Hinata's stuttering had all but vanished, she had learned that things with Neji were getting better, even her father was beginning to improve "Hinata that was very impressive. When that jutsu is complete it should be B-rank if not A-rank."

A blush came to the girl's face but she gave a firm nod. Shino walked over and despite not giving away any expression nodded his agreement that he was very proud of her, "Thank you Kurenai-sensei." The words of one particular blonde boy rang out clear in her mind as she felt like she was finally making strides for herself, 'I wonder what you would think Naruto-kun.'

XxX

Team Gai leapt through the tree limbs of the Forest of Death. They had been assigned a rare C-ranked mission inside the village gates. Recently there had been reports of an increased amount of loud noises coming from the Forest of Death over the last few months, which was quite impressive considering the size of the place, and when Anko Mitarashi had been brought in for questioning it was evident that it wasn't her disrupting the peace, so this mission had been commissioned to discover what was going on.

Now Team Gai had no idea seeing as how Tsunade, the only other person besides Anko that knew who liked to frequent that place, wasn't forthcoming with the info that everyone's favorite blonde kid had a habit of raising cain within the gates of the dangerous forest, thus the team lead by the green clad taijutsu ace had next to no idea what they were getting into.

Gai led the group, followed by Neji, who was flanked on both sides by Lee and Tenten. Lee had never even heard of a C-rank mission inside of the village, thus why he was excited, more excited than usual, "Yosh! What do you think could be causing such a ruckus in the forest? I have heard of all kinds of amazing animals within the forest, but did not get to see any during our first foray within with the exception of my youthful squirrel friend! I wonder how he is doing?"

Tenten tried to calm the hyper Gai-clone down, "Lee please be quiet. We didn't come across any of the weird things in here last time because we were careful. Don't go screaming your head off in here or who knows what you'll bring down on us."

Lee opened his mouth to retort in a youthful fashion, but Gai turned his head to give Lee a firm look, "Lee, Tenten is right. You may have made your way through the woods before, but you should count yourself lucky that you didn't come across any of the creatures in this place. I don't care if we are inside of the village, treat this like a hostile environment because it is. Even jounin are somewhat wary of entering this place."

Lee gulped and nodded after being reprimanded by Gai. Neji squinted and spoke up, "Gai-sensei I am seeing countless human life-forms in an upcoming clearing."

Gai nodded and looked back at his genin once more, "Prepare yourselves, when we enter the area who knows what will be here." Getting a nod from his students, Gai turned back ahead.

The group's mojo was disrupted however when Neji facefell onto one of the branches, forcing his team to halt. Tenten jumped back and helped the boy stand up, "Neji-kun, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Neji nodded as he stood up and started jumping forward, ahead of the rest of the team, ignoring Gai's cries to come back. Pushing his way into the clearing he found a mass of Naruto clones, diligently at work spamming jutsu all over the place, some dispelling from lack of chakra, but otherwise it was something that the young Hyuuga genius had never seen before.

His team came up right behind him and were stuck staring at the scene before them much like Neji was. Tenten looked at the clones wide-eyed, "W-What is going on? Naruto-kun? He's everywhere."

Lee's eyes were ablaze with youth, "Yosh, such a youthful training program! I must spar with Naruto-kun!" Lee took off into the mass of hard at work clones, stopping in front of the first one, scaring the hell out of it and forcing it to electrocute itself with one of the jutsu Naruto had learned in Kumo and blow up in a puff of smoke. This forced all of the other Naruto replications to take notice of just who it was that intruded on their session. Lee ran up to another one and dropped into his stance, "Naruto-kun my eternal rival, I request a spar with you to stoke both of our flames of youth!"

The clones all looked at each other until one spoke up, "Um… We're all clones. Boss just told us to work on his jutsus until we dispelled from lack of chakra. He's out further in the forest getting even with those stupid spiders!"

The clones all broke into a smattering of chatter, mostly circulating around how the original Naruto was going to go medieval on those spiders' asses and how they all wished they could be there to fight too. Gai listened in to what was being said, "So you're saying that Naruto-kun is deeper in the forest." Getting a collective 'yep' from the clones he continued, "And he's actively trying to provoke the more dangerous wildlife just for training?"

They all nodded as one clone spoke up, "Yeah, I mean you're saying that like it's a bad thing. Sure there's a shitload of spiders in this forest, but they have to realize that they can't win after he slaughters like a few dozen of them right?"

Gai paled, concerning his genin, "Clone-kun, no one knows exactly how many of certain creatures this forest has. Especially the spiders, there are reports from Anbu of nests under the ground with countless amounts of them, and they're highly aggressive in nature."

The clones scoffed, "Well we could have told you that. Those eight-legged fucks mess with us every time we come in here to train. We have to divert clones just to keep a lookout and as extermination squads in case the bastards get too close."

Gai palmed his forehead, "Clone-kun you're not getting it. These spiders mature at an absurd rate, and they reproduce far too quickly. If your original is out there killing them for sport then he is in grave danger. Which way did he go?"

The clones all pointed northeast, "To the bad spot where we know the spiders hang out. Like I said, we have a gripe with those bastards. Knock over two barrels of my sake will they?"

Gai turned to his team, "We have to go get Naruto-kun out of there. Prepare for a battle, be fast and precise against the enemy, those spiders are fast, strong, and ruthless. Kill them and move on."

Neji and Tenten nodded while Lee was fired up, "Yosh! Let's go save Naruto-kun!"

XxX

(Elsewhere in Konoha)

Sakura smiled as the fish on her table flopped back into the water. Her skill with the Shousen Jutsu was growing every day. Soon Tsunade said she would be able to begin working on creatures with bones closer to humans. The last few months since her training began had been great for Sakura. Despite being harder than anything she had done before she could now see a reason why Rock Lee and others trained so hard. The feeling of succeeding after working on something for so long was well worth the effort put in.

"Good work Sakura." Sakura turned to see Tsunade had been overseeing her work with a smile, "You're getting better and better at the basic techniques. After you master most of the medical techniques I can begin teaching you my strength amplifying technique, now let's work on your taijutsu. You need to be able to keep yourself in one piece and defeat your opponents quickly as a medic-ninja. For now we'll begin working on your elusiveness and I'll teach you form later."

Sakura nodded with a determined look on her face. She wouldn't be the weakest link ever again if she had any say in her own skill.

XxX

Team Asuma had just returned to the village after a B-Ranked mission. Ino was groaning loudly while rolling her neck, "I'm so glad we're done with that mission… I need a hot shower and some rest."

Asume smirked as he took a drag of his cigarette, "Good work with those bandits team. Shikamaru, good work with the plan, it went off without a hitch. Choji, you're coming along nicely with your family techniques."

Ino looked at her sensei expectantly who looked at her for a moment before speaking up, "Ino that was a good use of Shitenshin no Jutsu to scout out the camp, I was sure that you wouldn't use that jutsu again for quite some time after what happened the last time. All of you, take the rest of the day off and meet me at our training field tomorrow." With that the bearded jounin walked towards the Hokage Tower to give his report to Tsunade about the mission.

Choji looked between his teammates, "Hey, do you guys want to get some barbeque before we go home?"

Shikamaru chuckled and patted his friend on the shoulder, "Sure thing Choji, let's go Ino."

The group found their way and ended up in a booth shortly. After placing their orders, the team started to converse, with Shikamaru launching out the first question, "Ino, you never told us why you stopped using Shitenshin no Jutsu after the fight with Naruto in the first place. Did he have some kind of defense like Sakura had that actually hurt you?"

Ino hugged herself slightly, "Yeah, but it wasn't really a straightforward kind of thing. Naruto's mind is strange… It looked just like Konoha, every inch of it was to scale. No one had a mind that extensive."

Choji squealed happily as the beef was placed in front of him. He wasted no time in throwing the meat on the grill while Shikamaru kept asking Ino his questions, "So just being in Konoha in the guy's mind freaked you out? That's kind of weak Ino."

The platinum blonde growled at him as she placed her own meat onto the grill, "That's not all that happened. I was wandering around for a bit when I felt the presence of something chasing me, I remembered what happened with Sakura and took off running. It corralled me to Naruto's apartment and left me there. I never saw it, but I could feel its presence the entire time."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "His apartment? You're not telling me everything Ino…"

Ino shook her fist at him, "I'm trying to tell a story here you blockhead!" She glared at him when a 'troublesome' slipped from the pineapple-haired boy, "His TV was on in the apartment, and I thought that was central control, the thing in everyone's mind that allows you to gain control after you use the jutsu, but it was his memories, or what seemed like memories, it had to be some kind of trick. It was already cued up to one in particular. It had Naruto running through an entire ballroom full of people like a hot knife through butter. It was the single most terrible thing I had ever seen, and when I started watching it I felt like I was actually there. I could hear the directions of the screams, the panic of the people trying to escape, I could smell the blood that spilled out on the ground and everything."

Choji paused in his eating for a minute before shrugging off that mental image and continuing to chow down. Ino continued her description of Naruto's memories, "That was just the first one, and I couldn't turn it off. I was in his body while this strange silent man in a mask just beat him while he was tied to a chair, he never spoke, he just kept hitting him and hitting him for hours until all I could see through his view was blood. All of the memories I saw were just like that, I finally had enough and cancelled the jutsu."

Shikamaru just stared at the girl, "Wow, that's kind of hardcore. You felt everything happen as if you were there? That means that it wasn't a trick or anything, you really were in Naruto's memories doesn't it?"

Ino shook her head, "Naruto couldn't have been any older than seven or eight years old when any of the things I saw happened. If it wasn't a trick then I sure as hell can't believe that those things were his actual memories. Those were things that dad told me the Anbu did on a regular basis. There's no conceivable way that while we were preparing for the academy, Naruto was taking on Anbu level missions. That just doesn't make sense."

Shikamaru stayed silent and pondered Ino's words, 'The things that Naruto did when he fought everyone, those techniques, that fighting style, the way he carried himself. All of those things didn't just come out of nowhere…'

XxX

(Forest of Death)

With game faces on, Team Gai headed into the restricted area of the Forest of Death where the level of peril went up. The forest grew darker, and it wasn't just because the sun was setting, the canopy was beginning to completely block out the sunlight above. Faint sounds of inhuman screeching rang out in the distance and was growing ever closer. The tense waiting was broken when the blonde that they were looking for flew past them into a tree, followed by the biggest spider that any of the genin had ever seen before, it was easily the size of a full-grown adult male and had launched itself at Naruto, fangs dripping venom.

Naruto pulled up his ninjato and drove it right through the spider's face, sending the blood of the arachnid spraying all over the place. Swinging his blade upwards with a burst of wind chakra to bolster it he cut straight through the deadly creature.

Spitting on the corpse of the spider he turned to Team Gai, "Oh sweet Kami, what are you all doing here? Do you know where you are?"

Lee ran up to Naruto, "We've come to protect you Naruto-kun! We'll get you out of here in one piece, it's a promise!"

Gai walked up to the two, "It's as Lee said, we've come to get you out of here before the sun goes down. Come on Naruto-kun, let's escape."

Naruto looked at Neji and Tenten who were both serious, but otherwise fully calm. He shook his head, "Gai-sensei is this the first time that you've ever come this far inside of the Forest of Death?" Gai nodded and Naruto sighed, "You guys have no idea what you're getting into. Neji activate your Byakugan and tell me what you see."

Neji did as instructed and gasped as he shakily spoke up, "I see at least a dozen of the spiders that Naruto just fought surrounding the area, watching us."

Naruto nodded as he saw the other genin pale, "That's why I don't tell anyone that I train here. There's no one that I would feel safe putting into this kind of situation. I come in here to fight against opponents that are willing to fight and kill me. I can't take on people, but if I want to split a spider in half there are always a few dozen skulking around this place. It's the closest thing to simulating a real full pitched battle against a vicious enemy that you can get, definitely not for genin."

Naruto propped his ninjato on his shoulder, "Since you're here now I have to cut this session short. I was going to keep going until midnight and then make a mad dash out of here to escape, but having you guys show up has forced me to skip straight to the bat out of hell rush that I was planning for later. You guys brought too many of them here. They'll come in waves to try and wear us down. You fight until I tell you to run and you follow me out. Keep your eyes peeled when we break out, those sneaky bastards like to hide in the canopy and jump you from the shadows."

Tenten had to choke down her fear at the situation and brandish kunai when Naruto placed his hand on hers, "Naruto-kun what are you doing?"

Naruto's eyes darted around the area, "You're going to need something bigger than those. That will just piss them off. Kami, I just had to get stuck in this situation with a team of taijutsu specialists. None of you know any jutsu or how to use your element with your fighting do you?"

Lee blinked at him in confusion, "Will taijutsu not work on them Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked at Gai and Lee, "If you can generate enough force to crush the exoskeleton then it can, but you don't want to stay up close with these things unless you can smash them in one shot."

Gai shot Naruto a shiny smile, "Naruto-kun, it's time to show you what good old-fashioned hard work and youth can do! Lee and I will have no trouble dealing with these spiders with our taijutsu! Neji how about you?"

Neji stood in his jyuuken stance, "If they have a chakra system, and they do, I can fight and kill them."

Naruto looked at Tenten who put her kunai up and unsealed a battle axe from a scroll, "I'm ready!"

Naruto stared at her blankly, "Tenten, you can use an axe? That's awesome…"

The first spider saw a moment of weakness and jumped from the trees at the group. Naruto jumped in the air and gave the spider a wide berth while swinging his blade. Extending the end of his sword with wind chakra he cut right through the spider and landed on the ground, "You fucking eight-legged pieces of shit just don't get it yet do you!" Naruto formed two Kage Bunshin to watch his back as he ran directly towards the closest spiders that would jump at him. He cut out one of the spider's legs from under it using a one-handed swing while simultaneously driving a Rasengan into the torso of another, carving into it with the force of a drill, sending guts all over the place, "I'm not trapped in here with you! You're trapped in here with me!"

Naruto's clones ran to back him up as three more spiders emerged from the surrounding area to attack. The giant arachnids were now extremely wary of Naruto's sword, seeing as how it had been his weapon of choice for the entire day's events. Getting sick of how the spiders were avoiding him he ripped a sword from one of his Kage Bunshin's hands and threw it at one while enhancing it with wind chakra, impaling it against a tree and killing it.

"Hey! That was mine!" Was the indignant cry from the victim clone. The original just shrugged before the three Narutos scattered due to being double-teamed by the two other spiders. The original and the clone that still had his blade engaged the spiders, with the clone being far more conservative with its way of fighting as one bad shot could dispel it. The original simply ran some misdirection and cleaved all four legs on one side of his spider off. Before running off to assist some of Team Gai he planted an explosive note on the nearly helpless spider, forcing it to explode in a shower of guts.

While he was judging which one of the team required assistance he ended up being blindsided by the spider that had dispelled his Kage Bunshin and sent sprawling along the ground by the powerful creature. The giant spider skittered closer to the boy before one of the more sizeable tree limbs from above came crashing down on top of it, killing not only that one spider, but two more hiding in the background. Naruto's other Kage Bunshin landed on top of the tree limb with his sword that Naruto had thrown in hand, "Hey boss! I found my sword!"

Naruto nodded, "Good work. I'm going to help the others. You wait for an opening to escape. Dispel when you see an opportunity to leave." The clone nodded and went off to stay out of the fight while the original Naruto headed into Team Gai's melee to assist.

Neji was not having much of a problem keeping the spiders off of him, he would use Kaiten whenever he started getting swarmed, but he was finding it hard to finish them off. The spiders seemed to have so many tenketsu in their legs that it would take too many shots just to incapacitate one, and when he attempted to just hit it straight on somewhere vital they would use their incredible agility to simply dodge and avoid a fatal strike.

"Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"

To Neji's shock, two spiders were sent flying. One off into the distance, deep into the forest, the other hit a tree with crushing force, turning it into a stain before the tree itself cracked and fell over. Naruto ran over to him, sword drawn, giving the boy a slight nod. Neji eyed the one remaining spider of this pack, "Naruto I can finish this one off. Go help Tenten or Lee."

Naruto heard his tone of voice and figured arguing or pulling rank on him would have just earned him some of the Hyuuga boy's ire. When Naruto left, Neji ran at the spider that backed up to get some spring into its legs for a pounce. Neji saw this coming and when it launched itself at him he slid underneath the spider's belly, hitting it in the spots that were harder to get, but were guaranteed to finish the monster spider off.

The spider tripped over its own legs and onto its back, kicking for a moment before crinkling its legs inward and dying. Neji smirked to himself before going off to find one of his superiors.

Tenten was having an easier time with her fighting. The spiders were knowledgeable about human weaponry and about the differences between male and female humans. Well the sight of a girl with an axe did not compute for most of the spiders that saw Tenten as an easy kill swinging that giant thing around. Too bad for them they didn't figure that she could actually swing that damn thing pretty fast, and was very good at timing their attacks. Each swing from the girl took out something, good thing it did too, that heavy axe was an energy sapper.

Naruto stood in a pile of four or five spiders, "So I guess you're doing okay for the time being?"

Tenten gave him a tired smile and a thumbs up while leaning on the handle of her weapon, "I was scared at first, but these spiders are kind of weak. But there are so many of them."

Naruto nodded while watching out for her, giving her some time to rest for a moment, "They aren't supposed to cause any ninja better than an academy fresh genin any trouble one-on-one, but they're persistent, ruthless, and they just keep coming. Hell I make a game out of counting them as I kill them."

Tenten raised a delicate eyebrow at that, "What's the highest you've ever gotten?"

Naruto thought about it as he watched Neji finish off a spider, "Well I got started earlier than usual in the day this time and I could swear that I was bearing down on some kind of record when you guys showed up. I lost count though I think it was getting up past two-hundred of them."

Tenten's jaw dropped, "Two-hundred of these things? There are really that many that you can kill two-hundred before we even get here and still be worried about us attracting too many to you?" Both noticed Neji coming to their side and all three of them looked at what the two more eccentric members of Team Gai were getting into.

"Yosh! Gai-sensei who knew that this mission would turn into such a splendid battle! For Naruto-kun to seek out a challenge such as this, I truly have selected the appropriate choice for my eternal rival!" Lee ducked under the pounce of one of the spiders before launching himself at two more, "Konoha Daisenpuu (Leaf Great Whirlwind)!" Lee unleashed a torrent of high-speed kicks at the oversized arachnids, smashing them into a nearby massive tree.

Gai cracked one of the spiders with an axe kick that simply made it collapse in a heap, "Lee, use this as an exercise. Naruto-kun! How many of these creatures did you fell?"

Naruto watched the two identical taijutsu users seemingly having a blast fighting these damn things, "You mean since you've shown up, or since noon? Because that's when I started."

Gai sent Naruto a gleaming smile, "I believe in my Lee. Let's go with this afternoon!"

Naruto, Tenten, and Neji looked at each other before Neji and Naruto shrugged. Tenten sighed and answered him, "Gai-sensei, Naruto-kun says that he's killed around two-hundred of them since he came in here."

Gai stood seemingly shaking in place. Naruto thought that the number of spiders he killed had pissed Gai off, he didn't know Gai was all for arachnid rights, how was he supposed to know. Gai turned to Naruto with flaming, tearful eyes, however impossible that seems, "Such a youthful, combat filled day! Lee! In order to defeat your rival you have to defeat more than two-hundred of our eight-legged enemies!"

Lee's eyes blazed over in a similar fashion, "Yes Gai-sensei! And if I cannot best my rival Naruto's number of spiders slain then I will do 500 pushups on my thumbs!" With one last battle cry, Lee ran into an area where spiders were waiting for an ambush.

Naruto palmed his head as he watched Lee begin ripping into the spiders with fists and feet, "You guys are going to bring the whole damn population of the things on us. Look, we need to get out of here! The more you kill, the more show up. If it was this easy then don't you think it would be recommended for ninja to train in here? It's actually frowned upon, because you can't take them on forever. You'll run out of energy and chakra before they run out of bodies to throw at you. Kill all you want as we get the hell out of here!"

Naruto ran in and grabbed Lee by his collar before dragging him off with everyone else following close behind. As they started to go back through the thick of the woods a spider tried to come from behind a tree to sneak attack them. Gai saw it coming and flipped at the massive thing with punches and kicks, "Dynamic Action!" Turning the spider into goo as they didn't break their stride, "Naruto-kun, what is the best course of action to escape?"

Naruto moved back, "Gai-sensei, watch the front, I'll keep them off of our backs. Neji, Tenten, and Lee, stay between us, Neji keep your Byakugan on, Tenten prepare some kunai with explosive notes. Take to the trees, it narrows down the angles that they can attack from."

Team Gai listened to their chunin tagalong and got themselves into position as they leapt into the branches of the forest. Naruto's knowledge of the terrain by now was second only to Anko. He knew where the majority of things of interest in the forest were and the current thing of interest was the closest exit that wouldn't take them straight into the nest of the spiders, "We need to get further south. If we head straight north or east from here we'll have to go straight through the nest to escape, that would be suicide even for me."

Gai nodded and lead the group further south. During their run, Naruto held his head in pain and fell down on a branch. Lee jumped back to help the boy to his feet, "Naruto-kun, what is wrong? Are you hurt?"

Naruto cursed to himself as he grimaced in pain, "A bunch of my clones actually fully lasted for their time limit and dispelled all at once… It's like the worst headache you've ever had hitting you all at once."

Thanking Lee as he stood back up they were distracted by Neji's shouts, "There are more coming!"

Naruto turned around to see five of the spiders jumping from branch to branch, getting ever closer. Naruto threw Lee off of his branch at his team, "Stay back! There's something I need to test out anyway…"

They all watched as Naruto let the spiders in close before making a set of hand-signs and crossing his arms in an 'x' motion while crouching, "Fuuton: Senpuu Kakusui (Wind Release: Whirlwind Pyramid)!" Standing up and stiffening all of his appendages straight out, a vicious crosswind surrounded the area around Naruto's body, catching the spiders within and sending them flying into the air, some of them cut into pieces, others missing legs, all of the survivors hissing in anger and pain.

The jutsu faded after a few seconds and he turned back to Team Gai, getting everyone moving again to stay ahead of the spiders attempting to prey on them. The genin were pretty stunned by the use of Naruto's new jutsu, but were too occupied with staying in one piece at the moment to ask anything.

After another half-hour of random spider attacks and running, they escaped the Forest of Death and collapsed a good distance away from the gates that cut it off from everything else in the village. Naruto laughed to himself as he looked up at the night sky, "Well that was fun… You guys alright?"

Gai looked back at the Forest of Death, "We're fine. Naruto-kun what was the inspiration for going so far into the Forest of Death, you know how dangerous that place is don't you?"

Naruto stood up and dusted himself off, "Of course I do. That's why I went in there, for a challenging fight. I'm training to kill my opponents Gai-sensei, not just defeat them. I need to be used to ending lives whenever I need to and since I'm pretty sure that absolutely nobody would miss any of those spiders being gone I go in there to fight them. It's amazingly good battle experience."

The genin all deadpanned, "We noticed."

Naruto chuckled but then turned a suspicious eye on them, "Wait a minute. What were you all doing in there? The only person besides me that ever goes in there is Anko, and she doesn't even spend time there like I do, she'll just go in far enough to train in peace or find me to spar, not deep into the back end of the place."

Gai nodded, "We had a mission to head into the Forest of Death and find the source of all of the sounds coming from the place."

Naruto laughed slightly, "Well, mission complete because you're looking at him. I make tons of Kage Bunshin and have them work on lots of different stuff. Pretty cool huh? While I handle my physical stuff they can handle things like my chakra control and ninjutsu."

Neji understood what he was saying, "So you get the accumulative memories of your Kage Bunshin and while they do memory related things you go in and develop things like strength, speed, and-." He stopped and looked back into the forest, "-Battle experience."

Naruto grinned and nodded. Lee ran up to Naruto and dropped into his stance, "You have inspired me Naruto-kun! I challenge you to a friendly spar!"

Naruto sweatdropped, "Lee, it's almost midnight, I've been spending the last twelve hours fighting a life or death battle against spiders from hell, you're all exhausted from looking for me and fighting spiders by my side, and lastly… how many spiders did you kill?"

Lee looked confused until his eyes widened and he hit the ground to begin his pushups, "You have bested me this time Naruto-kun! Next time I will win our challenge and show how splendid a ninja I am! I will complete these pushups or else I will run laps around Konoha on my hands until the sun comes up! And if I cannot do that I will-."

Naruto walked off with Tenten and Neji in tow as Gai stood over Lee shouting about his youthfulness. Naruto gave Neji a chuckling smile, "And that's how you handle that. I don't see what you and Kakashi were all bent out of shape about when it comes to those two. As far as having Lee as my 'eternal rival' it's easier than not having him as my eternal rival. I can just beat him once and not deal with him until he's through with all of his self-given punishments. He won't mess with me again until he's done with them all, and by then I can disappear."

Neji's eyes widened. He had never thought to realize that the times that he defeated Lee in their spars, Lee would leave him alone until three days to a week later. When he ignored Lee he would get a challenge every hour on the hour until he accepted. Naruto and Tenten laughed at the look of comtemplation on his face, "On the flipside of that, you two have to see him tomorrow and deal with him talking about how he's going to beat me next time all day long. He has to track me down if he wants to do that to me. Yep… being Lee's rival actually spares me more of the creepy sunset genjutsus then not being Lee's rival."

Tenten realized that Naruto was right, he'd only seen it twice. Once when they first met before the chunin exams, and once before they all went to get his sword; any other time when he was around them he would usually accept Lee's challenge, win or lose, and then bid everyone a swift goodbye. Compared to the people that are around when Lee and Gai have their little moments in town and not even trying to tally up all of the times that it had happened around Neji and Tenten since the team had been formed, she realized that Naruto had to have the pretty much lowest victimization rate of being subjected to the 'sunset of youth'.

Naruto grinned at the faces that both of them were making, "I can see that you both have something to say, so go ahead and say it." Before Naruto could notice, the tenketsu in his legs had been sealed off and Tenten and Neji had used his momentary incapacitation to start dragging him back to Lee and Gai.

Tenten threw him at Gai's feet, disrupting Lee's pushups, "Gai-sensei. Naruto was just telling me and Neji that he thought he needed more youth after all of the youth that he exuded during his last mission and during his training today." Neji nodded in agreement.

Naruto looked at the girl with a strange look, "Really? That was the best you've got? That was the stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say about anything, ever. There's no way they're going to fall for that."

He noticed that his words didn't deter the evil grins on the faces of the 'normal' members of Team Gai who pointed behind him. Tenten waved to him, "I'll see you when my team meets up tomorrow Naruto-kun."

Before he could say anything, Gai and Lee had placed their hands on Naruto's shoulders and had hoisted him to his feet with tears pouring from their eyes, "Do not worry Naruto-kun. Lee and I always have time for a comrade in youth!"

Lee nodded vigorously, "If need be, Gai-sensei and I will stay up all night with you, making sure that your fires of youth are fully replenished!"

Naruto resigned to his fate and turned back to the still smiling Neji and Tenten with a dark look, "I hope you enjoy this. Because you both know that you're getting fucked for this right?"

He never got their response as Lee and Gai had dragged him off to their usual training ground, "Naruto-kun in order to build your flames back up I want 1000 punches with each arm and 1000 kicks with each leg! After that we'll go for an invigorating run around Konoha… on our hands! 10 times!"

Naruto's cries of protest could be heard throughout the night. A few particularly familiar screams of genjutsu induced horror may have woken the majority of the village's citizens, but in the case of one bun-haired girl and one young Branch Hyuuga, it was just what they needed to lull themselves to sleep.

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Jutsu List

Fuuton: Senpuu Kakusui (Wind Release: Whirlwind Pyramid). B-rank Ninjutsu. Close range. This jutsu allows the user to expel a wild whipping wind around their body for protection purposes. The strength of the wind is dependent on the direction of the user's focus; while the technique offers protection on all sides, wherever the strongest point of the jutsu is placed, the exact opposite end of the technique would be the weakest area. In its strongest area the wind has the power to cut into whatever is being repelled. The length of the jutsu is dependent on the amount of time used to charge it up.

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**Hello all. What did I say? Less than 24 hours. So enjoy, let me get your thoughts. I'll pick up on true-blue storyline next chapter so never fear, I'm always here. Now it's my dad's birthday and I'm going to take the old man out to lunch. Have a bright sunshiny day.**

**Kenchi out.**


	19. Too Legit to Quit

Review Shoutouts

**dbtiger63: Yeah, because that Goku thing took his shit up from 32,000 to 180,000, I remember that. But that took months though, even though DBZ never really followed much of a timeline when they were on Namek except for the odd estimation of passed time… I'm rambling now, I'll stop.**

**Thoriyan: Going over his original training and early work in Root would take chapters worth of time that I didn't feel like wasting, though I might get a seed in my head to go back and make some flashback chapters of his time then if I get some buzz to do so.**

**The Kenchi: Awesome name, enough said. Also you're from London and that's always great.**

**smokeapound: First of all, entertaining name. Next, I know that, but I reserve the right to change what I want for a story, and I've seen people go way overboard with it, like shit being carved into his skin overboard so a scar on his face seems tame to me, oh well. I sent a longer message explaining, I just wanted an excuse to actually write out your name.**

**Darak: The gravity seal was basically an invention from people that write shit like this to enforce training, therefore I changed the rules. The way I see it a gravity seal is more of a-. You know what? I explained it in chapter 4. If you still have reservations about it that's cool, but writing out my argument again when I put it in story format the first time seems redundant, although your review came one chapter before I explained my hypothesis so it's cool.**

**CelticReaper: I got him an mp3 player for his birthday and teaching him how to use it and how to get songs for it has been hell. At first it was funny, but now it's getting redundant. **

**I lost a A Bet To Madara: I am indeed familiar with the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, and Ron White was always my favorite, thus the line of his from a few chapters back. Yes I'm a guy, a man in fact. The manliest man this side of Chuck Norris to be exact. And if the yaoi thing was supposed to be a joke I'm not sure when you should start laughing. When you find out could you tell me?**

**DevilJin17: You read and review on all of my shit, awesome! And anytime you kick a douchebag's ass feel free to post it as a review, because I am no stranger to things like that myself. By the way, I'm black and I love hillbillies, they are the most ridiculously fun seeking people I have ever met in my life. And I know that I'm a magnificent bastard but it's always nice to hear.**

**Sniper Artist: I'm using that.**

**raw666: I am taking that, and I am using that, with one exception, though I already told you what that was.**

**Dan: Have you ever heard of filler? Because I don't feel like writing story advancement every single chapter and like to have fun sometimes you see? This is as much for my entertainment as it is yours, it's not like I'm getting paid for this or anything… (pfft I wish) And patting myself on the back is part of my basic personal character, I do it because no one else does it for me so I do it myself, it's a quirk that is developed over years of human interaction and life experiences that shape your personality in one way or another… and I'm ranting again.**

**Silver Warrior: The sheer idea of giant spiders is freaking scary. Hell, a lot of people are afraid of **_**regular**_** spiders. I have more of a scorpion phobia myself, good thing I don't live in the desert huh?**

**Dark Lord Namikaze: Not happening. I already said that before I think, but you're safe on that. And feel free to sacrifice fifteen dollars to me and my greatness at your earliest convenience. This can be in the form of cash, or instant ramen because I'm going back to college in a week and need to survive.**

**Liger01: Shikamaru knows nothing, he's just suspicious that someone changed so abruptly without any warning. He also knows nothing about how Anbu train, he was just being told by Ino that her dad told her stories of the stuff that Anbu get into and what she experienced in his head was close to that. For the most part no one knows anything, but a few are aware of something being up.**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I know that everyone talks about one step forward, but that's more like levitating to the roof of the building. It's okay. My new plan involves becoming a worker for the IRS and catching Kishimoto not paying his taxes, I'll take Naruto away and 'lose' the paperwork. BAM! Seven years later Naruto will be re-released under my name and then I'll be made… I'LL BE MADE!

**Chapter 18: Too Legit to Quit**

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'It's about time something like this came up… I'm kind of nervous though…' Naruto's thought to himself as he sat in the trees just surrounding a somewhat secure clearing. After two months of doing C-rank missions with a team he was given a solo B-rank mission of his own. Remembering what Tsunade had told him about one of his teams a few months back, that they had thought he might be somewhat good as an Anbu, he figured this was something of a tryout mission or something. Chunin don't get solo missions, so he figured this was the only thing this could be.

His mission had been to head to a town in Tsuki no Kuni (Land of Moon). Tsunade wasn't very forthcoming with the information on exactly what he was doing here at all, but he figured this wasn't some kind of trap or anything, why would she kill him off? So all he really had to go on was that he had to meet a contact once he arrived. This was the first time he had worked without a team in years and while he wasn't expecting anything anywhere near the borderline suicide things that he had done the last time he had solo missions it was always nice to be ready just in case.

Instead of taking his usual clothing he decided to don his execution gear that he had worn during his escapades in Kumogakure. He doubted that it would really matter what he wore for this job, because as long as he had his hitae-ate he was told that the contact would find him, but hey, why not? After a few days off following the diplomatic mission to Kumo he had been blasted with back to back missions ranging from escorts to bandit extermination. They had been mostly snoozefests, mainly because he had an entire team to help him out. Nothing had occurred the likes of the disaster to Nami no Kuni, thank Kami, but he missed the action.

The only instruction that the boy had received for his mission was to head to an inland town on Tsuki no Kuni and find the bar that had been listed when he first left before burning his mission scroll. After entering the small town it wasn't too difficult to find, as this town was not too large like the coastal towns that the tourist country were more known for.

Upon entering the bar, Naruto had to stop and check back outside to see if he had made a mistake. It wasn't. That was the only bar in the town.

The reason he had to check after first entering was because the first thing that greeted the boy was a loud, boisterous laugh that he was quite familiar with. The sight of spiky white hair filled his vision upon first walking in to add on to the laugh.

"Whoa! Slow down ladies, there's enough of the great Jiraiya to go around!" Jiraiya, as per the course, was surrounded by a bevy of women hanging off of his money- err his every word.

Naruto couldn't believe that Jiraiya was his contact for whatever he was about to do so he simply sauntered past without stirring the man's interest and made his way to the bartender. Pulling off his hood he showed off his hitae-ate in the low light of the bar and sighed as the man looked at him, "We don't serve minors kid, you know that."

Naruto gave him a dry look, "I know your country has a hidden village so you should know better." Naruto flicked the metal on his headband, showing to the man that he was a ninja, "One bottle of sake please, whatever brand you think a kid should be drinking."

The man nodded and turned to grab Naruto's order, "A kid shouldn't be drinking at all. So what's a Konoha ninja doing in Tsuki no Kuni?"

Naruto gave him a wry grin, "I'm on vacation."

Turning back around and pouring Naruto his first cup with a smirk he spoke, "Kid, you're in the wrong place for a vacation. There are no resorts or attractions around here."

Naruto chuckled as he began sipping his drink, "Let's just say I find the charm of the countryside appeals to me more than the beaches do."

The man let out an amused laugh, "You're a strange kid. What kind of kid doesn't like the beach?"

Pointing to himself, Naruto refilled his cup after finishing off his first one, "This one right here."

The banter was stopped short when a hand placed itself on Naruto's shoulder. The guard covering the back of the hand gave away who it was, "Ero-sennin. What are you doing all the way out here?"

Jiraiya had a grin on his face as he sat next to Naruto at the bar, "What? Gaki you don't think it's just a wonderful coincidence that you and I met up here, in this bar, in the middle of nowhere, randomly out of the blue?"

Naruto had to crack a smile at that, "Maybe it's because baa-chan told me that you would be calling for me to start working with me after a few months and the deadline is very close. Add on to that, she said she would clear me for some time off, and she ends up sending me on a mission to the country with more resorts than anywhere else in the Elemental Nations, that kind of tells me something when I combine it with running into you while looking for my Konoha contact."

The older man snatched up Naruto's bottle of sake and looked at him strangely, "You drink gaki?"

Naruto shrugged, "I had my drink with Gamabunta and I actually like the stuff. I don't indulge daily like baa-chan and I don't down two or three in one sitting like you so don't worry."

"I take offense to that kid." Jiraiya asked for another cup from the bartender before pouring himself a drink, "So what have you been doing since I last saw you?"

"I've been just… training. I don't know what to say, I've just been working on regaining my jutsu and my wind affinity. I never found out how to go any further with it so I've just been cutting tons of leaves with my Kage Bunshin since whatever they learn I learn."

Jiraiya nodded, "So how far can you go with you know who right now?" Naruto raised three fingers and continued to drink. Jiraiya stroked his chin, "That's actually very good. You weren't supposed to be able to use that much of its chakra yet. I have to unlock a bit of your seal for you to go any further. Honestly you shouldn't have been able to draw that much."

Naruto frowned, "Drawing that much isn't convenient. If I take any more than one tail it takes way too long to be effective. I need about five to ten minutes of preparation time depending on how much I use. I had to come up with an alternative way of increasing my power in a pinch and even that takes too long to use in the middle of a fight, the upside of it is that it is a fantastic visual distraction, but on the flipside it hurts like hell to use."

Jiraiya grunted in though, "You've been through this in your head quite a bit haven't you?"

Naruto nodded and took another sip, "Every other jinchuuriki out there can wipe the floor with me as I am. I've never said that to anyone in Konoha, but it's true. I went to Kumo, both of their jinchuuriki have absolute control. Like Gaara did, but without the crazy hostile takeover of their demon, hell I'll say that the only reason I beat him is because I had Gamabunta run interference on the simple minded fuck while I woke Gaara up, if I had tried to just fight and match power, even with Gamabunta there we might have lost."

Jiraiya stroked his chin, "I'll loosen your seal and have you work with that. Maybe then you can have an easier time using the Kyuubi's chakra faster."

Naruto picked up the bottle he had purchased and stood, "Well then let's go do this already, Akatsuki isn't going to wait for me to get stronger and this obviously isn't a mission. Is that all we're going to work on?"

Jiraiya stood up after him and led him out, "Nope. You obviously know how to draw upon the Kyuubi's chakra if you've been experimenting with it like you've said so I don't need to give you time to learn that. You can make Rasengan absolutely perfectly so you don't need to work on that, speaking of Rasengan, if we can get through your training the way I anticipate we can then I'll tell you something special about that."

Naruto looked up at the taller man, "So what are we going to do?"

Jiraiya grinned down at him, "You needed to know the next step to furthering your wind manipulation didn't you? Well I'll show you what to do to work on that. You started on it back when you were a kid right?"

Naruto nodded, "Danzo told me about the leaf-splitting exercise a few months before my little incident in Otogakure. I still blame you by the way."

Jiraiya's face fell, 'So you still hate me do you kid?"

Naruto shook his head, "No. Not anymore. If there was anything that I learned in Root, it was that Konoha comes first. If you and the old man thought that I was a threat to the village, I can see why you didn't wait for me to wake before acting. I don't like it, I probably never will like it, and I'll always have some spot in me that resents that, but I understand." Naruto saw that they were exiting the town, "It's why I can forgive my father too."

Jiraiya's eyes widened at that, "Y-You know?"

Naruto gave him a foxy smirk, "Tsunade-baachan never told you that I did, did she? Yeah I know, and I have to say that I need to be more observant. It was staring me in the face every damn day for years and I had to have _help_ to figure it out."

Jiraiya sighed deeply and looked down, "You know gaki, I was supposed to be your godfather."

Naruto didn't bat an eye, "Oh really? That's cool. So I should call you ero-kyoufu now right?" Naruto didn't receive an answer and turned to see Jiraiya staring at him with his jaw dropped, "What?"

Jiraiya wiped the look of shock off of his face, "You aren't upset or even in denial on that?"

Naruto shrugged, "Why would I be? Even if you had been looking for me in Konoha you would have been hard pressed to actually find me and do anything godfatherly with me. I went to Danzo when I was four, I only went to the apartment to keep up appearances with Hokage-jiji, he was like clockwork, it was easy to figure out when he was showing up so I was always home on days when he would visit. I'm not going to be a little punk and complain about why you never came to check up on me, because I never asked to be checked up on, you had your responsibilities and your own baggage to deal with. I did too, and I don't think I want to find out what I would have ended up like if you had been an active influence in my formulative years." Naruto finished with a smirk.

Jiraiya smiled down at Naruto, "So you know about your dad do you? Are you going to follow in his footsteps? You're damn talented kid."

Naruto put on a thinking face, "If you're asking whether or not I want to be Hokage, I don't know. It doesn't seem like my niche in the grand scheme of things."

Jiraiya looked at him in slight surprise, "You're really different from your other self, being Hokage was the thing that drove him. He always said he'd be Hokage and get everyone's respect."

Naruto raised a finger, "And that's my point. I'm not like that anymore. I didn't want their respect by wanting to be the Hokage, I wanted their adoration. I don't give a fuck what the majority of those people think about me. If they hate me, fine, go ahead and hate me, but I want their respect in the purest form, not any kind of love from them. They can sneer at me and say things behind my back all they would like, but when I'm dead they better recognize the fact that I was the best damn ninja that they ever had the pleasure of seeing in person."

Jiraiya grinned at how brash he was being, 'It's almost like how he would talk about being Hokage back when he wore that jumpsuit… I don't even think he knows he's saying it like that.'

Naruto continued, "As long as my name is emblazoned in the history books and a 97 year old Iruka-sensei is still yelling at a classroom full of brats to shut the hell up so they can study Naruto Uzumaki and why exactly he was so important to the village I'll be fine. I want the kids of my generation to sit down with their kids and tell stories of the time that Naruto Uzumaki saved their asses." He chuckled slightly, "I'm kind of already doing that. I've already manipulated the landscape on a massive scale, the crater and the forest of bone near the Valley of the End was made during my fight with Kimimaro Kaguya, it's not as big as the Valley of the End, but it's the best anyone's done in almost one-hundred years."

Jiraiya picked up on something during his monologue, "How did that crater even get there in the first place? The Kaguya clan doesn't have any attacks that could make craters like that."

Naruto pointed to his stomach, "It's a part of the thing that I came up with to make up for not being able to use that much of Kyuubi's chakra. It's strong, but damn does it hurt. It cracked every bone in my body to use. *chuckle* Kyuubi bitched me out about it after the fight."

Jiraiya had a new point of interest now, "You speak to the Kyuubi?"

Naruto nodded, "Yep. When I was little it was a hard-ass, as a matter of fact it's still kind of a hard-ass, but I can't imagine not having it in me. It's like I was never alone, even when I was." Naruto snickered, "By the way, you're on the Kyuubi's top twenty list of people that it wants to eat one of these days."

Jiraiya blinked in confusion, "It has a list of people that it wants to eat? And I'm on it?"

Naruto grinned, "Yep, you're number fourteen because of when you sealed me, that really pissed it off. Jiji is number four because of giving the order. It said I used to be on it, but I ended up getting myself off of it after I unsealed myself."

Jiraiya had to ask, "I know I'm going to regret asking, but who is number one? It's Minato right?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nope, he's actually number twenty and bordering on leaving the list altogether. Number one is Madara Uchiha. The Kyuubi says that it hates that bastard and wants to eat him without chewing so that when it swallows him he can die the slow way. Number two is Hashirama Senju. It says that the tree hugging bastard can go down the wrong tube just so it can spit him up and eat him again."

Jiraiya had to take a minute to picture that and cringed visibly, "Wait, you're not on its list? Why not? You _are_ its prison after all."

Naruto grinned like he had a secret, "Yeah, _I'm_ its prison. I control pretty much everything in my head. Before I started trying to use its chakra when I was a kid I had to make sure I had supreme control of myself. I changed everything in there to better accommodate it. Nobody wants to spend an entire lifetime in a leaky cage in a sewer, and I made some deals with the Kyuubi to make both of our lives easier. Seeing as how having a giant fox in a leaky cage in my head would piss it off unnecessarily, I fixed it. "

Jiraiya and Naruto continued to chat as they made their way into the wilderness of Tsuki no Kuni.

XxX

(Two Days Later)

"We've been walking for two days ero-sennin. Where are we going?" Jiraiya led Naruto through a particularly wilder patch of brush that was beginning to irritate the blonde. He could swear Jiraiya was swinging those branches back into his face trying to be funny.

Jiraiya smiled to himself at seeing that the kid was starting to get frustrated with just walking around, "Calm down gaki. We're here, just head on past this undergrowth here and we'll be there." As they kept moving, a distinct roaring noise became louder and louder.

Jiraiya and Naruto pushed through some more vegetation and stopped as Naruto's jaw dropped, "Whoa… sweet."

Jiraiya could see that Naruto was pleased with his choice of training environment, a river running through the island that was situated in their current position right by a waterfall. Naruto walked over to the edge of the water and looked up at the cascade while Jiraiya walked up next to him, "Yep, you needed one for the next part of your training and staying in Konoha would have been boring. I thought about going to Takigakure, but I don't think they would have let you in just so you could mess with their waterfall."

Naruto nodded, though he was barely listening until his mind registered the word 'training', "So a waterfall is important to my training? Okay, I'll bite, what am I doing with this thing?"

"It's very simple my boy." Jiraiya had a sly grin on his features, "You already know how to split a leaf with your wind chakra. Well this is kind of like that, it's just that instead of splitting a leaf you have to split a waterfall." Jiraiya was eager to hear Naruto's outburst at what he had to do.

"…"

"…"

"…"

But Naruto's face never changed from the slightly dull expression that one had when they were thinking about something. The outburst never came… on the outside at least, 'What the fuck? Split a goddamn waterfall? Who am I, the fucking Nidaime Hokage?'

"**Shut the fuck up kit! I'm trying to sleep! He said to cut the waterfall, not stop it you retard. If you're going split the waterfall, just split it and leave me alone."** Naruto had mentally stirred the Kyuubi from its slumber, and it was none too pleased.

Naruto turned his venom onto the Kyuubi, 'Oh really Mr. 'I-can-flatten-mountains-and-raise-tsunamis-with-swings-of-my-tails'? Why don't you bring your big chakra conducive ass out here and make me?'

The Kyuubi growled lowly and started radiating chakra, **"I'm not a 'mister', you idiot, I'm a corporeal mass of chakra. And come in here and say that to my face ningen and see if you don't leave with more than a few chunks of your ass missing."**

Jiraiya snapped his fingers in front of the unresponsive Naruto's face, "Oi, gaki! I think I broke him…"

Naruto however was oblivious to the outside world as he was busy having a territorial pissing contest with a demon of near infinite power, 'Oh I'll come in there, but that's the last thing that your furry ass wants! I'll shove my boot so far up your ass your tongue will have grip!'

"**The only reason my tongue would have grip is because I ate your legs and decided to keep your shoes afterwards to chew on! You're obviously forgetting who you're talking to!"**

"Gaki!"

Naruto was finally brought back to the world of the waking by Jiraiya shaking him and yelling at him, "What ero-sennin? I was in the middle of something with my inner furball who was being an ass!"

Jiraiya sweatdropped, "Yeah, bitch at the Kyuubi later, we have work to do. Just channel your chakra and try to cut it the way you did with the leaf." He pointed, "You can use the bridge over there as a stable point to stand on."

Naruto nodded, "Who built the bridge on the waterfall? We're in the middle of nowhere."

Jiraiya preened like a peacock, "I built it myself. I found this spot and decided to bring you out here kid."

Someone else decided to chime in once more, **"Who the fuck else would have built it you brain-dead hairless ape?"**

Naruto growled on the outside, 'I'm sick of your bullshit Kyuubi. Be productive or shut the hell up and go back to sleep.'

Jiraiya tapped Naruto, "Geez, calm down kid."

Kyuubi chuckled and spoke mockingly, **"Listen to the hermit kit. Calm down, just calm down! Calm down, just calm down! Calm down, just calm down!"**

Naruto's eye twitched, 'Mute.' Naruto sighed in relief as the Kyuubi's voice went silent, 'I forgot I could do that. What the hell is up with him? He hasn't tried to provoke me like that in forever.' Naruto turned to Jiraiya, "Sorry about that ero-sennin. You were saying?"

Jiraiya frowned momentarily, 'He's already showing signs of the added demonic chakra from the loosening of the seal. Maybe I should have waited until after we finished his elemental training to do it.' "Alright gaki, get up there and get started on trying to split that waterfall."

Naruto saluted Jiraiya and scampered to a spot in the middle of the waterfall on the bridge. Pulling his hood up to avoid getting totally soaked he stuck his hands into the waterfall and began generating wind chakra. Naruto could feel the force of the waterfall snuff out the force of his miniscule amount of chakra, "Okay… It looks like I need to come up with more raw force to split this thing. Goody."

Naruto shook his hands dry as Jiraiya came up next to him on the bridge holding an umbrella, "This is more or less a trip to get you started on the training. The entire process could take upwards of a few years to master."

Naruto looked at Jiraiya before forming a cross-seal, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)." Naruto filled the bridge with copies of himself that immediately went to work trying to cut the waterfall, "I just wanted to try it for myself before I had my Kage Bunshin do it. I have something I need to do for myself right about now."

Naruto jumped off of the bridge to the surface of the water and walked to shore before sitting down and getting into a meditative position. Jiraiya appeared at his side, "What are you going to do gaki?"

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya, "I'm going to go into my mindscape so that me and the fox can hash out our little situation."

Jiraiya looked apprehensive, "That might not be such a good idea if its mad at you kid."

Naruto shook his head, "Why not? I mean we've been at each other's throats before but it blows over. We fuck with each other, I stopped being malicious about it years ago." Naruto shut his eyes and put his hands back in the ram sign.

Jiraiya grabbed his hands and broke his concentration again, "Don't. Remember when I told you that I was going to loosen the Kyuubi's seal to give you better access to its power? Well I did it the other night while you were asleep when I said I was going to check your seal. Haven't you felt yourself getting more aggressive and angered easier?"

Naruto nodded, "I figured that puberty was finally starting to make me nuts with all of the shots of testosterone. You're telling me it's because the Kyuubi's chakra is leaking out more steadily now?"

Jiraiya pulled Naruto's shirt up and revealed that the seal was showing even though Naruto wasn't doing anything, "Your body is adjusting to the influx of demonic chakra, though now it's more important than ever for you to control your emotions. It's now far easier for you to lose control when you become angered. You tried picking a fight with the Kyuubi a few minutes ago, I would have slapped you right then if I wasn't sure that it would have made you madder."

Naruto blushed out of embarrassment of being called out like that. It had been months since anyone had called him out for being overly emotional, having been in Root he took it somewhat personal that he was being told that he needed to control himself until he realized that he had been freer with his outbursts than even four months ago.

Jiraiya noticed this, "I'm not saying that being expressive makes you a bad ninja, I mean just look at me!" He said with a stupid grin that got Naruto to crack a smile, "But you've got to know how to manipulate your emotions rather than just go with them or cover them up. If you're mad, learn how to channel that elsewhere, I've seen that you're none too shabby at the trash-talk, that's good. Things like that can help you."

Naruto nodded, "So you don't want me to go into my mindscape, at least not right now anyway?"

Jiraiya patted the boy on the shoulder, "No, don't go in there for a while at least. Probably until your seal disappears from view when you're just sitting idle like now. I'll tell you when it's okay to try." He pulled Naruto to his feet, "Now while your clones are doing their thing why don't you show me what you can do?"

Naruto smirked and started bouncing around in loose stance, "You do know that I'm going to take out quite a bit of aggression on you don't you?"

Jiraiya grinned and crossed his arms across his chest, "You do realize that I'm the strongest ninja in Konoha don't you gaki?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "There's that S-ranked superiority complex again. I can't wait until one of you guys gets schooled by some low-level nobody that couldn't shine your hitae-ate on your worst day."

Jiraiya barked out a laugh, "It's not like I'm taking you lightly Naruto, I've seen what you can do. Now that was then, this is now, feel free to cut loose and hit me with your best shot."

Naruto looked somewhat apprehensive, "Are you sure? I mean some of my stuff is really heavy. I mean _really_ heavy. And I'm not talking about the stuff you've seen either. I could get you with a lucky shot and you could be a goner."

Jiraiya waved him off, "If you manage to push me that far to the extent that actually you wound me like that then that just means I'm getting rusty and needed the ass-kicking anyway. Now come on kid, you're still ten years too soon to beat me."

Naruto's smirk returned full force as he blurred from Jiraiya's sight. Jiraiya wheeled to the side to block a jumping kick from the blonde. Jiraiya's face held quite a bit of amusement, "Faster now aren't we?"

"I've been training with Rock Lee and Maito Gai for a while now. They said that I was slow… that kind of pissed me off, but damn, the way that they train I'm not surprised." Naruto pulled his leg from Jiraiya's arm and lashed out at his body with a straight punch that Jiraiya parried down. Naruto kept his attack low with sweeps, low kicks, and attempts at body shots, but Jiraiya was way faster than him without the Kyuubi's chakra. Naruto expected as much, but it was still a kick in the teeth to stomach.

Speaking of kicks in the teeth, Jiraiya eventually got tired of dodging and planted the soles of his geta into Naruto's face, sending him flying back, "Don't get lazy with your attack pattern kid. You're not faster than me so you can't overwhelm me like you do everyone else. Fight smarter."

Naruto picked himself up and made three Kage Bunshin before rushing Jiraiya again. That brought a grin back to the legend's face as he found himself in a hodge-podge of a pre-meditated tajutsu assault from the clones and the boy himself. Jiraiya had to admit that the clones were very coordinated, they definitely knew their role in the attack.

Since one hit would dispel them, Naruto had them play more of a pestering role, trying for low success rate strikes from Jiraiya's blind spots. Things like flashy jumping spin kicks and the like, he also had them shouting and yelling. While this was a good way to distract most opponents with the false threat of the clones it also gave away the real Naruto, who was right in front of Jiraiya the entire time, staying out of range of the man's attacks and trying to keep a lower profile by staying silent until he thought that one of his Kage Bunshin feints had enough of Jiraiya's attention to attempt a short rush.

If he had tried this on anyone his rank or below, hell if he had tried this on a few jounin that specialized in flashier arts and weren't good enough at taijutsu to keep the kid off of them he would have beaten them into a bloody pulp fighting the way he was. Unfortunately for Naruto's plan, Jiraiya was fast enough and aware enough to dodge everything and pinpoint the real body. Averting his eyes as a feint of his own to draw the real Naruto in, he grabbed the original's arm while ducking kicks from two of the clones.

He knew this was the original because he pulled him in and drilled him right in the stomach with a powerful shot to send him flying back again. The clones tried attacking all at once but Jiraiya stood between them all calmly and flew through his hand-signs too fast for them to stop, "Hari Jizo (Needle Jizo)!" The clones were dispelled when Jiraiya's hair grew to surround his body and hardened and sharpened to puncture the poor things.

Jiraiya let his hair regress and stood straight up clapping his hands, "That was nice gaki, you made me use a jutsu."

Naruto narrowed his eyes in determination, "Well since you showed me yours…" Naruto made hand-signs and placed his hands on the ground, "Thank you Yugi-chan! Raiton: Kaksen no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Livewire Jutsu)!" Naruto sent out a speedy burst of arcing electricity from where his hands touched the ground in front of him at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya made a 'hmm' noise and jumped high into the air over the crackling electricity before making his own hand-signs, "Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet)!" Jiraiya shot a bullet of flaming oil at Naruto who was still on the ground. Naruto simply darted away from Jiraiya's aim and decided to try and catch him hanging in the air.

Naruto grinned as he made hand-signs and linked his fists together, "Got you hanging ero-sennin, Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!" Naruto shot the attack in the direction of Jiraiya's fall to time it to make contact. Jiraiya saw this coming and shot another flaming bullet at the shimmering wind attack, causing a mid-air explosion that allowed him to land safely.

Naruto snapped his fingers in disappointment while Jiraiya dug out his ear, "Damn gaki, you cleared out the wax with that last explosion."

Naruto shook his head in amusement and flipped Jiraiya off, "Whatever… I'm getting closer. I'm going to knock the hell out of you by the time this is over at least once, I guarantee it."

Jiraiya chuckled, "This lasts as long as I let it last. Don't get a swelled head here. I'm strong enough to kill you ten times over."

Naruto growled and ran in to attack again, "Underestimating me will get you killed!" He threw shuriken at Jiraiya in an attempt to direct his movement a certain way, but Jiraiya just moved aside and let them pass. Naruto grinned and placed his palms together, "Fuuton: Reppuushou (Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm)!" Naruto created an updraft stream of wind that Jiraiya hunkered down to let pass and wait for Naruto's charge, but it flew right past him and carried to the shuriken that Naruto threw, forcing them to sweep high into the air back over Jiraiya's head.

A few more hand-signs from Naruto signaled another jutsu, "Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Release: Lightning Shuriken)!" The shuriken over Jiraiya's head began raining down bolts of lightning that he was forced to dodge. Upon getting out of the storm of electricity he hastily ducked a cutting jump kick from Naruto that would have made good on the kid's promise to nail him with a good shot at least once today.

Jiraiya grabbed hold of Naruto's leg and flung him off hard. He flipped to his feet to see Jiraiya make the boar and tiger hand-signs before slamming his hands to the ground, "Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)!" Naruto made a yipe noise and jumped high into the air, but didn't clear enough ground to escape the swamp, "Gotcha gaki!"

'I'm not good at this yet but it should do for this!' Naruto smirked, "You think so? Fuuton: Kaze Wakiokoru (Wind Release: Wind Burst)!" Naruto seemingly jumped on nothing but air and shot himself the rest of the way over the swamp. Jiraiya's jaw dropped until he realized that Naruto was hovering directly over him and was falling fast. Naruto linked his fists together again and pushed them out, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken!"

Jiraiya hightailed it out from under Naruto before the ground where he was standing ended up with massive fist shaped marks flattened into the earth. The force of pushing out the jutsu helped Naruto land softer. Jiraiya shouted at the boy, "What the hell gaki? Where are you learning all of this crap? And who the hell taught you any lighting ninjutsu?"

Naruto dusted himself off, "I knew this stuff when I was in Root. I'm just now starting to get them back, and there are still more that I can't do yet, I never could. Danzo had me learn them in the hopes that I could get the control to use them one day. And about the lightning jutsu, let's just say a certain neko in Kumo likes me well enough to teach me some stuff."

By now there were sounds of a raucous crowd, confusing both fighters until they looked at the waterfall and saw the clones knocking off from working on splitting the waterfall to watch them fight. Apparently they were well entertained.

Naruto sweatdropped while Jiraiya guffawed nearby, "Really obedient clones you've got there!"

Naruto palmed his head and dragged it through his hair, "Well I do work them pretty hard so I guess this is okay." He turned to the clones and put on a confident pose, "Who wants to see me kick ero-sennin's ass?"

A loud cheer went up from his clones with the exception of one, "Boooo! Ero-sennin, stomp a mudhole into boss's lazy ass! Always having us do this shit while he gets to fight…"

Jiraiya grinned cheesily at the clone and gave it a thumbs up. The original Naruto was looking at the lone Kage Bunshin blankly as were the rest. Naruto pointed at him, "You shut up." Before the clone could respond, Naruto dispelled him.

Jiraiya turned to Naruto, "What's the matter? Can't take the fact that even _you_ know that I'm going to kick your ass gaki?"

Naruto set himself back into a ready stance, "Hey, I need unanimous support from myself. I can't be telling myself I'm going to lose." Naruto ran at Jiraiya and tried dropping a falling ax kick on him that was dodged. Jiraiya tried to retaliate with a backhand strike at him that Naruto caught in his hands. Jiraiya pulled him back towards him and kicked him in the stomach, forcing Naruto to let go.

Jiraiya kneeled down near Naruto who was coughing heavily on the ground crouched in a near ball, "As if I'm going to let you keep a grip on me and use your scary strong strength to throw me around like a six foot two ragdoll. I'm still physically stronger than you."

"I noticed!" Naruto leapt to his feet and shoved his right hand out at Jiraiya, which contained a familiar blue ball of spiraling chakra, "Rasengan!"

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes and formed his own Rasengan to clash with Naruto's, "I'll show you how it's done gaki! Rasengan!"

The two attacks clashed against one another, both chakra balls grinding against one another forcefully. Naruto held his ground as best he could, but was steadily being overpowered. In a last ditch effort he overloaded his own Rasengan with too much power. Jiraiya saw the evil smirk on Naruto's face and had his eyes widen as he felt the extra influx of chakra. In a flash of blue the technique exploded, throwing both of them off.

Naruto landed in the water while Jiraiya plowed into the trees hiding the waterfall. Pulling himself ashore, Naruto saw Jiraiya slumped against the trees and stood to run his way over to continue the fight before he could stand. As he drew close he skidded to a stop as Jiraiya fell apart to mud. Naruto looked around but was too late as his surroundings changed. Instead of being outdoors near a waterfall he was instead surrounded by pink, fleshy walls.

Naruto tried to punch his way out, but ended up sinking his hand into the wall when Jiraiya's voice rang out, seemingly from outside, "How do you like that gaki?" Naruto's legs began sinking into the ground of whatever he was in, "This is Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari (Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind)! There's no way out of this, it's the esophagus of the great fire breathing mountain toad. There's nothing you can do, it's over. I could get the walls to digest you if you want to act like you're not beaten."

Naruto sighed, "Yeah… I quit, you win." In a puff of smoke, Naruto was totally freed as his clones voiced their disproval. He turned to them and sighed, "All right guys I lose. Now get back to work so that next time I won't!"

The clones let off a collective affirmative and returned to their task. Naruto walked over to the tree where Jiraiya's muddy replication melted as the man himself came from the trees. Jiraiya ruffled the boy's hair, "Good fight gaki, you didn't do too badly."

Naruto grumbled, "I didn't lay a finger on you, even my double-edged move didn't do anything."

Jiraiya pointed at himself, "S-ranked ninja standing here. I told you what was going to happen. You're good, but not that good. You have way more jutsus than I thought you would. A few of your moves were something incredible for a kid your age, I don't think I'll ever get over just what you can do."

Naruto sighed and walked back to the waterfall, "I guess I'll join my clones on working on the waterfall."

Jiraiya laughed loudly, "Oh now you're all dejected? What happened to venting some aggression on me? I guess you've learned that when it comes to dealing with hotshot know-it-all punks with blonde spiky mops there's no one better than the great toad sage Jiraiya!" He finished while standing in his pose.

Naruto got a tick mark on his head and formed his seal for Kage Bunshin, surrounding Jiraiya in copies of himself, "Oh, yeah, like a bunch of brats are going to beat me up. Oooh I'm so scared."

"Henge! Harem no Jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke, Jiraiya had countless nude blonde women hanging off of him. This was too much for his brain to handle as he launched back into the woods with blood flying from his nose. Naruto dispelled the clones and headed back to the waterfall, "Huh… I should have thought of that during the actual fight."

XxX

(Two Weeks Later)

Naruto had been steadily training with his clones to perfect his nature manipulation, but even with the clones his progress was slow. They were finally making headway, with a cut beginning to form in the waterfall, but there was an agonizingly long way to go if he wanted to master his element.

He had still yet to go speak to the Kyuubi after their little episode because his seal was still visible on his stomach, even when he was relaxing. He followed Jiraiya's advice and stayed put of his mind for the time being.

While he had his clones handle working on the waterfall he told Jiraiya about his interest in Fuuinjutsu and trying to take it up, if nothing else so that he knew what was going on with his own seal. Jiraiya agreed that it was a good skill to have and put him to work, taking him off of splitting the waterfall personally and leaving that to his Kage Bunshin. He had Naruto start straight from the basics, which was getting his handwriting perfect so that he would make perfect strokes with his brushwork when sealing, as even a small slip could be catastrophic.

Much like the work with his elemental training it was bitter work and slow going. Made even slower by the fact that Kage Bunshin would do him no good here. Getting his calligraphy perfect was more along the lines of muscle memory, like learning stances and the like. As thus it was more physical than mental. He could use them later on when he got into the practical education of sealing, but until he wrote clearer than a ten year old grammar student he couldn't.

Jiraiya had left him at their training spot to head towards a town to get more sealing supplies, as he was going to teach Naruto how to make his own ink to seal with. And the boy found himself alone one night by the waterfall.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto turned towards the source of the voice to find a boy, roughly his age standing in the branches of a tree. He had pale skin, short black hair and black eyes. He wore a collared shirt that cut off at his mid-section along with black pants, black shinobi sandals, and black fingerless gloves. On his back was a tip-less tanto and a backpack that could be accessed quickly in case of necessity.

Naruto was sitting by the water when the boy showed himself. He stayed up in the tree, "Is Jiraiya of the Sannin around?"

Naruto scoffed, "If he was here then you wouldn't even be this close. What do you want? Who are you? And why am I not killing you right now?"

"I am here for Danzo-sama. He has been wanting to get into contact with you for quite some time now." The boy bowed slightly, "I have been given the name Sai for this assignment."

Naruto looked at Sai with an appraising eye and decided to test out Sai's claim to be one of Danzo's men, "So Danzo-jiji decides to send out a gay hood ornament to contact me. Tell him that he needs more girls in Root, it's a sausage fest, I swear."

Sai didn't blink at all, getting a nod from Naruto, "Okay, you're Danzo's. So what's the message? I probably already know, but go ahead."

Sai spoke, "Danzo-sama says that you are no longer one of his tools. You were extremely useful during your time under him, but you're too risky to try and take back now. Besides that, he says that you wouldn't fir back in anyway."

Naruto nodded, "I figured that… He's right, I can't just disappear back to HQ now, I'm too out in the open, and he can't keep risking guys like you just to make contact with me for assignments either, it's too high of a gamble now for him to have me." He looked at Sai suspiciously, "So what does this mean then? Am I a loose end for him and he sent you to try and kill me?"

Sai shook his head, "I am incapable of bringing you down Uzumaki. I was simply dispatched to bring you Danzo-sama's messages. You are by no means expendable. You carry his teachings inside of you deeper than any other, he just cannot risk trying to meet with you himself, it would seem to suspicious, and it is no longer necessary. Even without him you are true to the one thing that he put into you more than anything else, that Konoha comes first, everything we do is for Konoha. To that end he says to you to grow stronger and protect our home. The foundations of the great tree will always be rooted inside of you Uzumaki."

Naruto nodded and turned to return to watching the water when he still sensed Sai's presence, "Yes? Do you still need me for something?"

Sai was still in place from when he first started speaking, "Danzo-sama does have one last assignment for you Uzumaki. It is one that he is certain is well within your parameters to complete."

Naruto turned around and stayed seated, watching Sai carefully, 'One last mission huh? What the hell, why not? One more for old times sake. I owe the old cripple that at least.'

He gestured for the pale boy to continue with the message which he did without delay, "Danzo-sama wants you to do all that is in your power to become Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened. Root training be damned even though he was in front of one of the operatives, he was surprised as all hell to hear that, "Danzo-jiji wants me to become Hokage? What? I thought that was his kick, why would he want me to do it?"

Sai stared at Naruto emotionlessly, "He has not truly given up. Danzo-sama is getting old Uzumaki. He says that the death of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the last Hokage, showed him his own mortality. He is well aware of the fact that he will probably die before another opportunity to take the position ever shows itself again. You are the closest thing to an apprentice that he has, he has shown you his ways of working, he has shown you what he could about the system of the village. With you in power he would feel secure in the fact that Konoha would have a kage that would truly be strong enough to handle the job, to do what is necessary."

Naruto still couldn't believe it, "Why me? Couldn't he have actually trained someone for something like this?"

Sai spoke again, "Who else would suffice? Even though you have Danzo-sama's backing no one knows it. He could never instill his views into someone and send them into the political world without suspicion arising. You already are mistrusted by a good portion of the population and you are slowly turning that number around, you already have the backing of a few significant names in the village due to your actions and character alone, the entire country of Nami no Kuni sees you as a hero for one, and you are close to the current Hokage herself as well as the children of the Kazekage and the current Raikage favors you. You inadvertently put yourself in the position for this."

Naruto looked at his hands, "Me, the Hokage? It was a pipe-dream of a foolish mindset, not something real. And he wants me to actually go for it?"

Sai turned to walk away, "I have given you Danzo-sama's words to you, but he asked me to leave you with this in case you were having trouble." Turning around to face Naruto he looked at him firmly, "Where there is light, there is shadow. To be a shinobi is to sacrifice oneself. Closing your eyes to the sunlight… Distinguishing yourself in the shadows. That is the true form of a ninja." Naruto nodded in agreement, but snapped his eyes open when Sai continued, "But that is not your destiny Uzumaki. The truth is, you are the leaves bathing in the sun… and I… I am the roots that grow in the dark."

Naruto looked up at Sai who turned and began walking back to the woods. Before he made it to the edge of the trees he turned around one last time, "You have the full support of Danzo-sama and Root. We will be in touch, Uzumaki, do not worry about that. We will not disappear." Sai gave Naruto a closed eye smile that seemed totally out of character and left the area, leaving Naruto alone with himself.

Naruto looked at his reflection in the moonlit water. Splashing the water to disrupt the image he looked up to the moon and sighed, "The last order from Danzo-jiji… Become Hokage or die trying." Naruto chuckled to himself, "Naruto Uzumaki, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. Now that sounds like it would look good in a history book."

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Jutsu List

Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Release: Lightning Shuriken). B-ranked ninjutsu. Requirements: Shuriken. Mid-to-long range. The user augments the shuriken with Raiton chakra then throws it above his enemy. This will rain down sever bolts of lightning towards the opponent, opening passing over or hitting them.

Raiton: Kaksen no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Livewire Jutsu). B-ranked ninjutsu. Close-to-mid range. The user sends a visible line of electricity that travels along the ground from the user to an opponent, controlled by the user at a considerable speed. This gush of electricity can only travel to as far as 10 meters.

Fuuton: Kaze Wakiokoru (Wind Release: Wind Burst). B-ranked ninjutsu. Supplementary. This technique isn't so much as levitation, as it is granting the user the ability to seemingly jump while still in the air. Concentrating energy into the feet, the user must create small air bubbles which when bursting will push the feet up causing bursts of movement. Of course, other strong winds can cause the user to go in different directions from what was intended.

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**I have hustled this chapter out because I am currently being afflicted by the lack of any good story updates these days. That was the real inspiration behind me putting put two chapters within 24 hours of one another the other day, because no one else is doing much, and when I don't have anything to read, I write. A lot.**

**Okay, back to good old fashioned plot development. This is the start of the next arc after roughly two chapters of filler. I've not got much to say about that so I'll just leave it there and go wildly off topic now.**

**In the Naruto manga one of the characters that never show up now has the greatest line ever said in any chapter in quite a while. Aoba Yamashiro, while Samehada was trying to feed on Kirabi's chakra and Kirabi was just letting it like it was a puppy or something, said the exact line I've been thinking for years, "Why do all of the strong people around here have to be so stupid?" I don't know if that was intentional or not, but I laughed my ass off for 5 minutes afterwards.**

**Gai is still boss status… but he's going to die next week. The fight barely started and he opened 7 of the gates. Pour some out for my soon to be dead homie, the world will be a less youthful place when he's gone. If he actually wins then I'll be pleasantly surprised or if Gai goes out like the man he should go out like, I'll give Kishimoto some more respect back, he's been steadily earning it for the last few weeks and I hope he continues to do so.**

**As always feel free to drop your boy a line. I enjoy reading all forms of reviews, especially the ones that are obscenely entertaining, some of those end up making my day.**


	20. To Toil in the Mud or Play in the Clouds

Review Shoutouts

***Laziness is a curse and I suffer from it.***

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Apparently people just love poking holes in my delusions of grandeur and have informed me that because of the fact that Kishimoto does not live in the U.S. the I.R.S. has no jurisdiction over him, thus throwing my new plan to snatch Naruto from his unworthy hands out the window. So you can all take this disclaimer and shove it because you all know damn well that you own jack shit of Naruto as well. We're all in the same boat of obscurity together, ain't it grand?

**Chapter 19:To Toil in the Mud or Play in the Clouds

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Jiraiya looked over Naruto's handiwork from the last few hours and 'hmmed' thoughtfully before balling up the paper he was looking at just moments before, "Nope. It's total crap gaki. Do it again."

Naruto grumbled at the toad summoner as he pulled out more paper and began copying down the practice strokes, kanji, and symbols that Jiraiya had given him to improve his calligraphy. The important physical things that Naruto needed to be a decent sealing artist were great speed with his strokes and flawless writing ability. It had been a month since Naruto had spoken to Sai and he and Jiraiya were still out in the wilderness of Tsuki no Kuni by the waterfall. His clones were starting to make some headway with splitting the waterfall. It was amazing to Jiraiya how fast he was getting the exercise with the help of the clones, he figured that he would have it down by the time they needed to return to Konoha.

During the day he would have Naruto make his clones to work on the waterfall splitting while he had Naruto study the theories of fuuinjutsu. After lunch he would make Naruto spar with him before setting him to work on his brush skills, which was Naruto's least favorite practice of the day, but it needed to be done. Fuuinjutsu was seemingly tethered to every major event in Naruto's life thus far. When one thought about it, it _literally_ made him who he was, for better or for worse, therefore for him to know nothing about it would have been a travesty, he had been planning on delving into it even before he made his promise to Anko. However learning it was a pain in the ass.

It was hard to re-teach yourself how to write after doing it a certain way for as long as you could remember, but that was basically what he was being forced to do. Every little mark needed to be perfect for fuuinjutsu to be effective, or else terrible things could happen. Naruto was never so thankful for his quick healing, or else his hands and wrists would have been shot beyond use by now.

Naruto was simply taking it slow this time, making sure that his movements on the parchment were perfect enough to avoid mistakes. Naruto noticed the light begin to fade and as he looked over at Jiraiya he could see that the man did too. Jiraiya headed off towards the waterfall, yelling over his shoulder, "I'm going to go tell your clones to dispel. You can stop for the day, we're done here."

Naruto nodded and sighed as he started picking up all of the discarded papers with the efforts of his daily labor on them and put them away. He finally had time to think over all of the things that had happened to him lately. He found out that his dad was the Yondaime Hokage, strangely enough when he started piecing things together it wasn't that hard to see. He was blonde and blue-eyed, hell some people called him the Yondaime's spitting image. He was also a jinchuuriki, most jinchuuriki are children of high ranking shinobi so that they have some sort of loyalty to their village, and he had Kakashi Hatake as his sensei, he still needed to find and grill Kakashi over a myriad of things once he returned to Konoha. Needless to say, he wasn't as shocked as he should have been after he got over the initial surprise from when he figured it out.

This made the second thing that had recently happened even more absurd to him. He had been asked, no, ordered, to become Hokage or die trying. Danzo had sent one of his men, a boy Naruto's age dubbed 'Sai' for the mission to inform Naruto that Danzo had to break basically all informative ties with him, that he had to bury everything about himself and Root. Naruto wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, he knew the score with him and Danzo. He knew that to Danzo he was a tool to be used to protect and serve Konoha and that he was somewhat expendable, he had come to terms with that fact years ago. On the other hand, he had spent the earlier years of his life following Danzo's lead, going off of Danzo's example, doing the things that Danzo told him to do. To say that that man no longer had any sway over his life was something he had to get used to. He was to avoid any inclination that the two had any connection. Sure, Jiraiya and Tsunade were the only people alive that knew of his past relationship, but for all intents and purposes, since the invasion Naruto had been his own person. Naruto had played that up to the hilt, all the while he had been waiting for some word, either from an assassin or someone to give him his orders, he knew he wouldn't have been left out the way it seemed he had been.

'One hell of a final mission huh Danzo-jiji? I wonder if you knew who I really was all along? That I was the son of Minato Namikaze?' Naruto thought to himself as he continued to pack away his things. Was this why Danzo figured that Naruto had a better chance than him of ever being Hokage? Danzo wasn't really trusted in most circles despite having the Sandaime Hokage's old teammates on his side, when the truth about Naruto's heritage inevitably came out it would flip public opinion of him on its head and open up a whole new can of worms that he hadn't even considered yet. It did somewhat make sense though when Naruto thought about it.

Naruto cringed and held his head as he fell to the ground, memories of what had transpired amongst his Kage Bunshin swelling his brain. Jiraiya walked back over and saw Naruto on the ground, "Gaki are you okay?"

Naruto picked himself up off of the ground slowly while gingerly holding his head, "Yeah ero-sennin, I'm fine. My clones just dispelled all at once when you told them to stop. It gives me a nasty little backlash when too many of them do it at the same time."

Jiraiya grinned at him, "I don't know how many times I'll say it gaki, that's one impressive little training trick."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Eh, you take what you get. The Uchiha had their Sharingan, the Hyuuga have their Byakugan. I just so happen to have a giant fox roaming my mind, and I work with it."

Jiraiya scratched his hair, "So why don't you use Kage Bunshin to help with your handwriting the way you use it with your nature manipulation training?"

Naruto stood up straight and cracked his back, "Well since handwriting is muscle memory that would be physical instead of mental wouldn't it?"

Jiraiya palmed his forehead, "You know, sometimes I forget that you're a kid and kids aren't that smart." Naruto was about to verbally lay into the white-haired man until he raised a hand for him to stop, "Muscle memory is mental gaki. You can use Kage Bunshin to get your handwriting to be better." Naruto just stared blankly at Jiraiya who eventually got bored and walked away, leaving Naruto standing in place.

XxX

(Konohagakure – Hokage Tower)

"You wanted to see me Hokage-sama?" A masked man with white spiky hair asked as he demurely entered Tsunade's office behind Shizune.

Tsunade had a slight twitch in her eye as she locked her eyes onto her jounin, "Yes Kakashi… Four hours ago. Where were you?"

Kakashi eye-smiled while rubbing the back of his head, "Well you see Hokage-sama I was on my way here when-."

Tsunade sighed loudly and waved him off, "Enough Kakashi. You're lucky I need you for the swell of S-ranked missions. I didn't call you here to issue you one though. I called you here because of another reason."

Kakashi visibly deflated, 'I had a good one all set up to use too…' Getting himself together he got to business, "So Hokage-sama. What is it that you need of me?"

She got herself back into an informative mode, "Kakashi, I need your help. You'll be getting a reprieve from the S-ranked missions for the time being but you'll still have to go on other missions."

Ever since Team 7 had dissolved Kakashi had been taking the highest ranked missions available that the village could muster. The fact that he was one of the strongest ninja in the entire village pretty much led to him doing so. Kakashi looked at Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, what do you need me to do?"

Shizune dropped two files on Tsunade's desk who then motioned for Kakashi to look at them. Upon opening them he found the first page of each to be a picture of Naruto, one that was the picture that went on his ninja ID, the other a picture that Tsunade had him take after he returned from Kumo."

Tsunade let Kakashi look them over for a moment, "Notice any differences between the two?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yes. The first one is obviously Naruto's personnel file. I read it last year when he was assigned to my team and I was the one that added on to it." Pointing to the other one he continued, "I have no clue what that one is for, but my guess would be you want me to begin filling out his updated file."

A nod and a small smile were his answers, "Yes Kakashi. When Naruto returns I want you to be his leader when he goes out on missions. You will be giving me progress reports on his progress and how he operates on missions. I was tempted to promote him straight to jounin after his promotion test all those months ago but thought that some more seasoning in the field was required first beforehand. The second thing I want you to do is to help me configure a more permanent team for him."

Kakashi's eyes widened, "Is there any way I could get Sakura for that team? I still want them as my squad."

Tsunade looked at him strangely, "I was thinking more along the lines of a team that clicked with their combined skills. Sakura isn't ready for a team like what Naruto's would probably end up being. She still needs far more training, and Naruto isn't a genin any longer, you're his squad leader for this period of time until I find him ready for a promotion. I don't think it will take long for him to get it either."

Kakashi nodded, "All he needs is the field experience and I would be hard pressed to say anything to hold him back from jounin rank. So you basically want me to keep tabs on him and keep you informed on what he does and how good he's getting."

Tsunade shrugged, "Pretty much. Until further notice you'll be keeping an eye on him, he should get stronger very quickly now that he knows that Akatsuki will be coming for him in two more years, just make sure he gets that far to worry about them."

XxX

(Tsuki no Kuni – One Week Later)

So now instead of the usual one hundred Kage Bunshin that Naruto had dedicated to training he had five hundred. Due to him being utterly bored and sick and tired of waking up to the sound of loud crashing water every morning he increased the intensity of his workout. Two hundred and fifty on the waterfall training, two hundred and fifty working on his handwriting, the pain in the ass that it was, and hearing one hundred clones gripe to one another about the boring-ass monotonous practice was getting old. Still, Jiraiya figured that his handwriting was good enough for him to begin actively practicing. While his clones were now working on increasing the speed of their strokes, Naruto himself was learning firsthand from Jiraiya about making seals.

The first thing he learned from Jiraiya was how to make his own storage seals. Naruto figured that it was all a part of the learning experience, but he didn't see any use for having a ton of sealing scrolls, maybe he could sell them, but otherwise he was just going through what Jiraiya told him to do.

The next step was making his own ink. Jiraiya instructed Naruto to drain a bit of his own blood into the ink and channel chakra into the mix for a responsive seal. Naruto wanted to know how to make explosive notes, but Jiraiya wasn't sure to trust Naruto with the knowledge of how to make his own high explosives. Simply put, when he started teaching Naruto things like that the boy could easily then go out and get his own things to make them.

He still had money left over all the way back to the mission to Nami no Kuni a year ago, he was now taking higher ranked missions and Jiraiya had seen his home, it wasn't a very lavish place, therefore now that Naruto had something to blow all of his stacked back money on besides ramen, namely ink and the material for seals, in addition to having a nigh inexhaustible supply of Kage Bunshin manpower to make the seals, and the normal male desire to make things go boom, as well as something akin to a blood feud with the abnormally large spiders in the Forest of Death (Jiraiya had learned this when he found Naruto talking in his sleep about 'the eight-legged bastards'), and you can see how Jiraiya may have had reservations about getting the kid into making explosive notes.

Jiraiya now had Naruto sitting down so that he could hope to find out what Naruto wanted to do with fuuinjutsu, "So gaki, what's your reason for wanting to know about fuuinjutsu? What are you hoping to get out of it, it's a kind of obscure art."

Naruto was currently multitasking as he was testing out his seal making speed with regular ink, "Well… I'm a jinchuuriki. It would be pretty stupid if I didn't know anything about fuuinjutsu. Hell, I'm a walking example of fuuinjutsu aren't I?"

"**More than you'll ever know ningen, more than you'll ever know."** Were the rumblings from the fox within Naruto. Cryptic? Oh yes. Was he going to go and deal with it? Not now, he was having a conversation.

Naruto cleared the Kyuubi's words from his mind and focused on the old man in front of him, "I made a promise too. I promised Anko that I would get the cursed seal off of her. When I was in Otogakure all of those years ago I memorized Orochi-teme's notes on it. Some of that stuff I wish I could forget… But I have an idea of what to do to get it off of her, I just need some things first before I can do anything about it, one of those things is knowing exactly what the hell I'm dealing with, hence why I'm doing this."

Jiraiya nodded, "And none of this is stemming from you wanting to get the seal off of Sasuke Uchiha? He was your teammate like Orochimaru was mine. I know when Orochimaru left Konoha I was like that, I wanted to save him."

Naruto snorted and placed his materials aside, "Ero-sennin the only way that I even care about removing Uchiha-teme's seal is when I sever his head from his neck. There's no saving there, he had an entire village that was willing to 'save him', he had a girl that was willing to give herself to him at the cost of her own career and probably her life to 'save him'. Fuck that, he went to a traitor for power that he could have easily gotten here. I'll save him alright, I'll save him from becoming Orochimaru's next body by ending him the next time we meet, but I don't care about him, I care about Orochimaru getting the Sharingan and coming to eradicate our collective asses."

Jiraiya let a smile come to his face, "Thank goodness I don't have to beat that 'save him' stuff out of you gaki. You're smarter than I was when it happened to me."

Naruto shrugged, "You can't save someone that doesn't want to be saved ero-sennin, every Hokage knows that. I wonder how pissed off he would get if I beat Itachi before he could get to him himself? That idiot… All he had to do was stay near me until Itachi came after me again and he could have had his shot." Naruto laughed to himself at that thought, "He might come after me then."

Jiraiya chuckled alongside him, "Yeah, seeing as how Itachi is one of the two slated to come after you I guess you'll get a better shot at him than Sasuke will." He then noticed that Naruto had said something quite interesting, "Hokage? What are you saying gaki?"

Naruto smirked and rubbed his nose, "Well I was thinking, I spent four years of my life dreaming about being a Hokage, it would be a shame to throw it away now that I have a realistic chance of getting there wouldn't it?"

Jiraiya's eyes widened as a smile started forming on his face, "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Naruto nodded, "So ero-sennin, you trained the Yondaime Hokage… how do you feel about training the Rokudaime?"

Jiraiya simply burst out in laughter, 'That kid is confusing as all hell, but at least he's never too boring.'

XxX

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto took the time of his slumber to finally reach out to the Kyuubi. It had been over one month since Naruto's seal had been tampered with by Jiraiya and he had yet to try and communicate with the creature. Earlier in the day when the fox spoke it had been the first peep that Naruto had heard from it in forever. He had heeded Jiraiya's warning, he had waited the Kyuubi's temperament out, now it was time to see just what Jiraiya had screwed up with the seal, and the only real way to check it with his novice skill at fuuinjutsu was to go inside of his head and check it out firsthand.

When he first entered he was relieved to see that it still looked like Konoha. That was a good sign to him that not much had changed from his original setup. Wandering around he was curious as to where the Kyuubi would be. Usually he could find it in his house, out in the field beside his house, near the ravine that Jiraiya threw him into, or right in the middle of an utterly eradicated town.

All of these areas came up with nothing. No Kyuubi in sight. Naruto eventually went to the top of his mindscape's Hokage Monument in an effort to wait the Kyuubi out, in his thoughts it had to come out to do something eventually right? After sitting on top of the monument looking out at the village that wasn't doing anything, no noise, no movement, nothing for seemingly hours, he finally growled to himself and let out a yell, "Damn it Kyuubi, where the hell are you!"

"**Closer than you know kit."**

Naruto heard the voice from all around him as he stood up to look. Scanning the area around him intently he found nothing, "Kyuubi? Where are you? I need to talk to you about the seal."

"***sigh* I'm well aware of that kit. Your idiot godfather loosened the seal in an effort to allow you to draw on my power more readily without knowing what he was actually doing. I'm an entity of anger and hatred, this spilled over into you, which was why you and I were so arbitrarily aggressive towards one another and why you were so quick to anger."**

Naruto stopped looking for the Kyuubi as it was getting him nowhere and listened to it speak, "So you're saying that ero-sennin pretty much fucked something up and forced too much of your chakra into my system as opposed to normal. So now what?"

Kyuubi finally emerged from nothingness in front of Naruto, the size of a normal fox, only with nine tails, **"Well he was kind of successful in his endeavor. You can now access extra tails quicker than you could before, but now it's going to be harder to control."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the diminutive figure of the fox, "What do you mean Kyuubi?"

Kyuubi sat down on its haunches and gave a look that could be construed as serious if foxes could look serious, **"Now instead of having to take ten to fifteen minutes to build up the necessary chakra needed for a two tailed cloak you can activate it almost instantaneously. However, without even thinking about it you can slip further and further into using more of my power subconsciously. Your anger in battle even from the tiniest things, such as someone surviving one of your lethal attacks, could force your temper to the point of you going past your limit of control. You will lose yourself to bloodlust if your battles drag on for too long."**

Naruto shrugged, "So I'll feel a greater need to kill my enemy in a fight, big deal. If I was using your chakra to fight then I was probably going to kill them anyway so I don't think that matters too much to me." Kyuubi growled and snapped Naruto in the ankle, forcing the boy to yelp in surprise/pain, "Kyuubi, what the fuck?"

Continuing to growl, the Kyuubi licked the blood from the bite off of its muzzle, **"As happy as I am that you don't mind killing your opponents, I would be remiss if I didn't explain to your thickheaded self exactly what I mean by bloodlust. You will try to kill everything. Oh your focus will be on your enemy that you were fighting that drove you to the point of no control, but that's all you'll be concerned with. You will fight like a berserker, you will have a one-track mind, you will take every attack that your enemy launches at you and you will walk right through it."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, I've got to tell you, none of what you just said really qualifies as a bad thing to me." Holding his hands up quickly in a placating fashion when he saw the Kyuubi narrow its eyes at him he stepped back a few inches.

Kyuubi snorted and began pacing, **"How to put this so that you will understand… Okay, Say that you kill your opponent while you are in this state. You won't just stop there, you will immediately find the nearest living thing, run to it, and kill it, friend, foe, or completely indifferent, you won't stop until someone stops you. Do you get the point now? You will be a mindless killer."**

Naruto gritted his teeth and punched the ground, "Goddamn it! All of that work just to get this far and now you're saying that your power is too dangerous for me to use? If I use it in a fight against someone that can kick my ass I'll lose myself and become a killing machine? Fuck!" Naruto continued to punch the ground, "All of these years! I thought I was finally getting somewhere! I'm the worst fucking jinchuuriki in the Elemental Nations! If the other villages knew how much I sucked then Konoha would be a laughingstock."

Kyuubi sweatdropped at Naruto's breakdown, **"Well technically they would have to know that **_**you**_** were the jinchuuriki of Konoha before anything could be the laughingstock of anything."**

Naruto looked away from beating the ground of his mindscape to glare at the Kyuubi, "You shut up. You should be happy, you shouldn't have told me that. You could influence me easier and escape that way right?"

Kyuubi blinked blankly at Naruto, **"You would have to draw on all nine tails of my power and be feeble minded enough to remove the seal from me yourself. If you lost your shit in the middle of a fight I wouldn't benefit from it. You need to learn how to fix it or else you really will be at a disadvantage. You are decent without me, but against someone like the Hachibi host you would be destroyed."**

Naruto frowned at the fox and wiped his hands off, "That's great… Two steps forward, three steps back. *sigh* Alright, I think I've got the bitch out of me… I'll just have to avoid using your chakra until I know enough to fix the seal, easy right?"

Kyuubi took a moment to look away, **"Uh, yeah… Sure, let's go with that."**

Naruto grinned at Kyuubi, "Great! Later Kyuubi!" Naruto then phased out of the mindscape.

Upon seeing its host exit, Kyuubi went to the edge of the cliff and looked out over Konoha, **"It's not going to be as easy as you think kit. But I guess I'll let you find that out yourself. I'm not your damn answer key."** Kyuubi yawned and donned an evil grin as it transformed to its regular size and fired off an Imari to begin the destruction of fake Konoha, **"Ahh, that's great. There's only one thing that could make this better right now."**

A flash of yellow appeared in front of the Kyuubi as the sounds of destruction came from below, "I have to stop you from destroying Konoha, even at the cost of my life. For I am the Yondaime Hokage!"

An orange swirl revealed a man in an orange swirl mask with one eye-hole, "Ahh, my pet. You've jumpstarted my plans for me! Carry out my will and destroy Konoha!"

Kyuubi's grin grew even wider, **"Kami, I love my jinchuuriki!"** Kyuubi's tails were swishing wildly, **"Not the real thing, but I'll be damned if I care! Line 'em up, It's party night!"**

XxX

(Three Days Later)

Jiraiya stood behind Naruto on the bridge in front of the waterfall. No clones this time, just Naruto by himself, "Are you sure you've got this gaki? It's only been a month and a half."

Naruto cracked his neck to the side, "Oh yeah. Just multiply that by the hundreds of clones I've been making every day." Naruto rubbed his hands together before placing them in the water, "Okay let's split this bitch!"

Naruto channeled wind chakra to his hands as he focused on the task at hand, 'Come on… Sharper, thinner, let's go!' Naruto yelled loudly as he lifted his hands up through the force of the water, channeling enough power to slice through the waterfall.

As both Naruto and Jiraiya were showered by water from Naruto's display, the boy turned to Jiraiya with a shit-eating grin on his face, "Hell yeah, I can cut a waterfall. What do you think about that ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya put his hand on Naruto's head, "I think… It's time to go home."

Naruto face-fell off of the bridge in response.

XxX

(Mainland of the Elemental Nations – Somewhere in Hi no Kuni)

Naruto gave Jiraiya a deadpan look, "So you're telling me that you have no clue how to tighten the seal back up?"

Jiraiya gave Naruto a sheepish look, "Uh no. It was only meant to turn one way, in order to give you full control over the chakra one day. You can't put it back, you have to open it and gain full control at one time."

Naruto's eye was twitching as he took in the information, "So how do I do that? Is loosening it all I have to do? Let's do it then."

Jiraiya moved a few steps out of Naruto's range, "Well, there are a few things you need to have accomplished before you can. For one you need to defeat your inner self."

Naruto's brow was twitching even faster, how the hell was he supposed to fight and beat himself? He doubted that using Kage Bunshin would help, if it did then he had already beaten himself a shitload of times already, "And what else?"

Jiraiya chuckled nervously, "Well you kind of need to… beatthekyuubiincombat." He finished hurriedly.

Naruto stopped walking and looked at Jiraiya with a deer in the headlights look, "You mind repeating that one more time? I think I just heard the stupidest thing that I've ever heard in my entire life. Did you just say I have to beat the Kyuubi? The Kyuubi? We are talking about the thing that was shoved into my gut because it was eradicating every last person in the village by its lonesome, right?"

Jiraiya answered tentatively, "Yeah. The same."

Naruto palmed his face and continued to walk on, "Yeah whatever… I'm guessing it would be too much to ask if the Kyuubi would consider throwing the fight when the time comes."

"**You've got that right ningen."**

"Beautiful… Okay fine. Just makes me feel so much better about being me. Baa-chan better have some good old fashioned mind numbing missions for me or I'm going to pop." 'Seriously, life just knows how to pile it on doesn't it? The man that trained me wants me to become Hokage since he thinks he's too old to go for it anymore. I can't use my biju or I might end up killing everyone within seeing distance of me, which is pretty fucking far all things considered. I have to fight said biju and beat it or else I'll never master using my demonic chakra. Well, baby steps. Right now let's just worry about getting back to Konoha, maybe go vent on some spiders in the Forest of Death… yeah, that sounds good.'

Jiraiya watched Naruto's face roll through a gambit of emotions; overwhelmed, irritated, somewhat frightened, calm, and then strangely lucid. Jiraiya kept an eye on the boy as the look of lucidity stayed, 'One. Weird. Kid.'

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Two Days Later)

"So brat, how was the mission?" Tsunade said through her crossed fingers, trying and failing miserably to hide the smirk on her face.

Naruto gave her a dry look, "Oh yeah, it was a real tough 'mission'. Baa-chan the next time you want to swerve me into doing something, just stop and think, would coming out and telling me what you want me to actually go and do really be so bad?"

Tsunade moved her hands and made no attempt to hide her smirk, "It wouldn't have been as fun as it was imagining the look on your face when you met the pervert so yes, yes it would have."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah because I would have been such a bastard about taking the mission. What would I have done, turned it down?" Naruto scoffed, "Since when do I turn down anything?"

Tsunade got the conversation back on track, "Alright. Now seriously, how was it?"

Naruto grinned at her, "I can split a waterfall with my bare hands. Does that answer your question?"

Tsunade looked over at Jiraiya who was smiling in approval, "In a month Tsunade-hime. It took him a bit over one month to learn how to do that. Those Kage Bunshin are something else I swear. He could have stayed the way he was before the invasion and as long as he knew how to train with those things he still could have been a force."

Both looked at Naruto who was standing in front of Tsunade's desk with a combination of being at attention and at ease. Tsunade nodded, satisfied that something had been accomplished while they were gone, "Anything else I need to know about?"

Naruto raised a hand, "Actually yes. My seal, after ero-sennin tried to let more of Kyuubi's chakra leak out he made it so that me using its chakra was more dangerous, I need to learn how to control it almost all over again or else I might just up and kill my entire team while I'm using it. I could go too far by accident. I'm just now getting a few people to think I'm not a demon, it would certainly suck if a lapse of control on my part threw all of that work away."

Jiraiya looked at Tsunade questioningly as he let Naruto's words sink in to her, "So do you think I need to take him away again until he has it down?"

Naruto visibly frowned but kept his mouth shut. He really didn't want to traverse to the ass end of nowhere again only a few hours after getting back to the village, but if it was an order from Tsunade there wasn't any amount of griping that he could do about it. The most he could do was just take it and hope that it wasn't for too long.

Tsunade looked as though she was seriously considering letting him go to deal with it, "No. We need Naruto back for now. We're getting more missions now that the time for the genin exam is coming up in a week and we need him to help with the influx. He can work on his control in the Forest of Death the way he has been, he just has to let me know what he's doing before he goes to do so."

Naruto let a small smile grace his face, "Thanks baa-chan."

Tsunade gave him a smile in return, "You're welcome brat. But still, I'm trusting you. I'm counting on you not going overboard with the Kyuubi's power, especially after you yourself had to tell me just how dangerous it was for you to use it right now."

Jiraiya patted Naruto on the shoulder, "Maybe I should teach you how to prepare chakra suppressing seals so that you can have your team prepared in case you lose it on a mission."

Thinking about losing his cool on a mission made Naruto bristle. Keeping his cool during moments like that was one of the things he prided himself on, but he knew that from the Kyuubi's description of exactly what he would become if he _did_ go out of control it was the best idea, "If you say so ero-sennin. I'm heading out now, if you guys need me I'm sure you know how to find me." Naruto walked over to the open window and jumped out, not getting any dispute from Tsunade on his chosen method of exit.

Tsunade looked away from the window with a sigh, "So how is he?"

Jiraiya scratched the side of his face, "He just started breaking through with me when he told me he knew about his father. I really thought the kid was going to start opening up, and then this happens. He'll probably try shutting himself off again if I had to guess, out of fear of hurting someone he shouldn't."

"Should I schedule something with Inoichi? Maybe whatever is affecting the seal is mental." Tsunade didn't want Naruto to become reclusive. He was a good kid. It was kind of unnerving how efficient he was, but he was a good kid nonetheless.

Jiraiya couldn't give her an answer, "I'm not sure. He's not holding back any anger or anything. To make the kid mad you have to really grate on him. It's just when he does get mad the chances of him drawing too much of the Kyuubi's chakra is magnified, that's my fault though, I underestimated the complexity of Minato's seal. There was more to it then I could have figured before I messed with it. I need to head to Mt. Myoboku for a while."

Tsunade laced her fingers and set her chin down, "Go and do what you need to in order to figure this out. Just keep in contact, send a toad with letters or something."

Jiraiya got a grin on his face, "But of course. You going to send me some revealing pictures back hime? It might get lonely out there by myself."

XxX

(With Naruto)

Naruto's attention was drawn upwards as a white blur flew from the direction of the Hokage Tower. Shaking his head, Naruto continued on his way, "I knew it was a good idea to leave that window open, ero-sennin is seriously a glutton for punishment, I swear."

Finding himself at his destination, Naruto's stomach growled in anticipation as he threw aside the curtain keeping him from the stools of the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. Taking his seat he smirked to himself, "Hey! I'm back and I've been deprived for far too long!"

Teuchi came from the back, grinning as he realized it was Naruto making all the racket, "Well look who came back from the dead. Where have you been Naruto? We've been wondering where our primary patron was."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah, I was away for a while. I'm going to start getting more back to back missions too. You know, with the village recovery and all, we need every shinobi we can get out there."

Teuchi nodded and pulled out a pad, "So what will you have kid?"

Naruto thought on it for a moment, "Give me three bowls of Miso back to back, four beefs, and what the hell, two vegetable ramen. Variety right?"

Teuchi laughed to himself, "Yeah, variety… right. It'll be right out Naruto."

Naruto tried to hide it, but the subtle tapping of the underside of the counter, along with the kicking motions his legs would sometimes make let it be known that he was actually anticipating his meal. Before he ended up getting his food he ended up getting a tap on the shoulder from a familiar face.

Turning to face the person who had tried getting his attention, Naruto came face to face with the eye-smile of Kakashi Hatake, "How are you doing Naruto? Long time no see."

Naruto let a ghost of a smile come onto his features as he faced his genin cell leader, "Hey Kakashi. What brings you here?"

Kakashi took a seat next to Naruto, "Well, I heard you were back in town and I thought, why not go see my old genin? So how have you been?"

Naruto shrugged, "I can't complain really. I'm definitely kept busy that's for sure. I can only imagine what baa-chan has you doing 'Sharingan no Kakashi', she overloading you with A and S-ranked missions or what?"

Kakashi laughed lightly as Teuchi brought Naruto his first bowl. The boy dug in after a small utterance of 'Itadakimasu'. Kakashi ordered a small bowl of chicken ramen, "Yeah pretty much, though she has given me something else to do these days."

Naruto paused from his utter decimation of the hapless bowl of ramen to turn a curious eye to the masked jounin, "Really? What's she got you doing now? I bet it's something irksome."

Kakashi's eye-smile never faded, "You shouldn't talk about yourself like that Naruto. You may be a handful at times, but calling yourself irksome is just self-deprecating."

Naruto looked up at Kakashi with the last remnants of his bowl of noodles hanging from his mouth, "Huh?" He mumbled out through the bits of food.

Kakashi pointed at the hot, fresh bowl that Teuchi had set in front of Naruto to return his attention to his food for the most part, "Tsunade-sama has informed me that in your forthcoming missions I will be your commanding jounin."

Naruto started choking on his food out of surprise. After much effort with him beating himself in the stomach and Kakashi patting his back he finally got the food down the right pipe, "You're going to be leading me and whatever team I get on my missions?"

"Yep!" Kakashi chirped happily. Standing up the man placed his money on the counter, "Well this has been nice talking to you for a bit Naruto. Hopefully we can do it more when we're working together. It'll be just like old times. Hard to believe it's only been a little over a year."

Naruto snickered to himself, "Yeah just like old times, except instead of picking up dog crap we'll be babysitting merchants and wiping nobles' asses." Something came to Naruto's attention, "Hey Kakashi, aren't you going to eat?" As he turned he saw that Kakashi had left the stand. Looking at Kakashi's empty bowl a smile came to his face as he returned to his meal, "I've got to learn how he does that…"

XxX

'Go home, go to sleep, find someone to bother all day tomorrow. Yep, that's a good plan.' Naruto thought to himself as he again made his way through the streets of Konoha. As he drew closer to his apartment he began to realize how good of a view he had from his apartment. He chuckled to himself as he remembered what his goal had been when he had his seals and the task given to him by Danzo, "Ha, I never had a chance did I? Of course I was going to want to be Hokage. If four big gigantic faces were staring you in the face every morning when you left the house wouldn't you get somewhat curious about it?"

'Meh, no need to worry about that now. I've got more pressing issues to worry about these days. I'm ten years off before I need to think about Hokage.' Breaking himself from his thoughts he noticed the looks he was getting from the people around him. As usual the older people were glaring and wishing death on him with their eyes, but he didn't care. They didn't have the power or the balls to try anything against him these days.

More importantly he saw that people closer to his own age weren't malicious in their looks at all. The combined rumors of what he had done during the invasion, with the defeat of Gaara, and the routing of a few squads of Oto ninja, coupled with his feats since then had trickled down to those of his own age group, as evident by the comments he could hear from a few of them.

"That's the kid that made the crater a few miles from the border."

"I'd sure hate to have to fight that guy."

"I heard he lives in the Forest of Death. No joke, he keeps the spiders that live there like his pets or something."

"Those whisker marks make him look kind of cute."

The second to last comment made him sweatdrop, 'Pets my ass... Who comes up with this crap?' The last comment made him face-fault. Picking himself up off of the ground with a sheepish smile as he heard giggles from the girls that had said it.

Walking it off, he heard a familiar yell, "Naruto-niisan!"

Naruto turned and rolled his eyes, 'What, did someone send out a press release saying that I came back today?' Despite that thought, Naruto had a smile on his face as Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon came running over to him, "Hey guys. What's up, don't you have school today?"

Konohamaru grinned up at the scarred blonde, "Boss it's the weekend, we don't have class today!"

Naruto looked at the trio and let out a laugh, "Yeah, well I guess time flies when you don't care what day it is. Remember guys, at some point you'll stop caring what day of the week it is, and when that happens then you can say that you've reached my level of apathy toward the things around you."

The kids sweatdropped, not knowing whether or not he was serious and followed along as he turned to head home. Konohamaru ran up to his side, "So boss, where have you been? I haven't seen you in forever."

Naruto kept his gaze forward, "I was learning how to cut a waterfall with my chakra."

Konohamaru tripped over nothing upon hearing what Naruto had been doing while he was gone. Looking back at Udon and Moegi they both shrugged as all three ran to catch up with Naruto who had not stopped for them. Konohamaru elbowed Naruto lightly in the thigh and chuckled, "That was a good one boss. What were you really doing while you were gone?"

Naruto looked at the kids with a smile, "Believe what you want to. Now is there something you guys want?"

All three darted in front of him and spoke at once, "Play ninja with us!"

Naruto sweatdropped, "Fine, but it's you all against me. Understood?"

"Yes boss!" Was the simultaneous cry from the youngsters.

Naruto shunshined just out of their sight, "Start counting!" As they obeyed his command, Naruto made a Kage Bunshin, "Play ninja with them, don't lose, but don't be too hard on them. Give them some hope that they could have won."

The clone nodded with a smirk and went off in the direction they had just came from while the original. Naruto shook his head in amusement as he heard the sounds of the kids beginning their chase, 'Let's see. It's still daylight out. It's too early to sleep without being called a lazy ass.'

Naruto made his way towards the main gate to go and mess with Kotetsu and Izumo who would probably appreciate the distraction from the monotony of their usual job. Landing on top of the booth that both were seated in he started stomping on the roof to get their attention.

"What the hell?" Kotetsu walked outside and looked on top of the booth to find Naruto smiling and waving at him, "Oh hey kid, how are you doing?"

Naruto hopped down to let Izumo see him, "I'm doing just fine, how's gate duty?"

Kotetsu shook his head with a smirk, "As boring and monotonous as ever. Want to take my spot?"

Naruto waved him off, "I'll pass on that. I just got back into town anyway, I couldn't stop to talk because Tsunade-baachan wanted a report first thing after me and ero-sennin got back."

Izumo looked around nervously, "Naruto, are you crazy? Tsunade-sama will kill you if she catches wind of you talking about her like that."

Naruto grinned smugly at Izumo, "She tried to already and she couldn't get it done, so now she just lives with it. I call 'em like I see 'em. Tsunade-baachan is fifty years old, therefore she's a grandma. Jiraiya is a pervert and does nothing to hide it, hence the name, ero-sennin. You guys are lucky I haven't named you anything yet." Naruto walked inside the booth and took a seat.

Izumo gave Naruto an amused look before turning towards the path outside the gate, "All right, time to go to work."

The Kurenai led Team 8 made their way towards the gate, "Kurenai Yuuhi, reporting back from a C-ranked escort mission." As she looked behind the booth and saw the uncommon sight of blonde spiky hair she raised an eyebrow, "Naruto?"

Naruto waved to her and the rest of her team, "Hi guys."

Kiba grinned and bumped knuckles with him, "Hey, what are you doing in there? I thought you were out of the village."

Naruto shrugged as he passed the sign in ledger to Kiba for him and his team to sign, "I was, as you can see I'm back. And I'm in here because I'm bored, and it's too early for me to go to sleep. What did you guys just get through doing?"

Kiba passed the clipboard off to his other teammates, "Just some escort for some guy. We didn't even get to fight anyone, it was completely boring."

Shino finished signing himself in and passed it on, "Kiba you can't get a fight on every mission. Combat isn't ideal, times when you don't have to fight should be valued."

Naruto nodded, "That's deep Shino. So how have you guys all been. I've only seen Kiba recently. He looked up at Kurenai who was looking him over sternly, "Oh come on, you can't still be pissed off at me for beating your team! It was a fight, I fought."

Kurenai's lips quirked slightly, "They were your comrades. You sent Kiba to the hospital."

Naruto pointed at the boy in question, "Look at him, he's just fine. I sent him to the hospital once before that, only the first time I did it I got my ass kicked worse than he did. Kiba are you mad about how I won?"

Kiba shook his head, "No, I'm mad that you won, not how you did it. I'm getting my wins back one of these days Uzumaki."

Naruto grinned at him, "Feel free to try whenever you like. If you can find me in the Forest of Death then you can fight me." He looked at Shino, "Are you mad that I beat you?"

Shino pushed his glasses further up on his face, "No, it would be illogical for me to be upset with your victory when it occurred months ago. However much like Kiba I will be getting even with you one of these days."

Naruto smirked, "Same thing applies to you that I told Kiba." He turned to the one that had yet to speak, "Hinata. How are you doing? Come on, how are things?"

Kiba grabbed the girl and pulled her forward, "Hinata-chan's really strong. She came up with a new jutsu that kicks ass! It's awesome."

Naruto smiled, "I need to see that jutsu. Whenever you guys want to find me and I'm not at home just leave a message or something… unless you actually feel like skulking through the Forest of Death to find me."

The entire team paled at hearing that as Hinata of all people spoke up, "Ano, Naruto-kun, do you actually live in the Forest of Death like the rumors say?"

Naruto sweatdropped, "Whoever started that stupid rumor is going to get their ass kicked. No I don't I just go in there all the time to train, it's a better workout than any other training field that's for sure."

Kurenai decided it was time to break up the rabble while there was still daylight, "Alright, come on guys, we have to report on our mission. You can find Naruto and talk to him later. It would be nice if you could spar with the team one of these days Naruto."

Naruto grinned at her, "So you're not going to try and genjutsu me into a coma?"

Kurenai let a small smirk come on her face, "I thought about it, and nope, I'm not."

Naruto nodded, "Good, because it wouldn't have worked anyway. I keep my mental mind extra secure, nothing gets in."

The team started to walk towards the Hokage Tower, but Kiba got one more shot in before they got too far, "Oh, so that's why you were dead-last in the Academy?"

Naruto jumped out of the booth and flipped him off, "Dead-last that Kiba. I'll be happy to show you how dead-last I am again if twice wasn't enough to get the point across."

After a moment of silence Naruto nodded, satisfied that his threat came across loud and clear before he turned to leave. However he was stopped in his tracks before he could even take a step, "Fuck you Naruto!"

Naruto whipped around to only see them as dots in the distance. He left grumbling to himself as Kotetsu and Izumo were seated in the booth snickering.

XxX

"Welcome home shithead." Tayuya chirped from her place on Naruto's couch.

Naruto had a dry look on his face as he walked inside his apartment, "You know when I asked you to watch my place I didn't really think you would be over here when I got back."

Tayuya shrugged, "You have a TV. Therefore, I consider your place better than mine. Hence the reason that I'm here. Where did you go anyway?"

Naruto looked through his refrigerator before giving up on finding something and heading over to the chairs, "Tsuki no Kuni. Fun fact, I can now split a waterfall into two with my chakra alone."

"Killer." Naruto grunted and plopped down next to her on the couch, garnering a confused look from her, "There are two other places to sit you know?"

Naruto gave her a tired look, "This is the best chair. This is also my house, you're lucky I didn't just flop face first on the couch like I usually do. You're sitting where my face would traditionally go by the way."

Tayuya blushed at Naruto's implication and was about to call him on it until his next move, "Ugh…" Naruto fell to the side and landed with his head in Tayuya's lap. Which ended up with the girl's cheeks becoming dangerously overcolored.

"Shithead what are you doing?" She squeaked out.

Naruto smirked up at her, "Huh, well I told you that you're sitting where I place my head on this couch, or would you like me to go full on traditional with how I lay on this chair and turn face down?"

Tayuya stammered before narrowing her eyes, still blushing, "You don't have the balls."

Naruto's smirk became a mischievous grin, "Oh really? You've obviously forgotten who you're talking to. Allow me to refresh your memory."

XxX

Team 10, alongside Sakura, were sitting in a park. Chouji and Shikamaru were laying on a hill watching clouds, while Ino and Sakura were sitting next to a lake, "So forehead, how's training with Tsunade-sama."

Sakura looked over at her rival and smiled, "It's definitely the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but I'm glad it's happening. I really owe Naruto one for setting the whole thing up." Sakura noticed Ino's discomfort at hearing Naruto's name, "You're not still sore at him for winning during that test he had to take are you?"

Ino shook her head, "It's not that. I just don't think everything is right with Naruto. I know I told you already, the things I saw in his head weren't normal. It's scary how different he became in almost no time at all."

Sakura rubbed the back of her neck, "Well honestly it was kind of unnerving at first, but he's still Naruto, just a faster, stronger, more powerful Naruto."

"SHITHEAD!"

"I REGRET NOTHING!"

"GET BACK HERE SO I CAN RIP YOU APART!"

"YOU KNOW YOU LIKED IT TAYUYA-CHAN! WHY ELSE DID YOU LET ME STAY LIKE THAT FOR FIFTEEN SECONDS, I WAS COUNTING!"

"DIE YOU BASTARD!"

Sakura and Ino blinked as the clear-cut voice of the person the conversation was about rang out across a distance, followed closely by another irate female voice. Sakura palmed her face, "You see, same old knucklehead…"

XxX

Somewhere in Konoha where a large white-haired man picked himself out of a body sized hole a tear fell from his eye, "Way to go gaki. I knew I'd get you on my side eventually."

* * *

**My bad on the delay of the chapter. I'm now back in college and have less time to do Kenchi stuff, such as write the chapters that the peepulation love/hate/feel indifferent towards. I'm not going to stop writing any of them, there will just be a little more time between the updates, you can all survive that right?**

… **I don't care. **

**Anyway, back to some actiony action next chapter. I have to go train, I finally have amateurs to spar against, YAY!**

**Kenchi out.**


	21. Follow the Breadcrumbs

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Flamers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

**Chapter 20: Follow the Breadcrumbs**

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"Well Naruto is this familiar or what?" Kakashi said as he gave the young blonde an eyesmile.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah Kakashi, real familiar, except we aren't going to Nami no Kuni this time, we're going to Mizu no Kuni. I still have no idea how the hell we're even pulling this one off. Isn't there a civil war going on right now?"

Kakashi nodded, "Well it's mostly over. The anti-bloodline forces were all but wiped out, now it's mostly just cleanup duty for the victorious side. We should be just fine. The new Mizukage sent out a message of goodwill to the other villages so nothing should go wrong."

Naruto sighed, "Kakashi what's my track record with you when it comes to easy detail missions?"

Kakashi raised a finger in dispute, "We've only had one true easy detail."

Naruto snapped his fingers, "There you go. One for one, that's one hundred percent on the bullshit ratio. That's why I brought a shitload of explosive notes." He then fished through his gear and pulled out a fat stack of explosive notes, flipping through them like paper money, "Oh yeah… fuuinjutsu is the greatest thing ever."

Kakashi sweatdropped, "And what pray tell are you going to do with-." Kakashi lifted his hitae-ate to use his Sharingan for a quick count, "-34 explosive notes?"

Naruto grinned at him as he put them where he got them from, "Any damn thing I want, I have 34 explosive notes!"

"Troublesome… Why am I here again?" Shikamaru stated as he caught up with Kakashi and Naruto, "You took me away from my team and sent me on a mission that has a high probability of the you-know-what hitting the fan. What did I do to you guys for this?"

Naruto glared lightly at the lazy chunin, "You made me do an entire day's worth of menial labor without the use of Kage Bunshin. I didn't forget that, but Kakashi was the one that requested you, so deal, or would you rather be on gate duty like Kotetsu and Izumo."

Shikamaru yawned, "Actually that sounds right up my alley. Doing nothing all day, sure beats traipsing off to Kami knows where with you."

Tayuya walked up and looked at Shikamaru with a scoff, "How the hell did your lazy ass get promoted to chunin?"

Naruto and Shikamaru looked at each other before Naruto pointed at Shikamaru lamely, "Uh, he's really, really smart?"

Tayuya frowned and looked Shikamaru over, "Can he beat you shithead?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know, the last time we were supposed to fight he just quit. I guess he was just too unmotivated to go up against me."

Shikamaru palmed his forehead, "Don't make me out to be like that Naruto. You broke my Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possesion Jutsu) without even trying. Remember, I tried it the second the fight started."

Naruto scratched his nose and looked up at the sky, "Oh, so that's why it was so damn hard to move my arm… or anything in general… I swear, I had a crick in my neck that was totally stifling."

Shikamaru face-fell and jumped up with the quickness, "So you're telling me that you had no idea that you were caught in my jutsu?"

Naruto grinned, "Nope! I just thought you were being a lazy-ass and didn't want to fight. I didn't say anything because by the time you came out to fight I was sick and tired of beating up all the genin. You actually made my job easier."

Tayuya barked out a laugh, "Shithead bluffed you into quitting a fight without even knowing that he did it! That's great. So what are we doing anyway? I doubt we're going to Mizu no Kuni to see the sights after the civil war."

Naruto grimaced and thought about why they were heading out to 'Chigiri no Sato' in the first place.

_(Flashback)_

"_You've actually got something on the Akatsuki? So I'm not going to get blindsided randomly out in the middle of nowhere?"_ _Naruto asked as he stood with Kakashi in Tsunade's office._

_Tsunade gave Naruto an apprehensive look as Shizune laughed nervously at her side, "We're not saying that Naruto. Jiraiya just said that he found some interesting information about Akatsuki, but he needs someone to go to Kirigakure to investigate."_

_Naruto filled in the blanks, "And by someone you mean me, right?"_

"_Me too." Kakashi chimed in with his ever present one-eyed smile._

"_Me and Kakashi… Anyone else coming on our little getaway to a glorified warzone?" Naruto griped at the blonde woman._

_Shizune cut in, "Um Naruto-kun, the civil war in Kiri has been over for upwards of a few months now. There's a new Mizukage and everything, it's not a warzone anymore."_

_Naruto chuckled slightly and looked at the black haired medic, "Shizune-neechan tell me, what happened to the old Mizukage, the one that was there while the war was going on?" _

_Shizune gave Naruto a sheepish look, "I don't know Naruto-kun, no one does."_

_Naruto nodded, "And that's the point. Until the leader can be accounted for, we all know that nothing is over. What is this ranked? If it's anything less than A-rank I'm calling your sanity into question baa-chan, I'll have to ask if you're going senile." A paperweight to the face was his response. Naruto spit some teeth on the floor and ignored the looks of shock he was getting from Kakashi and Shizune, "They'll come back in an hour from now."_

_Kakashi peeled his eyes away from the bloody mouthed chunin, "Right… Well then, we're to search as much of Mizu no Kuni as we are permitted to look at and come back with anything we can find on Akatsuki. Correct?"_

_Tsunade nodded, "Yes, Kakashi you have free reign to select two other chunin to assist you and Naruto on the mission. This will be run on your orders as you will be the ranking shinobi in charge. Take care and make sure you get everyone back alive."_

(End Flashback)

"Naruto!" Naruto came back into focusing as Shikamaru shouted in his ear, "The troublesome red-head asked you a question. Why are we going to Mizu no Kuni anyway?"

Naruto scratched his cheek and looked away sheepishly, "Um… Cloud watching?" 'Yeah, red cloud watching…'

Kakashi looked at his young charges, "We're going on a reconnaissance run, to see what the landscape of Mizu no Kuni looks like. Also to see if we can set up some kind of rapport with the new Mizukage, seeing as how the old one was deposed."

Naruto looked over at Tayuya, "So Tayuya-chan, ever been in Mizu no Kuni before. You were Orochimaru's bodyguard right? You've probably been all over the place."

Tayuya chuckled, "You would think so wouldn't you shithead, but that fucker never let us go anywhere. He just kept us cooped up in that stupid little underground rat's nest of his. He only let us out to go on missions that kept us in Ta no Kuni, so no, I'm not as worldly traveled as you think I fucking should be."

Naruto held up his hands in defense, "Damn, it was just a question. No need to bite my head off." He turned to Shikamaru, "I think you might be on to something with the whole 'women are troublesome' thing. I would say that out loud, but as often as you say it, it might make people wrongly think that you're gay."

Shikamaru gave Naruto an irritated glare, but let it pass as he figured it was too much hassle to stay mad about something like that. Tayuya had another question however, "So why exactly do we need to go for reconnaissance in Mizu no Kuni?"

Kakashi answered her, "Well it's been about ten years since any reliable information came out of that place, what with all of the on again off again fighting that was always taking place, so we're heading in to get good scope of what Kiri has as far as military, or anything really."

XxX

(The Next Night)

By nightfall of the previous day they had made it to the shores of Hi no Kuni and had boarded a ship heading out towards the island nation of Mizu no Kuni. In order to barter passage aboard for the entire squad, Naruto had to enlist the services of his Kage Bunshin as deckhands. This led to Naruto being cursed out every single time he came on deck by his clones turned sailors.

As the rest of the team were below deck, Shikamaru was doing absolutely nothing, while Tayuya was practicing with her flute, Naruto was up above, ignoring his belligerent clones bumping into him and giving half-assed apologies.

"Hey Naruto, what are you doing out here?" Kakashi came up above and found the real blonde amid the batch of fakes that were hard at work.

Naruto dispelled one of his more rowdy clones with a punch after it elbowed him in the ribs, "Not much, just thinking. Hey Kakashi, when you make Kage Bunshin do they ever try to mess with you, or is it just me?"

Kakashi chuckled as he looked over the side of the ship alongside his one-time student, "It's just you Naruto. Only you could have disgruntled copies of yourself."

Naruto let out a small laugh, "I'm not sure if that compliment was backhanded or not. Hey, you were on my dad's team back in the day right?" Kakashi looked around for eavesdroppers, "It's okay. Ever since I made clones to work through the night the regular sailors took this as their cue to slack, they're all down below getting sloshed right now, we're alone up here. Yep, all 45 of us. Right boys?" He yelled over his shoulder.

"Fuck you boss!" Was the response from one of his clones.

Naruto gestured to the clones moving about the ship, "See how much respect I command? So you knew my dad right?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yes I did, he was a great man. You lo-."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I look just like him, I know. I know tons of stuff about him from ero-sennin, what I want to know about is my mom. Did you know her? Because I can't get anything on her. Come on Kakashi, you've got to give me something here."

Kakashi stroked his chin and made exaggerated thinking sounds, "Hmm… Well I guess it couldn't hurt." He then turned to Naruto with an eye-smile, "Call me Kakashi-sensei and I'll think about it."

Naruto gave Kakashi a dry look, "Kakashi…" He growled out.

Kakashi wagged his finger chidingly, "Ah, ah, ah. Kakashi-_sensei_."

Naruto leaned on the railing, "Well if you teach me something I'll call you Kakashi-sensei. Otherwise you're not getting that one out of me."

Kakashi shrugged, "Alright fair enough. Do you know how to make your own jutsu?"

Naruto shook his head in the negative. He knew that the ninja that were able to did so, but he had never been taught how exactly to go about doing that for himself. In truth, his one original move was more of a kick-ass henge that no one else could do as complete as he could, so knowing how to come up with a way to actually utilize all of the crazy little things that he had swimming through his head at all times of the day and night was damnably useful.

Naruto looked up at Kakashi and smiled, "Deal. Kakashi-_sensei_." Kakashi smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair, "Okay, now you're pushing it."

Kakashi removed his hand from Naruto's head, "Okay, so you know the two forms of chakra manipulation right? Shape transformation and nature transformation. Well from what I've heard you've already mastered both, what with you learning the Rasengan, the pinnacle of shape transformation in ninjutsu, and with you mastering your elemental affinity over wind. That means that there's only one thing left for you to be able to do."

Naruto waited for the rest of his speech, "And that is?"

Kakashi stalled for dramatic effect, and apparently it was working too because all of Naruto's topside Kage Bunshin were waiting nearby with their attention set on listening, "Nothing, you should be able to make your own jutsu now. Are you sure that you're just not imaginative enough for it?"

44 face-faults were his response. The Kage Bunshin all hit the deck so hard they dispelled. The original hopped up and glared at Kakashi with a twitching eye, "Kakashi I'm going to-."

Kakashi waved him off, "Maa, maa, Naruto. Calm down, I was kidding, but I was mostly serious though, you already have all you need to start making your own jutsu. Just experiment with things that you think could work, you can pretty much do anything you want with the level of skill that you possess in the necessary areas. Maybe you can even succeed where I failed."

Naruto raised a scarred eyebrow, "What do you mean Kaka-sensei?" Kakashi extended his right hand as a spinning blue ball of chakra that was quite familiar to Naruto took form. Naruto stood gaping at the Rasengan in Kakashi's hand, "You know how to do the Rasengan?"

Kakashi had a pleased look on his masked face, "Yep. Minato-sensei taught it to me in the hopes that I could take it to the final stage of the jutsu's development. Uh, is there something wrong Naruto?"

Naruto simply stared at Kakashi with a tick mark on his head, "Yeah Kakashi I think there might be. Now when you went off for a month before the chunin exam finals with Sasuke to teach him your shocky, stabby Chidori why oh why did you not leave me the instructions to the Rasengan? That would have been so much more helpful than getting THROWN OFF A CLIFF BY A PERVERT! Especially seeing as how it was my old man's jutsu anyway and you knew I was his son. What the fuck?" Naruto's eyes flashed red for a moment.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Would it help if I said that it slipped my mind? What with all of the Orochimaru putting the cursed seal on Sasuke and telling me that he was seeking to take him away and whatnot."

Naruto sighed and shrugged, dismissing his ire for the moment, "Nevermind, it's cool. So wait, you're saying that you were going to add something to the Rasengan? What? Your elemental chakra?"

Kakashi nodded, "Exactly, it's how I ended up making the Chidori in the first place. It was an accident when I was trying to combine Rasengan with my lightning element. I failed, but ended up getting my own jutsu out of it. If I were you I would start by trying to combine your own element to the Rasengan, maybe you can make it work where I failed."

Naruto formed his own Rasengan and smiled before looking up at Kakashi, "Thanks Kakashi-sensei, I know what my next major projects are going to be now. So, did you know my mother at all? If you didn't that's okay, I can't seem to find anyone that would tell me anything so I thought I would come to you."

Kakashi looked at the hopeful look on Naruto's face and paused, "Your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki. You got most of your looks from Minato, and when you were on my squad I could swear you got your personality from her. I think you've still got some of it actually. She was something of a hot-head, a trait I see in you quite often these days whether you try hiding it or not." Naruto smirked and shrugged, getting a chuckle out of the masked jounin.

Kakashi looked up at the moon, "Your parents were wonderful people Naruto. They were both excited to meet you, I have no doubts in my mind they would have given anything in the world to see how you turned out, I think they would be awfully proud of you. I know I am."

Naruto looked away bashfully before turning back to Kakashi, "So if you were my dad's student doesn't that make you like my godbrother or something?"

Kakashi looked up curiously, "Huh? Well when you put it that way…"

Naruto's eyes widened, "Oh no… I've got a pervert as a godfather and as a godbrother and both of them are my senseis. I never had a chance did I?" Naruto's eyes shrank back to normal size and he let out a dismissive noise, "Whatever. No use fighting the flow, I might as well enjoy the fruits of my affliction... though I could do without taking ero-kyofu's ass beatings, you guys are crazy to flaunt it in public the way you do. Hey by the way Kaka-sensei, do you like being insane?"

Kakashi gave Naruto a thumbs up, "I enjoy every waking second of it. It definitely makes things a hell of a lot more interesting I'll tell you that."

XxX

(Two Days Later)

"Sweet fucking land!" Tayuya ran off of the ship as it docked in Mizu no Kuni so fast she left a scorch mark where she had been standing on deck. Being seasick for the duration of the trip wasn't fun for Tayuya, which meant it wasn't fun for anyone on her squad as she invented new ways to curse someone out even when hanging off the side of the ship for most of the journey.

Shikamaru yawned and rubbed his eyes as he stepped off of the ship and got an eyeful of the port town they had docked at, "I was rather enjoying just doing nothing on that ship the whole time. Maybe I should be a sailor when I retire?" He shook that notion from his head and watched Kakashi and Naruto get off of the boat.

"You're welcome on our ship anytime boy!"

"Come back soon kid!"

"Did you ever think of being a sailor… On this ship?"

Naruto turned around and growled at the sailors bidding him farewell, "Fuck you, you lazy bastards! My ass I'm getting back on this ship, shit you should be paying me!" Naruto grumbled down the boardwalk as he sat on a bench next to Shikamaru who was staring at clouds and Tayuya who was sucking in wind to kick the seasickness out of her system.

The red-head with a colorful vocabulary turned to Naruto with a questioning look, "What pissed you off so damn badly shithead?"

Naruto glared at the ship of still waving sailors, "Well if you weren't upchucking overboard for three days you would know that I pretty much made up all of the physical labor of the ship. How else do you think we all got on? I think I can captain my own ship now with as much practice doing _everything_ as I've got now."

Kakashi walked up with an eye-smile, "Alright team, let's get moving. We can get a good start towards Mizu no Kuni now if we leave immediately."

All three kids groaned as they stood up, getting a raised eyebrow from the scarecrow, "What's wrong with all of you?"

Tayuya rubbed her stomach, "I saw everything I ate for the past three days twice and now we're probably going to be running…"

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck, "This mission is going to get troublesome and you seem way too eager to get started with it."

Naruto glared back at the ship they had all disembarked from, "I just did the equivalent of an entire ship's work without pay for the past three days and as you can see I'm absolutely ecstatic about that."

Kakashi eye-smiled, "You know what can fix all of that? Getting a move on! Come on kids, let's go!" Kakashi marched off with the three chunin following behind.

XxX

"So Kakashi-sensei, we're here to basically commence with espionage on Kiri, more or less right?"

Kakashi's eyes were on his orange book while he traversed the misty roads of the country, leading his team, "Yes Shikamaru. Why do you ask?"

Naruto sighed as he kept his eyes peeled for trouble along with Shikamaru and Tayuya, "I don't know Kaka-sensei, maybe he was compelled to ask due to the fact that we're out in the open for all to see." Naruto gestured widely around himself, "This is what I was talking about before my chunin test. Aren't we supposed to be ninja? Why the fuck are we out in the open in what could be a hostile environment?"

Kakashi sighed and shut his book, "Naruto, Kirigakure is home to some of the best sensor ninja in the Elemental Nations. If we tried that and were caught it could cause a war between our villages. And with both of our countries being weakened by war so recently it would leave us open to attack from one of the more opportunistic villages elsewhere. Basically, blatant, flat-out espionage like what you're suggesting would start the next great war."

Naruto sweatdropped and looked away, "Point taken. So why are we going to Kiri again?"

Kakashi eye-smiled at Naruto, "Well the new Mizukage is instituting something of an open-door policy to the village until everything is back on the up and up. Mostly so that immigrants and others that Kiri will need to help rebuild and regain some stability can enter the area easily. It's a pretty double-edged sword."

Tayuya chuckled, "Orochi-teme didn't have that kind of thing going for Oto, that's for damn sure. Not particularly the most pleasant place ever fucking devised."

Naruto smirked, 'Oh I know.' Naruto met Tayuya's eyes as the two of them shared a silent laugh with one another.

Shikamaru rolled his shoulder with one arm, "So what exactly are we looking for? I think Naruto is kind of right. If we get caught looking around where we shouldn't we can get busted, and I don't think chunin level ninja get diplomatic immunity. You might Kakashi-sensei because you're a jounin, but the rest of us are screwed if this goes south."

Kakashi nodded, "True, which is why we are really trolling for secrets or anything. Just a basic layout of the land. Like I said, any reliable information on Kiri at all, even if it's just an estimation of how big the village is, would be useful."

Shikamaru sighed in realization, "So you're basically saying that we're supposed to be tourists?"

Kakashi chided Shikamaru's dismissal of his role, "Ah, ah, ah. The word you want to use is 'diplomats' Shikamaru."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "Fine, we're here to be 'diplomats' then?"

Naruto laughed at Shikamaru's expression, 'Yeah, you guys are meant to be tourists. I'm here for the real deal. Ero-sennin said that Kirigakure was the birthplace of Akatsuki. How else would I be able to find out anything about them? I'll be damned if just sit pretty and wait for them to come to me.'

"Alright everyone, ship up, we'll be at Kiri within the hour." Kakashi snapped his book shut, "All of you, these people are going to be on edge. Shikamaru, keep an eye on everything. You're the smartest of the three of you and being able to piece together anything that seems off will be paramount. Tayuya, do not antagonize these people, they just spent the last several years fighting a war with their own people, a fresh foreign chunin would just piss them off. Naruto… make yourself scarce."

Naruto saluted Kakashi and shunshined out of the lineup. Tayuya and Shikamaru both had their jaws dropped as Kakashi walked along like nothing had happened at all.

Tayuya pointed at the spot where Naruto had stood just a moment ago, leaves signifying his past presence, "Wait. What the fuck just happened here?"

Shikamaru mumbled and followed after Kakashi, "Troublesome…"

XxX

(Six Hours Later – Kirigakure Hotel Room)

"Alright Kakashi, where the fuck did shithead go?" Tayuya hadn't calmed down since she walked into the village. Shikamaru had made sure to keep a body between himself and her at all times… Namely Kakashi's body, for self-preservation purposes, "Why did you split him off, it doesn't make any sense."

Shikamaru was standing by the door, "She's right. Why did he come all this way to Kiri just to bug out right before we got here? And why didn't you tell us?"

Kakashi was laying on the bed, little orange book in hand, '*sigh* My cute little chunin certainly don't like to leave things as they are do they?' Kakashi flipped a page and acted aloof as usual, "Naruto has an alternate objective from us that in truth really has absolutely nothing to do with Kiri at all. As long as I state that we have another coming in a few days we should be seeing him very soon. And if we don't, well I'm sure he'll reach us somehow."

Tayuya felt like grinding her teeth together, "But where did he go? He just up and left the moment you gave him the cue to go."

Shikamaru now had something else to think about, 'The way he up and left without a trace was way too smooth for a chunin, let alone a rookie chunin in his second year as a ninja. And secondary objectives? What kind of things are you into Naruto?'

Kakashi sighed as he saw the look of pondering on Shikamaru's face and decided to run damage control, "Fine. Naruto is on his way to Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves) as we speak." Kakashi clenched his teeth under his mask waiting for the outburst.

"WHAT?" Tayuya felt like strangling Kakashi now, "Why the fuck would you let him go off by himself to a whole nother country? Why the fuck is he even there in the first place?"

Kakashi lowered his book and met Tayuya's gaze with one eye, locked on her seriously, "That is Naruto's business. If you need to know or if he wants you to know he'll tell you when we meet up again. Until then drop it and get ready to record what you see tomorrow."

"But-."

Kakashi's eye narrowed, "He'll be back before you know it. If anything happens to him I'll know."

XxX

(Two Days Later – Shores of Nami no Kuni)

"-and then they made me their king." Naruto finished to a group of sailors huddled around him. The grizzled seahands sat silently as the boy finished up his story, "It seems that all of the other animals in the Forest of Death really don't like those bastard spiders I told you about either. Those stupid things are actually the reason why _everything _in there is so damn vicious and oversized, they needed to be just to survive. They were absolutely delighted when they found out I'd been killing them for sport for months."

Naruto was starting to get unnerved by the stares from the bigger men, "Okay… well, I've got to go. Places to see and people to do, you know."

Naruto sighed under his breath as he left the ship, "Kami, sailors are weird…"

They all stared after him before one turned to the rest of them, "That was the kid that saved this place wasn't it?"

Another sailor pointed, "Okay, after hearing that shit I have to say. The thought of the kid saving the country from one fat bald midget with a superiority complex doesn't seem too farfetched anymore."

Naruto quickly made his way to the outskirts of the port town while his ever-present companion sounded off, **"You're really reaching for a way to control me aren't you kit? Do you think going to this place is going to give you any advantages when the time comes?"**

Naruto frowned, "It doesn't matter whether it does or not. I have to try. Unless you feel like being generous and fighting me blind and with your back paws bound then I'm not going to win. If you weren't full strength anyway I don't think I would want the victory."

Naruto bared his teeth, "And besides, either way I get to find out something about myself so who cares? I still can't believe I convinced Kakashi to let me go."

Kyuubi scoffed in his head, **"Oh please kit. That man is a sentimental sucker when it comes to anything regarding your parents. All you had to do was what you did and seem curious about your origins."**

Naruto smirked but put a serious look back on his face, 'Do you think Kakashi can dig anything up about Akatsuki before I get there?'

Kyuubi rumbled lowly from inside his head, **"Kit I don't think either of you could dig anything up. If your pervert of a godfather couldn't come up with any kind of info what makes you think you and the Cyclops can? Face it, you're stuck waiting until you get attacked. That will be your only chance."**

Naruto shook his head, 'I can't believe that, I won't. I'm not going to sit and wait around for the best Shinobi from every corner of the world to come knocking at the front gate asking for me. We know what they want, we know what it takes for them to get it, and we know how many of them there are. All we don't know is how to find these fuckers. They've done a very good job of keeping that a secret.'

"**It's never that simple kit. I'm telling you, going out of your way to find them all will mean nothing if you're too weak to take them down. Take the time that you have and improve. I will not be captured by anyone ever again, I'll devour you when you challenge me for control and until that day you and I will be with our backs against the wall so to speak. So I'll say this; after we're done here you need to get your shit together ningen. Fight for me, fight for yourself, fight for your mission, get strength for these reasons, and for all of the people that have put their necks on the line to keep you alive and gotten you this far."**

Naruto sighed and spoke out loud seeing as he was alone and running across the countryside, "Let's just find this place before nightfall. We only have a small window of time to get what I need and get back to Kiri to link back up with the team."

XxX

(Kirigakure – With Kakashi and company)

Kakashi walked out of the main building where the Mizukage's office was situated with a dumbfounded look evident in his one visible eye, "That was the Mizukage? Oh sweet Kami she's perfect… and I could swear she was hitting on me." Kakashi put his features back to normal and started to think, "Though that kid with the sword kept glaring at me like I stole something. Weird. There's probably a story there or something."

Shikamaru and Tayuya met up with Kakashi outside where he left them for his meeting, "So Kakashi-sensei, why were you looking all gobsmacked just now coming out of the building?"

Tayuya followed up, "Yeah, are we getting kicked out of Kiri or what?" Shikamaru shook his head at the negative mindset of the girl.

Kakashi smiled and waved it off, "Oh nothing at all, just some elite, high ranking ninja stuff. Nothing you all need to concern yourselves with." Kakashi took the lead, orange pervert book out in front of his face for the world to see, and planned to lead the team around the village when Tayuya saw something hanging from his back pocket.

Moving with the quickness, Tayuya snatched a piece of paper from the pocket of Kakashi, "What the hell is this?" Shikamaru peered over her shoulder to see just what had caught his former enemy's interest.

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he read over what Tayuya had taken, "No way, is that?"

Tayuya looked up at Kakashi with wide eyes, "This is the Mizukage's personal information; address, full name, and-. Are those her measurements?" Shikamaru had a small nosebleed after reading that part, "How the fuck did you get this shit?"

Kakashi turned around to his young charges and returned the paper to his pocket with what they had to believe was a stupid grin under his mask, "Huh, she must have slipped it in my pocket when I left. I knew that wasn't some kind of traditional Kirigakure farewell." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly before shrugging, "I'm Kakashi Hatake, and that's all you need to know about that." Turning back around he motioned for the two to follow him, "Come on, this is a rare opportunity for kids like you. We have a foreign village to see."

Shikamaru shook his head, "Why is everyone on Team 7 so confusing? First Sasuke goes clinically insane and goes to Orochimaru, then Naruto runs through our entire graduating class like a hot knife through butter, and now Kakashi is getting hook-ups in. That whole team is a big pain in the ass."

XxX

(With Naruto – Unknown area in Nami no Kuni)

Naruto kept a frantic pace as he tried to arrive at his destination before midnight, 'Man, I feel like a real heel for not going to see Inari, Tsunami, and Tazuna, but this is for business not pleasure. I'll try and catch up with them soon. I wonder what they'll say when they see me?'

Naruto was broken from his musing when a flock of bats swarmed in his face. No matter how he tried to shoo them away they stayed in his personal space until he had to stop entirely, "Fuck off!" Naruto grabbed one of the bats only to be surprised when it melted into ink. Finally taking notice of the situation, Naruto saw that the bats were black and white.

'What the fuck?' Naruto thought to himself as He began pummeling the bats and reducing them to ink, "Ink?"

A roar drew Naruto's attention to see two black and white lions bearing down on him. Naruto drew his sword and ran at them. The first one tried a direct pounce that Naruto avoided by sliding under on his knees. The second lion rushed Naruto in his moment of recoil from the slide before he could make it to his feet. Naruto ended up driving the blade right into the lion's maw, turning it to a puddle of ink.

The first lion slashed at Naruto's back with its claws only to be blocked by Naruto's ninjato, however the lion's raw power against Naruto who was off-balance and defending from his back, sent him flying across the area.

Naruto recovered and rolled to his feet, glaring at the artificial beast, 'Alright. Time to slay this overgrown kitty and find the asshole pulling the strings out here.' Naruto made a stutter-step motion to feint the lion into attacking and cut the lion in half with his sword, smearing ink all over it.

Now alone in the area, he turned his senses abroad to search for any sign of exactly who was after him. A rustle of the breeze caught Naruto's attention as he rushed off in a seemingly random direction. He eventually came upon the form of Sai sitting in a tree with his scroll sitting in his lap and a brush in his hand.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the Root agent and cleared his throat, "Sai… I wish I could say it was nice to see you, but it would be a bald-faced lie. Especially after just getting attacked. Those animals were yours I assume?"

Sai smiled a smile that Naruto obviously knew was fake. Jumping down from his branch, he landed in front of Naruto and rolled his scroll back up, "Yes Naruto. I had to make sure you weren't getting rusty and I've honestly wanted to fight you for quite a while now."

Naruto looked Sai over, "Hey, you're my age. Why don't I remember ever seeing you around?"

Sai's face returned to its dull, normal, emotionally devoid look, "You never worked on a team. Danzo-sama always had you work solo, and besides, no one in Root knew each other that weren't regular partners. I had my own. Other than that I did not appear until I was nine, right before your ill-fated mission to Otogakure."

Naruto nodded, it sounded about right, "Okay, now why are you here? Did you just want to drop in and see your old buddy Naruto?" Naruto finished with a grin. Sai simply stared at him, blinking. Naruto dropped the grin from his face, "Okay, whatever. Seriously Sai, what do you want?"

Sai's fake smile surfaced once again, "You should know the answer to that Naruto. After all, I'm the main reason you're even here in the first place."

_(Flashback – The night after Naruto's return from Tsuki no Kuni)_

_Naruto sat meditating in the Forest of Death. Slowly dragging the Kyuubi's chakra out of the seal, 'Goddamn it… This seal isn't meant for me to use Kyuubi's chakra the way I want to, at least not as it is. It's like I'm missing something… Ero-sennin's holding something out on me... again. Well after our first little smattering about seals he shouldn't try any mischief with them, especially now that I'm learning about them.'_

_Naruto heard rustling in the trees moving towards him rapidly. Naruto sighed and drew his sword from his back as he stood up and cracked his neck, "Come on down…"_

_On cue a blur burst into his vicinity, followed by two other, significantly larger, blurs. Naruto moved into the path of the first blur as it jumped over him and channeled wind chakra to his blade to slash twice at the attacking blurs moving right for him. A splattering of guts let Naruto know that he had just killed two more spiders._

"_You have the same elemental affinity as Danzo-sama I see." Naruto recognized the voice as Sai, the boy he had met while he had been training with Jiraiya. Sai had his tanto drawn but upon seeing Naruto deal with his assailants he placed it back into its sheath._

_Turning around he swung his sword to clear the guts from the blade before setting the dull side on his shouder, "Hi there Sai. Did you have fun tracking me down?"_

_Sai let out a sigh to let him know just how tired he was, "It wasn't the tracking you part that was difficult. However fighting through all of those spiders was a tiring endeavor."_

_Naruto grinned and nodded, "Never been in the Forest of Death before? Welcome to my world. Now I hope you didn't brave the treacherous nightlife of our little slice of hell on Earth just because you missed me Sai."_

_Sai blinked dully, "Humorous. Now I actually have come with something that may interest you. Danzo-sama is aware of your issue with utilizing the Kyuubi's chakra."_

_Naruto cut him off right there with a serious expression, "Wait, how does Danzo-jiji know about that?" Naruto thought about it and palmed his face and raised his hand before Sai could speak, "Actually you know what, nevermind. I know how he knows… Kami if you guys weren't on my side…"_

_Sai's fake smile surfaced again, "We have information on a place you might be interested in knowing about. A lost village that went by the name of Uzushiogakure no Sato (Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides)"_

_Naruto's raised eyebrow signified his interest, "Go on…"_

_Sai did as asked, "This village was well known for its proficiency in fuuinjutsu, one clan above the rest in particular."_

_Naruto rolled his eyes, "I can tell Danzo-jiji had an active hand in training you. You both have that annoying penchant for halfway explaining things for kicks. Get to the point already, the corpses of these stupid things are going to draw more of them any minute."_

_Any annoyance at being cut off by his blonde predecessor was not evident on Sai's face, "It was your clan, the Uzumaki clan of which I speak. The entire village was so feared for its skill in the difficult art they were wiped from the map in war. The lost country it was situated in was known as Uzu no Kuni (Land of Whirlpools). As it turns out, your surname used to be synonymous in the shinobi world with seals."_

_Naruto frowned, "So this place is lost? I've never even seen that place on a map…"_

_Sai shook his head, "Yes you have. In fact you've been there yourself in the past, whether you knew it or not. Upon the fall of Uzu no Kuni it was renamed. You now know of this land as Nami no Kuni."_

_Naruto stood in contemplative silence for a moment as he mulled around what he had just learned in his head. As per the course, Naruto took up the topic with his unwilling life partner, 'You fucking knew this already didn't you!'_

_Kyuubi simply awoke for a moment and yawned, __**"Nope. Not I."**_

_Naruto scoffed out loud, 'Bullshit. You pretty much waved it in my face all the time. So what do you have to say for yourself Kyuubi?'_

"…"

'_Kyuubi?'_

"… _**Zzzzzzz"**_

'_Damn you Kyuubi! You miserable big fuzzy asshole! Wake your ass up so I can rant at you!'_

_Sai simply waited patiently while Naruto dealt out his inner monologue. Naruto eventually gave up and focused on the pale boy in front of him, "Alright, so I actually do have a clan, we had a different village, and then it got wasted by people that were afraid of our sealing skills. Well that settles it, I'm going to Nami no Kuni the first chance I get. There's too much I can get out of heading down there to just let this slip my mind."_

(End Flashback)

Naruto stroked his chin, "This is true." Naruto pointed at the pale teen with a deadpan expression, "Don't smile like that, you look like you're about to start some international bullshit when you give me that look. Who the fuck are trying to fool with that shit anyway?"

Sai dropped the smile, "I am trying to learn about emotions so that I may be more useful on the outside much like yourself. So that I may support you in your endeavor to become Hokage when the time comes."

Naruto sighed and placed a hand on Sai's shoulder, "Wow, Danzo really broke you like the rest of them didn't he? I see you and I have a lot to work on. But that's okay, Naruto-senpai has got your back." He looked around, "And now I'm lost. I presume you're here to tag along with me for whatever reason, correct?"

Sai nodded, Naruto looked around, "Okay. It couldn't hurt I guess. Well, since you were waiting for me I assume you know the rest of the way."

Sai turned around and started walking off, "That is right Naruto-senpai. I have coordinates of the former location of Uzushiogakure."

Naruto gave him an amused look, "Really? Did you really just call me Naruto-sempai? Seriously?"

Sai stopped walking and turned around, "Yes I did. I realized that you are technically correct. You are my sempai in truth. You have more experience than me, not just in Root, but as a ninja overall. So it is only appropriate that I refer to you as my sempai."

Naruto wiped a fake tear from his eye and wrapped an arm around Sai's shoulder, "That was beautiful Sai-kouhai… I think this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Naruto looked around before sweatdropping, "So where do we go now?"

Sai pulled himself from Naruto's grip and turned around to walk in the other direction, "We're heading the wrong way Naruto-sempai, follow me."

Naruto frowned and slunk behind, "You know what kouhai, I don't like your attitude."

XxX

( A hidden location in the vicinity of Amegakure)

A figure standing in the dark of a cave looked out amid the rainy plains of the country he sought to gain control over, "This is too good of an opportunity to pass up. Konoha's jinchuuriki will undoubtedly be the most well guarded of the nine. Rumors have him placed on the island nation of Nami no Kuni, too far for any assistance from his allies in Konoha. I have Zetsu following up on this lead. Upon confirmation of his location I will dispatch agents to capture him while the chance is opportune."

The sound of a woman's voice sounded in the chamber, "Yes Pein-sama. As you wish."

A pair of legendary eyes shone through the darkness of the cave, "It is only a matter of time until my will shall be carried out. The world will know the true meaning of pain, and I will be known as the God that will lead this world to peace, one way or another."

* * *

Omake

Kyuubi's Top Twenty List of People/Things That Just Need to Die By Its Hand

#20. Minato Namikaze: **The bastard had a giant slimy toad try to hold me down and then he had the gall to seal me into his fucking son. Other than that his hair is too bright and with his special move, the Hiraishin, he was a pain in my ass. He's also such a good target to heap hate onto, the look on his face at all times just makes me want to eat him, no joke.**

#19. Mito Uzumaki: **My first jinchuuriki, the one that started the chain of me looking at the inside of people's heads instead of the outside world. She sealed me in herself, herself! She sealed me in herself and didn't do a half-bad job of it whatsoever. The kit knows nothing about her because I'm not his damned storybook, but if he did he would be more inspired to learn that fuuinjutsu shit. The worst part is that she never tried to even utilize any of my power, I was bored as hell in there.**

#18. Glitter Cannons:** These horrible contraptions are too evil, even to me. Cruel and unusual… and obnoxious.**

#17. Kisame Hoshigaki: **Apparently he has enough chakra to earn the nickname biju without a tail. I'll wait and see him fight my container before I believe a word of that shit. That creepy-ass sword of his eats chakra does it? Well I would love for it to eat a concentrated blast of _my_ chakra and see how much it likes snacking on that.**

#16. Soy substitutes for meat: **If it looks like beef, cooks like beef, sizzles like beef, but fucking tastes like asparagus then there's a fucking problem. If I want that then I'll tell the ningen I'm sealed in to eat the leaves off of a tree. The hands down worst food that the kit has ever picked up and tried at the behest of that black-haired medic woman. Disgusting.**

#15. Maito Gai: **I would have him higher, but he freaks me right the fuck out and he'd probably enjoy that. There comes a time in every man's life where he has to put up the form fitting green leotard for good. That time came for Gai about seven years ago. He makes me regret making my deal with the kit, because seeing him in that shitty green suit and listening to him scream like an epileptic cheerleader about 'the power of youth' makes me want to eat him, it's an insult to the senses. The only reason I would back off from doing that if I had the chance is because I'm not entirely sure that whatever is afflicting him can be passed over to biju. I already know it's contagious, his little mini-me that he totes around is proof enough of that. With that knowledge I don't feel like risking it.  
**

#14. Jiraiya: **He's slowly getting off my shit list, but he's on here for more than a few reasons. Now the kit I'm sealed in is a pervert, I'll admit that, and I doubt he would deny it himself if you prodded him on it, but this man is one of the highest degree, so much so that it is creepy. When he met Naruto before the chunin exam he wanted him to stay in Oiroke no Jutsu form, even though he knew damn well that the kit was a boy. What the fuck? **

**Other than that he trained the bastard that sealed me away again, without him I wouldn't even be here right now, and he was a lesser reason that the kit had to go through four years of life as an utter moron. He's slowly dropping down the list, I did have him higher, but I am a benevolent being, therefore he's working his way off the list, but he won't be off of it anytime soon.**

#13. Rock Lee: **You need to be part of the solution kid, not part of the problem. Hell, even if I'd never seen or heard the kid he'd still be on the list for drinking the kool-aid that Gai heaped into his bushy-browed little head. Why not become **_**my**_** mini-me? I'm at least ten times better than Maito Gai!**

#12. Fangirls: **Enough said.**

#11. Alcohol-free beer: ** The kit hates this stuff too. It utterly defeats the purpose of drinking in the first place, if you're not drinking to get drunk then you should just go ahead and mix yourself some lemonade and sit in a corner. 'The only thing worse than drinking a warm Schlitz tall boy is drinking a warm Schlitz tall boy and realizing that you did it for absolutely no good reason.' The kit's words, not mine.**

#10. Gamabunta: **This ugly warted son of a bitch held me down and stabbed me with that goddamned tanto of his long enough for the bastard Yondaime to seal me in his son. I gave the toad a nice little gift to remember me by though. He he he… How he was able to look at the kit the first time he saw him use my power and not shit himself on the spot I'll never know.**

#9. Orochimaru: **Just rubs me the wrong way. It's not the need to destroy Konoha, fuck that place. It's not the jumping bodies thing either since I technically did that myself, though not by choice. It's not even his *ahem* life choices… It's basically his entire personality. Orochimaru is capable of doing anything he wants and he chooses the most impossible life goal in existence, to learn every jutsu in the world. The only way that would ever work is if he could kill every single person in the world and get their bloodlines and list of jutsu before he tried it, and that would be redundant because who would he brag to about it? What a stupid goal, and he was supposed to be a genius.**

#8. The guy that introduced ramen to Konohagakure no Sato: **I curse this person every day of my existence. If I never hear the word ramen again I would be just okay with that. I would curse that family of ramen chefs, but that wouldn't be the root of the problem, if they weren't in Konoha any longer my container would somehow find some other way to get his fix, so I'm cursing the source of my flavored noodle misery.**

#7. Sasuke Uchiha: **First of all, the kit doesn't like him. The kit is usually a good judge of character and if he doesn't like you then there's a damn good reason behind it. I personally don't like the brat because of that damned pink-eye of his that he calls a doujutsu, but that's more personal than objective. He reminds me of Madara, he's also laughably easy to manipulate, it's ridiculous. Genius my ass. **

**He has an attitude problem and no amount of adjustments, i.e. asskickings, will ever get through to his thick skull. Whoever said that children are the future never got a look at this punk's psyche, or else they would have had him committed to a mental facility. Mark my words, that Uchiha runt is going to bring about the ninja apocalypse if no one stops him before he gets too big for his britches, and he'll probably laugh while he watches the world burn.**

#6. Kirabi:** Do I really need to go through the reason that I want to eat this guy? Try and have an hour long conversation with the man and see if you can keep your temper and sanity in check.**

#5. Kabuto Yakushi: **He's like a cochroach. He'll live through the worst of the fallout and pop his head out to sift through the remains. The boy has no redeeming qualities as far as I can see. He smells of snakes and oiled wood. Those two things just do not go together, and that makes me mistrust him even more than I already should. He's troublesome, and whenever he shows his face he never sticks around long enough to take too much of a beating. At least Orochimaru is man enough to go toe to toe with someone when the need arises.**

#4. Hiruzen Sarutobi: **He really thought that the people of this village would see my container as a person, shouldn't a ninja of legendary stature have a better understanding of human nature? Now other than creating and *ahem* enforcing the rule that had adults inspiring their kids to try and bully him and keep him away at all times he really didn't do that much and this is not the reason that he's up this high, but I am insulted that he didn't think my jinchuuriki had what it took to be a ninja. He was my prison, of course he had what it took when he was young! **

**This actually led to the best thing that had ever happened to the boy, getting actual training and being able to prove to the world my superiority, as my container was a force to be reckoned with at a young age, until the old monkey got paranoid and sealed away years of hard work. I may be petty, but I'm immortal and a being more ancient and powerful than any on the planet, I can afford to be petty.**

#3. The first guy that called for Naruto's death when he was revealed as the Kyuubi's container: **The two jinchuuriki I had before him barely had to deal with the crap that this kid had to put up with, hell Mito didn't have to deal with anything adverse at all. Well with an angry crowd all it ever takes is one dumbass to open the floodgates and let the ire of the masses come out. After my 'attack', emotions were high, and everyone was low on logic and understanding, therefore loud and opinionated idiots like this held sway, as in most near anarchy situations. Whoever this guy was I hope that Sarutobi's Anbu axed his ass on the spot, he made Naruto's life, and by proxy my life, much harder than it already was going to be.**

#2. Hashirama Senju: **The son of a bitch held me down with his stupid Mokuton and let his wife seal me inside of herself. Almost one hundred years of consecutive life sentences inside of passed down hosts with supposedly ridiculously long natural life spans for humans. All because some guy could grow a tree around me and hold me in place. If Madara is the reason I'm sealed then this ass is the trigger. **

#1. Madara Uchiha: **Where do I start? Well how about the fact that the sadistic piece of shit freaks me the fuck out sometimes… me! Me of all people! This ass is the reason I was sealed the first time and the third time. I must have his head. I will hound the kit until the day I feel Madara's blood run across his fingertips. Fuck Madara Uchiha and his hijacked eyes, the next time we meet I'll show him who's in control.**

**He has a damn god complex and enough arrogance to just come out and make puppets and tools of forces that should not be trifled with, myself included. He's manipulative, sneaky, and conniving, even to the extent where **_**I**_** find it overbearing. Yes, a world without Madara Uchiha in it would seem like utopia to me. He keeps his eyes on the times and picks the most opportune moments to risk his neck by coming out into the open, and that makes him all the more dangerous since he has always ended up on top, or at least in control of the situation.**

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**All for the people, next chapter is out and about. I have to say, Gai has asserted his place as a bad-ass of the highest order. A short fight, but hella entertaining and Kisame went out like a boss in this week's manga chapter. I think I need to write something at some point that spotlights him or something because I always thought he was cool, and now there's some actual background on what made him tick. Getting eaten by your own shark summons is a kick-ass way to go out. That was very manly, a hella manly way to die. Well done Kishimoto, didn't see that coming.**

**This arc will actually have some true storyline development! *gasp* I know right? And with me being in college; the angry, disgruntled, and starving Kenchi618 that graced this site with his presence about nine months ago is set to make his chapter popping return, with feeling this time. If anything I think being here in college will actually **_**speed**_** the chapters up if you can believe it.**

**Well, I'm gone. It's 1 am and I've got shit to do on the morrow. Read, review, whatever, just don't blame me for your sudden case of insomnia, you can stop anytime you want.**

**Kenchi out.**


	22. Two Sides of the Same Coin

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and neither do any of you. Now how do you like them apples… bitch?

**Chapter 21: Two Sides of the Same Coin**

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Tayuya let out a huff as she, Kakashi, and Shikamaru sat in restaurant after finishing another day of 'information gathering' which was pretty much them being tourists. Looking around at the lazy jounin and the lazier chunin she felt her temper slipping, "Alright Kakashi. Seriously, can you tell us when Shithead is getting back? At least if he were here this would be mildly entertaining somehow."

Kakashi let out a sigh, she had been asking him about this for the last three days, "Tayuya, for the ten thousandth time; he'll come back when he comes back. I'll know when he's on his way and I'll let you all know."

Tayuya grumbled and crossed her arms, "Shithead... he'd better have a damn solid excuse for ditching us here like this."

Shikamaru yawned, "Whatever, you troublesome woman. All I know is that this is my kind of mission. No fighting, no running around, just relaxing and doing nothing. Maybe I should try and go on more missions with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei more often."

Kakashi eye smiled at Shikamaru, "See Tayuya? Shikamaru has the right idea here."

Tayuya let out an undignified groan and dropped her head on the table with a thud.

XxX

Two fast moving blurs shot through the brush, one following the other. They were moving swiftly through the wilderness of Nami no Kuni in a specific general direction.

Naruto kept close on Sai's heels as they ran further into the country, "Hey Sai-kouhai, I kind of figured that a village named for whirlpools would be by the ocean or something."

Sai kept a dull look on his face as he lead the blonde chunin along, "It would seem like the most logical place Naruto-senpai, that's why it isn't anywhere on the coast. Uzushiogakure was actually one of the villages that were hard to find."

Naruto nodded in understanding as he kept up with the Root shinobi, "So you've got the terrain memorized completely? That's actually very impressive. I haven't seen you pull out a map once."

"A map would have been too dangerous to bring Naruto-senpai." Sai admitted as they continued on, "Remember, there can be little to no evidence of your relationship with Danzo-sama other than to those that already know. And even then, it would be far better if they didn't know that you are still in contact with us."

Naruto could only imagine the shitstorm that would commence if Tsunade or Jiraiya found out that he was still in contact with Danzo. There was no way that Naruto could convince them that Danzo was simply doing the duty he swore himself to doing when he said he would protect Konoha. If he came to them with that argument they would just say that Danzo had brainwashed him like the rest of Root when he was a child and that would be that, he would be locked in a cell, or even worse, sealed again. Naruto liked being able to think clearly and logically thank you.

Naruto's thoughts wandered towards the capabilities of Sai. He didn't know how good he really was. Chances were he was probably better in practice than the majority of the other ninja his age, as Danzo would never have made him his contact if he wasn't. He still had no idea what Sai could do. He figured that Sai was able to draw animals and bring them to life as evident by the attack he launched when Naruto was unaware of his presence, but what else could he do?

Now wasn't the time for that. He was searching for something, Sai was helping. He had more important issues to think on. What would be waiting in Uzushiogakure? Would anything even still be standing? Does Sai really even know where he's going?

Keeping his thoughts to himself he followed his paler Root companion, "We are close Naruto-senpai."

Naruto frowned, "How do you know Sai-kouhai?"

They jumped through one last patch of overgrowth before coming to a massive valley. Sai gave Naruto a fake smile, "I just do."

Naruto sweatdropped, "I can see that…"

Within the valley there lied Uzushiogakure. Not far from where Naruto and Sai stood there was a waterfall leading to a massive river that split cleanly through the village. On the other side of the valley there was another waterfall doing the same. In the center of the village there was a whirlpool where the two directly conflicting waterways met. Around the whirlpool were four massive cylindrical buildings at least one hundred feet off of the ground while what used to be houses and other assorted buildings dotted the landscape around them.

Naruto sighed, "Well, shall we?" Sai nodded and the two jumped into the valley to begin their search.

XxX

As they walked along the remains of the ruined village, Naruto routinely created Kage Bunshin while Sai drew an ink rat to go with them to investigate places of interest. Sai and Naruto kept moving towards the center of the village to the massive cylindrical buildings in the middle of the village.

Naruto whistled as they continued on, "This place is huge. When did this village fall? It's just as big as Konoha."

Sai kept his eyes peeled as well for anything to pay attention to, "It fell during the Second Great Shinobi War. This village had many enemies, the war opened with Sunagakure, Amegakure, and Iwagakure temporarily combining forces to sack the village all at once. This brought Konoha into the war to defend its ally, however it was too late. Your clan had been scattered to the winds and the village was destroyed."

Naruto frowned, "That's a very morbid breakdown of what happened Sai-kouhai. We need to work on you sugar-coating stuff like that. If it wasn't me, and I wasn't used to you Root guys talking like that, that might have creeped me out."

Sai didn't spare Naruto a glance, "Naruto-senpai those were the facts. Uzushiogakure was destroyed by a combined effort of two of the Five Great Shinobi Nations and one minor one, however that village is lead by Salamander Hanzo, perhaps the strongest man alive today."

"**Bullshit."**

Naruto almost jumped at the Kyuubi's timely interjection into the conversation, 'What do you mean Kyuubi? I know Hanzo, he beat Ero-Kyofu, Tsunade-baachan, and Orochi-teme at the same time back in the day. That seems pretty damn strong to me. Why would he not be?'

The Kyuubi huffed, **"Because the strongest man alive definitely isn't Salamander Hanzo. Hanzo is a gnat compared to the man that is truly the most powerful, you've got to go further back into your history for that."** It laid down on its haunches and yawned, **"You're not even close to who the strongest is ningen."**

Naruto rolled his eyes, 'Whatever fuzzy, he's old as hell. He was old when he fought the sannin, and he's still considered the best. Why won't you just tell me who it really is already so we can end this conversation?'

Kyuubi growled lowly from inside Naruto's mind, **"Because I intend to kill the strongest man alive myself. I truly hope you challenge me before you run across him so that after I kill and devour you I can take out my anger on him."**

Naruto thought once again of his fated battle with the Kyuubi, 'Why do you have to be so angry all of the time? Why can't you just help me? I've done everything I can reasonably do for you without letting you go since it would kill me and I couldn't do it anyway… not to mention the fact that if I did you would utterly annihilate Konoha.'

Kyuubi shut its eyes, **"No I wouldn't."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow, getting the attention of Sai, but he was busy at the moment, 'Wait, what? Run that by me again, I don't think I heard you correctly."

Kyuubi bared its teeth at Naruto's disbelief, **"You heard me ningen. If I were released and weren't already directly in your puny village I wouldn't touch it. I have more important things to worry about than the weak mortals that populate your town."**

Naruto thought about that. He figured the Kyuubi would raze Konoha to the ground regardless just for shits and giggles. There was something out there more important to him than destroying the place that had been his prison for years. Not only that, but whoever this person was that the Kyuubi was talking about had him convinced that he was going to be in Naruto's future somehow.

"-uto-senpai are you alright?" Naruto snapped back into the real world from his thoughts by the emotionless voice of Sai, "Naruto-senpai do you need to rest? You were just walking ahead blankly when I tried getting you to stop. I thought I would have to do something physical to get you to stop."

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "Sorry kouhai. It was a conversation between me and the fox, nothing but jinchuuriki stuff, you know?"

Sai nodded, "Come on, we've arrived at the main buildings." Sai entered through doors that were blown off of the opening, leaving Naruto outside.

"**Seeing a brat like that makes me glad that I got sealed inside of you. I can just imagine that kid's head being a wall of white…"** The Kyuubi cringed, **"Then I really would be pissed."**

Naruto mentally agreed with his tenant and followed Sai inside to keep up the search.

XxX

The inside was worse than the outside. Despite looking relatively sturdy and intact it was a wreck on the inside. Naruto's whistle echoed throughout as he looked around the main, massive room, "Man, Father Time sure took a sledgehammer to this place didn't he?"

"It can't be helped Naruto-senpai." Sai appeared behind Naruto, "This general area was clearly where the defenders made their last stand. With these buildings still intact it must have been an amazing battle."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at his sudden appearance, "Were you just waiting behind the front door to try and scare the shit out of me when I came in or something?" Sai looked at him blankly, "Nevermind, and if this is where the last stand was made then where are the bodies? Blood? Weapons? Anything. I mean, yeah this place is beat the hell up, but other than that I don't see any sign of past warfare."

The room was basically a large chamber, it had an ornate spiral symbol in the center of the room with a spiral staircase on the walls. The stairs were collapsed however. No big deal, nothing a little wall-walking couldn't fix. Naruto turned toward Sai and pointed up where there was a ledge with a large ornate door on it, "Shall we then?"

Sai and Naruto channeled chakra to their feet and began running up the wall… until they were forcefully shoved backwards with a burst of energy. A sealing array appeared on the wall as the building began to shake and a wall sealed off the entrance. The boys looked around rapidly, "Shit Sai. Please tell me the building isn't coming down. My luck cannot be that bad, there's just no way."

Sai had a bead of sweat going down his face, "It should have been expected. A mistake on both of our parts… we should have figured that a village feared for its forays in fuuinjutsu would have set some traps for intruders. Any use of our chakra must have triggered it."

The floor opened up, forcing the two to jump back as a statue emerged from the opening by way of an elevator, the elevator was covered in blood as were parts of the statue, signifying what had happened to any of the attackers. Naruto and Sai were prepared for combat, however the statue did not move. It was an elaborate statue forty feet high of a bearded man with long hair and an Uzushiogakure hitae-ate as well as old armor reminiscent of the days of the Shodaime Hokage. It simply stood in a still pose.

Naruto looked at Sai and shrugged, "So… what? Are we just supposed to sit here and admire the pretty statue until we die of old age in here? Maybe that's how they killed the invaders, locked them in here with their big stone guy here and bored them to death."

Sai shook his head, "Do not let your guard down Naruto-senpai. We are still in grave danger here."

Naruto scoffed, "I know Sai-kouhai. It's just that when I say stupid things like that it's like I piss off some deity with direct control over the random shit that happens to me. I just said that so that something cool would happen and then we could move along."

Sai sweatdropped, "So you're intentionally provoking a negative situation because you're impatient?"

Naruto glared at him, "I _do_ have a previous engagement that I need to attend to. If I'm gone for too long and my team gets back to Konoha without me I could be declared a missing-nin. We need to get the fuck out of here. How we're going to do that is another question entirely, the wall apparently repels chakra."

Sai nodded, "Using chakra again in here might trigger another trap, perhaps one with fatal ramifications this time."

Naruto looked at Sai with a dry expression, "Maybe it's me."

Sai looked around the room for anything of relevance, "What is you Naruto-senpai?"

Naruto groaned in disappointment, "It _is_ me. Bad stuff always happens to me and the people around me on missions. If I get a C-rank I might as well pack as if it would be bumped up to A-ranked because chances are it will be."

Naruto looked at his hands and sighed, "We have to do it Sai… There's no way we're getting out of here any other way, especially if this wall repels chakra."

Sai frowned and pulled out his drawing scroll, "Are you sure? This could be putting us in unnecessary danger."

Naruto and Sai both looked at the still statue, "What are the odds that I'm just being paranoid?"

Sai placed his brush in his fingers, "There is no such thing as being paranoid to a shinobi Naruto-senpai."

"Right…" He placed his hands in a ram seal, "You ready?" Sai looked unsure of Naruto's actions but nodded. Naruto took a deep breath, "Okay, let the sparks fly!" He channeled his chakra into a hard outward pulse. At first nothing happened, but the sound of stone sliding against stone started ringing out.

Sai's eyes widened as the statue began to move slowly from its position, "I knew that was going to happen. What exactly was your plan?"

Naruto shrugged and drew his sword, "I don't know, I was winging it, I cannot be held responsible for the things that I do in the heat of battle. Did you have any better ideas?"

Sai sighed, "We weren't even fighting when you came up with that asinine idea."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Oh I'm sorry, you probably had a much better idea huh. Yeah your idea probably would have made my idea look stupid right? Shut up and fight or get squashed kouhai!" The two were forced to dodge as the statue lowered a massive foot on their previous position.

The guardian statue turned its head towards them with an audible sliding noise as the stone slabs comprising its body parts rubbed against themselves. Sai and Naruto looked at each other before Naruto nodded and rushed in with his sword, charging it with wind chakra to cleave the golem's head off. Sai stayed back and began drawing on his scroll, "Choujuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)."

Lions of ink emerged from Sai's scroll and began stalking the statue down. The statue simply looked at them and destroyed them with a swing of its hand. Naruto sweatdropped at the display, "Sai! Ink won't hurt the damn thing! You've got to have another jutsu you can do right?"

Sai shrugged and pointed at the statue that had targeted Naruto, it was now gearing up to swing on him. Naruto cursed and dodged as the massive fist hit the ground and shook the building. Naruto jumped at the statue's head with wind chakra circulating around his sword, however when he made contact with the statue's neck a seal array appeared on the area that he made contact with and repelled him violently.

Naruto bounced across the ground and stood up with his head swimming, "Damn it! The statue has the same seal on it that the walls do! It will just absorb any of the jutsu that we launch at it! Please tell me you have something that can break stone!"

Sai shook his head and Naruto once again cursed… and dodged another fisticuff from the statue, "Damn it Sai! Some back-up would be nice at the very least!" Sai shrugged again and pointed again as Naruto heard stone sliding once more. Naruto turned, "Fuck!" The statue actually had a fully functional stone sword on its back that it had just unsheathed. Naruto reached into his pack and pulled out a roll of explosive notes that he chucked over to Sai.

The pale ninja snatched them up out of mid-air and took one that he wrapped in a kunai and threw at the statue. It simply bounced off with the explosion being set off in its face.

"What is this damn thing made of?" Naruto wondered as he dodged the first strike of the behemoth's sword and ran at it again. He formed a swirling blue ball of chakra in his hand and launched at it, "Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!"

Once again he bounced off of the stone figure as a seal array appeared on its body. Naruto fell next to Sai and picked himself up again, "What are we going to do Sai? We can't escape, we can't use ninjutsu, and if it can take an explosive tag to the face and walk right through it I'm not strong enough to crack that stone without doing something that will hurt you, that is if it even works… all that would probably happen is I'll get my demonic chakra absorbed."

Sai shut his eyes in thought as the statue lumbered back over to them. Sai's eyes snapped open as he turned to Naruto, "Naruto-senpai, how good are you at fuuinjutsu?"

Naruto's eyes flickered back and forth from the statue to Sai, "I don't know. Only Ero-sennin is able to properly gauge my skill and I haven't seen him in a while. Why?"

Sai started drawing again on his scroll, "What if you were able to get a good look at that array, could you think of something to break it?"

Naruto tapped his chin in thought, "I don't know, it's worth a shot though. What do you have in mind?"

Said didn't answer and finished his drawing, "Choujuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)." A mass of bats came out of his scroll and began flying around the statue's head, not making contact however. The statue stopped and tried swatting at the bats, far too slowly to actually take them out.

Naruto took advantage of the distraction and made a dozen Kage Bunshin, sending them all on a one way trip to the towering stone figure. The second the first Kage Bunshin made contact with the statue it dispelled as the seal array formed. Naruto whipped out a scroll and a brush as the array vanished, "The array appears for four seconds at a time! Run into him at four second intervals!"

The clones all nodded and did as was commanded while the statue was stuck being distracted by Sai's ink bats. As the array appeared on the golem's body, Naruto quickly copied it down just as his last Kege Bunshin dispelled, "Sai, can you give me some time to work this out? I need to figure out what went into this thing's seal."

Sai nodded and made a hand sign, all of the bats that were flying around the statue melted into ink all over its face, blinding it. The golem started swinging its sword wildly as it searched for the two Root trained ninja. Naruto kept out of the golem's range as did Sai. Eventually, Naruto's eyes lit up as he quickly wrote on a seal tag. Naruto placed his stuff away and looked at the statue with a determined expression. Naruto channeled chakra to his feet to activate the seal in the room and alert the statue to his location. As it turned, Naruto placed his fists together, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"

Naruto shot off the ranged wind jutsu and hit the golem flush, just as the seal array appeared once again, Naruto rushed in at full speed and slapped a tag right on the array right before placing another on himself, "Fuuinjutsu: Jinkaku no Yuuisei (Sealing Technique: Dominance of Personality)! Fuuin!"

Naruto and the statue were covered in a dull yellow glow that barely covered both of their bodies. Naruto smirked as his glow began to shine brighter while the statue's own faded out of existence. He moved his arm and surely the arm of the statue moved in exactly the same manner. Naruto let out a victorious whoop of joy, "Sai-kouhai get over here, quick! I don't know how long this will last for."

Sai did as he was requested and stood by Naruto's side. Naruto began to walk towards the statue as it began walking towards him. Sai felt apprehensive about approaching the murderous stone effigy, but since Naruto was doing it he followed. Naruto made a bending a scooping motion, directing the statue to pick them up, "Going up?" Naruto cocked his hand back, as did the statue before he launched it forward, sending him and Sai flying up towards the top of the tower to the area where the ornate door was located. Naruto and Sai ended up smacking the door hard and breaking the decrepit metal door down.

Naruto and Sai picked themselves up as Naruto made a one handed ram seal, "Kai." Once again he glowed yellow before it faded.

Sai dusted himself off, "What was that Naruto-senpai?"

Naruto cracked his back, "It's a new seal of mine. I read that real fuuinjutsu masters come up with their own stuff so I made my own. I was going to test it in front of Shikamaru to piss him off, but here was just as good a time as any to use it right? It forces the wills of the recipients into a struggle. The winner ends up with temporary control over the other's body."

Sai nodded, "Are you sure you should have released it?"

Naruto waved off his concern, "What the fuck is it going to do all the way down there?"

The sounds of stone hitting the ground re-attracted their attention to the statue below as they saw it pick itself off of the ground and try climbing the wall. It only made it slightly off of the ground before dropping back down onto its back, it then repeated the process.

Naruto sweatdropped at the sight, "Let's get the hell out of here." He pointed at a bridge linking one tower to the next. The two dashed from their first location to their next destination as the sounds of the statue attempting to pursue them sounded out.

XxX

(Kirigakure)

Tayuya sat on the edge of a cliff on one of Kiri's surrounding mountains, looking out at the village while simply playing her flute in boredom. She looked over at Shikamaru who was sprawled out on the ground staring up expressionlessly.

Kakashi had told them to scope out surrounding areas and vantage points of the village that they could get away with seeing. Tayuya could feel the Anbu watching them but paid them no real mind. They weren't really doing anything wrong. While they had been off doing that, Kakashi had some… 'Kakashi stuff', as he dubbed it, to attend to elsewhere.

Tayuya finished up a song and looked up with Shikamaru, "How fucking long are we going to be here? I want to go home already, this is boring."

Shikamaru remained silent, staring at the clouds, apparently ignoring Tayuya. The red-head got a tick mark on her head, "Are you listening to me you lazy bastard? I'm trying to speak to you here."

Shikamaru sighed, "I know that. But I don't have the answer to your question or anything that I could say to make you feel better. It would be too troublesome to try and rack my brain to come up with something."

Tayuya placed her cheeks in her hands, "Shithead would have tried."

Shikamaru groaned in apathy, "It's always, 'Shithead this' or 'Shithead that'. You haven't stopped asking or talking about Naruto since he left us outside of Kiri. Even when Kakashi said he wouldn't tell you anymore. If you're that worried about the guy then chain him up when he gets back, or even better, marry the guy." He laughed to himself, "Yeah, then you would have a legally binding reason to be so troublesome about him." Shikamaru then had a heel firmly planted in his stomach.

Tayuya looked down at Shikamaru with her foot on his belly, "Do not say that about me and Shithead. We could never work out, he's a Shithead!"

Shikamaru spoke in a pained tone, "Calling him names just shows me that you care. You might as well be calling him Naruto-kun… Who am I kidding? You probably _will_ be calling him Naruto-kun."

A grunt escaped his throat as Tayuya began stomping on him, "Shut up! There's absolutely nothing between me and Shithead!"

Shikamaru coughed with each stomp, "Your mouth says no but your heel says yes."

Tayuya eventually tired of stomping on him and sat back down, "Hey, you're friends with him right? Why is he so damn good and you're so not? You're the same age aren't you?"

Shikamaru readjusted himself on the ground, "I don't know. 8 months ago we were forced to fight him all at once, everyone from our graduating class. We didn't know he was that good, he beat us all."

Tayuya scoffed and chuckled, "Well I could have told you that was going to happen. You were all what, genin? That guy was a right destroyer of men, even years before this. He made me think that all Konoha had were superheroes coming out of the woodwork if a kid was as strong as he was. It just didn't seem natural."

Shikamaru's attention was now firmly on Tayuya, "What? Naruto was never much in the academy. It was scary, seeing where all of his power came out just suddenly like that. No one can tell where it came from."

Tayuya rubbed her cheek, "Well he's been like that for a while. When I first fought the bastard he couldn't have been any older than an academy student, that was what scared me about Konoha. You know the Cursed Seal that the little butt-pet Uchiha has? Well we were all fighting with it on, and we knew what we were doing. We were still going to lose until our fifth man showed up and took the advantage."

Shikamaru was confused, "How many years ago was this?"

Tayuya thought for a moment, "I would say about six years or slightly less."

Shikamaru sat up abruptly, "Wait you're saying that Naruto fought you and the rest of your Oto kidnapping team when he was 8 years old? That's impossible, he first enrolled in the academy at the age of 8."

Tayuya shrugged, "I'm only telling you what happened. He had a weird plain white mask, but it got all carved up during the fight. The blonde hair and whisker marks were a dead giveaway when I saw him again though. I thought I saw my life flash before my eyes when I did. I was more worried about fighting him than you and your little fat friend at the time."

Shikamaru simply looked away in thought, 'Seriously Naruto. Why do things have to be so troublesome when you're involved? Who are you?'

XxX

(Uzushiogakure – with Sai and Naruto)

Naruto and Sai emerged from the top of the third tower singed and with shallow cuts on their bodies. Naruto sighed, "What the hell? That wasn't anything at all, it was like the entire top floor of the building was one big trap!"

Sai winced slightly as he touched a cut on his side, "Maybe that was a training facility for Uzu shinobi. It certainly worked like one."

Naruto growled, "Shouldn't there be some way around this stuff? We still have one more of these things to check and with our track record the next one might just spontaneously combust when we get within five feet of the entrance."

After leaving the building housing the statue of death, Naruto and Sai entered what looked to be the administrative building. The skeletons of fallen enemy and Uzu shinobi alike told them both that a fierce battle had gone on inside of this building. Of course the corridors to the main office were booby trapped, once again with a seal array that locked them inside of a long hallway and began to cook the boys alive. Naruto was luckily able to locate the seal array on one of the walls and mentally shut out the heat roasting him alive until he could break down the seal and deactivate the trap. Naruto took notes on that seal before they left, hoping that it could be applicable elsewhere, it was a pretty nasty trap.

Upon reaching the main office they found that it had been ransacked. There was nothing, the vault was empty, even the desk had been stripped bare. They boys then left and entered the next tower, which was basically a chakra-less run through a building filled top to bottom with a ridiculous amount of traps ranging from sealing arrays that shot fire, collapsing floors leading to spike pits, ranged kunai and shuriken triggers, and the pool filled with water that had a live current running through it.

Naruto looked up at the sky and yelled, "All I've learned in this place is that I know nothing about booby traps! How did these people get beaten again?"

Sai took a moment to bandage his wound, "Should we rest before entering the final tower Naruto-senpai? Who knows what will be in there."

Naruto nodded and sat down on the walkway looking out at the raging whirlpool they were standing over, "That is one imposing landmark." Naruto saw Sai wrapping bandages around his exposed midsection, "Are you okay? You aren't hurt too bad are you? You should tell me if you are, because you don't have a six story fuzzy red physician in you like I do."

"**Go fuck yourself ningen. Physician that."**

Sai grunted in affirmation, "They are just flesh wounds sempai. I will be fine after a short rest."

Naruto accepted his answer before deciding to chew the fat a bit with the boy, "So Sai-kouhai, did Danzo-jiji finally let any girls join Root or is it still just full of dudes, because I told him about that."

Sai paid close attention to his wounds as he spoke, "Root has females Naruto-senpai. Reva-san is a girl, as is Maki-san. They came up around the same time you did and are within a few years of your age. How did you not notice them?"

Naruto's eyes widened, "What? Maki and Reva are girls? Damn it I was never able to tell; Maki always kept her hair so short and wore baggy stuff, Reva didn't sound like a girl nor did she have the figure at the time, and not to mention that both of them always wore those damn masks like they would lose them if they weren't attached to their faces."

Sai gave Naruto a fake smile, "That just means that you were more concerned with your work Naruto-senpai."

Naruto snorted in an amused fashion, "I wonder if they were good looking… Oh who am I kidding, of course they were. They were kunoichi, it's like a prerequisite as a ninja that all kunoichi must be at the very least, cute. They're still alive right?"

Sai nodded, "Ever since you were captured, Danzo-sama has scaled back on our mission intake. Losing you when he did gave him a significant hit. A lot of the operations he had planned centered themselves around you. He had to revamp everything, right down to the training, to pick up the slack."

Naruto frowned and looked over at the tower, "I think I should sweep for traps before we go inside, since we had so much fun during the last two towers." Naruto made six Kage Bunshin, "Go in two at a time and scout out the building for me." The clones saluted him and ran off towards the tower in groups of two.

Naruto turned back to Sai, "Are you ready to go? It's almost nightfall, are we planning on staying outdoors or in one of these stupid towers?"

Before Sai could answer a massive explosion rocked the tower, there were Kage Bunshin eradicated in the blast and some sent flying off of the walkway. Naruto looked at the tower in shock, "I was just joking when I said it would just spontaneously combust!"

"Well then Kyuubi jinchuuriki you weren't caught in the first blast! It looks like you get to see a little more of my art, un."

Naruto and Sai looked up at the setting sun to see a man flying above them on a massive bird. He had blonde hair up in a half ponytail, one bang covering one eye. His eyes were somewhat slitted and blue in color and he had a scratched out Iwagakure hitae-ate on his head. The most noticeable thing about him however was the black cloak with red clouds on it. He had only seen that on two people before, and they…. Oh.

Naruto kept his eyes on The flying man, "Sai… What are the chances that we can get out of here?"

Sai pulled out his scroll, "Not very good as long as he's in the air. Do you know this person Naruto-senpai?"

Naruto shook his head, "No. But he's wearing the same stuff that Itachi Uchiha was wearing when he attacked me. Last time they came to capture me, I'm assuming that it's much the same this time since he hasn't tried taking out the bridge and dropping us into the whirlpool yet."

Sai figured his line of reasoning, "So he's after the Kyuubi."

"Got it in one kouhai." Naruto drew the blade from his back, "What are we going to do? He's long range and I can't really reach him from here, I have some distance stuff, but I doubt anything I have can hit him from here." Naruto looked around, "We need room and the tops of the towers looks like a good bet, but we can't wall-walk them to get up there, or use chakra when in contact with them…"

"Choujuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)." Sai drew a pair of birds onto his scroll and made two large ink replicas that he hopped onto one of, "Get on Naruto-senpai."

Naruto gleefully jumped onto one of Sai's ink birds as they took off to the skies, "Sai-kouhai you can fly? Wait, why the hell did we walk all the way here then? We could have been here hours ago."

Sai directed traffic with his birds, "It requires chakra to do so. I do not like wasting my chakra when moving on my feet would be a much better way to save my chakra."

Naruto nodded and turned his head, "I've never done this before. Is this thing going to keep me safe kouhai?"

Sai gave him a fake smile, "It can take one or two hits senpai."

Naruto sighed, "Great… fine, how are we getting away?" Just as he said that a voice rang out.

"So you're going to run, un? I hope your art is as effective as mine! I know it isn't nearly as much of an explosion, un!" The man sent out multiple small clay birds at the boys. Sai was able to maneuver out of the way and cut them down from afar. Naruto however had no experience moving a bird and as such ended up surrounded by the little clay creations. The man smirked and made a single hand-seal, "Katsu."

Naruto's eyes widened as Sai flew near him. Naruto took the chance and jumped from his own bird over to Sai's just as an explosion from the clay birds destroyed his ink bird. Naruto looked back at the man as he and Sai did their best to attempt to lose him, "Who the hell are you?"

"Does it really matter? I'm still going to catch you whether we're on a first name basis or not un." The man grinned amusedly.

Naruto pulled out a bunch of explosive notes and began preparing his kunai with them, "Well I try to make a habit of learning the names of the people that want to suck out my biju and leave me a soulless husk on the side of the road."

The man's grin widened, "I am Deidara, the master of art of a single moment. Your friend's art cannot compare to my own, however with the assistance of my own art, his can be something to behold, because true art is an explosion!" Deidara made more clay birds to send at the boys.

Sai maneuvered the ink bird to avoid the clay bird, "What can we do senpai? I'm not as good at fighting in mid-air and fighting like this will wear on me eventually."

Naruto frowned while racking his brain, "We're not long-range fighters… If he was out to kill us he might have been able to right now instead of just trying to shoot us down. Once again, it's that S-ranked superiority complex, so let's take advantage of that." Naruto picked up one of his prepared kunai, before lobbing it at Deidara who simply dodged it. The kunai exploded in the distance, "I knew he was going to do that."

Naruto had his sword in hand, "Sai, get me close. Close range is our best bet right now and he's chasing us so that will make it easy."

Sai looked apprehensive, "Are you sure senpai?" Naruto nodded and Sai drew his tanto in response, "Very well, in we go." Sai ordered the bird around, sending it directly at Deidara.

He had been reaching into his pouch of clay when he saw the boys turn their ride around and head straight towards him with their blades gleaming in the light of the moon. Deidara's eye widened, "Damn brats… un." Naruto and Sai closed in. Both boys slashed at Deidara as they passed, but his bird was more maneuverable than theirs with only one person on it, "Nice try, noticing and acknowledging that I'm a long range fighter, un. But if you can't hit me then it's useless!"

Naruto thought frantically, at this rate they were never going to win, they weren't even going to escape, "Any good ideas to get us out of this would be lovely right now Sai-kouhai."

Sai squinted and looked behind them at the man they just missed, "Can you fly for a moment senpai?"

Naruto nodded determinedly, "As long as I don't have to fly it towards him I can."

Sai nodded and handed the front over to Naruto before taking out his scroll. Sai created a bunch of bats using his jutsu and had them carry Naruto's prepared explosive kunai over to Deidara in an effort to attack. Deidara matched the explosives with some of his own, negating Sai's attack.

Sai retook the front of the bird while Naruto returned to his position of man on point. He pulled out a handful of shuriken, "Come on! Give me something here! Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Release: Lightning Shuriken)!" Naruto threw his handful of shuriken over Deidara's head. Before Deidara could mock him for his shoddy aim he was forced to dodge as he found himself caught in a mini lightning storm as electricity dropped from the thrown shuriken, trying to take him out.

Deidara's experience flying with his clay sculptures kept him out of harm's way as he outlasted the jutsu, "Ha! Nice try, un."

Naruto saw Sai beginning to sweat. Keeping up the flying of the bird coupled with the day's events were getting to him. Naruto saw Deidara catching up and cursed, "Sai, turn this thing around. We're not going out like this."

Sai was now panting in exhaustion but did as requested. Naruto reached into his pack and carefully pulled out an abnormal black tag before tapping into Kyuubi's chakra to trigger it. The kanji for 'explode' glowed red upon being pumped with the demonic power source.

Sai channeled his chakra into the bird to give it enough of a boost to get near Deidara. Deidara threw clay insects at them, but Naruto knocked off their trajectory with a handful of shuriken, sparing them another explosion. The bird almost dropped from the sky as Sai's consciousness wavered momentarily.

Naruto almost dropped the tag, "Sai, can you keep this thing up for a little bit longer? Just a little more time is all I need. Keep us close kouhai."

Sai looked haggard and exhausted, "I will do my best Naruto-senpai."

Naruto nodded and held the tag behind him as it began to sizzle down. Sai got the two birds near one another again. Naruto jumped from their bird to make an attempt at Deidara. The explosives specialist threw more clay spiders at Naruto, who ran through hand signs, "Fuuton: Senpuu Kakusui (Wind Release: Whirlwind Pyramid)!" A fierce wind burst around Naruto's body, knocking the clay spiders away as he landed on Deidara's bird.

Deidara turned and lashed out with a backhand strike that Naruto ducked. Naruto shot a kick at his head after getting under the punch, but was blocked and thrown off of the bird. Deidara cursed as he watched Naruto's body freefall down towards the whirlpool, "Fuck. I was supposed to catch him, not kill him. Sasori no Danna is going to bitch me out when I get back, un."

Naruto fell towards the ground but was rescued by Sai's bird. Naruto sat up on the back of the bird and patted the pale ninja on the shoulder, "Good save, I thought I was gone there for a second Sai-kouhai." No response, "Sai-kouhai?"

Sai's eyes were glazed over, signifying unconsciousness, "Fuck!" The bird they had been riding on dissolved into ink due to the creator being indisposed, dropping them both from the sky. Naruto grabbed onto Sai and pushed wind chakra out through his feet to direct their motion towards the tall cylindrical building instead of the water, which would have ended with them drowning. Naruto positioned Sai onto his back and fired off a Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken to cushion the impact.

As the two hit with Sai on Naruto's back, the aforementioned blonde coughed up blood. Naruto allowed the feeling to re-enter his body before rolling Sai off of his back and looking up at Deidara.

Deidara chuckled at the display, "That was a good little bit of survival technique, un. You're one pesky kid, I have to say." Suddenly he heard the sound of a rumbling sizzle. Under the wing of the bird there was Naruto's black explosive note.

From his place on top of the building Naruto smirked, "Boom."

Deidara leapt off of the clay bird just as his clay bird was engulfed in a mid-air firestorm. That looked like a miniature sun from where Naruto was, "I can see why Ero-sennin was so reluctant to teach me how to make explosive tags, because I ended up making that piece of demonic hell."

"Now that showed some artistic prowess, un!" Naruto saw Deidara alive and well below the explosion that took out his bird. Now however, he was on a massive clay dragon, "You are very tricky to pin down, un! Witness the next level of my art! C2 Dragon!"

"Oh come on!" Naruto palmed his forehead, "You've got to draw the line somewhere with stuff like this, S-ranked or not."

Deidara chuckled, "I can see why Kisame no Danna and that ass Itachi found it somewhat difficult to take you, but you've got nowhere to go as long as your little friend is unconscious, un?"

Naruto looked at the downed Sai, he had to be suffering from chakra exhaustion there was no other explanation. He was getting beaten even with Sai's help, he was a sitting duck on this roof, he couldn't fly, he could barely even generate chakra as his guess was right. The building absorbed or repelled chakra from both inside and outside contact with the wall… how did this place get conquered again?

"Now then..." Deidara's clay dragon opened its mouth, "You lot lose! Witness the beauty of my art, un!" Deidara's dragon spit up many smaller dragons that flew at Naruto.

Naruto cursed and grabbed Sai, running towards the edge of the building as explosions rocked it from the mini dragons. He had no clue what he was doing. It was either stay there and die on the roof that they couldn't escape when Deidara finally found a way to incapacitate him, or jump off and die by way of catastrophic fall into the water, and on the off chance that they did survive the initial fall from at least one hundred feet in the air.

Naruto bit his lip as he neared the edge, 'Whether we end up in heaven, hell, or somehow survive this, Sai is going to be pissed off when he wakes up.' Jumping off the rooftop with the Root agent in his grasp both fell into the raging waters of the joining rivers, being quickly swept up by the whirlpool.

Deidara watched the happening with a massive sweatdrop on his head, "…Sasori no Danna is really going to kill me, un…"

* * *

**Chapter complete! Is this the end of Naruto and Sai? Am I using this as a weak cop out on the story? **

…**No. Fuck no. The thing is, I can actually see someone doing that and it's a fucked up thing to consider. I shouldn't even try to joke like that…**

**Anyway, next chapter should be out far quicker than this. I was working on setting us a decent base of chapters for a new story and pretty much blasted out 4 in 5 days before I got back to this so my apologies for the delay. However I am here now to once again add to the amount of reading material that this site produces daily, giving your more ways to waste your time.**

**Anyway, read, review, do stuff. I'm out of here, I need to heal my shins… I have never hated leg kicks so much in my entire life than I do right now… I can barely walk, and I live on the third floor. I need to invest in an ice pack or three.**

**Konan is awesome. I thought that paper power was stupid… right up until she made, apparently, 600 billion explosive notes and proceeded to attempt to blow Madara Uchiha to hell. What the fuck? And she didn't even get close to doing it thanks to Uchiha God Power #16: Izanagi. **

**I'm just kidding, I know the main bad guy has to be infallible, but at least there's apparently some kind of weaknesses to his intangibility now that can be exposed after watching him fight Minato and now Konan, and Nagato as an Uzumaki… I just got mind-raped again. That hasn't happened in forever, will anyone elaborate on that? I doubt it. **

**Later, Kenchi out.**


	23. Land of My Forefathers

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… If I did, Sharingan wouldn't be so goddamn important to the premise of the series. Seriously, copying whatever it sees isn't enough, now it has the power to set respawn points in your fights? What the $#%?

**Chapter 22: Land of my Forefathers**

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Waking up after getting your ass kicked is never a very fun thing to do. Waking up after getting your ass kicked while stuck down under a pool of water? Well…

"*cough cough cough*"

Naruto emerged from an underground lake, dragging Sai to the rocky shore before collapsing on his back, clearing his lungs of the copious amounts of liquid he had ingested., "*cough cough* You alright Sai-kouhai?"

"…"

Naruto frowned and took Sai's pulse. He was still alive and well, but it was now abundantly clear that the pale ninja was indeed suffering from chakra exhaustion. Naruto checked to see if he was still properly breathing and the results gave his eye something of a twitch, 'How can I be the one that actually woke up and dragged us out of the water and yet he's the one that didn't get a drop of excess water in his lungs?'

Naruto sighed and let Sai be for the time being. He took the time to look around the cave they were stuck in. From the roof, the water from the whirlpool was coming through, obviously how they had gotten in, but where was all of the water going?

Naruto formed a Kage Bunshin and had it jump into the water to look for a path to move towards while he rested and took stock of the situation at hand. As the clone submerged itself under the lake, Naruto leaned against a rock near Sai. Well their mission was an utter failure he had to say. All of the things that they looked through brought them nothing but misery, pain, anger (if Sai could even get angry, Naruto wasn't sure), and a lot of wasted time. Before they could even check the last tower to see if there was anything of use in there the thing was blown to hell by Deidara, an explosives specialist.

After a short fight, Naruto had attempted to flee from the rooftop they had managed to be trapped on by jumping into the raging waters below, right into a whirlpool. Needless to say, the fight didn't go so well for the two Konoha ninja. Deidara's ability to keep the battle at a range that Naruto and Sai couldn't contend at was the real issue of the battle. Deidara and his clay bombs were far too versatile for them to attempt fighting him at a distance, and with their inability to close the distance it was only a matter of time. They had been fighting all day long, whether it be the traps they were forced to survive, or the soulless golem that tried to kill them in the first tower, by the time they fought Deidara they had been fighting all day long.

Naruto started checking his equipment, but when he reached for the ninjato on his back he got an unpleasant surprise, "Fuck! My sword is broken again?" Naruto's sheath and blade had been busted, possibly when he fell onto the rooftop from so high in the air during the fight with Deidara. A few explosions caught him as well when he attempted to flee towards the edge so there could have been another way they broke as well. Who knew where he had deposited the broken pieces? There was no way for him to repair it this time.

This was just not his day. He and his partner had been run ragged the entire time and were attacked by a fresh opponent with superior tactics and the means to execute his gameplan.

Naruto's body didn't really register the fatigue, the things he did for his own personal training saw to that. However Sai didn't have his level of stamina, nor his ability to instantly heal the wounds he suffered getting through the traps, and injuries accumulate.

Naruto sighed as he looked at Sai's unconscious form, "Damn it kouhai, I told you to tell me if you were hurt or overexerted..." Naruto checked himself over, he didn't have anything hurt on him, he was absolutely fine other than his pride. And that had taken a vicious beating, as he didn't land a single shot on Deidara the entire time. Even his new super-charged explosive tag wasn't enough to finish him off.

"**Why didn't you use my chakra? That would have made the results of the battle an afterthought."** The Kyuubi decided to chime in. Naruto couldn't say he was ungrateful for the distraction, there wasn't much he could do at the moment and reflecting on what happened with a second opinion until Sai woke up was as good a time waster as he was going to get.

Naruto checked his gear, 'Sai was right there and we were flying on one of his flimsy ink birds. Even if Sai was able to stand up to a decent amount of exposure to the chakra his bird couldn't. We would have dropped from the sky like a stone and died. I just have to face it, Deidara had our number up there.'

Kyuubi growled from inside Naruto's head, **"If you had come alone you could have destroyed that fool."**

Naruto shrugged, mostly to himself, 'Maybe, but there's no such thing as a fair fight. Coming without Sai might have been easier, but he has his mission and I didn't see anything wrong with the help. Danzo-jiji wouldn't have sent him if he was weak. He just had a bad draw as an opponent. Deidara seems troublesome.'

Kyuubi agreed, Danzo was not one to undertrain his people. While he had a penchant for treating his ninja like pawns often, it couldn't be argued that he didn't make absolutely sure that they were ready for the missions that he planned to send them on. If he sent Sai then he thought that Sai was close to if not the absolute best that he had. Like Naruto said, Deidara simply caught them at the worst possible time on the worst possible terrain, **"If you come across that man again I want you to eradicate him, no questions asked. Understood?"**

Naruto scoffed, 'You don't control me. But you're right, if I see him again I'm going to drag him to the ground and rip his arms off, and not particularly in that order either. Where did he get all of those explosives from, and how did he have time to shape them? That's what I really want to know.'

"**Get some rest. You cannot do anything while your partner is unconscious and weak. The bomber human must think you two died being thrown into the whirlpool so there is no one pursuing you at the moment. Take advantage of that and regain what strength you both can for the time being."** Kyuubi said somewhat sagely.

Naruto hated doing nothing, but after flaring his chakra one good time eventually buckled and began to focus on the sound of the falling, crashing water to lull him to sleep.

XxX

"I'm so dead. I'm so dead, un!" Deidara repeated to himself as he flew over the whirlpool that the two boys fell into, looking for any sign that Naruto had survived and getting none, "I'M SO DEAD, UN!"

"Deidara get down here."

Deidara paled somewhat at the sound of the gruff voice calling his name. Looking down at the abandoned, ruined village, he saw a thick, hunched figure in a black robe with red clouds and the large straw hat that Akatsuki members are known to wear, "Deidara get down here now."

Deidara swallowed his nerves and landed his clay bird before pasting a nervous smile on his face, "Sasori no Danna! You made it down here at last, un!"

Sasori simply looked right at Deidara, "I thought you were going ahead to capture the jinchuuriki since you could move faster than I could through the air."

Deidara grinned apologetically, "Well you see, I did find him and fight him. He had another guy with him and we ended up getting into a little fight. They were kind of troublesome, but in the end they weren't that hard to beat."

Sasori kept his tone even, "And? You're not telling me everything Deidara, don't treat me as if I were a fool."

Deidara held his hands up in a placating fashion, "I never said that Sasori no Danna, un. But when I beat them and moved in to finish the jinchuuriki he took his partner and jumped off of the building I had him trapped on. And then he landed in the water and got sucked into the whirlpool. Whoops… un."

Sasori stared at Deidara for a long minute before sighing, "Your stupid excuse for 'art' jumped the gun did it not Deidara?"

Deidara got a tick mark on his head, "Hey! My art is better than your boring rust and wear attracting excuses! Besides, how was I supposed to know he was audacious enough to jump off of a building into a _whirlpool_? People don't do that, un!"

Sasori scoffed and walked away, "Apparently this person did."

Deidara simply watched Sasori walk away, "Sasori no Danna, shouldn't you be angrier about this? The jinchuuriki is dead. Leader-sama is going to tear us limb from limb for this."

Sasori never broke his stride, "He's dead is he? Did you see his body?" Deidara shook his head even though Sasori couldn't see it, "Then he's not dead. Tell me he's dead when we find his body… and then I'll show you how angry I can be."

Deidara followed behind Sasori slowly, "Sure thing, un." 'How is he not dead?'

Sasori spoke once more in his straightforward, gruff voice, "It's just as I remember it." Deidara gave him an odd look, but chalked it up to Sasori just being weird like that.

XxX

(Undisclosed Amount Of Time Later – Underground Cavern in Uzushiogakure)

THUD

THUD

THUD

Naruto cracked an eye as the loud pounding noises filled the cavern, "Ugh… what the hell is up now? Don't tell me they're attacking the river bottom now." Naruto got up and walked over to Sai while the loud thuds still rang out. Naruto kicked Sai in the hip sharply, "Sai-kouhai wake up. You've been lazy enough for my tastes."

Sai slowly opened his eyes, "Naruto-senpai where are we? What happened?"

Naruto looked around in order to figure out what was making that hellacious racket, "Long story short, you blacked out on me when the tide was about to turn in our fight with that Akatsuki bomber and I had to jump into the whirlpool in an effort to escape being blown up on top of one of the towers. I sure didn't see this one coming." Naruto gritted his teeth in annoyance, "What the hell is that noise?"

Sai rubbed his head and sat up, "What are you talking about senpai? What noise?"

Naruto gave him a dry look, "You really can't hear that?"

THUD

THUD

THUD

Naruto gestured around his grandly as the sound rang out, "That noise. What is it?" Naruto shook his head and put that in the back of his mind for the time being, "My Kage Bunshin found out that there's a waterway path leading out but it's under the water. Can you hold your breath for a while so we can get out of here?"

Sai nodded and pulled himself to his feet, "I should be fine. How long have we been down here by the way?"

Naruto rubbed his head, "I'm not sure. I can't tell how long I've been asleep since we got down here. How's your chakra exhaustion?"

Sai generated some chakra before dropping it with a breath, "I should be okay with a soldier pill. It will get me out of here at the very least." Sai reached into his pack and fished out a pill before popping it, "That should hold me until we're safe enough to rest for real."

THUD

THUD

THUD

Naruto started gnashing his teeth as reasonably sized chunks of rocks started falling from the ceiling into the water nearby, "This is perfect… the place is caving in. Come on Sai, we need to get out of here before we get stuck in here. We lucked out up there but our window of escape is closing."

THUD

A boulder twice the size of the teenage ninja dropped into the water, "-Literally." Naruto dove into the water, followed closely behind by Sai. Once inside of the water it actually became more treacherous for the two, as swimming made it harder for them to dodge wayward debris falling in with them. Naruto brought Sai to an underwater tunnel that took them further under Uzushiogakure, where exactly, he wasn't sure, but it was better than sitting in a cave waiting for no one to save them.

Eventually the wound up in another underground aquifer, but upon their heads breaching the water they were forced to jump out to dodge a giant stone foot crashing into them. Naruto and Sai stood on the surface of the water to see the same statue from previously, pulling its leg out of the water and turning its gaze on them.

Naruto palmed his forehead, "How did that thing even get down here?"

Sai pulled out his drawing scroll, "Worry about that later senpai, we need to fight."

Naruto nodded and reached for his sealing paper only to pull out a soggy, messy wad of wet paper. Naruto sweatdropped at the sight of his most versatile ninja tool falling to the ground in pieces, "That is so not good." He looked over at Sai, "How do you still have ink and that scroll? You were underwater too!"

Sai spared Naruto a glance, "My scroll keeps my ink and brush inside as well and when it's shut it is air-tight, nothing gets in."

Naruto sighed, "Damn that's useful. I need to invest in something like that apparently." He was cut off by being forced to dodge another attack from the statue. Landing ashore, the two boys ran past the sentinel, dodging swings of its massive hands that ended up pounding into the wall hard, causing rocks to drop dangerously from the ceiling and narrowly miss them both, "That's the thing causing the damned cave in?"

Sai looked back as they both began running down a corridor, "It must be the protector of Uzushiogakure's inner sanctum, not just that one tower. You must have accidentally stumbled upon a secret area of the village when you fled from our attacker Naruto-senpai."

Hard thudding footsteps sounded out behind them at a louder and louder pace. The boys turned around to find the statue gaining on them, Naruto's eyes widened at the speed that it was walking at, "Why is it so much faster down here?"

Sai looked and turned around before pulling out his ink, "It must be the momentum that it can gain down here on this long straightaway as opposed to the room we had it in the first time. Sumi Nagashi (Ink Flush)." Sai poured some of his ink onto the ground and made a few hand-seals. Many ink snakes burst from the ground and attempted to ensnare the statue but upon making contact, the seal array reverted them back to ink.

"Was there any part of you that thought that would work?" Naruto gave Sai a dry look as they continued to run, "Sai-kouhai, nothing has changed since the last time we fought this thing, except this time I can't take control of it to beat it. Our jutsu will still disperse upon even touching this thing."

Sai nodded in agreement, "Uzushiogakure truly were fearsome seal masters if they could make buildings and living golems resistant to chakra based attacks."

Naruto shot a look over his shoulder, "Marvel at my ancestors' workmanship later, we still need to lose this thing and find the way out. My Kage Bunshin didn't find an exit, it just found a different path to use." When Sai gave him a questioning look he shrugged, "I told it to find me a path and that's what it did. I never said to go any further."

Naruto and Sai had to separate as now the statue had gotten close enough to nearly squash the both of them with its foot. It began swinging across at both boys, hitting more walls and causing more things to fall.

Naruto and Sai sped up as the cavern began collapsing, "What is this thing's problem? It's going to bury itself too if it keeps this up!"

The emotionless Root ninja rejoined with Naruto as they started putting more distance between them and the statue, "It must not care as long as it is able to repel all invaders. It possibly won't leave us alone until we are dead. I wonder how it knows where we are."

Naruto shook his head, "I don't know, but it's just a stupid statue. We might not be able to destroy it but we can outsmart it." They then entered a clearing where there were several possible tunnels to take, leading further underground, "So how are you at labyrinths and mazes Sai?"

Sai stood for a moment, the statue closing in behind them before grabbing Naruto and dragging him down a random path, he dragged Naruto so abruptly that Naruto didn't even have time to steady himself and channel chakra to his limbs. Now that he thought about it, Sai wasn't doing that either. After rounding a corner, Sai grabbed Naruto and pulled him against the wall, keeping him from speaking with his hand over his mouth. As the sound of thudding got lower and lower, Sai eventually removed his hand and gestured for Naruto to stay quiet.

Naruto spoke in a whisper, "What was that all about?"

Sai responded, "I know how it found us in the cave. When we last saw it we had left it in that tower with the elevator platform coming from the ground, correct?" Naruto nodded, "Well I believe that the statue can sense bursts of chakra anywhere within the inner workings of Uzushiogakure, like the way the wall absorbed our chakra when we tried to climb it at first, I believe it sends signals of our location to the statue, like some kind of radar."

Naruto's interest was piqued, "So you're saying that we're actually somewhere important in Uzu? But what about the statue, that bastard will just keep coming for us the entire time we're down here."

Sai shook his head, "It responds to bursts of chakra. If we refrain from using any at all then it won't be able to pinpoint our location and will return to its hibernation mode on its platform."

Naruto stroked his chin, he could see how that could work. He did flare his chakra before going to sleep in the cave, that left ample time for the statue to come from wherever its resting place was to somewhere it could attack them from, "Wait. Is the platform our only way out of here?"

Sai shrugged, "I'm not sure Naruto-senpai, but it's certainly the most blatant way out of here should we find it."

Naruto groaned lowly, "So to get out of here we pretty much have to go to the big, ugly, killer statue. That's just great." Naruto looked around where Sai had pulled him to, "Where the hell is this?"

Sai looked as well. The room, if you could call it that, was a dead-end area with one ornate door on the far wall. There were skeletons in old shinobi armor strewn about the vicinity. The two boys looked around, inspecting the skeletons. Sai picked up some old rusted kunai and shuriken before deeming them utterly useless and throwing them aside.

Naruto scooped down near one of the deceased skeleton ninja and picked up a dusty looking book. He blew the dust off of it and opened it up before reading it aloud.

_(Autumn War. 3 days after the primary defenses shattered.)_

_The enemy alliance has fought their way into our border and are now moving towards the main citadel. In an effort to retreat and take stock of our resources and chances of launching a counterattack in the near future we secretly fled to the hidden whirlpool catacombs beneath the village._

_There are approximately 32 of us remaining as the rest elected to remain above, leading the enemy fools into the towers to their deaths. The sounds of the fools screaming from the first tower ring out through our chambers as I write, they just seem to keep sending their men inside, knowing that the sentinel awaits them._

_The moment the commotion up above stops we will strike._

_(6 days since the primary defenses shattered.)_

_The battle above still rages. The village leader will not acquiesce to our requests to rejoin the battle above. The sounds of our brethren still combating the foe ring out as clear as day in our ears as we sit and wait down below. The men are growing stir crazy and bitter at our inaction, however we must go with the will of our leader, he knows what is needed for Uzushiogakure to survive. _

_Konoha will come. They will not let us fall, not after so many years, not after all that our alliance has gone through. We sit and wait for our moment, one cue. That is all we need to unleash hell upon the invading bastards._

_(Two weeks since the primary defenses shattered)_

_The battle grows quieter above. We still hear the sounds of combat, but they are more sparse now, not the cacophony of noise that one would associate with the assistance of our allies as we initially estimated we would receive, however it has been weeks since the assault on our home and no aid from Konohagakure has been received. _

_Suna, Kumo, and Iwa are cowards. They preyed on our civilians, forcing us to divert a good amount of our genin and chunin to evacuation stations. Many of our warriors were lost to this purpose that I will not say was worthless, our civilians are as much a part of our beloved home as our shinobi forces, however, many of our troops were picked off keeping the people safe. To prey on our nation who has never intentionally slighted them in the least, this is treachery at its highest form. _

_Our village leader has had enough and is casting away the contingency plan. He is heading up with volunteers for one final battle with the invaders. I will be among the ones that head up to link up with any survivors for one last ditch effort at casting the allied force out._

_This will be our finest hour, they will tell legends of our valor._

Blood smeared the pages of the final passage as there was no time span listed.

_Akasuna no Sasori._

_We believed that the invading force was an alliance of the three villages I have been cursing throughout these passages, but it was just him. Him and him alone. He commanded a force of such overwhelming numerical superiority we figured it was an alliance, the numerous hitae-ate visible did nothing to give us any belief to the contrary. But we were mistaken._

_Never have I seen such mastery of Sunagakure's most sacred art of war. He was able to keep the remainder of our shinobi busy and combat our leader directly with his puppet force, but the ones he used on us at first were nothing compared to what we saw when he started feeling the pressure of our attack._

_He released one puppet, just one. This puppet was horrifyingly effective, I have never and will never see anything like it ever again. _

_The Sandaime Kazekage had gone missing shortly before his attack. His whereabouts and well-being were unknown to all, but we now know just what happened to the wind shadow. He is now Sasori's most destructive tool of violence. The Iron Sand bloodline is fearsome, and Sasori somehow retained his ability to utilize it even in his death. One jutsu was enough to take us all out of action._

_The village leader gave the few of us left after Sasori's jutsu instructions to come down here and place all of Uzushiogakure's valuables in the most secure place in the village. That was the last thing we were all able to do. A terrible paralysis had stricken us once the vault door closed. We cannot move, we cannot utilize our chakra, even breathing is becoming increasingly difficult. It is taking me the last of my strength to write down the events that have lead to our demise. _

_So long as the village's greatest treasure resides behind the impenetrable vault of Uzushiogakure's premier clan we will never be lost. _

Naruto shut the journal and shook his head sadly, "Akasuna no Sasori?"

"Sunagakure's greatest puppet user ever Naruto-senpai, he was unmatched in the art. He went rogue almost twenty years ago however." Sai said to the blonde shinobi, "He must have been brought in as a closer when Uzu's defenses inflicted heavy enough losses on the ninja."

Naruto nodded at Sai's logic, "So…" He turned towards the ornate door where many skeletons were positioned, "Impenetrable vault. You want to see if we can get into it? We did come here to see if we could get something after all."

Sai looked apprehensive, "With all of the 'luck' that we've been getting out of everything else around here I don't think tampering with the safe would be wise Naruto-senpai."

Naruto walked over to the vault and gave it a look over, "Sai-kouhai, do you know anything about safe cracking? I was more of the direct assault type myself."

Sai reluctantly made his way over and gave the vault a look himself before shaking his head, "There's no conceivable way for me to break into the vault. We need the key or else this door stays shut senpai."

Naruto looked at the door intensely before his eyes widened, "Whoa. This is an elaborate blood seal array. Like, really elaborate. It's very, very precise about who it lets in, and I believe that anyone not of proper lineage will get a nasty little surprise for their troubles."

Sai walked around, pacing in thought before he stopped and looked at Naruto, "What was that last passage in the journal senpai?"

Naruto pulled it straight from memory, "_So long as the village's greatest treasure resides behind the impenetrable vault of Uzushiogakure's premier clan we will never be lost._" Naruto's eyes widened, "You don't think-?"

Sai nodded, "They _were_ the most famous clan of the village. Go ahead and try it."

Naruto scowled at Sai, "Says the guy that won't get fried if he attempts to use it. Fine." Naruto pulled out a kunai and cut his palm, coating all of his fingers in blood before looking at his hand, then at Sai, and sighing, "When I die, you stay the hell away from my funeral."

Sai gave Naruto his 'smile', "If you die from this then I'll just leave you here with the rest of your family's village of origin. That's what you would want, right?"

Naruto's eye twitched, "You're an asshole kouhai." Naruto turned back to the door and placed his bloody hand against it. Wincing in anticipation for a violent rebuttal from the door he got a pleasant surprise as he heard the tumblers open from within, finally opening and revealing the contents within to the boys.

Looking within he saw that the vault wasn't very large. It was big enough for both Naruto and Sai to stand in and that was about it. There was no treasure of financial value, no stockpiled money, nothing of the sort. There was a shelf with a dozen scrolls on it. Sai reached for one and attempted to open it. Naruto watched him struggle before sighing and dragging a bloody finger across it, opening it. Sai grunted in thanks and began reading, ending up squinting at what was on it, "There's nothing on it at all senpai."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the scroll and swiped his bloody finger on the parchment as symbols appeared on the paper. Naruto handed it back to Sai, "There you go. Now read."

Sai looked at it again, "I can't read this senpai."

Naruto sighed and took it from him, "What are you dyslexic? It says clearly, 'Scroll 1 of Uzushiogakure's listed existing seal array combinations.' Get your head in the game Mr. Chakra Exhaustion."

Sai gave him a confused look, "I didn't see that at all. It looked like a bunch of random squiggles."

Naruto looked back at the scroll, he could read it as clear as day when Sai could not. Naruto smirked, "Wow, that's _really_, really good fuuinjutsu. You can't even read this unless you're an Uzumaki. Sucks for you and everyone else still in Root Sai-kouhai."

Sai nodded, "Quite, I assume. So I guess your Uzumaki blood is why it was nigh impossible for Danzo-sama to place his personal fuuinjutsu on you and have it stay effective."

Naruto shrugged, "I guess. Let's load this stuff up so we can get out of here already." Naruto and Sai packed all of the scrolls into Naruto's pockets for the time being, seeing as how any chakra use to seal them in a storage scroll would have tipped off the ever vigilant and uber tough guard statue that had apparently been killing things for over twenty years. After reading that, Naruto and Sai really didn't want to see exactly how good they were, not against that thing.

Naruto noticed something behind the shelves as they finished loading his pockets with scrolls, "What in the?" Naruto pulled the wooden shelves down to find another door behind them, a sheathed sword held in a groove on the door. It was a ninjato like Naruto's utterly eradicated sword. The sheath was black with silver and gold spiral designs all over it. The handle looked smooth and well made, but very plain.

Sai tried to pull it out, getting Naruto to push him back, "You'd think that you would have learned with the vault door and scrolls." Naruto latched on to the blade and tugged on it, getting no give whatsoever.

Naruto sweatdropped as he could have sworn, if Sai showed emotion he would have been giving Naruto the equivalent of an I-told-you-so look, "One moment. I've almost got it."

Sai watched Naruto tug away at the sword for the better part of a minute, "Yes, you've got it alright Naruto-senpai. One more tug and I think you might peel some of the sheath's covering off on your hands."

Naruto grunted in effort as he continued pulling, now planting his feet on the sides for leverage as he used his entire body to pull, "Fuck you Sai-kouhai! You sure don't show emotion, but you've got that sarcasm shit down pat don't you? Why don't you be useful and shut the hell up so I can concentrate, this is man's work!"

Sai shook his head and sat down outside the vault as Naruto kept pulling at the sword inside, "Damn it, I'm not leaving without this thing. It looks sweet and I need a replacement!" Naruto kept yanking at the sword with all of his might, "Don't you know who I am? I'm Naruto Uzu-'fucking'-maki! You're a stupid goddamn sword!"

Apparently upon utterance of the word 'Uzumaki', complete with the colorful swear and loud proclamation something in the groove holding the sword clicked and released the blade to Naruto in a burst of cold smoke, sending him flying backwards. Sai looked at the inside of the vault as the smoke cleared and his eyes widened in uncharacteristic surprise.

Naruto stood up with a triumphant grin on his face, "How do you like that you piece of archaic crap? I rule you." Naruto looked up at Sai, "Alright Sai, we've got everything I think, so let's get out of here before our luck turns again."

Sai didn't move, "Naruto-senpai, I think you should come here and see this too."

Naruto walked over inside the vault with Sai and found that the wall he had taken the ninjato from had collapsed. Naruto swung his arms about to clear the strangely cold smoke from view. When it cleared out, Naruto's jaw dropped at what they had found.

Encased in what seemed to look like ice was a white haired girl.

XxX

(Uzushiogakure – Above Ground)

"Sasori no Danna why are we still here, un?" Deidara asked as he sat by a fire, looking bored, "The jinchuuriki is gone, and we aren't even looking for him. Shouldn't we have reported back in to Leader-sama right now?"

Sasori kept looking towards the trio, now duo, towers of Uzushigakure, "When Uzushiogakure was first attacked many years ago, it was believed that the defenders were wiped out after a two week battle, however there were many surviving ninja that came out of hiding, fresh, for one last ditch effort at victory. Nothing is as it seems in this place. A few of the last defenders were never accounted for." He turned to Deidara, "As long as I haven't seen any bodies they aren't dead. They will be back topside soon enough and that is when we will finish them."

Deidara looked at Sasori and nodded, "Sasori no Danna why do you know so much about this, un?"

Sasori remained silent, forcing Deidara to sigh and pout about him being such a bastard so much of the time.

XxX

(Kirigakure – With Kakashi)

Kakashi sighed as he once again retired to the room he was sharing with Shikamaru for the night, 'Where the hell are you Naruto? It's been a week since you left. I can't keep Shikamaru and Tayuya off of my back about this forever. You need to make it back before we have to leave or I don't know what I'm going to have to do.'

He looked over at Shikamaru who was sleeping on a bed nearby, 'Should I send Pakkun or another one of my ninken? Would they even be able to find him? He's in a completely different country. I knew this was a bad idea…'

Thudding footsteps sounded off down the hall, stirring Shikamaru from his slumber. Kakashi cursed to himself and stood by the door, "Here we go again."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Kakashi opened the door with perhaps the most artificial eye-smile he had ever given anyone for any reason ever, "Why hello Tayuya. What can I do for you tonight?"

Tayuya stood in the doorway with an irritated scowl on her face and her hands on her hips, "Where the hell is the blonde asshole?"

Kakashi gave her a look, "What have I been telling you since day one? Where Naruto went was his business. If he wants you to know he'll tell you when he gets back."

Tayuya got a tick mark on her head, "Well then in that case could you tell me exactly how long it's going to take him to drag his whiskery, borderline homicidal, scar-faced ass back here? Because he's been gone long enough to file a missing persons report three times over."

Kakashi leaned against the doorframe, "Are you saying that you don't trust him? After all that he's done for you and you don't trust him enough to handle his own affairs elsewhere. Trust me when I say, this is as personal as any undertaking Naruto is going to attempt."

Tayuya looked down, "It's not that I don't trust him, he's the entire reason I'm not in a tiny cell or even dead right now. Honestly, I trust him a hell of a lot more now than I probably will ever trust you." She looked up at Kakashi, "No offense."

Kakashi gave her a true eye-smile, "None taken."

Tayuya ran her hand through her hair, "And I know he's strong. If he could beat Kimimaro then that's saying something, but I'm saying that he can't trust _us_? Why can't he trust us? You were his jounin sensei when he was a genin weren't you? That lazy bum over there was his classmate in your ninja academy wasn't he? And me, we're friends. I'm his friend… aren't I? I live next door to him and I see him pretty much every day."

'Oh hell… emotional female distress. I should have known even a girl like her still qualifies as a _girl_. Let's see, I need a way out here.' Kakashi thought to himself as he feigned interest as he subtly looked around the room, 'Damn you Shikamaru, you have an easy out. I know your ass isn't asleep. That lazy-bones stigma saved you today.'

"-those times he saw me when I was in solitary confinement. I mean, why would he just go and do something like that, spend time with me when he didn't have to, and then just up and leave like this without a single word? He trusted me enough to give me my weapon back inside of his own home and not now? Is it something I did Kakashi?"

Kakashi sighed to himself and resigned himself to his fate, "No Tayuya I don't think it was anything that you did. He's just a secretive kid these days."

"But why now, and why to me?" She asked, "It's not like I would have even tagged along, I just want to know what he's doing."

"*Sigh*"

XxX

(With Naruto and Sai)

Naruto and Sai both spent the longest time staring at the girl. Naruto wiped some fog from the clear barrier keeping the girl suspended. Her eyes were closed as she had a very serene look on her face, her heart shaped face. She had long white hair that went down her back with sharp claw-hammer bangs in front of her face. From her body type, Naruto and Sai figured that she was somewhere within their age range. How were they able to do this you ask? Well she was naked, that's how.

After a long time of the two boys just staring, Sai pointed at her, "So are you going to get her out of there Naruto-senpai?"

Naruto kept his eyes on the girl because… well come on. How often in life are you going to get a 100% valid reason to look at a girl you don't know naked and not feel somewhat like a deviant in the process? "How the fuck do you figure I'm going to go about pulling off that miracle Sai? I don't know any katon ninjutsu and this shit doesn't even look like ice anyway."

Sai gave him a dry look, "You opened and activated everything else we've come across so far. I don't see how you couldn't come up with a way to get this girl free as well."

Naruto shrugged, "Maybe, but do you think she'll be able to walk when we get her out? It's kind of dangerous to be around us right now if you haven't noticed." Naruto rubbed his chin in thought, "Actually, more importantly; do you think she'll be able to chase us? Because if I woke up butt naked like her and found out that two guys had been staring at me for the better part of an hour I would run to the nearest living thing and kill it."

Sai frowned, "Who knows? But aren't you curious right now? You said you wanted to come for everything in Uzu. Well she's in Uzu, she's right here in front of you and I think you can get her out. Will you just leave her here until the end of time?"

Naruto looked down shamefully, "That would be pretty messed up huh? But Sai-kouhai, what in the blue hell am I going to do with her? I mean, she doesn't even look like she's related to me. Her face is too different. Her eye structure isn't as big as mine, her nose is more, I don't know, regal I guess. Seriously, who the hell is this girl?"

"There's only one way to find out senpai." Sai said as he gestured to the frozen girl.

Naruto rolled his eyes and cut his hand once more before sticking it to the stuff encasing the girl. It rapidly started to melt onto the ground. Naruto looked at his hand in surprise, "Man I've got some good blood. Did you see that? Like it was molten lava or something."

The girl almost collapsed onto the ground before Naruto and Sai caught her. The two stared at each other in confusion as neither had the slightest clue as to what to do in this situation. Slowly her eyes fluttered open to reveal amber eyes.

Naruto watched in interest as the girl looked into his eyes and blinked in confusion before finally speaking in a sweet voice, "Um, hello."

Naruto's face was unchanging as he answered her right back, "Hi there."

She looked around blankly, "Um, who are you and what am I doing here?"

Naruto shrugged, "In order asked; my name is Naruto, this is Sai, and we have no clue, we thought we could get that part from you."

She seemed to accept this as a reasonable answer, "I see… Okay… One more question."

Naruto nodded, "Shoot."

"Why am I naked?"

Naruto and Sai looked at each other before Naruto turned back to her and answered, "We don't know that either." Naruto gave her body a good once over look, "Good on you though. Bravo."

The girl simply looked up at him from her back, not a single indication of discomfort towards her current situation. She crinkled her nose in a cute manner, "I hate to trouble you, but would either of you happen to have any clothes on you that I could wear. My own seem to be missing at the moment and this floor is cold."

Naruto and Sai looked at each other before Naruto pulled a sealing scroll from his pocket and unsealed a change of clothes. The two boys gave her some privacy as they vacated the vault to allow her to change. Sai took this time to whisper to Naruto, "What are we going to do now senpai?"

Naruto glared at Sai, "I don't know! We definitely can't leave her here, that's for damn sure. Can you take her back to Konoha with you?"

Sai frowned, "And keep her where? I have only enough space in my lodgings for myself and Danzo-sama isn't accepting anyone else in Root either, he wouldn't take her regardless. She's too old to be trained by him properly now."

Naruto started pacing, "This is all turning into one massive clusterfuck, I swear… I came here looking for scrolls, maybe a family tree, you know, the usual stuff. I found Akatsuki a statue with a grievance and a hot naked girl sealed in a vault. What is it with my luck?"

"So who are you two again?"

Naruto and Sai turned around to see the girl with her white hair tied in twin ponytails going down her back. She had on a black pair of Naruto's shinobi pants rolled up to her knees with a black pair of sandals. She had on one of Naruto's black muscle shirt, and the sight of the girl adjusting it on her chest was actually quite appealing to Naruto, but it was business time, "Kami, I'm so stiff after being stuck in that place."

"Me too." Naruto said before he slapped himself, "Uh, what I meant was; shouldn't you give your own name before asking for someone else's?"

The girl's mouth opened in realization and she quickly bowed, "I'm so sorry. My name is Hamako Kiyomizu. Level 9 seal master apprentice of Uzushiogakure."

Naruto stared at her in shock, "You're a seal master? No way, you're so young, how can you be level 9? My sensei isn't even level 9, he says he's level 8."

She put her hands on her hips, "Well I just said I'm a seal master apprentice. I'm not a fully accredited seal master yet until sensei promotes me to level 10." She blinked in thought, "Wait, there's a battle going on right now!" She looked around rapidly, "W-Where's sensei? Where is anyone?" She then noticed the hitae-ate on the heads of the two boys. She broke out in a huge smile, "Konoha is here! Sensei said they would come! You must have beaten all of those jerks up top."

She looked at Sai and Naruto fondly, "So I'm sorry, I'm such an airhead sometimes, what were your names again?"

Naruto answered, "Well he doesn't really have a name. I just call him Sai, it seems to fit him." Sai nodded in acknowledgement, "And me, like I said I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

Hamako's eyes widened upon hearing his surname, "Uzumaki-sama! From Konoha? You must be related to Mito-sama somehow."

Naruto looked at her in confusion, "Mito-sama? Who is Mito? And –sama? Why am I –sama?"

Hamako latched onto Naruto's arm, "To be saved by a member of Mito-sama's family in Konoha… This is truly a blessing. Have you and your partner seen sensei yet. Others will probably call him village leader or something."

Naruto looked somewhat hesitant to accept her thanks, "Um, Hamako, I don't know how to tell you this so I'll let this guy do it. Tell her Sai."

Sai nodded, "Uzushiogakure fell while you were in that chamber. You've been asleep for the better part of nearly twenty years Hamako Kiyomizu."

Hamako just stared at them for a moment before a grin broke out on her face, "You guys need to stop fooling around. If Konoha is here that means that we won, you shouldn't fib like that. What if I had taken that seriously?" She finished with a small giggle.

Naruto looked down sadly and Sai simply kept emotionless eyes on her. Hamako stopped smiling, "You guys? Right? Tell me I'm right. Tell me that you're just messing with me, that Uzu is still okay." She asked in an increasingly desperate manner.

THUD

THUD

THUD

Naruto and Sai both turned towards the nearest wall and spoke at the same time, "Shit."

With that the wall crashed down as the sentinel came through, its eyes set firmly on Naruto and Sai. The two prepared to grab Hamako and run until the girl stepped towards the statue, "Stop being a nuisance Komainu-kun!" She spoke with utter authority.

The statue stopped moving at the girl's behest, shocking Naruto into a stupor, "How the hell did you do that? Do you have any idea the hell that thing put us through for the past two days?"

Hamako turned to Naruto, "What do you mean, 'how did I do that?' I was the one that made the seal that animated him, why wouldn't I have control over him? Now tell me…" She said I an increasingly dark tone, "What. Happened. To Uzu?" She was starting to shake as she spoke.

Naruto moved quickly and wrapped Hamako in a hug, "I'm so sorry Hamako, but Sai wasn't lying. This is real. Uzushiogakure was sacked a long time ago, you're the only person we found here alive and that's because you were in that odd hibernation chamber."

Hamako stood silently, leaning on Naruto's shoulder until she finally broke down and began to cry on him. Naruto simply held her and let her get it all out. He moved them over towards an unruined wall and let her weep for her lost land on him, it was the very least he could do for her for now.

* * *

**Chapter complete. Not much action, but they can't all be edge of your seat head rushes. Not much to say about anything this time around, I'm very tired don't you know. I'm going to bed, because bed is for champions. And I'm a champion!**

**Kenchi out. **

**P.S. Getting kicked in the balls fucking sucks. Fighting southpaw against a guy that throws leg kicks is treacherous for your 'boys'. That is all.**


	24. Last of a Dying Breed

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am planning on getting a golden retriever and naming him Naruto just for the hell of it, and so that I can say that I own Naruto. You see? I'm a deep thinker, am I not? Why a golden retriever you ask? "Is it because Naruto's blonde Kenchi?" No it is not. It is because golden retrievers are always in my top 3 of dogs to own. Number one is a german shepherd, I had two of those, two is a husky. Simply put, golden retrievers are bad ass… What was I talking about again?

You see? Deep thinker.

**Chapter 23: Last of a Dying Breed**

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* * *

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Once again, Kakashi sat aboard a ship, however the ship wasn't bound for the mainland, this ship was going elsewhere for the time being. It had been a week since he had let Naruto go on an excursion that should have taken him five days at the most. Kakashi was needless to say worried. He had no idea where Naruto was, other than the fact that he was somewhere on Nami no Kuni, and he knew he couldn't go home without Naruto anyway, not that he would if he could. Naruto was his comrade and after his monumental failure with Sasuke he was going to keep that boy safe. However he also had to consider the fact that the boy was fully capable of going toe-to-toe with him by this point and would have a better than fleeting chance of winning if they were to ever face off, especially if Kakashi was still deluding himself into thinking that Naruto wasn't as powerful as he carried himself as these days.

The idea of him fighting a few of the jounin of Konoha to prove a point seemed rather appealing to the masked man. He wondered who would end up having a good match with him and who would end up getting destroyed. A few of the thoughts of potential Naruto vs. Konoha Jounin face-offs made Kakashi nod his head and a few made him snicker.

"So we're finally going to get the blonde idiot are we?" Kakashi was brought back into focusing on the task at hand by Tayuya, "It took long enough."

Kakashi sighed, she seemed angry, but honestly she was way happier than she had been all week that they were finally going to look for him. Now that the chances of actually seeing him were well increased she was way more manageable. Kakashi shook his head at that. He had heard from Genma about what Naruto had gotten up to in Kumo, it was common knowledge among quite a few elites due to Gai heading to his house three days straight while he was on medical leave that he had shared a bed with the Kazekage's daughter during their stay in Konoha following the retrieval mission. Did that kid even openly recognize the caliber of women he was attracting to him?

Kakashi thought it best to play the responsible adult and burst Tayuya's bubble somewhat before they got there, "Now Tayuya. It may be far more difficult to find him than you know. It's been a few days since he's landed here so chances are his trail has long since gone cold, and that's if it didn't rain."

Tayuya visibly deflated while Shikamaru groaned at the prospect of actually having to work on this mission, "So what are you saying we have to do Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi scratched his hair sheepishly, "If I can't pick up Naruto's trail I'll have no choice but to have us wait for him here to return. There's not much else we can do if we can't even find him."

Tayuya raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Wait. If we can't find him and he ends up getting whatever he needs to do done, what makes you think you can wait him out? Won't we just end up missing him. His dumb ass will probably end up heading back towards Mizu no Kuni, or even Hi no Kuni once he's done with whatever he's doing."

Kakashi gave her a knowing eye smile, "Ah, but there's one place that I'm certain he'll end up making his way to at some point. Either he already has, or he will at some point and if he's already been there it's all the better for us. That can be a jump-off point for us to search for him."

Shikamaru was intrigued, Kakashi was talking like Naruto had been there before, "Where exactly are you talking about Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi simply smiled at Shikamaru and Tayuya, "I guess you'll both find out when we get there."

XxX

(Uzushiogakure – Underground Catacombs)

Naruto and Sai had allowed Hamako to sleep after telling her the entire story about what had occurred during the destruction of Uzu. They had refrained from telling her exactly what it looked like up there… well Naruto did. He had to elbow Sai in the face to keep him from blurting it out. Not exactly the most subtle in social situations that Sai. After telling her all that they knew and had found out about what happened they let her cry herself to sleep, and after coming to the conclusion that letting her rest was the best plan all around, they both took up positions against the stone walls and got some rest themselves.

During this time period, Naruto almost grabbed Hamako and dislocated her shoulder when she startled him in the middle of the night. Sheer willpower kept him from doing so, as all she was attempting to do was just lay against him. Instead of pushing the distraught girl off of him rudely, like Sasuke Uchiha would have, he wrapped an arm around her and let her stay with him. He was obviously the closest thing to her old life that she had, and the only person showing any empathy to her situation, as Sai's face stayed as plain as a brick wall the entire time they explained the situation to her. The only thing he simply could not get used to was her calling him 'Uzumaki-sama'. That was just weird.

So the next morning (They were taking a guess as to the exact time of day seeing as how they had spent an undisclosed amount of time underground.) Naruto gently shook Hamako awake and looked across the room to see Sai simply staring at the two of them blankly… pretty creepy thing to wake up to, "Um, good morning Sai-kouhai."

Sai took that as his cue to stand up, "I believe it's time we exit the premises Naruto-senpai."

Naruto nodded and let Hamako adjust her eyes to being open before he let go of her and stood up to start stretching, "I agree. But what are we going to do about Hamako?" He looked to her as she yawned and rubbed her eyes, "What are you going to do when we get out of here?"

Hamako immediately woke up properly upon having that question sprung on her, "I'm not really sure Uzumaki-sama. I don't have anywhere to go." The massive statue that seemed more akin to her pet now walked up to her and kneeled down. Hamako gave it a sad smile and patted it, "It will be okay Komainu-kun. We'll be fine." She then made a few hand-seals and placed her hand on the statue, "Kai."

The statue, or Komainu, shrunk to the size of a 4 inch doll that she wrapped a rope around and placed around her neck. She looked at Naruto and Sai, one who seemingly didn't care, however his eyes lied on that front, and the other, who just stared in awe, "What?"

Naruto pointed, "You can control that damn statue and shrink it? How the hell are you doing this stuff?"

Hamako shook her head, "Don't you know anything about fuuinjutsu? Your clan are the best fuuinjutsu users in the entire world."

Naruto rubbed his neck sheepishly, "I guess it skipped a generation… or several." He noticed Hamako staring at him, "What's the matter?"

"How old are you Uzumaki-sama?" Hamako asked, her voice deadly serious, "And what level of seal mastery would you say you were at?"

Naruto and Sai looked at each other, "Um, fourteen? And I don't know. I can't tell all of the seals that go into Komainu, but I was able to stop him for a bit. What does that make me?"

Hamako's jaw dropped, "You're not even level three yet! You're fourteen and you aren't even at level five?"

Naruto shrunk under her yelling, "Yeah, I guess so. Is that a bad thing Hamako?"

Hamako grabbed him by his collar and pulled him close to her face, "Everyone in your clan can at least say that they were level seven before they were fifteen! And you mixed overlapping seals without knowing all that went into one of them? What kind of Uzumaki isn't good at fuuinjutsu?"

Naruto sweatdropped, "An Uzumaki that wasn't even introduced to the art until a few months ago. Give me a break Hamako. I'm better than pale and listless over there." He said while pointing at Sai.

Hamako palmed her forehead, "Kami… There's an Uzumaki out there, a real true Uzumaki… And he can't even do fuuinjutsu."

Naruto took offense to this, "Hey! I can do stuff! I can make tons of stuff! I make sealing scrolls, customized explosive tags, and check it out!" He pulled out the seal he used to control the statue, "I even made this temporary control seal that helped us beat your statue when we first ran into it."

"Those things are beginner stuff." Hamako took the seal note away and inspected it, frowning more and more the longer she looked at it before balling it up and tossing it aside, "It's completely shoddy. How can you be proud of that?"

Naruto's jaw dropped, "What? Do you know how hard that was to come up with?"

Hamako pointed at the statue on her necklace, "Compared to what I did to animate Komainu-kun you might as well have scribbled your name in crayon and handed it over to me. Your seal has so many deficiencies I'm surprised it didn't kill you. First of all, simply using it puts you in an internal struggle against your target, the only guaranteed way that you could ever use it was if you tried it on something with no will whatsoever, and even then you could still lose. Although it would be utterly hilarious to see someone lose a battle of wills to an end table."

She laughed slightly at the thought before reassuming lecture mode, "Second of all, it's so temporary that even if you won the initial struggle there isn't much you could do with the control you just fought for. And finally and most important, it's a mimic array, did you know that? Instead of having the target's movements be an extension of your thoughts you had it so that the only way they could do anything was if you did it first. That's so stupid!"

Naruto visibly deflated, "Well you don't have to put it like that. I've been basically teaching myself after Ero-sennin pounded the basics into my head. I thought I was doing rather well until now…"

Hamako sighed before walking up to Naruto and winking at him, "Well at least I know what I'm doing now." Upon seeing Naruto's questioning look she elaborated, "There's no way that I can in good conscience leave an Uzumaki to their own devices with such shoddy seal work. So until you actually become passable at fuuinjutsu I will be your teacher Uzumaki-sama!"

Naruto stared at her for a few seconds, "You're going to train me?"

Hamako nodded, "Yes because basically… you're not very good at fuuinjutsu at all. If anyone told you that you were they were either lying to make you feel better, or they never saw an Uzumaki from Uzushiogakure at work."

Naruto looked at his hands, "Well when you put it that way-."

Hamaki clasped her hands together, "So it's my responsibility to teach you the right way of going about with your sealing techniques. I owe the Uzumaki clan a debt that I can't repay them now that… well you know. So I'll have to pay it off through you!"

"That makes me feel so special…" Naruto said sarcastically as his eye twitched, "But Hamako, I don't want you to do anything that you don't have to."

Naruto could see the benefits of having Hamako with him. Yes, he had the scrolls from Uzu that pretty much would make him jump up in skill, but simply looking through the stuff that was listed the other day had him a little hesitant to try them out. Some of them were ridiculously absurd sounding. Other than the chakra draining seal that would have been a boon in battle there was a seal that could store chakra. STORE CHAKRA! Store chakra and transfer it between people to recharge their reserves, like an adrenaline shot of chakra, and he didn't even want to know what could happen if he screwed that one up.

Hamako frowned and walked closer to him, "Uzumaki-sama, there is nowhere else for me to go." She said as her natural bangs from her white hair somewhat shadowed her amber eyes from his full view, "What would I do? I'm completely out of place here, I know nothing of this current world I now find myself in, and you are the closest thing to my masters that have been so kind to me for my entire life since they found me and taught me everything I know." She bowed to him, "I would be honored if I could go with you."

Naruto looked at Sai who didn't have any helpful facial expressions to help him out… or any facial expressions at all. Thus Naruto was forced to go with his gut on this one, that and Hamako seemed like a good girl, although the sooner he could break her of that Uzumaki-sama crap the better. Naruto picked her up by her shoulders to get her to stand again, "Hamako, no bowing. I'm not noble, I'm just some guy with the last name Uzumaki. But I have a question; why were you stuck inside that vault?"

Sai came forward, finally speaking, "I would like to know that as well Hamako-san. Naruto-senpai and myself were very surprised to find you in there."

Hamako took up a thoughtful look, "I don't know. Sensei said that he was going to leave the future of our village up to me. I thought he was going to let me head up with him to fight, but then I ended up unconscious, and when I woke up I saw you two."

Naruto shifted his new sword on his back and turned to head down the corridor, "We can figure this stuff out later. We still need to get to the surface. Hamako, can you get us out of here?"

Hamako smiled and nodded, "Yes, I remember my way through here like it was just yesterday."

Naruto sweatdropped, "Technically for you, it _was_ just yesterday." Hamako growled at him lowly as he backed off, "Okay, bad attempt at situational humor. Let's just go."

XxX

As the platform in the first tower rose back to the ground floor once more, Naruto and Sai felt déjà vu as this had been the place they had fought Hamako's statue Komainu. Naruto looked around and saw that the door was still sealed off, "How are we going to get out of here Hamako?"

Hamako walked towards the door and started writing a seal on the door before biting her finger and adding her blood, "Fuuin kai!"

The walls all shimmered before the wall in front of the entrance dropped. She looked back at Naruto and Sai before sighing heavily, "I guess it's time for me to see what's left of Uzu." She frowned as she looked around the destroyed tower, "If this is any indicator I'd better prepare for the worst, huh?"

Naruto and Sai walked behind her as she headed outside. She stopped and looked around at the battle scarred village. She sighed deeply but did not shut her eyes or look away. Naruto put a hand on her shoulder, "You want to take a minute for yourself Hamako?"

She shook her head, "No… There's nothing more that can be done here. Uzushiogakure was my home, well this isn't Uzu anymore. It's nothing but ruins now. Even if I stayed, what would I do? Live like a hermit on the grounds of a destroyed village? I'll go with you instead Uzumaki-sama, my entire life has been to serve your clan, it's all I know, thus it is all I'm willing to do."

Naruto looked at her strangely, 'She's kind of like Haku… only knowing how to really serve. Doesn't she have her own dreams and goals? The way she's talking it's as if as long as there is an Uzumaki about she can move along.' "No Uzumaki-sama Hamako."

Sai walked out ahead of both of them, "Let's go then. Naruto-senpai, I think it best if Hamako-san travels with you. I cannot take her with me into Konoha, and even if I could I couldn't get her set up as a citizen."

Naruto nodded, "At the very least I'll see you out of Nami no Kuni. I need to re-up with my squad though. Kakashi's going to chew my butt out once I get back. This wasn't supposed to take this long to do."

Sai shrugged, "It could not be helped senpai. If you tell him of your encounter with the Akatsuki he should understand completely, but do remember to keep my involvement a secret."

Naruto watched Hamako pick through some of the rubble nearby, "Understood. Though how in Kami's name I'm going to explain Hamako to him and everyone else is beyond me. But I'm not leaving her here. No way in hell I'm doing that. I'll come up with something by the time we meet back up with the others, don't you worry." He called out to the white-haired girl, "Hamako, are you ready to leave?"

Sai nodded as she came back over, "I wasn't worried at all senpai. If nothing else you could actually tell the truth about where she came from. I don't think that would matter too much if you did."

Hamako made it over to Naruto, "I'm ready to leave master."

Naruto palmed his face, "Master? Really? Hamako come on. You're not my servant, you're not under my command. You're a girl that's my age, aside from owning any person, owning you would be strange." 'Strange and Ero-sennin and Kakashi-sensei would never let that fact die.'

Hamako shook her head vehemently, "That is highly inappropriate master. You won't let me call you Uzumaki-sama and now you dislike being called master. Your clan are my retainers, how else am I to show you your proper respect… master?" She finished with a smirk.

Naruto grumbled and turned to Sai, "Sai-kouhai, help me out here. Talk to this girl for me."

Sai gave him one of his trademark smiles, "She is apparently your property now Naruto-senpai. That would make that your job."

Naruto gave Sai a dry look, "You sure don't treat me like a senpai Sai. Aren't you supposed to listen to me?"

"**Kit shut up and pay attention!"**

Naruto's eyes snapped to attention as he began to look around for any sign of trouble. Sai caught on to Naruto tension as he quickly followed suit and began looking around, back to back with Naruto. Naruto's fingers drifted up to his sword that he was grateful to have as his last one had been pieced apart during his last confrontation, 'Can you tell me where they're coming from Kyuubi?'

A growl came from within his mind, **"Whoever it is, they are doing a great job of keeping themselves concealed. All I know is what you know; that there is someone's presence around here. Be careful, you're not getting us killed in this wasteland."**

Naruto's eyes panned over to Hamako who was looking around in confusion, "Master, what's going on? Is there something wrong?"

Naruto's eyes widened. Couldn't she sense the intent rolling around the area? The way she handled seals she had to have been a ninja, right? "Hamako, what ranking were you?"

Hamako gave him an odd look, "I wasn't a registered ninja master. I had basic training like a lot of people did but everything I did was focused on seal making. I was trained alongside the Fuuinjutsu Corps. I don't really know any other ninja arts."

Naruto would have sighed deeply in grief at that moment. If it was Deidara again, the only advantage they would have in the fact that Sai now had enough strength to fight all out and the fact that the entire village was now their playground would be negated by the fact that they now had to protect someone.

Naruto quickly made a dozen Kage Bunshin and sent them over to Hamako, "Keep her safe, no matter what! I don't care what you have to do. He looked over his shoulder at Sai, "Let's take this elsewhere."

Sai nodded as the two disappeared in a leaf and ink shrouded Shunshin.

Hamako tried running out to find them, but were kept back by the Kage Bunshin, "I need to go with Sai-san and Master! Why are they leaving?"

The Kage Bunshin in charge shook its head, "I can't let you go after the boss Hamako. Things are about to get ugly out here."

XxX

Appearing elsewhere in the village, Naruto drew the blade from his back with a loud ring of steel, "If it's Deidara again I promised Kyuubi I would cut his arms off. I _really_ hope it's Deidara."

Sai pulled out his scroll, "How will we go about fighting him this time senpai?"

Naruto grinned, "That's going to be the easy part. We have tons of space. You can try to take it to him from the air if you like while I have my own method of reaching him."

Sai nodded, "That will do for now senpai."

Upon both coming to an agreement on how this was to be handled, they were both caught in a fiery explosion. Deidara watched from a distance laughing loudly, "And there you go! What happened to that strategy of yours boys, un?" He then blinked blankly, "Oh… I wasn't supposed to kill the jinchuuriki, un."

Deidara was then bound by ink snakes that emerged from around him. As he struggled to escape, a sword was driven through his chest, freezing his face in an expression of pain and horror. Naruto smirked as he buried the sword through him up to the guard before the blade stuck fast as he tried pulling it out.

Deidara quickly lost his color and turned to the color of clay. Naruto panicked and channeled wind chakra to his blade to pull it out and get distance as the clay figure of Deidara exploded.

As Naruto landed from his evasive action, Sai came to his side, "That was a nasty little surprise. It looks like he has a clone technique of his own as well." Naruto looked around, "Where is he now? He isn't flying above us, so where could he be?"

Sai didn't speak, instead drawing on his scroll as snakes came off and burrowed underground. After a moment of waiting, Deidara came out of the ground a good distance away from the two boys, launching his clay explosives at the snakes. Naruto rushed in, trying to stay close with the long-range expert, but despite the speed that he came at his opponent with, Deidara saw him coming and dashed away, reaching into his pouch for more clay.

As Naruto cursed at the speed that Deidara had, simply running backwards he noticed that both of his hands spit out clay sculptures. Naruto shook his head as if he had been seeing things, 'I must have been underground too long.'

Naruto closed the distance enough that he was finally able to engage Deidara up close. Deidara avoided a thrust of the blonde teen's sword and maneuvered out of the way of a spinning slash. When Naruto spun for his attack however, Deidara was fast enough to plant one of his explosives on Naruto's back. The little clay spider crawled on Naruto's back while Deidara jumped away from him and made his hand-seal, "Katsu."

The explosion rocked Naruto and sent him to the ground. Naruto grit his teeth in pain as he could feel the damage he had just taken rip at his nerve endings, "I'm so tired of you." His eyes flashed red as he started leaking Kyuubi's chakra, "You've turned this entire trip into a massive headache!" One tail of chakra formed behind him.

Deidara had a small grin on his face, "Fighting two of you, with one of you being the Kyuubi jinchuuriki… not exactly my design of an ideal battle, un."

Naruto growled at him and rushed at him, gripping his sword double-handed, "Don't you run from me!"

Deidara had another clay figuring that so happened to be a bird in his other hand and expanded its size before taking off on it, leaving Naruto to miss his swipe. Naruto growled in anger and leapt into the air to cut down Deidara's ride. The missing-nin paled at seeing him leap at his bird and quickly formed another clay spider that he threw down at Naruto.

The enraged jinchuuriki cut right through it, forcing it to explode on contact and pushing him back to the ground where he landed on his feet, smoking from the blast. He then noticed which way he was going, "Sai! He's going back towards Hamako! Cut him off!"

Sai nodded and immediately took off on one of his ink birds while Naruto kept up and pursued from the ground.

XxX

"Well it looks like the jinchuuriki left me a way to get him to cooperate."

Hamako jumped at the sound off the gruff voice suddenly calling out. The clones took a defensive perimeter around her, but most were cut down by an iron tail extending from a blind spot and running right through them. The initial attack left two of Naruto's Kage Bunshin remaining and they picked up Hamako before jumping away from the scene of the mass clone slaughter.

"Clone-sama who's attacking us?" Hamako asked, clutching at the Komainu necklace tightly.

The clone she had spoken to stood in front of her while the other was behind, keeping a watchful eye out for any movement that could be perceived as hostile, "I don't know Hamako, but if I had to guess it would probably be Deidara's partner because that's who boss and Sai-kouhai went off to fight."

"It seems this one isn't as much of a musclehead as most are prone to being." The voice said once more, "Or maybe his clones are just smarter than him, but if that were the case they would have just dispelled and saved themselves the pain of death that they're about to feel."

The clones reached on their backs for their swords, "As if we'll just let you hurt Hamako like that." Her eyes widened upon catching sight of markings that ran all along the blade in the clone's hands, but she couldn't bring herself to speak quickly enough.

"I guess it's easier to just kill you than to try and talk to a clone that has standing orders." With that, senbon came flying at the clones and Hamako, forcing her two protectors to burst into smoke, but as it cleared there was no sign of the girl.

"I thought my clones said that I wasn't just going to let you hurt Hamako like that." Came Naruto's voice from a short ways off. He was shrouded in the Kyuubi's chakra, holding Hamako close to him, "Sai!"

Sai's bird landed behind Naruto, who placed her on its back alongside him, "Naruto-sama?"

Naruto gave her a small smile, "It's okay Hamako." He looked at Sai, "Take her with you. She'll be safer than if she were down here with me. This fight is more along my alley anyway, you take Deidara, just remember to sever his arms from his body somehow for me." He gave him a questioning look, "Can you take Deidara all on your own?"

"Absolutely." Sai looked at the figure who had appeared while they were talking. A hunched, grotesque looking man wearing the Akatsuki robes, "But are you sure senpai?"

Naruto followed Sai's line of sight and narrowed his eyes upon seeing what his Root comrade saw, "I'm absolutely sure. If you can, get her somewhere you know will be safe and keep her there while you deal with Deidara. I know you'll be way better equipped to fighting him this time, but she could still get hurt up there with you two going at it."

Sai nodded, "Understood. Good luck senpai." Sai then took off and left Naruto to his own devices amid the ruins of Uzushiogakure.

Naruto faced down his opponent and drew his sword from his back, "Well you must be Deidara's partner. It sucks for both of you, because you're obviously strong or else you wouldn't be here. And now you're going to die, a long way from home or away from anyone that would even care in the slightest."

The gruff laughter from his would-be opponent raised the hackles on the back of Naruto's neck… man using Kyuubi's chakra made him super aggressive. It was taking everything he had to not rush him blindly like he had with Deidara, which was the main reason he was happy that there was another person to fight. The man began to speak, "I would say the same thing to you Uzumaki, except I can't. You technically _are_ home. That and I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to drag your subdued carcass to have your demon extracted… then you'll die."

"Ha ha. Morbid humor, how quaint." Naruto lowered himself, "Not that I actually care, since I'm going to kill you and everything, but as I said to your friend when we first met; I try to make it a habit to learn the names of the people after my biju."

Naruto's Akatsuki opponent sighed in reminiscence, "You know, I don't remember doing most of this. I actually didn't. This village was mostly eradicated by the time I had gotten here, there were just still many of Uzu's ninja out and about. A remarkable amount come to think of it. It just goes to show how dedicated they were… but I can't believe I missed one… again. Tell me, how did you escape Deidara?"

"Not that it matters at this point, but we fell into the whirlpool where there were hidden underground chambers." Naruto's grip on his blade tightened, "Who the hell are you and what do you mean you missed one 'again'?"

He laughed deeply, "Underground chambers of course! I wondered how those last defenders popped up like cockroaches last time! How ingenious to use the whirlpool, a certified deathtrap, to escape ruin. And I mean I missed one again because the girl is obviously an Uzu survivor. Where else would you have gotten her?"

"Who the hell are you? I won't ask you again before I stop being so cordial and start cutting things off!" Naruto yelled at the man.

He laughed at Naruto's anger, "From the way you're yelling at me and gripping your weapon so hard, I think you know already."

Naruto bared his elonged canines at him, "You're right, I do. I just want to hear it from you."

"Very well then. I am Akasuna no Sasori."

Naruto smirked, "That's who I thought you were." Before vanishing in a blur of red, "Now die!" Naruto reappeared right in front of him, his sword drawn back to cleave him into two.

XxX

(With Sai and Hamako)

"I have to go back to Naruto-sama!" Hamako tried to reason as she held on to Sai's ink bird tightly out of fear of falling off, "I have something he needs to know!"

Sai kept his eyes peeled for any sign of Deidara. The man was a right bastard when it came to sneaking up on them and attacking from a distance. He didn't spare the girl a glance as he kept guiding his ink bird, 'The only reason Naruto-senpai would tell _me_ to leave the area is if he was planning on drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra. If that is the case then allowing her to return to him would do more harm than good, for everyone.' "I cannot let you go back to senpai Hamako-san. It would be best if you stayed with me for the time being."

Hamako's eyes darted back to where she had been placed on the bird from, "But he needs to know something, something important. I need to tell him how to use his sword!"

Sai peered back at her slightly, "His sword? The one he picked up inside of the vault? Why didn't you tell him about it when he first took it?"

Hamako frowned, "I didn't know he had taken it. I wasn't paying attention to Naruto-sama's weapons when you first found me, but when his clone drew the sword and I was able to see the markings on the blade I realized what he had. How did he even get it anyway?"

Sai remembered the events that lead up to Naruto getting the blade, "He pulled it from the wall. That triggered the entrance that led us to you. What is it anyway?"

Hamako sat up straight on the bird's back, "It is the Sen'nenki no Ken (Millennium Sword). It's an heirloom of Uzushiogakure. And-. Wait, what are you doing drawing?"

Sai looked back at her and gave her his forced smile, "Don't worry about it. Now please, continue."

XxX

(Naruto vs. Sasori)

Naruto's blade was blocked by an iron tail appendage stretching from Sasori's back within his robes. As Naruto struggled against the tail, it proceeded to stretch and maneuver over his head swiftly in an attempt to impale him. Naruto rolled aside and lashed out once again, the blade once more blocked his sword strike and pursued him in an effort to pierce him.

"You're a fast little bastard aren't you?" Sasori taunted as his tail retracted back within his robe.

Naruto set his sword in a defensive stance, staring Sasori down. So much of him was covered by that damn robe he couldn't tell what other nasty surprises he might have under there. What did this man have that could have possibly taken down the bulk of an entire shinobi village all alone? He rushed at Sasori again, slashing at him from any side he could get a favorable angle at. Each time he was blocked by Sasori's iron tail. For a guy that didn't move his body… at all, he had damn good reflexes with such an obscure appendage of his body. Was it even a part of his body in the first place? Damn that cloak.

Naruto got upset at his lack of any progress whatsoever even using his Kyuubi-boosted speed, "Block this. Raiton: Kaksen no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Livewire Jutsu)!" After making his hand-seals and placing his hands on the ground, a speedy stream of arcing lightning ripped across the ground at Sasori. Sasori finally found it prudent to move as he jumped away from Naruto's attack, lest he find himself with a few thousand volts of electricity running through him.

Naruto smirked, 'I finally got him to move. He's got some pep in his step when I actually get him to jump out of the way of something.' Naruto rushed in with his sword primed to strike at the oddly built enemy when Sasori gave him another surprise.

Sasori blasted senbon at him in a rapid spray from his mouth. Naruto thought about trying to use his sword to deflect them, but settled on that being a stupid idea the moment he realized he couldn't even count them all and rolled out of the way, 'What the hell? Did those things fly out of his mouth? Who does that?'

Naruto didn't have long to ponder this as Sasori threw his tail out at Naruto again, missing repeatedly in his attempts to finish the boy off. The foot of the young jinchuuriki caught itself in the rubble that they were fighting on. Naruto saw the metal tail fly at him and clasped his fists side by side before thrusting them out, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!" The wind projectile barely held the blade off as Naruto frantically tried to lift his foot out and evade before he ended up being a human shish-kabob.

The wind based attack eventually died off and the tail shot at Naruto as quick as ever, however he found it in him to evade by the skin of his teeth, although the leg of his pants did get cut when he got his foot free. Naruto now had the back of his shirt blown open by the explosive attack from Deidara and his pants leg shredded from the unstable surface of rubble that he and Sasori were fighting on.

Naruto inspected himself. The wounds on his back had long since healed and the cuts and scratches he got pulling himself free were mere trifles. Sasori's tail swung menacingly around him, "You must have an extra life to go with each tail of your biju."

Naruto flipped him off and started running circles around Sasori, making him appear as a blur while a red trail left behind was the sign of his wake. Sasori sighed in annoyance as he tried to use his tail to swap (see: stab) the annoying fly. All he hit was nothing, as simply penetrating the red haze that settled in Naruto's path while he continued running around him, "You're really beginning to work my nerves boy."

Naruto's response was a reasonably sized chunk of debris flying from his shroud that he was running around Sasori at a high speed. Sasori's tail moved swiftly to intercept it. Soon thereafter even more debris flew at him at an even higher pace, the speed steadily increased, forcing Sasori to give his iron tail a good workout to block them. This pattern continued until Sasori tired of blocking chunks of building and stuck his tail directly into the circle, getting a series of rapid popping sounds for his trouble. The shroud disappeared, confusing Sasori as to Naruto's whereabouts.

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Jutsu)!" Naruto emerged from the ground directly behind Sasori and slashed his body up repeatedly before landing a distance away and sheathing his sword, "And that's how you do that."

"That was a good move kid." Sasori's Akatsuki cloak was cut to ribbons, finally dropping off of his frame, "That might have worked if I was normal." On his back was what appeared to be a demon mask with the iron tail extending from the mouth of it.

Naruto palmed his forehead at the sight of this, "What are you? You barely look human!"

Sasori laughed, "That's because this is a puppet boy. My puppet armor, Hiruko."

Naruto's teeth made a loud clicking noise as he found himself undeterred by this news, "Well then I guess I'll just have to smash your puppet armor to get to the soft, squishy puppeteer underneath won't I?"

Sasori laughed again, "You can try boy!" Sasori raised the right arm of his puppet which looked like a torpedo and fired it at Naruto who easily dodged, however this was only the beginning. The torpedo rotated and launched tons of wooded cylinders from within. Naruto didn't like the looks of them whatsoever and tried to get more space when the cylinders broke open, launching a large amount of needles in all directions.

The boy crossed his arms in an 'x' pattern frantically, "Fuuton: Senpuu Kakasui (Wind Release: Whirlwind Pyramid)!" Naruto's defensive wall kicked up, violently pushing the deadly needles away and shrouding the area in dust and debris. As the battlefield cleared, Naruto was nowhere in sight.

XxX

Naruto had taken cover in a crater outside of the area that he and Sasori had been fighting. To get to Sasori he had to crack the puppet armor, but that damn tail. He couldn't cut it, and he had been trying to use his wind chakra through the blade the entire time, it was like it wasn't chakra conductive which made no sense; it was in a vault, in a ninja village. How could it not be chakra conductive?

A squeak alerted Naruto to some off-color looking mice down by his feet. Naruto looked at them curiously as they stopped in front of him, "What the-?"

The small mice turned into words that brought a smile to Naruto's face, "Sai-kouhai, you beautiful bastard… And Hamako too… I definitely think she's earning her –chan today."

XxX

(With Sai and Hamako)

Hamako gave Sai a worried look, "Are you sure that Naruto-sama will get your message about the sword?"

"Yes." Sai stated, still looking for somewhere to put Hamako, "Senpai will get the message, rest assured." Maybe back on the towers again? That would make her a target if Deidara ended up finding her, plus, she couldn't get herself down if she had to. Well, she probably could after seeing how she had basically sleepwalked through three of the previously impassible seals that kept him and Naruto from doing what they wanted, "Do you think it will let him use it?"

Hamako smiled at nodded, "Yes, I'm certain. If it wouldn't allow him to use it then he would never have been able to pick it up. Hopefully he's good at finding things out on his own, because I don't know enough about the Sen'nenki no Ken to really give him an idea on what to do."

"Naruto-senpai is very surprising." Sai stated before narrowing his eyes in the distance, "Here we go. Please hold on tightly and stay down Hamako-san, it seems I won't be able to let you off after all."

Deidara was watching with a smirk on his face as the scope over left eye was trained on Sai, "I thought I would have to go and interfere with Sasori no Danna's battle to get one of you. It's a good thing you decide to come to me, un. We're not all settled up yet are we?"

Sai didn't answer as Hamako looked between him and Deidara, "Sai, who is that?"

Sai pulled up his drawing scroll, "That man is the main reason we found you Hamako-san. Allow me to go over there and thank him for you." Sai attempted to strike first by drawing out bats from his scroll, "Choujuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)!"

Deidara laughed as his hands coughed up sculptures for his use, "You have more fight in you this time I have to say, but you're still coming at me with that same lame excuse for art!" His birds left his hands and clashed with Sai's bats in mid-air as a few went around the clash, heading towards Sai and Hamako directly, "How many times do you need to hear it? True art is an explosion!" He made his half-tiger seal

Sai maneuvered the bird, amid Hamako's uncomfortable screams, through the mid-air explosions, "I won't be nearly as easy to subdue as I was the first time, I assure you of that." Sai cut through a bird that got close and continued towards Deidara, now actually having the chakra to attempt fancy evasive maneuvers and to boost his ink beast's speed in mid-flight.

"You weren't that fast the first time, un." Deidara stated before shrugging to himself and making more exploding birds for a long range attack. He let them fly with a devious grin on his face.

Sai narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he saw even more birds coming their way, "Sumigasumi no Jutsu (Ink Mist Jutsu)." Sai shrouded his bird and a decent area around it in ink as it sped towards Deidara. The clay sculptures went inside the shroud and exploded, trying to take Sai out without sight. The bird emerged from the mist still in flight and still generally coming at Deidara.

Deidara smirked to himself as he watched Sai come closer, "Now why would I send so many of my beautiful figures into there with little to no hope of hitting you? Because _they_ weren't supposed to hit you fool, they were just supposed to locate you, un!" Deidara made his hand-seal again, "Katsu!"

Little clay insects appeared all over the bodies of Sai, Hamako, and the clay bird, glowing and exploding on them before they could react, "I have to keep the jinchuuriki alive. There's no such restrictions about fighting you, un." Deidara smirked before he realized that he wasn't seeing flaming corpses falling from the sky. Instead he saw melting ink bodies drop, no bodies whatsoever.

Danger senses went off for Deidara as he jumped over Sai's low slash. He had hung off of the legs of the bird and taken his shot at the explosives artist. Deidara hung off of the other side as well and kicked at Sai, who swung himself up on the top of Deidara's bird to take a more advantageous position. He kept himself in a position to defend from whatever side Deidara would end up coming up from.

"What are you looking at, un?"

Sai turned his head and saw Deidara sitting on another clay bird. This surprised Sai, as he had never even felt Deidara's weight leave the bird. He looked on the underside of the bird to see that it was holding a clay clone of Deidara in its talons. Sai looked up and saw Deidara's hand's moving towards his hand-seal, "Katsu."

Before he could finish the word, Sai jumped off of the bird. He freefell to the ground as the fiery explosion of the clay bird sounded out over him. The sound of a bird's cry let Sai know he was saved as he found himself scooped out of the air gently by his bird. The pale Root ninja sighed to himself and patted the inky construct on its head.

XxX

Hamako shook herself off as she stood up from where Sai's bird had dropped her for his gambit of an attack on Deidara. She watched Sai's bird save him from a screaming, flaming death and clutched her Komainu necklace tightly, "Sai-san and Naruto-sama are fighting so hard… And I can't help, again. I can never help, all I'm good for is making seals." Her eyes widened before a small smile came to her face, "And what's wrong with that? Seals are the backbone of this village! And I'm the best!"

She reached into her pocket and frowned, "Sai-san didn't have much ink to spare me, but it's better than nothing! I just have to make do with what I have here, it has to be enough." She looked up at Sai, still in mid-air combat with Deidara, "I won't be useless here Sai-san."

XxX

(Naruto vs. Sasori)

Naruto stepped out of his crater of hiding with a serious look on his face, and his sword drawn. Sasori noticed him, "I knew you would come out eventually. You look like the type that wouldn't retreat in the face of insurmountable odds."

Naruto let a chuckle escape him, "Insurmountable odds? Again with the S-ranked superiority complex. I swear, it's like none of you fools get it." Naruto's amused face slipped, "I could have tried to run. Even if I didn't get away I could have tried. I am your objective after all, right? But if I ran I would be leaving Sai-kouhai and Hamako-chan alone to fight, and I won't do that."

Sasori gave the boy a cursory glance. Nothing had changed to give him such confidence, so why was he acting so braze? "Using them as a means for your escape would have been better. If any of Uzu's ninja had tried that then I might have spared one or two, but since they all had this need to rush to their deaths and fight me for their comrades I helped them out with that. It seems that trait passed down to you."

Naruto's face never changed, "Sai-kouhai is my comrade. Due to the way he was brought up and trained, much like myself he's something like a brother to me. Root may do anything to finish the mission, but we do not turn our backs on our comrades. He's fighting Deidara for me, for my safety, and I won't leave him to his death by running away from you. And Hamako-chan. I would never leave her either. I missed the opportunity to save someone like her before, I wasn't strong or smart enough to do so. But now I am, and I'll be damned if I'll let her be alone in this world just because one man is after my life."

Naruto held up his sword in front of his face, blade facing directly up as it began to glow, "Sen'nenki no Ken, I am your master whether you accept it or not. Now help me take this bastard down for your nation." The wind around Naruto began to kick up as a smirk came to his face, "I don't know what this is supposed to look like. All Hamako-chan said was that I had to exert my will over the sword for me to use this. Oh well, let's try it. Sen'nen Hakkei: Ichijiaraware (Millennium Release: Primary Materialization)!"

The sword dematerialized and reformed as grey/silver metal gauntlets around Naruto's forearms and ankles. A wicked blade came from the sides of each of the outsides of Naruto's arms. On his legs, surrounding his sandals there was also a blade along the outsides of his legs.

The Kyuubi found itself amused by Naruto's new find, **"Do make sure that you don't end up ripping yourself apart while you use these blades boy. As entertaining as that is, having your body be eradicated by a powered sword would be a massive slap to my face."**

Naruto stretched himself out and tested the feeling of his new weapon before grinning and looking up at Sasori, "This really doesn't have a name. I guess I'll have to come up with one won't I? I think I'll have to call them… Sen'nen Kougake (Millenium Gauntlets)."

Sasori scoffed, "So you got some pieces of metal and you think you can fight me boy?"

Naruto shrugged, "It's worth a try. Now let's see what these things have got! Hyakunen Tsukkakaru (Century Rush)!" Naruto circulated his Kyuubi chakra around him while pushing wind chakra into his blades and rushed at Sasori directly. In response, Sasori thrusted his iron tail at Naruto who slashed at the man with his bladed arms.

Naruto moved his body into a rapid motion and took on the appearance of a red, edged buzzsaw. The two clashed and moved past one another. Naruto simply stood straight up and stared at his hands blankly after the attack. Sasori meanwhile, felt his puppet armor fall around him. Un-useable due to the damage it had taken. As Naruto felt and heard the body of Hiruko collapse, a grin came to his face.

* * *

**Okay, for the sake of those that may find themselves perturbed by the sword, it is not a zanpaktou. Not. At. All. Yes it turned into something that isn't a sword, but that's it. There's no 'bankai' or any shit like that. And it's not going to be a pull it out and instant win weapon either. It has it's own reasons for him using it like that instead of just as his regular ninjato form and it will come with its own set of deficiencies for using that form. Remember, everything I do is with purpose and intent, and everything has a reason behind it. Have I let you down so far?**

**...Don't answer that.**

**Done. Alright, I have no smart remarks or witty observations to make today. As usual, any questions or thoughts or what-have-you you can just review and I'll see if I can catch up to you. Now if you'll excuse me it's Friday night. Time to go get into some potential debauchery. **

**Kenchi out.**


	25. Fight With Tools

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That dream died the moment that Kishimoto made Naruto… But like a phoenix, like a hard-ass pterodactyl I rise from the ashes and tears of my broken dreams to bring you more awesome fanficcy goodness! Hooray to the soon to be 2000+! God I'm so fucking awesome! Who updates consecutive stories like me?

Seriously? I want to know.

People ask me why I'm so proud/cocky/brash. And I say; if you don't believe in yourself then who the hell else is going to believe in you?

**Chapter 24: Fight With Tools**

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* * *

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(Sai vs. Deidara)

Deidara watched Sai come ever closer atop his ink bird construct, 'He's much faster and more reflexive this time. The last time it was like he was fighting in slow motion.' Sai had been flying circles around Deidara for the longest time. Having expected to blast Sai out of the sky much like the first go around, Deidara had pumped a lot of exploding clay into the attack on Sai's ink mist feint. He even had to sacrifice one of his birds and an entire clay clone in an effort to defeat the boy, but he was still hanging around.

Sai on the other hand felt that he needed to invest in bringing more ink in case of emergencies. He had been using ink since he first found Naruto on Nami no Kuni, he never thought he would be fighting a member of Akatsuki, and he couldn't borrow any ink from Naruto due to Naruto losing all of his as well as his seal paper to the whirlpool. He was running out as well, but unlike Deidara once he ran out of his long range specialty he still had a weapon on his back to use up close. At this point it was a matter of outlasting him and getting close again. From there Sai had to be able to finish.

Getting sick of fighting in the air, as he felt that it left Sai with something of an advantage due to his lighter airborne creation, Deidara started directing the height of the fight lower and lower. A mid-air dogfight was looking less and less appealing when Sai pulled up right on his tail.

Meanwhile, Sai was wondering how he should go about attacking Deidara from his current position. Ideally he would be able to draw something to shoot him down, but Deidara apparently had a propensity to counter his attacks in a rather explosive manner, and if he did it from this range, Sai would be caught in the explosion. Attacking with his blade in close was also not very appealing. Deidara was slippery and he could detonate the bird he was flying on at any time. They were too close to the ground and moving too fast for Sai to bail out and freefall to escape again.

When Deidara looked back at Sai with a knowing smirk, it put him on high alert, and that feeling was well founded when Deidara proceeded to jump off of his bird's back before tucking and rolling along the ground. Sai's eyes widened as the bird came to a dead stop and began to glow. Crossing his arms in front of his face as some method of defense, Sai ended up being thrown off of his ride violently by the force of the explosion, taking nasty burn wounds across his arms and torso as well as the sheer impact damage of falling along the ground.

Sai rolled onto his belly and crawled along the ground as the blood from a gash on his head soaked into his hitae-ate and down his face, 'This really isn't good.'

XxX

(Naruto vs. Sasori)

Naruto looked back as Sasori emerged from the wreckage of Hiruko, his puppet armor. He was still picking the pieces of the formidable tool off of himself and grumbling. Naruto was surprised at hearing a youthful voice doing the griping. This guy had to be way over thirty.

He looked down at the blades on his forearms and outside legs, 'It really sucks that this is the only way that I can channel elemental chakra to the blade, but I have to say, after that first attack I can't complain too much.'

Sai's message to him was taken verbatim from Hamako about his weapon. The sword was a special construct for whoever was the leader of the village at the time. The final ceremony towards finding a new leader was finding someone that could find their way to exert their will over the blade and bend it to their will. Throughout the existence of the sword the Sen'nenki no Ken was never the same thing twice, therefore the gauntlets were Naruto's own creation and the physical manifestation of his spirit. Hamako didn't know any techniques with the weapon since every listed user had their own attacks to fit their specialized release form, so Naruto was coming up with his own on the fly.

The one thing he could say though, was that he found it far easier to sharpen his chakra and run it through the blades, as if they were just an extension of his body and his chakra was still flowing through him. Even using the Kyuubi's chakra with the Sen'nen Kougake felt easier, he felt no heightened bloodlust at all, and it was clear that the Kyuubi's chakra was circulating through the blades as well due to the fact that they had a red sheen to them. Oh well, he would get used to them on the fly, because right now he still had a fight to win.

Sasori quickly freed himself from Hiruko and looked at Naruto. The man looked like a teenager. He had red-hair and a lazy expression. He also had the usual Akatsuki cloak that Naruto figured he would have to get used to seeing on everyone that came for his head after this.

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion, "You sounded way older inside that stupid puppet."

Sasori gave Naruto a cool glance, "So I've been told." A puff of smoke surrounded him, "So I guess that it's time for me to get serious." When it cleared there was a puppet with spiky, long, black hair in a black cloak, "Allow me to introduce you to my favorite puppet. The Sandaime Kazekage."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "So you made a puppet in the image of the Sandaime Kazekage? Why?"

Sasori laughed, "No, this _is_ the Sandaime Kazekage. I defeated him in battle and claimed his body as my puppet."

It took a moment for Naruto to really understand what he had just been told and it hit him like a sack of bricks, "So you killed a _kage_ and turned him into a puppet? I know a puppeteer, those things he has are elaborate… and not made of people. You made a human being into a puppet… I'm not even going to ask you to go into detail about how you managed to do that."

Sasori nodded, "Good, because sitting here and explaining it to someone that won't be conscious for too much longer would be a waste of everyone's time." With that, he sent the Kazekage at Naruto.

"Let's do this then." Naruto rushed out at the puppet, "I'll break this one too!" Naruto went through the motions for his buzzsaw-esque attack that he had used to destroy Hiruko, "Hyakunen Tsukkakaru (Century Rush)!"

A motion of Sasori's fingers opened the mouth of the Kazekage as an iron powder began to file out. It then took the form of a solid iron wall directly in front of them both. Naruto's attack hit the iron barrier and the two metal forces made a horrible grinding noise before bouncing off.

Naruto adjusted to his dizziness and stared at the wall, growling at the barrier, "Well that's just fantastic." Naruto made a cross seal and formed a dozen Kage Bunshin, "Make that doll playing freak pay." The clones rushed in while Naruto crouched and observed from a distance. They all went around or jumped over the iron wall to attack Sasori. His body twitched as the memories of how they were violently dispelled came to him. He simply stood still and crouched on all fours on the ground, priming himself for an opening to attack.

The wall of iron collapsed back into powder before shooting at Naruto rapidly, "Satetsu Shigure (Iron Sand Drizzle)."

"Fuck!" Naruto generated his one-tail cloak of chakra and cut out in a hasty retreat away from the almost microscopic iron projectiles. He was shocked to see that they had such a wide range of spread 'How the hell is that even happening?' He cut back to avoid getting overtaken by the small iron pellets and rushed Sasori and his Kazekage puppet as he generated a Rasengan in his right hand and drew it back to attack.

Looking closely at Sasori and the Sandaime Kazekage puppet, Naruto saw that his clones were able to get close enough to force a short conflict, as the cloak of the Kazekage was somewhat shredded revealing a shut chest compartment. As he bared closer to the puppet user and his prized tool his senses of danger went off due to the fact that Sasori wasn't moving, he wasn't even making an effort to get the Kazekage in his way to run interference. Naruto aborted his attack just in time to see the mass amounts of iron particles stop in front of Sasori and his puppet.

The chest compartment was wide open as a strange glow emitted from it. It had to be some kind of strange control thing for the sand, as it wasn't visible until it came close enough to almost hit Sasori. That needed to go if he was ever going to get any misdirection on Sasori. He had to put yet another thought aside for later as Sasori pressed his advantage.

"Senju Soubu (Thousand Hands Manipulation Military Art)!" A series of compartments opened up in the left hand of the Kazekage puppet with a series of summoning seals in them. From the seals came an obscene amount of puppet arms that expanded out at Naruto.

They crashed directly in front of him as he dodged the move. Naruto prepared his body to cut right through them before he got another nasty surprise from Sasori. After detaching from the Kazekage, the arms shot poison gas that Naruto was caught off guard by. He quickly emerged from the cloud and went through with his plan to utterly eradicate the puppet arms with extreme prejudice, using his modified taijutsu to dice them up almost effortlessly, turning them into useless chunks of wood.

His vision started to swim as he set himself back into a stance to battle with Sasori. He stopped and glared at Sasori who took the time to speak to him, "Do you feel it yet? The paralyzing effects of my poison?"

Naruto frowned, 'So that's what that was? Kyuubi, systems purge please.' Naruto cringed at the feeling of Kyuubi running his chakra through his organs and nerves to clean his system before smirking at Sasori, "Yep. Felt it. It's not really that bad. It's like a mixture of tons of stuff I've already had before. You deal with it once, you can deal with it all at once. Your poison is useless."

For not showing it, this significantly caught Sasori off guard. He had somewhat been banking on his poison to subdue Naruto. It was meant to paralyze Naruto and slowly kill him over the length of three days. How else was he going to capture and transport Naruto all the way to a point where he could have his biju extracted without paralyzing him? He would wake up and break away. But now that his poison proved to be ineffective he had to come up with a new way to keep Naruto down without killing him. Naruto on the other hand, didn't have such restrictions, and immediately proved that to Sasori with his next move.

Naruto pulled out a handful of shuriken and layered them with wind chakra before throwing it at Sasori. The puppeteer called forth another iron wall to block for him but Naruto ran through a series of hand-seals, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" The sheer raw amount of shuriken made by the replication technique stuck into as well as went over the iron wall where Naruto then made his next move, flying through more hand-seals, "Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Release: Lightning Shuriken)!"

The shuriken above Sasori's head began to rain down a torrent of electricity that forced him to flee alongside his puppet. A few jolts actually hit the Kazekage puppet and gave Sasori a significant shock himself as the electricity coursed through his body. The smell of the burnt hair and flesh from the Kazekage wafted through the air. Sasori's eyes narrowed as he saw that the attack had disrupted his puppet's magnetic apparatus. It was slowly losing its power and would soon be useless and deactivated.

Naruto grinned at Sasori, "You aren't going to beat me with a lucky scratch Sasori. You need to actually finish me to claim victory, I wonder if you actually have anything capable of doing that. How did you even take this village down anyway?"

"This village became too dependent on its fuuinjutsu." Sasori started, "Everything that made this village unique and powerful was based on its sealing techniques. From the genjutsu seal they had at the perimeter of the forest surrounding it that would force people to wander about, to the defenses set up around major choke points in the village. After being able to negate that advantage and engage them personally I found that they weren't as skilled as many believe they were."

Naruto didn't accept that answer, there were still too many things to consider on that front, "You're just one man, no matter how you cut it. To take on the bulk of an entire military force seems beyond you in a straight fight. I suppose I'll get the answer from you before I finish you off for good."

Sasori simply smirked, "Finish me off for good? Just try it." The red-haired puppeteer had the Kazekage make use of its still active magnetic part and launch two masses of iron sand at Naruto. As he made to dodge, Sasori simply spoke the name of his attack calmly and coolly, "Satetsu Kaihou (Iron Sand World Order)."

XxX

(Sai vs. Deidara)

Sai eventually picked himself up off of the ground, his head swimming due to the concussive force of the blast and the impact of his hitting the ground. He idly wondered why Deidara hadn't arrived to finish him off. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth in the this case, he pulled out his tipless tanto and began slowly stalking the ruins for a sign of Deidara. He fell off of his ride as well, even if it was intentional, there was no way that he was at one-hundred percent himself after that.

He limped along the area looking for Deidara. Why was that bastard so good at covering his tracks? He and Naruto never even saw him every time he attacked until it was too-

BOOM

-late.

Sai found himself rocked by an explosion that came from under him when he placed a foot on the rubble that made up the bulk of Uzushiogakure. Sai's sandal and pant leg on his right leg were destroyed. Stepping on a landmine, so that's what Deidara had been doing for so long. Looking at the burns on his leg, Sai was extremely grateful that Deidara's explosives didn't have any shrapnel in them.

Walking was now a chore, and running? He didn't even want to think about how he would run for the time being. At this point, his best bet was holding out until he could get some assistance in the form of Naruto, but seeing as how Naruto had his own opponent, he needed to figure out his own way to win or at the very least survive.

For the time being all he could do was take a rest and hide. He was next to worthless the way he was, and trying to move now would probably make things worse than they already were. Sai ran through his supplies and checked his stuff. He still had his tanto that he had placed onto his back once more, he had his scroll, he had enough ink to hopefully carry him through the rest of the fight, he had his still had a holster full of kunai and a pouch of shuriken, no explosive notes, much like Naruto, all of his were ruined when they went into the whirlpool, he also had gauze. That was what he needed right now, something to cover his wounds to keep them from getting infected while he was running around the battlefield.

Wrapping his torso, his now exposed arms, and his wounded leg, he let himself settle for a moment. He pulled up his scroll and drew up some ink mice to search for Deidara in the meantime so he could at least perhaps get the drop on him once he felt well enough to move before a subtle clicking noise alerted him to his left. Turning his head, he saw a clay insect sculpture with its eyes glowing red. Sai immediately propelled himself out of his area of hiding before he found himself caught in another explosion. As he looked around he saw a dozen of the insect sculptures crawling his way. Suicide sentries sent out by Deidara, but where was the man himself? That was what Sai needed to know right now.

In the meantime he drew out his shuriken and tried hitting the explosives before they could get any closer. As they connected with them, the blasts signified that he had finished them off, but now it was abundantly clear where he was and he could be picked off at any time by Deidara.

This was made abundantly clear when Sai looked up and saw clay birds circling overhead. As they came careening down at him to finish him in a suicide divebomb he heard explosions come from behind him before a massive shadow covered him with its stone frame, covering him from damage as the blasts rocked his apparently mobile cover.

"That was close Sai-san."

Sai turned to see Hamako right next to him with a small smile on her face at being able to reach him to assist, "Hamako-san, what are you doing? Senpai gave me orders to make sure you were out of harm's way."

Hamako frowned as even more explosions sounded out around them, "Well that's not fair to you two is it? Doing all of the fighting alone like that. And even more so to me, what am I supposed to do if you two are killed here? I don't know anything or anyone in this time, how am I supposed to get along? If that's the way things are going to go I might as well fight too and risk myself as well."

Sai winced somewhat as he was beginning to feel his injuries, the adrenaline from the hiding and searching finally wearing off, "You aren't a shinobi Hamako-san. You couldn't help either myself or Naruto-senpai in combat."

Hamako gave him a deadpan look, "Really? Because what do you think is shielding you right now? Your iron will to live?"

Sai sweatdropped with an expressionless face, "Random misplaced and sturdy debris?"

Hamako kept her look as the explosions stopped, "Komainu-kun, let's get Sai-san moving again. He's no good to us if he can't even dodge, we have to be the ones to move for him."

'The statue?' Was what Sai was thinking, 'How is a statue going to move for me? I'd be better off moving on my own feet than relying on that massive thing to get me around safely.' He didn't have time to dispute with her however, as the stone cover that had been his saving grace just moments ago had picked up both him and Hamako and set them on adjacent shoulders before stomping along the battlefield.

Sai looked at Hamako who was smiling at being able to seemingly help, "This is going to hurt me more than help me. I can't use chakra on this statue remember? It absorbs any that come into contact with it."

Hamako grinned and patted the side of Komainu's head, "Oh, that. I turned that off."

Sai raised an eyebrow, "You can do that?"

Hamako scoffed, "How many times do I have to tell you and Naruto-sama? I was the one that animated Komainu-kun, I can control his seal array. I just turned that part off so that you could fight from here. I can't do it myself so you have to fight for me Sai-san."

Sai nodded and watched as Komainu stomped over the battlefield like a minesweeper, triggering Deidara's hidden bombs and disposing of them safely from the two on his shoulders. Two black mice scuttled up Komainu and stopped on Sai's legs before turning to words for him, "Hamako-san, we need to head northwest towards the central towers. Deidara is somewhere in that area."

Hamako nodded, "You heard him Komainu. Take us to the citadel."

XxX

(Naruto vs. Sasori)

"This is total bullshit!" Naruto yelled as he dodged ever expanding branches of metal from running him through. Sasori's last jutsu, Satetsu Kaihou, had forced an ever expanding forest of deadly iron branches that could keep branching off at any time, making it one massive pain for Naruto to dodge, as the increasing numbers of branches also meant more potential for him to be impaled by even more iron branches.

Naruto couldn't even anticipate the attacks due to the sporadic habit of the attack to break off and expand randomly, it quickly trapped him deeply inside. His entire reason for keeping in one piece thus far was the fact that he had extreme reflexes and senses from the Kyuubi's chakra in addition to the chakra cloak that the Kyuubi used as an early warning radar for danger, early warning as in a quarter of a second.

Naruto now stood in the middle of a forest of iron spikes that stretched out over a massive amount of space. For some reason all of that evading took it out of him. And the blades on his arms and legs began to feel heavier and heavier, like such weapons should feel as opposed to the light as air feeling that they had when he first activated them.

Naruto began panting, 'Kyuubi what's happening?'

"**You are not very attentive towards your reserves are you? You couldn't feel the blades siphoning off your chakra?"** The demon in question asked in a disbelieving fashion, **"You didn't think that natural feeling of feeling your chakra flow through the gauntlets like another part of you was just a perk did you? It was steadily siphoning off your chakra to power the transformation."**

'No I didn't feel it! I've never really run out of chakra before, not like this!' The gauntlets fell off of Naruto and turned back into his ninjato before he fell to his knees, his hand on the handle of the weapon, 'This is not the time for this… Give me more chakra.'

"***sigh* If you use my chakra as a glorified soldier pill you're going to be the walking dead after this fight is over, you know that right, especially since you're using it as a replacement for your own instead of just as a bolster?"**

'Duh.' Naruto mentally rolled his eyes, as if Kyuubi could see it, 'Do I have a choice right now? Just keep the juice coming until I finish off this clown and link back up with Sai-kouhai and Hamako-chan.'

"**You're going to be puking blood and pissing fire tonight boy… I'll be sure to laugh at that when it occurs."** Kyuubi began to increase the flow of chakra to Naruto to get him to move.

Naruto sheathed the Sen'nenki no Ken on his back, not wanting to touch the blade for the time being after getting drained dry by it not a moment ago, 'Sasori, Sasori, Sasori… you missed your chance to finish me off you tenative bastard.' The Kazekage puppet began flying through the iron forest as Naruto felt his strength return to him. The left arm of the puppet was now a buzzsaw and the right had a blade extending from it.

Naruto began springing through the branches, playing a very dangerous game of cat and mouse with the puppet. With it trying to rip into him with its bladed weapons and Naruto trying to get a chance to destroy it and move along to Sasori himself. Naruto wasn't really worried about getting cut or stabbed, he was really trying to lure it in. He figured that since he could probably survive a stab wound from the puppet, especially now since he knew Sasori's poison couldn't beat him, once he destroyed this one, Sasori would have nothing left to fight him with. After all, Kankuro only had two puppets, so maybe it was a Suna puppeteer thing.

Feeling more and more spry and loose as more of the Kyuubi's chakra circulated through his body, Naruto took advantage of his boost and lashed out at the puppet with his chakra shroud tail. Naruto wrapped around it and pulled it in with a Rasengan forming in his hand. The red of the Kyuubi's chakra bled into the Rasengan, giving it a warped color. He proceeded to slam the jutsu into the body of the puppet, ripping it asunder and scattering its body along the ground.

Naruto walked up to the remains of the puppet and stomped on the head for good measure, crushing it under his foot, "Whoops. Sorry, I'm so clumsy with other people's tools. I guess that's why Kankuro never let me mess with his puppets when I was staying in his family's place."

Naruto saw a flash of red hair in the forest of twisted metal and immediately took off in pursuit. After a decent chase that eventually led them out of the iron jungle, Naruto closed the distance swiftly with his speed boosted and smirked as he bared down on Sasori, "Too slow!" Naruto shot out a claw of chakra that cut right through Sasori's arm as he passed him by.

Standing away with a bloodthirsty grin on his face at finally getting the chance to pick apart the puppet user himself he looked down at his hands to find that there was not a drop of blood on them. Looking back at Sasori he saw that he had torn off a good portion of his cloak and saw Sasori's arm coming back to his body, "Well that was potentially barbaric. Like I said earlier, it's a good thing I'm not exactly normal."

Now that he had a good look he could see that Sasori's arm was segmented, like a… puppet. Naruto sighed and pointed at him, "Okay, I was willing to accept the fact that you turned a kage into a puppet, because after watching it fight it seemed like a damn good idea, despite the fact that it's a human being and the idea seems utterly ludicrous and morbid, but this? How the hell can you even do that? Is that even physically possible?" The body of Sasori was that of a puppet.

He pulled off the rest of his cloak and showed his inhuman body. There were clear segments and compartments on his chest, stomach, and back. Even his eyes didn't look human anymore, open and wide like a puppet, "It's very possible seeing as how I did it. And there's nothing ludicrous about it. Why would I want my human body that has weakness, can feel pain, and would have eventually grown old and weak no matter what I would have done? I can have a body that I can upgrade at will, will never feel sickness, and is all around stronger than my human body could ever be. I have turned myself into the ultimate eternal art."

The right compartment of his chest opened as Sasori pulled a scroll from his back, "Now let me show you exactly what my superior body is capable of." Opening the scroll in a puff of smoke, many figures rose out, hovering above Sasori, "Aka Higi: Hyakki no Souen (Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets)!" Over one hundred puppets kept Naruto from Sasori as they all wore red cloaks and had their own weapons, "You wanted to know what took down the majority of this village's forces? This was the technique that did most of the work."

Naruto grit his teeth as he felt an influx of Kyuubi's chakra. His lips started to blacken as a second tail of chakra began forming behind him. As he spoke his voice sounded gruffer and more serious, "One against one hundred, I have to say Sasori, I'm disappointed. You do know what jinchuuriki like me are meant to be don't you?" Two bubbling tails of red chakra swished behind him, "Army killers… Always go with quality over quantity!" Naruto launched himself at the force of puppets.

Sasori's puppets came at Naruto to put this fight to rest once and for all, but as the boy drew close he vanished from immediate sight and began ripping through the puppets savagely with his bare hands. Blood flying through the air was a sign that Naruto was being cut by the weaponry wielded by the puppets, but the fact that he refrained from slowing down at the very least signified that these were shallow, and with him not being susceptible to Sasori's poison this wasn't nearly good enough to beat him.

All Sasori could do was maneuver the puppets around Naruto's path of destruction and cut him off from free range of movement. Eventually he was able to do just this, surrounding Naruto with a circle of puppets a dozen thick. Naruto had the top half of one of Sasori's puppets in his hand as he stared around himself, noting that he was surrounded with an amused smirk, and with his feral features this made it somewhat chilling, especially as his body was now clearly visible due to him having his shirt utterly torn asunder by the puppets with only the strap of his sheath being intact, his substantial amount of shallow wounds sizzling shut right in front of Sasori's eyes. "So this was your big plan when you came after me? Mob me with puppets and hope your poison stops me? Let me show you something that just might get the point across to you."

Naruto took the sword in the hand of the puppet he was holding and stabbed himself in the torso. Naruto pulled the blade out and watched his blood slide down the metal as it mixed with the poison that began running off of the weapon. He tossed them all aside as he looked at Sasori, "That was the best attack that your puppets were going to get with those weapons and it's not even going to make me stumble. You were the wrong person to come and fight me."

Naruto fell on all fours and began to build up air in his lungs. Sasori sent the puppets in to stab him all at once, no matter who he was, there was no way that he could shake off that kind of damage.

As they began to gather around him with their blades drawn to skewer him, Naruto let out a massive concussive roar that sent all of the remaining puppets flying away from him. All of those that were closest were broken apart by the raw power that Naruto's roar had pumped out at ground zero. The others were tossed aside haphazardly all over the place. Some flew off into the distance, others flew somewhere within the mass of iron sand and were shattered upon high speed contact with the branches.

Naruto picked the pieces of what was once his shirt off of his shoulders and chest as he faced down what was his last obstacle, Sasori himself. The puppet-bodied man showed no intimidation at facing down the demonically charged teen, "I'm not done yet. Though I have to say, for a chunin you happen to be a tougher run-down that previously perceived. Itachi said that you were able to survive against him the first time based off of pure misdirection and unconventional tactics."

Naruto chuckled in his gravelly voice, his vocal cords manipulated by the chakra running through him, "I've had almost an entire year to prepare since then. Itachi and Kisame actually matched up with me. You don't. Why you were sent to deal with me, I'll never know. And neither will you, since I'll just have to rip you apart just like I did with every other puppet you've thrown at me today."

"It won't be nearly as easy as you believe it will be." Sasori lifted his palms and revealed pipes that spewed intense flames from them at Naruto who moved aside and started working angles to get at Sasori properly. As he approached from the back left, poles emerged from the back of Sasori's hips with five blades attached that began spinning rapidly. Naruto diverted his attack to avoid getting pureed by the blades as Sasori took off at blinding speed to get some mobility going.

Naruto smirked, so now he wanted to move? He had been fighting the entire battle as stationary as he could and now he decides on dynamic movement once Naruto had it in him to see how many chunks he could tear Sasori into before he stopped functioning. He didn't know whether to be pissed off that Sasori could now move so quickly, or ecstatic that it wouldn't be that easy to pin him down and rip his head off.

Banking on the Kyuubi's ever growing presence in his person giving him these thoughts, Naruto began tearing across the ruined landscape in pursuit of his barely human foe.

XxX

(Sai and Hamako vs. Deidara)

The rising, towering metal structure off in the distance earlier didn't ease Hamako's worries about how Naruto was doing in his fight, but seeing as how they weren't currently being engaged by the man Naruto had been fighting they figured that he was still alive and kicking. Hamako had to admit, after seeing that, if she had remained with Naruto she would have been a liability. At least now he had a chance to only have to worry about himself. Besides, Sai seemed to require the aid after seeing how heavily he was bandaged and knowing that he didn't look like that when he dropped her off he must have been injured pretty badly to require that. They had themselves to worry about for the time being.

As they neared closer and closer to the triumvirate of towers that Naruto and Sai had found so much misery in on their first day in Uzu, they noticed that there were no more mines. Since they were getting closer to Deidara's position didn't that mean there should have been more of them, and yet Komainu hadn't run over any in quite a while.

The pale boy looked over at the silver haired girl who didn't seem frightened at all about heading off to fight, "Aren't you at least a little unnerved about fighting this person. He's been giving me and Naruto-senpai fits ever since he first showed up."

She turned to Sai, "Are you scared?"

Sai frowned, "I don't have feelings like that."

Hamako shook her head and started looking out at the path as they neared closer to the towers, "I'm not scared. I'm not even supposed to exist in this time apparently, I should have died with everyone else, but I didn't and now I'm here. Why would I be afraid of dying in a battle that I'm not even supposed to be alive to fight in the first place? As long as I can help you and Naruto-sama then I'm okay with this."

Sai's eyes narrowed as they now stood between two of the towers, with the other destroyed one on the other side of the clashing rivers that made the whirlpool that gave the village its name. He was around here somewhere. There was no reason for him to leave, he had the complete advantage here.

Deidara watched from his cover of rubble from across the river. Sai and some white haired girl were riding a statue, a giant walking statue! He couldn't have grinned any wider if Sai had painted a multicolored bullseye on his chest. He stuck out on that thing's shoulder like a sore thumb, and while he could see how it would have been useful when avoiding his sentries and land mines, now that he was here to actually take shots at Sai himself, it was naught but a hindrance, "If that's how this is going to go, then I can finish him without going through the rest of my clay, or even moving, un."

He rubbed his broken leg, jumping from a speeding bird in flight was not one of his most capital ideas. However the plus side, from the look of Sai, it certainly worked for him as he didn't really look much better off whatsoever. His hands spit out a wad of clay that he manipulated into three bird sculptures that he sent flying out at Sai and his newfound ally's pet statue.

Hamako saw the first one coming and pointed out at it, "Komainu-kun!" The statue swatted it out of the sky, in response it exploded on the arm of the golem. It was so close that Hamako could feel the heat from the blast on her entire body.

Sai saw that there were two more coming in from both sides of Komainu. Thinking fast, he moved over to the other shoulder and pulled Hamako off along with him just in time for the two birds to collide with its head, taking it out.

Hamako gasped as she saw her favorite creation collapse, its head crumbling and falling off as it fell backwards. She turned to Sai anxiously, "Where is he? Those last two came from nowhere and Komainu is gone. It took me so long to make him…"

Sai kept her head down and kept her from looking back as they crawled along the ground. Hamako was the most mobile of the two of them, and that was not a good thing by any stretch of the imagination, "Hamako-san, what can you do to help us here?"

Hamako turned to him and pulled out a small stack of blank seal notes and the miniscule amount of ink that Sai had given her back in the catacombs, "I may not be a shinobi, but if I can get close to him I can finish him myself."

Sai was skeptical of her chances to actually defeat Deidara, "You believe that you can win?"

Hamako grinned, "Do not underestimate the power of fuuinjutsu Sai-san." The sound of whirring drifted through the air, confusing both Sai and Hamako, "What on Earth is that?"

Sai looked up, thinking that they had somehow been found and saw a man with red hair flying through the air with the use of some strange appendage on his hips. He then saw a mass shrouded in red plow into the figure, sending it careening into the side of one of the towers, blasting a massive hole in the side of it. Due to the shape of the shroud surrounding the second one, Sai knew exactly who it was, "Hamako-san we need to get out of here."

Hamako was confused, "What was that? And why do we need to leave?"

Sai crawled along the ground again while covering her with his body, "That was Naruto-senpai fighting his opponent. And we need to leave because being anywhere near senpai when he uses his special chakra is a horrible idea."

"Special chakra?" Hamako asked innocently, now crawling on her own so that Sai didn't have to strain himself any further than he already had today, "Naruto-sama has special chakra? What does it do?"

Sai didn't even turn back around to answer her, "It destroys."

XxX

(Naruto vs. Sasori)

Sasori wasn't fool enough to believe that he would just lose Naruto by simply taking off on a low flight dash away from the battlefield. Not likely, he was simply doing this so he could find an easier area to fight Naruto than in the wide open area that would grant the agile jinchuuriki the advantage, or better yet, Deidara, who he hadn't seen since they split off earlier, which was why he wasn't really surprised when he found himself body-checked into the side of a building by said jinchuuriki.

Naruto followed Sasori to the ground, landing on him and proceeding to pound away on his face as he heard cracking noises start with every punch he landed. Naruto almost got incinerated however when Sasori tried to burn him off like a tick with one of the flamethrowers in his palm. Naruto quickly rolled off of him and out of the range of the flames that threatened to lick at his body.

Taking this moment to attack, Sasori again used his propellers to speed at Naruto and catch him flat-footed, moving just fast enough to surprise Naruto with the weapon he had been storing in his stomach compartment. Sasori stabbed Naruto right through the belly with a long stinger-like cable that widened Naruto's eyes in pain and surprise.

Sasori kept moving in to kill. Capturing Naruto was now no longer on his mind, this boy destroyed everything. All of his hard work, his favorite and most powerful puppets, the things that were supposed to last for all eternity, just like him. Looking down on Naruto's lifeless face was his only desire now. He idly wondered what a jinchuuriki puppet would be like, he couldn't wait to find out.

Naruto grit his teeth in pain as blood flowed from his mouth and stomach. The pain of having the cable in him was amplified by the feeling of repeatedly having the wound heal around it before being yanked back open by Sasori moving towards him. Naruto planted both hands on the cable and pulled tightly before beginning to whip around and drag Sasori in a swinging circular motion. Sasori subconsciously forced himself to loosen up more cable and ended up getting swung into a pillar, utterly destroying it with the force that Naruto had thrown him into it with.

Sasori's body lay broken on the ground as he tried to eject one of the makeshift puppets in a scroll on his back to shift bodies. Naruto had utterly destroyed his limbs, breaking them where they weren't already intentionally segmented, even his torso, the hardest part of his puppet body and his head were cracked from the impact.

He could survive this, this was nothing at all, as long as only one all-important piece of him survived it would all work out. His plan wasn't to be however, as Naruto yanked hard on the cable, pulling him back in towards the enraged boy fast. Fear actually ended up eating at Sasori's heart as he saw that in one hand Naruto still held the bloody cable that was still sticking out of his chest and in the other, a burning red Rasengan.

Naruto drew his arm back, choking down the bile that was rising from his pesky wound and locking on to the body of Sasori. What the hell was that thing on the left side of his chest? Hopefully an off button because Naruto was about to press it, "You should never have come here! Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!"

Naruto obliterated the body of Sasori, as the little cylinder sticking out that Naruto had targeted burst, showering the boy in blood, the only time in the entire battle that he had actually drawn blood from Sasori.

The force behind the Rasengan carried out behind the point that he had hit Sasori at and destroyed the wall behind it. Naruto collapsed and sat down, wiping the blood from his face. Sighing to himself he steeled his nerves as he pulled the long cable out of himself at great pains and tossed it aside as pieces of building began to fall around him, "I should probably get myself out of here before I decide to pass out huh?"

XxX

(Sai and Hamako vs. Deidara)

Deidara had to admit, seeing Sasori get drilled out of mid-air into the side of a building was not something he really expected to see happen, especially while he was fighting a kid, a jinchuuriki kid, but still a kid nonetheless. And the sounds from inside that followed were mighty impressive, and a telltale sign that Sasori wasn't really winning, since if Sasori had been winning he wouldn't be able to hear it from inside a building _across a whirlpool_. And that flash of red light that came from the holes inside didn't really scream 'victory for Sasori no Danna' either if he had to guess.

Deidara chuckled as the noises of the battle died down and the only noise left was the sound of the whirlpool only fifty feet at the farthest away from him. He shook his head, knowing that Sasori most certainly didn't win that fight, not the way things had looked when he had seen them clash, "He says all of that crap about art being long lasting and then he goes and gets himself wasted one second later."

A sound of growls surrounding him alerted him to his current predicament. Deidara found himself surrounded by lions constructed of ink as Sai limped towards him with his tanto drawn, "You shouldn't have been paying so much attention to Naruto-senpai's battle while you were in the midst of you own, or did you forget about me?"

Deidara chuckled at the sight of Sai and his lions slowly moving towards his downed form, "I guess I should rethink my views on you shouldn't I, un?" He revealed one of his clay figures sitting on his shoulder, putting Sai on guard, "You have art that can both be here for long periods of time, or be gone in a flash. However I think that wishy-washy way of thinking is cheating and makes me sick! At least Sasori no Danna had the decency to choose one side of the fence while you balance in between." With that he picked up the figurine and placed it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing it, much to Sai's surprise.

Deidara smirked as his body began to rapidly expand, "I'll turn your little pencil drawings into art for you, because true art is an explosion!" Sai turned to run, but with his leg he had no way to escape no matter how big the blast was.

"Sai-san!" Hamako shouted as she ran up to the bulging Deidara, "Fuuinjutsu: Jikan Bunkatsu (Sealing Technique: Time Splitter)!" Hamako slapped the seal on Deidara's head and ran back towards Sai, "Fuuin!" She then leaned down and placed Sai over her shoulder as she began to run away with him leaning on her, "Come on, we have to go now!"

Sai blinked at her as she moved as fast as she possibly could to get them away from the bulging Deidara, however something seemed off. He was bulging far more slowly than he had been a moment ago. He looked at her as she determinedly assisted him, "What did you do?"

Hamako looked back, "That seal I just used slows things to one-fifth of their maximum speed. I don't know how potent it will be though, since I'm not used to using anyone else's ink for my seals."

Sai looked back to see Deidara slowly approaching critical mass, "So what are you saying?"

Hamako gave him a nervous smile, "Due to a disconnection between me and the seal it might break."

"By 'break' you mean…" Sai fished nervously.

Hamako looked back, "Utterly backfire and fail in about five seconds… and that's being very generous to my seal making."

Sai said nothing and simply pulled the rest of the ink he lent Hamako from her as he started drawing on his scroll, "Choujuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)!" Sai quickly summoned up an ink bird that swept him and Hamako up and flew off.

The seal on Deidara's head slipped off as he returned to regular speed, "Art is an explosion!" Before detonating himself and taking out a good chunk of riverside land.

Hamako looked down at the explosion left by Deidara, "Well that's certainly an interesting way to go out, don't you think Sai-san?"

Sai didn't look with her, "He's not dead."

The expression on Hamako's face showed skepticism towards believing that Deidara was still alive, "He blew himself up. Now if there's any way that you yourself have personally seen anyone live through that I think it would be common knowledge even to someone like me."

Sai shook his head, "This isn't the first time that he made a false figure of his explode. He probably switched himself out with it before we were able to reach him once he realized his partner was dead. Even if he could have defeated us, he wouldn't be able to beat Naruto-senpai afterwards, making his staying here any longer a null point."

Hamako nodded before her eyes widened, "Naruto-sama! What happened to him, is he alright?"

Sai turned the bird around to head back towards Naruto's last known whereabouts.

XxX

Deidara limped out of the vicinity of the village, using the trees for support, "I guess I'll have to wait until next time little pale drawing boy." He said to himself as he walked along, "With Sasori no Danna gone it seems that you're the only one I can test my own art against now."

He looked down at the mouths on his hand, "I wonder. Will it be my art of a single moment, or your ink constructs that trumps the other in the end." A smile slowly made its way onto his face, "For some reason I can't wait to find out."

XxX

Sai landed his bird in the midst of the tower that Naruto plowed Sasori into and let Hamako off while he stayed on it with his wounded leg. Hamako ran to the collapsed building and sifted through the rubble, "How did the building even fall?"

Sai yelled back from his place on the bird, "Deidara's blast must have been strong enough to take out what was left of the tower. Naruto-senpai probably did a number on it from the inside to weaken it as well."

Hamako picked through significant pieces of fallen building, "Naruto-sama! Are you alright? Say something if you're still alive!"

"Ow…"

Naruto pushed a chunk of roof off of himself as Hamako ran over to check his injuries, "Please tell me you killed that bastard Sai-kouhai."

Sai's bird walked over with him on its back, "Sorry to say I couldn't senpai. He escaped after you killed your opponent."

"Sasori." Naruto said, "I killed Akasuna no Sasori. That's who that was."

Hamako stared at Naruto in disbelief. They had told her that he was the one who had destroyed her village, and here he just beat him immediately. Naruto wriggled his body free and stood up shakily. He walked past Hamako and set a hand on her shoulder before moving along to Sai, "You look beat the hell up kouhai."

Sai gave him his smile, "As do you senpai. I would venture to say that you probably got it worse than I did."

Naruto scoffed, "Yeah, but I can walk."

Sai shook his head, "That's because you have the Kyuubi inside of you. Normal people like me actually have to deal with their injuries. If chunks of building fell on you and you can just pick the pieces off and walk up to me that kind of tells me you aren't normal doesn't it?" He took a moment to think, "How did the tower fall on you anyway? By the time Deidara's suicide clone exploded you should have been long gone."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well you see, I was kind of picking up a few things after I was done, and then the entire place comes down around me."

Sai raised an eyebrow, "What were you picking up that got your attention like that?"

Naruto opened his mouth to answer before he was glomped by Hamako, "Naruto-sama! You're alright!"

Naruto buckled under her weight, apparently his body was giving out sooner than he thought it would, "Yeah, Hamako-chan, I'm fine, just let go of me please."

Hamako pulled away from him, "Hamako_-chan_ master?"

Naruto grinned at her, "Well yeah. If you're coming with me that means I'm going to have to be your first friend in your new life won't I?" He then gestured to Sai, "And Sai-kouhai here will be your second." Sai simply stared at them both blankly, forcing Naruto to sweatdrop, "He's not got much to say."

Naruto's knees buckled, forcing him to lean on the side of the ink bird, "Alright, Sai, I can't go back to Kiri or Konoha like this, there will be too many questions that I don't feel like answering so just drop me somewhere nearby where I can heal okay? I have a safe place in mind."

XxX

(Later That Night)

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"I'll get it father."

A door opened to reveal a beautiful, dark-haired woman in a pink shirt staring in a surprised fashion at her guests, "Naruto-kun? Is that you?"

Naruto gave her his best grin while being supported by Hamako on her shoulder, body wrapped in bandages, "Hi there Tsunami-san! It's good to see you again." He rubbed the back of his neck, "I hope it wouldn't be too much to ask of you for a place to stay for the night would it?"

Tsunami gave him a smile, "Of course not Naruto-kun. You and your guest are welcome here always after what you did for this country."

Hamako returned her smile, "We saw the bridge. He almost fell out when we did."

Naruto chuckled, "Yeah… I didn't really see that one coming at all."

Tsunami giggled, "Yes Kakashi-san said the same thing too when he arrived."

Naruto blinked at her, "Wait, you said when Kakashi arrived? He came back here before without our team?"

Tsunami shook her head, "No… he's here right now with two other kids. As a matter of fact he was the one that said that you would probably be showing up here in the next day or two."

With that a familiar masked visage came into Naruto's clear view, with his ever present eye-smile in place, "Oh, hey Naruto! Funny running into you here huh?" Kakashi began laughing humorlessly, which led to Naruto laughing uncomfortably, making the two females between them stare confusedly.

"Shithead is back? Where the hell is he?"

Naruto paled at the sound of that voice as Kakashi slid to his side, "Oh, and just so you know, Tayuya's been very upset since you left in Kirigakure. Good luck with that."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei… Thanks so much."

* * *

**People are slacking these days man. If I can write at this pace with all of the crap that I do then… well I guess that just makes me epically awesome then doesn't it? But seriously, I'm jonesing for something good to read, it's actually why I work so hard on my own stories, so that I'm not part of the problem, but an attempt at being part of the solution. Rant over.**

**Hopefully the fights were up to snuff. This was the first chapter I've had a big fight in since I had Naruto fight Kimimaro so, yeah. Anyway, ENJOY YOURSELF! IT'S A CELEBRATION! **

**Kenchi out.**


	26. Snap Your Fingers Snap Your Neck

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I will be attempting to work my way into Masashi Kishimoto's will in order to obtain it. Wish me luck everyone… Now I just need a plane ticket to Japan to begin my master plan.

**Chapter 25: Snap Your Fingers Snap Your Neck**

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As if having demonic chakra flooding your coils for hours in the middle of a battle with two S-ranked missing ninja, having a sentient sword with superpowers suck out all of your regular chakra, getting run clean through by a steel cable, and flying on a bumpy bird while your new 'servant' that apparently wouldn't take no for an answer valiantly attempted to patch your belly wound wasn't enough excitement/torment for one day, Naruto found himself caught in the shake-out from hell by Tayuya upon being spotted at the front door. Now normally he would have either tried reasoning with her and explaining himself after listening to what was bothering her, or he would have Kawarimied with the nearest hapless fool, i.e. Shikamaru Nara, who had just entered the vicinity to see what all of the fuss was about, but today after all of the things that had transpired over the last 3-to-5 day period, upon being snatched up and shaken like a rag-doll by the girl for approximately thirty seconds he blacked out.

"Master!" Hamako yelled as she showed surprising speed and strength by yanking Naruto away from Tayuya as soon as his eyes rolled back in his head and he started foaming at the mouth, "Why would you do that to him? Do you have any idea what he did to himself today? He was barely able to stand even with my help!"

"Master?" Was the questioning statement that went up unanimously after Hamako spoke, one tone was in curiosity, one tone was in annoyance and anger, and the last was in raw unbridled amusement… accompanied by a short perverted giggle.

Hamako looked at the unresponsive Naruto in her arms before sighing and looking towards Tsunami, "Do you have anywhere I can keep him for the night. I'm afraid with the grievous injuries he had inflicted on his person he will need a few days before he can move safely."

Tsunami nodded, "Yes, we have extra rooms upstairs, it was where we were planning to place everyone else for the night."

Hamako gave a short bow before dragging Naruto up the steps, "Thank you very much."

Kakashi gave her an eye-smile, "He'll be up and about, running amok by tomorrow. Don't worry."

Hamako looked over at him while she was dragging Naruto up the stairs and almost dropped him when she saw him, "White Fang?" She shook her head and continued lugging Naruto up the stairs.

Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow in surprise, 'What did she call me? How would a girl like that even know that name, let alone had an inkling of how to associate me with it? By the way, where did he even find her, and why would she call him master? And why the hell is he so hurt? Just what have you been doing while you were gone Naruto?'

Shikamaru had musings of his own as he watched Naruto get dragged up the stairs but decided to save that for later, "Alright. The troublesome blonde is back, so can we go home soon?"

Tayuya just stared at them going upstairs, "Who the hell is this? And master? What the fuck is going on here?"

Kakashi sighed and put a hand on her shoulder, "There's not much you're going to be getting out of Naruto tonight so you might as well wait for him to wake up before asking anything, however if he refuses to answer that's his business." 'To you all. There are things that I simply have to know about, that wasn't the same sword that he left with either.'

XxX

(The Next Day)

Getting to him however, proved very difficult when Tayuya decided to forego Kakashi's advice to just let the matter sit until the next morning, deciding to wake him up and talk to him right then. As when she reached for the shut door leading to the room that Hamako had taken Naruto into, she found herself unable to make contact without taking a significant jolt before seeing the seal slapped on the front of the door.

Tayuya growled to herself and yelled at Kakashi to get 'Shithead's stupid seal' off of the door. However when Kakashi walked upstairs and looked at the seal on the door all he could say was that Naruto was getting really good with his fuuinjutsu and walked away without even attempting to touch it. This didn't however stop him from walking away and giggling at the thought of what exactly that girl was doing in the room all alone with Naruto.

Inari was absolutely ecstatic at the news of Naruto being in the house and ended up forgoing any warning towards staying away from his room, giving him a nasty little shock when he tried to barge in and see his hero. Needless to say, after that one, no one else tried getting into that room for the rest of the night.

Naruto awoke to the feeling of being snuggly placed in a futon, a good sign of everything being cool. He then remembered what had transpired last night. Maybe he should have said that his body was more brittle than a piece of chalk the second he walked in the door, actually no, that wouldn't have stopped what had happened to him.

Feeling it hard to move, he sighed, "Hamako-chan?"

"*yawn* Yes Naruto-sama?"

"Why are you in the futon with me?" He asked blankly, looking down at the mop of white hair with her arms wrapped around him.

Hamako looked up at him, opening one amber eye, "You were going into shock due to your injuries and exhaustion again master, and I assumed that without your shirt and with you just in those bandages you were cold. I simply decided to comfort you using my body heat."

Naruto nodded, "I see. However, is there any particular reason that you're naked?"

Hamako shrugged, "I felt it would be better if there were no articles of clothing to divert my heat master." Thinking that he somehow took offense to this she frowned at him, "Are you angry with me? I'm sorry if you don't find me attractive enough."

Naruto made to sit up as Hamako allowed him up and covered her chest, "What? No. Hell no, are you kidding me? By the way, what cup size are you for references sake? You can't be anything under a C... nevermind. But you don't have to do this stuff for me. You don't owe me anything, I'm taking you with me because I want you with me. I was never going to just leave you there by yourself, you deserve better after everything that has happened, and seeing as how you're all that's left of my ancestral village and you seem to have a connection with my family I decided on bringing you to Konoha."

Hamako smiled at him as she stood still covering herself, "And that is why I am willing to do these things for you so easily Naruto-sama. I feel that at some point I must tell you about myself in order for you to understand why I feel this way on the subject."

Naruto shook his head at the sound of someone coming towards the door as he smiled at Hamako, "I think that's something that needs to happen at some point. I'd be glad to listen to you when you decide to do so."

"Naruto. Whenever you feel like taking your seal off of the door, breakfast is ready for you and your… friend. *giggles*"

Naruto turned his head from the door where he saw the seal Kakashi was talking about, "You put a seal on the door?"

Hamako shrugged in response, "I didn't want anyone trying to disturb you last night so I put it up."

"Well I guess that's our cue to head on down and grab some chow Hamako-chan." He then raised an eyebrow as he noticed that she was still covering her modesty with not the least bit of embarrassment or anxiety, "We need to get you some damn clothes to wear." He then had another thought, "Why are you not the least bit concerned with the fact that you're sitting in front of me naked?"

Hamako looked at him in a cute clueless manner, "Well I assumed that upon awakening you would feel tempted to take advantage of me in this state, so considering what I had initially anticipated to happen I'm not really bothered in the least if you just look."

Naruto gave her a deadpan look, "So you fully expected me to see you all snuggled up on my chest, both of us in a less than fully clothed state to say the least, and decide to more or less ravage you?" He got a nod in response, "Do I really give off that kind of vibe?"

Hamako smiled, "Not at all master, but you are a teenager that is growing up, and you are my age. It would only be natural of you to see a reason to take advantage of that."

"**Oh yeah. This girl is going to be a lot of fun I can just sense it boy. Good luck with that."** Quipped the Kyuubi amusedly from within Naruto's head.

Naruto kept up his look, "And you seem to be just A-ok with that. I would ask you why, but I'm kind of afraid to know the answer." Naruto groaned as he stood up, not exactly throbbing in pain like he had been not an entire 24 hours prior, but still very stiff, "Okay, change into what I gave you to wear and I'll see if I can't get you any clothes of your own today." Naruto rolled his eyes as Hamako immediately stood up, shedding her only shield to her modesty to acquiesce to his request with not a second thought.

"**Yeah kit I can see it already."** Kyuubi spoke up as Hamako moved to change, **"That little girl is going to have you wrapped around her finger without even knowing she has it, mark my words."**

Naruto felt like disputing, but just could not find it in himself to do so as he found himself staring at Hamako squeeze one of his muscle shirts over her chest, "You know… The part of me that enjoys the fact that I'm watching this right now has to agree with you. Kami, Ero-kyofu and Kakashi-sensei messed me up good didn't they?" Naruto smirked as he watched Hamako attempt to smooth out the shirt, making her assets move in a very noticeable manner, "And I simply just don't care."

XxX

After amusing himself by watching Hamako get dressed, Naruto decided to forgo a shirt and simply walk down stairs in just his bandages and a dark red pair of pants. Hamako had re-bandaged him despite his insistence that he was fine, and the end result ended up with his upper body up to his neck and even his arms looking like he had escaped an attempt at living mummification.

Naruto sat at the table and gave everyone a big, healthy grin as they watched Hamako grab a seat next to him, "Hey there everybody. I can see you all have something to say, so go ahead and say it."

Inari quickly jumped in before anyone could speak or question what he had been doing for the better part of a week, "It's good to see you again Naruto! How have you been?"

Naruto smiled at the ecstatic young boy, "Well I'm glad someone here wants to know how I've been doing just because they missed me!"

Inari grinned at the praise from the scar-faced blonde as everyone else currently in possession of a Konoha headband sweatdropped. Kakashi cleared his throat, "Well be that as it may Naruto, you said you wouldn't be gone any longer than two days."

Naruto gave him a dry stare, "I severely underestimated the lengths that creepy people were willing to go to in order to find me."

Kakashi immediately knew what he meant, "So how did it go?"

Naruto gestured to himself, "I'm still in one piece so that's always good. And I will say that the trip was extremely productive."

Kakashi eye-smiled to him, "I noticed. Now who is this mysterious girl you came here with?"

Naruto looked over at Hamako who bowed to Kakashi, "I'm sorry Hatake-san. My name is Hamako Kiyomizu, I was unaware that Naruto-sama knew Konoha's White Fang. It certainly is a pleasure to meet you."

Kakashi laughed uncomfortably, "Sorry, you've got the wrong guy. I'm his son actually, Kakashi Hatake at your service."

Hamako blushed at the mistake, "I'm so sorry, but you look so much like him even with your face covered the way it is. I couldn't believe that I was in the presence of such a legendary ninja for a moment."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "Did you just call Naruto, –_sama_?"

Hamako looked over at the pineapple haired boy, "That's right. I did. How else am I supposed to show respect for master?"

Naruto face-faulted out of his chair. How did he not remember to tell Hamako to keep all of that –sama stuff and master talk under wraps for the time being? Oh, that's right he was dealing with chakra exhaustion and wounds brought about from battle.

"Master?" Tayuya let out, "Shithead what did you do to get this girl to call you master? Actually, why the hell do you even have a girl following you anyway? You sure didn't leave Kiri with her."

Naruto pulled himself off of the floor and returned to his seat next to Hamako, "It is a long story filled with lots and lots of personal things that are inconsequential to all of you with the exception of Kakashi, and that's because he was the one to let me go in the first place, therefore he's the only one getting the scoop on that. I'll tell you later Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi nodded in acceptance, there were just some things that most people didn't need to know, he understood that much. Shikamaru groaned, "So you disappear at the random for a week, show back up in Nami no Kuni for Kami knows what reason, you come back all bandaged like it's normal, and you're not even going to tell us why?"

"Yep." Naruto said without a trace of guilt or shame in the matter, "It's not like you guys lost a pound of flesh following me or something. The only one I owe an explanation to is Kakashi, because he was the one that put himself on the firing line and let me go. If I hadn't come back do you realize how screwed he would be? That walk back to Konoha would be like him heading to the gallows." Kakashi flinched and nodded, he might as well have gone missing-nin if he didn't come back with Naruto, especially after explaining to Tsunade and Jiraiya when he disappeared and how... suicidal to say the very least.

"Why?" Shikamaru asked. It was strange that Kakashi would flinch like that at the thought of him losing Naruto. Naruto was strong, very strong, but he was just a chunin. Kakashi was a jounin of perhaps the highest feasible caliber with the most vaunted doujutsu kekkei genkai in Konoha's history.

For Naruto to say something like that and for Kakashi to actually make a motion that supported his words was something that registered looking into, but he wasn't going to be getting anything from Naruto since the boy wasn't very vocal on a lot of the things he was doing professionally these days. Hell, these days no one other than the Hokage herself even knew how to find him other than leaving him messages at home for the longest time until it was discovered that he trained by tearing the Forest of Death asunder.

Naruto leveled his gaze coolly at Shikamaru, "You really don't want to know that right now Shikamaru, I can guarantee that you would find it troublesome to say the very least."

Tayuya scoffed, "Well fine then Mr. Secret. At least tell us where you got her." She said, pointing at Hamako, "Why did you bring her here? Does she live around here or something?"

Naruto looked at Hamako who nodded, "Well, no. I found here while I was off doing what it was that Kakashi let me leave to go do." He gave a meaningful look to Kakashi, "I found her, she was the only one left Kakashi-sensei and if not for my certain bad luck with a few red clouds I wouldn't have even found her, or anything, so that's a good thing at least." He locked his eyes with Tayuya, "And she's coming back to Konoha. With me." He said in a low growl, as if daring anyone to even attempt to call him on it.

Kakashi nodded, "Of course Naruto, but how are you going to support yourself and her on a chunin's regular salary for missions?"

Naruto smirked, "You wouldn't happen to have a copy of the bingo book on you would you?" Kakashi nodded and passed it to Naruto who had his eyes widen to a comical margin when he found what he was looking for, "Yeah… I'm absolutely sure that I can support myself and Hamako-chan on my current wages. Don't worry about that."

"Why?" Kakashi asked. He knew that Naruto was well aware of what it took to feed himself and keep himself comfortable, now he had to multiply that by at least two now.

Naruto passed the book back to Kakashi, "You'll find out that later too." He looked at his commander, "So when do you think we'll be heading back to Konoha, since I'm positive that I've pretty much missed the entire mission in Kiri."

Kakashi placed the book back into one of his vest pockets, "Well since you're back to full, or as full as you need to be, health we can head back today if you want."

Naruto nodded, "That sounds alright. I need to go get Hamako-chan some clothes first, because she cannot keep wearing my clothes up and down the road." 'No matter how good she makes them look.' He added mentally.

Tayuya stared at Naruto and spoke far too calmly for his tastes, "And why on earth would she be needing to wear your clothes in the first place?"

Before Naruto could think of a brilliant and believable way out of this situation, Hamako chose to answer, "Because when master found me I had no clothing of my own."

Naruto's eyes bulged in horror as he saw the calm expression on Tayuya's face as an ill omen. It didn't help that he could see tick marks starting to form. Looking at Shikamaru he was trying to avert his gaze from Hamako, who was still wearing Naruto's much too tight shirt. Kakashi simply gave Naruto a thumbs up complete with an eye-smile, "You work fast Naruto."

Naruto simply turned and looked at Hamako before grabbing her and disappearing in a shunshin behind Inari, snatching him up also, "Well it looks like Inari needs to help me find somewhere to get stuff for Hamako-chan! Later you guys!" He then vanished in another shunshin, leaving all of the others sitting there in silence.

Tazuna, who had stumbled downstairs sometime during Naruto's explanation looked at everyone else in confusion, "Why is everyone just sitting there?"

Kakashi shrugged and pulled out his Icha-Icha, "He's already going to tell me everything I want to know later. I'm good as far as that's concerned." He felt the glare of Tsunami on him and sighed, "Inari's not here right now, can I at least read it until Naruto brings him back?"

Shikamaru stood up and walked off, "Chasing him now would be too much work to deal with. I'll worry about things later." He headed out the front door, "I'll be on the roof getting some sleep."

All eyes panned over to Tayuya who still had her uncharacteristically calm face on, getting even Kakashi to look at her in concern. She simply stood up and walked upstairs, "There's no reason for me to try chasing him now just to yell at him when I live right next door to him in the first place. I've already waited a week, I'm sure I can wait another day or two to tear him apart. And the more time that passes until then, the more ammunition he's building up for me."

XxX

(Two Days Later – Konohagakure no Sato)

The group had set out from Nami no Kuni and moved at an incredibly brisk pace even by shinobi standards to reach Konoha, mostly because they were being headed by a jounin in Kakashi and the everlasting stamina lunatic that answered to the name of Naruto. Naruto carried Hamako the entire way due to the fact that she wasn't nearly as fast as the rest of them were, with her not being a ninja and all, and was still cutting a pace that kept him in step with Kakashi.

Speaking of Hamako, Naruto had enlisted the services of Inari to find a suitable clothing store for his new female attachment. She still had her hair up in her twin pig-tails that went down her back past her shoulders with the bangs that shaded part of her eyes from clear view, but she now wore tight black shorts that came to her thigh, a white, long-sleeved kimono top that stopped at her waistline, the belt of which was white as well, and a white pair of high-heeled sandals. The kimono top had light blue ornate designs of waves all over it. Naruto had instructed her to pick out whatever she liked, as he assured her that he would have absolutely no problem footing the bill… he then rubbed his hands together and chuckled conspiratorially, making Inari back away slightly.

Hamako had mostly spoken only to Naruto throughout the entire trip, with him trying to get her used to what to expect upon arrival in Konoha, and asking her about what he could do to make her comfortable once she started living with him, since letting a girl that had never lived alone live in a foreign village at least twenty years after her time by herself was an absolutely horrible idea. That and Hamako insisted on staying close to him anyway.

Upon reaching the village they all headed straight to the Hokage Tower to debrief. They all stood at attention while Kakashi gave the 'official' mission parameters, and upon being excused by Tsunade the two other chunin walked out of the office while Naruto left in a shunshin. After a few moments to make sure that Shikamaru and Tayuya had left the building, Tsunade slid the window open where she found quite an amusing sight; Naruto and Jiraiya standing on the same ledge under the window glaring at each other.

Both were crouched with Jiraiya still towering over him, "What do you think you're doing gaki at my entrance?"

Naruto glared up at him, "About to head back inside of Tsunade-baachan's office the fun way. What does it matter to you Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya humphed and turned his nose up, "Tsunade-hime would only let me enter her office this way. Why would she let a brat like you do it?" He looked back at Naruto to see he was no longer standing there, "Where did he go?"

"She lets me do it because she loves me. That and the fact that I hit Gamabunta up on a regular basis to get sake for her." Naruto said, standing in front of Tsunade as they both looked down at Jiraiya from inside the office.

Tsunade ruffled Naruto's hair, "Such a good little chunin aren't you?"

"Yes Tsunade-sama!" Naruto chirped happily, "You still got the shipment when I was gone didn't you?" Tsunade nodded, "And Shizune-neechan didn't take it from you?" Another nod, "Excellent."

Jiraiya stared with his mouth agape while Tsunade and Naruto both had looks of amusement on their faces, "And since you have such a problem with the brat using what you like to call 'your entrance' you can take the long way around." She said happily before slamming the window shut as he leapt for it in an attempt to enter the way he had gotten accustomed to doing.

Jiraiya pawed at the window like a puppy before frowning and jumping off the ledge. Roughly one minute later he entered the office through the door, glaring at Naruto and Tsunade who were both grinning next to one another. He took his usual spot, leaning on the wall by Tsunade's desk as he noticed the extra person in the room, sitting patiently with a small, pleasant smile on her face, "Hey, who's the girl?"

Tsunade looked to Naruto, as did Kakashi as Naruto hadn't really told him anything yet, asking to wait until they all got home so that he didn't have to repeat himself. Naruto motioned for her to come over to him, which she did and he showed her off to everyone in the room, "This is Hamako Kiyomizu… and seal the room off and get your Anbu out of here before I go any further."

Tsunade looked at Hamako curiously, "Is this that big of a deal?"

Naruto shrugged, "It could be, it's all a matter of your personal opinion, but do you really want to risk it?"

Tsunade frowned, but nodded and made a motion as the aura of the room changed, signifying that her guards had left. Naruto felt comfortable with continuing at this point, "I found her in Uzushiogakure."

Jiraiya gave him an odd look, "Why did you go there? How did you even know about that place? How did you even get there?"

Naruto gave Jiraiya a straightforward look, "I know a lot of things I shouldn't. You should know this by now Ero-kyofu. By the way, speaking of knowing things, I think Kakashi-sensei should know _everything_ at this point, but that's neither here nor there. Kakashi-sensei let me go once we got to Kiri seeing as how it was just a reconnaissance mission and I had asked to go to Uzu to see if there was anything there for me. And there was… there was a lot of stuff there actually."

Naruto pulled a scroll from his pocket and placed it on the table, "I found quite a few things there. Mostly things about fuuinjutsu that I hope to put into practice soon, as well as the sword strapped to my back. It's a good thing I found it too, since my other one was broken during my fight with Akatsuki."

Jiraiya's eyes widened, "You fought Akatsuki? Was it Itachi and Kisame again?" Naruto shook his head no, "Thank Kami then… because I was about to ask you how the hell you survived that on your own if that were the case."

Naruto sighed, feeling some phantom pains thinking of the entire situation again, "It wasn't them, but damn if it wasn't still a violent fight." Naruto wanted to give Sai some credit since he was the one that chased off Deidara, but he couldn't really do so without blowing both of their cover, "I ended up getting beaten the first time they found me after a day of dealing with the traps and other obstacles left all over the place. I was forced into a whirlpool that thankfully led to a series of underground passages where I found her." He ended pointing to Hamako, "She was frozen in some kind of sealed off room in the vault I found."

"How long was she frozen?" Kakashi asked as he was interested in the story at hand, "She doesn't look any older than you Naruto."

Naruto nodded, "I know, she was frozen when she was 14. That was during the fall of Uzushiogakure, she's the only one left. It's been at least 20 years since she was placed there. Apparently she's a level nine seal master… better than you Ero-kyofu."

"Actually." Hamako cut in, "I was ranked level nine, but I was never able to take my promotional test so I don't know what level I'm really at now."

Jiraiya looked at Hamako in disbelief, "You're seriously saying that this little girl is better than me at fuuinjutsu? You need to come up with better stories for your girlfriend gaki."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "First of all, she's not my girlfriend you ass. Second of all, She is that good. She made a seal that animated a statue and made it a chakra-blocking killing machine that almost took me out twice. In addition to that she basically ran down my seal making skills to the letter, pointed out every flaw in one of my best creations, and did other things that Ero-kyofu could have never come up with on the spot. She doesn't even need any guide points, she can just scratch something up just like that, she's faster than he is as making them too."

Hamako blushed when all eyes turned to her, "You don't have to put me over like that Naruto-sama…" She then straightened up and regained her composure, "But master is right. I did say that I would work with him on his fuuinjutsu. I cannot allow a known Uzumaki to exist that is any less than my equal at the art."

Kakashi interjected, "So enlighten me Naruto, because I seem to have missed the reason that she calls you –sama and master with no trouble whatsoever."

Hamako shrugged, "Because Naruto-sama is my master." She said as if that answered his question.

Tsunade sighed, "Brat, there had better be a damn good reason that you've got this girl calling you master as if she were obligated to do so."

Naruto backed up a few steps as he saw her hand twitch as if it were going to creep towards the bane of Naruto's office existence, the paperweight, "I tried to get her to stop ever since she first started doing it, I tried telling her that she didn't need to call me that stuff, but she insists on it, and all she ever says is that how else is she to show her respect to me. I just got tired of trying to get her to stop and decided to flow with it."

Hamako frowned, "Naruto-sama is the only Uzumaki left alive apparently. I pledged my life to the service of the Uzumaki Clan after they rescued me and gave me a purpose, therefore he is my master and I will do whatever he commands of me."

Jiraiya's eyes widened and he slowly pulled out a pad and pen, "Go on…" He clicked his pen open.

Hamako was oblivious to Jiraiya's current actions, therefore she did as asked, "I am there for whatever master requires of me. Anything that he desires that is in my power to provide for him he should consider done. I am his to command for his every whim." While she spoke, Jiraiya was scribbling rapidly in his pad.

Jiraiya was perusing over his notes with a lecherous grin on his face, "Well I see absolutely no problems with this set up as long as the gaki knows what he's doing."

A roll of the eyes from his apprentice was the reaction received, "You wouldn't would you? I'm not going to make Hamako-chan do anything she doesn't want to do, but she will be living with me. I think I can get her assimilated quicker to the way things are if she was with me."

Tsunade agreed with him, "Very well. I'll have her entered as a citizen of Konoha when I get the chance. Does she wish to be a ninja?"

Naruto shook his head, "Hamako-chan isn't a ninja, she's just damnably good at fuuinjutsu."

Hamako nodded in agreement, "Naruto-sama is correct. I was instructed from the earliest time I was able in fuuinjutsu. I was unable to become a shinobi of Uzushiogakure, but I still found ways to be useful, I hope for the same here as well."

Tsunade gave the girl a smile before turning her attention to the scroll Naruto dropped on her desk, "So I assume that this is full of the other things that you found on your excursion."

Naruto smirked, "Not really, I still have those things with me since no one but an Uzumaki can even open or read them. This is something else though. You might really like what it is, it might make one of our treaties even stronger after all of the tumultuous stuff that it went through over the last year."

Tsunade opened the scroll only to widen her eyes as a pile of broken pieces of… something fell out. She saw a head and turned it towards her before hearing Jiraiya gasp. He had a discarded piece with the emblem of a scorpion on it, "This is the insignia of Akasuna no Sasori. Kid are you telling me you were able to capture one of his puppets?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, this is Sasori himself, or what's left of Sasori. He turned his body into a puppet. I think I destroyed his heart or something when I finished him off because that was the only time he bled during the entire fight and man did he bleed when I hit it." His eyes turned to Tsunade with a shine, "So when can I expect my money for the kill?"

Tsunade smiled at Naruto, "I'll dispatch a hawk to Suna when we're done here telling them that you've defeated Sasori. Good going brat, how did you pull it off?"

Kakashi walked up to Naruto and planted a hand on his shoulder, "Yeah I'm actually very interested in that too."

Naruto shrugged, "Well most of the things he had were intended to poison me. I'm immune to pretty much everything ever conceived in that department so he couldn't finish me. He only had one thing with the potential to really finish me off and when I disabled that it turned into a battle of attrition, and I never lose when it factors down to that." He adjusted the sword on his back, "Another member of Akatsuki is some guy named Deidara. I wasn't able to finish him, he got away, but at least you know another one of them now, so you have four confirmed members and one of them is dead."

Jiraiya planted a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "That's some good work Naruto. You're really coming along these days aren't you?"

Naruto grinned up at the man, "Yep, and after what Kakashi told me I know what I'm doing next."

Kakashi blinked, "What would that be Naruto?"

Naruto channeled some wind chakra into his hand, "I'm going to learn how to mix elemental chakra with the Rasengan and see what I can do from there, and the best part is…" He lifted his other hand as lightning began to crackle around it, "I have two to work with now."

Kakashi's eyes widened, "How did you get another affinity Naruto?"

Naruto let the chakra around his hands drop, "I use a lot of lightning ninjutsu to go along with my wind. You would think that I would suck at lightning stuff because it's weak against my main affinity, but I use it so much I developed a second affinity. That's always fun isn't it? Now I have to do the exercises for this too, I hope nothing as serious splitting a waterfall is necessary for it."

"Naruto-sama may not be very good at fuuinjutsu but he is very strong." Hamako mumbled with a smile on her face, "I have a question that I hope I am permitted to ask you master."

Naruto gave the white-haired girl a smile, "Sure thing Hamako-chan, you can ask me anything that you want."

Hamako nodded and walked over to Naruto, placing her hands on his belly and pulling up his shirt, "I was under the impression that you weren't very adept at sealing, so why is there such a powerful one on you? How did you come up with it, and why is it there? It looks like it was meant to hold something back, does it hold back a bulk of your chakra or something." She said as she forced Naruto's seal to appear by channeling her own chakra around it.

All of the adults in the room had their faces darken at the thought of Hamako finding out about the Kyuubi, but Naruto just kept smiling, "Tell me. If you found out what was inside me wasn't exactly normal would you think any lesser of me Hamako-chan?"

Hamako looked up at him inquisitively, "No I can't say that I would master. I know full well what fuuinjutsu is capable of holding back and the power of seals, if there is something this strong on you there is no way that what it holds back is 'normal' by any stretch of the imagination."

Naruto nodded and looked at Jiraiya, "I told you she was good." He looked back down at Hamako who was poking at his stomach and staring intently at the seal, "When did you find out about it, because you seem like you wanted to ask about it for a while."

Hamako looked up at him and stood back up, "I saw it when I was bandaging you up on the way to your meeting place with Kakashi-san. There was some kind of red glow coming from it, but you were slipping in and out of consciousness so I couldn't ask you about it."

Naruto kept smiling to her, "So Hamako-chan I just have to say, what do you know about the word 'jinchuuriki'?"

Hamako blinked, "You mean like Mito-sama."

Naruto sighed, "Again with that name. Mito-sama, and you say that I'm related to her or something, and what does she have to do with being a jinchuuriki?"

"You don't know this either? Do you know anything about your clan master?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nope, no one ever told me anything about them, I just figured it was a simple family name or something that I was stuck with in the orphanage at first, I didn't even know I had a clan."

"Mito was my grandmother." Tsunade said while looking at Naruto, "She was the wife of the Shodaime Hokage."

Hamako looked around the room and realized that Jiraiya and Tsunade were there, "You sure do know some powerful people master."

"Tell me about it…" He said, "But what about Mito? How does she fit in with the term jinchuuriki?"

Hamako lifted Naruto's shirt once more to look at his seal, "That's easy. She was one. The container of the Kyuubi no Yoko."

Naruto palmed his face, "So I not only am related to the Yondaime Hokage, had a clan of my own that more or less ran an entire hidden village, and am the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, I'm related to the first Kyuubi jinchuuriki who just so happened to be the Shodaime's wife. And I'm sure at least one of you knew it too…" 'Man, Danzo-jiji has no idea how right his idea was to make me go after Hokage… This pedigree of mine is ridiculous.' Naruto then looked at Tsunade and pointed at her, "Wait… so that technically does make you my _actual_ baa-chan on some level doesn't it? So I can really call you Tsunade-baachan now and you can't say jack about it!"

Tsunade looked at Naruto with a tick mark on her head, "You're so lucky we're supposed to be family brat."

"Love you too Tsunade-baachan!" Naruto ducked a paperweight, "Ha! You've got to do something better than that!" Naruto got drilled in the side of the head with one of Tsunade's heels, "Gah! Who throws a shoe? Honestly!"

He rubbed his head and looked back at Hamako, "Well I asked you all of this because I'm the Kyuubi jinchuuriki now." His eyes met hers as she looked at him in shock, "I know it's a lot to take in, but if you have any problems with it you don't have to live with me." Naruto then blinked in surprise, "Um, Hamako-chan?"

Hamako's eyes shined as she prodded and poked at the seal on Naruto's belly, "You're a walking example of the most powerful fuuinjutsu known to man! That is so amazing master!"

Jiraiya looked at the girl in amazement, "So you're not concerned by this in any way?"

Hamako didn't even look up, "Of course not. Master is just master, he just has a demon sealed inside of him, and pretty well too if this is any indicator. It makes sense though, that power that you were supposed to be using when you fought those ninja that attacked us felt malevolent."

Naruto smiled at how easily his new guest was taking his secret. He looked up at everyone else, "Anyway I've been thinking. Maybe you should just come out with it and tell everyone about the Kyuubi."

Tsunade gave him a strange look, "Why on earth would you want that?"

Naruto smirked and let out a small laugh as Hamako kept poking at him, "Because it's getting obnoxious to keep a secret, and it's a bad secret at that. Everybody knows except for the kids, and if there's one thing I hate it's badly kept secrets. You might as well just let people talk about it at this point."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto somewhat proudly, he was taking his burden head-on and just pressing the issue on it instead of trying to sweep it away. It was common knowledge that for those that didn't know Naruto but knew of him that the Kyuubi would always be the proverbial elephant in the room, "What about the haters kid?"

Naruto scoffed, "If anyone has any problems with it I can keep myself safe at this point. If any of the people my age have a problem with it they obviously don't care or know me enough to tell the difference between me and a demon, and anyone that has enough of a problem to actually try something should have done it when I could barely fight back, I just killed an S-ranked missing ninja by myself, let that little bit of info fly when you tell the village and see if anyone is still stupid enough to try anything on me. They couldn't get into my house anyway after Hamako-chan helps me set up the security seals."

Kakashi looked over the blonde who had a confident look on his face and a white-haired girl still messing around with his abdomen, "Well it's your secret to tell I guess. It would make at least one less secret the village has to keep anyway."

Naruto nodded in agreement, "Yeah, and when Akatsuki tries something on me the village will at least know why I'm tearing it apart fighting in the middle of it instead of just being confused about it."

Tsunade smirked, "Well that's all I need from you right now then Naruto. Take your friend here and get her settled in, I'll get you later if I need either of you for anything."

Naruto nodded, "Come on Hamako-chan." He said, pulling her up from poking at his stomach, "You can gawk at the seal later, it's time to show you around before I show you where I live." Hamako blushed at being caught at so unabashedly perusing Naruto's seal… in public. Naruto picked her up piggyback, ignoring her 'eep' in surprise and walked over to the window, tossing a salute over his shoulder before opening it and jumping out of it.

XxX

After a few hours of showing Hamako around he finally decided to take her home so that he could figure out how all of this was going to work until he got his money for Sasori's bounty. Naruto opened the door to his apartment, thankful that he hadn't gotten into the habit of trashing the place as he never really spent too much time there anyway as he clicked the light on.

Hamako walked in behind him, "Master why is it that there were so many people looking at us strangely?"

Naruto shrugged as he made his way around his apartment, "Oh, well most people don't really like jinchuuriki much at all and a lot of people think I'm the demon reincarnated or something stupid like that."

Hamako sat down on Naruto's couch, "Well that's dumb. No one ever thought of Mito-sama like that."

Naruto made a noise of affirmation as he walked back towards his room and started picking stuff up, "Well she was the wife of the Hokage. If I were him I wouldn't have tolerated any crap like that and would have lopped off a few heads if they tried anything against my wife." He sighed and made his way back towards the main room, "Well I only have the one bed Hamako-chan, you can have that until I get paid for the mission and my bounty and can go get something for you too. I'm thinking of moving out too, and since I have you too that might be the best course of action in this case."

KNOCK KNOCK

"*sigh* Come in Tayuya-chan." Naruto said as he headed into his kitchen to see if he had any food that was still good to eat for him and Hamako.

Tayuya walked inside and saw Hamako sitting in one of the couches before turning her head at the sound of Naruto digging through his cabinets. She simply leaned against the door and waited a few moments before speaking, "So where did you go?"

Naruto didn't turn around, "Uzushiogakure? Ever heard of it?"

Tayuya kept looking at him, "No I haven't. Why did you go?"

"Family stuff. As in actually wanting to find out something about them." Naruto went through his refridgerator, cursing to himself about having nothing for Hamako, "Hamako-chan you don't seem to be much of a fan of ramen so I guess that the rest of my money will have to be on 'real food' until I get paid. What do you like?"

Hamako sat and thought about it while Tayuya was in disbelief over how easily he was telling her these things, "Why are you telling me this now when you didn't say anything when you left?"

Naruto grunted as he grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge and shut it, "Because you didn't need to know. You actually still don't need to know, I'm just telling you this because Hamako-chan is going to live with me and you at least need to know where she came from."

"She's going to live with you?" Tayuya asked incredulously, "Why?"

Naruto walked back into the main room and sat down next to Hamako on the couch, "Because she's from twenty years in the past and she has no idea how this world will operate. Not only that, but she insists on serving my clan and I'm not going to sit here and tell her she can't do the only thing she's ever wanted to do. I can't get her off of that kick so I'm going to help her with it anyway I can. Maybe I can help her find something else she wants to do."

She looked at Hamako who looked back at her with amber eyes, "She's from twenty years in the past?"

Hamako nodded, "I was frozen and preserved. Sealing is a very powerful art."

Tayuya sighed, "Alright I'll try and get used to it." She then sharpened her eyes at Naruto, "But you'd better not do anything perverted with her and take advantage of her."

Naruto smirked and pulled Hamako into a hug, "Why Tayuya-chan? Would you like me all to yourself?" Tayuya sputtered indignantly, "I'll give Hamako-chan whatever she wants, and if what she wants just so happens to be me, who am I to turn her down? If you want me instead all you have to do is ask, I _can_ make Kage Bunshin you know. There's certainly more than enough of me to go around!"

Tayuya blushed at the thought before Naruto reappeared at her side and whispered into her ear, "I warm up at making 100 you know." And that was all it took for Tayuya to black out with a nosebleed. Naruto caught Tayuya bridal style and looked up at Hamako, "Well that was certainly easy enough wasn't it? And I didn't even get beat up or bitched out or anything. I'm going to put her in her apartment and then we're going to get some food Hamako-chan because what I've got in here will just piss you off."

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**Not much ado about this chapter. Just a transitional chapter if I had to label it as anything, mostly to introduce the base of the character of Hamako, the OC. Well, I'm tired and sore and injured, so I'll be sleeping now. Enjoy your Saturday afternoon/night and hopefully I brought some sunshine to it, and if not too bad, you must just be very depressed and I'm not sure I can help you because I can barely help myself right now.**

**P.S. Staph infection sucks! If you grapple or fight, please make sure that you are not some swamp creature and are adequately hygienic when you show up at the gym to train as common courtesy, because if me or anyone else I know have to fight you and I catch staph from you I will kill you with my bare hands when I recover goddamn it! My BARE HANDS! And I will have plenty of chances too depending on the nature of what I am doing at the time. Training accident anyone? "I'm sorry I didn't know he was tapping out, I wasn't sure my choke was working because he stopped moving."**

**That is all… you have been warned.**

**Kenchi out.**


	27. Where the Big Boys Play

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am currently in the possession of staph infection however. Hey Kishimoto… I'll trade you.

**Chapter 26: Where the Big Boys Play**

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(Five Months Later – Undisclosed Location in general area between Tsuchi no Kuni, aka. Land of Earth and Yama no Kuni, aka. Land of Mountains)

Naruto had his eyes closed with his sword in his lap inside of a small fissure on the side of a cliff as he caught a wink of sleep before the tough part of his current mission kicked up once more. As he heard the muffled, footsteps of his comrade enter the vicinity he let out a small sigh and started rebooting his mind to prepare for work. His hair had grown out quite a bit during his long time away from home, allowing it to trail down his neck and he was now wearing the gear he had purchased in Kumo. The sleeveless dark gray hooded vest, the black pants, the black bracers on his forearms, and his black shinobi sandals. He had grown about three inches over the past few months out and about.

As a man in a cat patterned mask entered the cave he looked Naruto over, "You're already awake. That's good. It's time to get to work kid."

Naruto chuckled, "No time for real rest, huh Tenzo?"

Tenzo sighed and pulled the mask off of his face to reveal a man with short brown hair, black eyes, and a mask-style hitae-ate in the fashion of the Nidaime Hokage, "Use the code name for the love of Kami Naruto."

Naruto put his hands up defensively, "We're in a cave, 1200 feet off of the ground, 450 more feet to the peak of the mountain. Anyone that actually hears your name is going to be dead in a few minutes anyway and if a patrol actually came all the way out here away from the base they are either completely stupid, or the others didn't do as good as they thought covering their tracks when they went and did reconnaissance, so either way, you're good."

Tenzo stared at Naruto for a moment with his eye twitching, "Lack of respect for protocol aside, you've done very well on this assignment. You're not half bad at this stuff. Who knew a fourteen year old kid was this good at sacking bases. I thought Hokage-sama was insane when she stuck you with my squad but you are damn efficient at this."

Naruto shrugged, "Just because I have a ton of chakra doesn't mean I can't operate without it. I like this kind of stuff. Though that base in Umi no Kuni was a pain in the ass with that scientist and all. Good thing you were there when it started falling apart. That sea monster thing was annoying."

Tenzo laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "It was pure water. I could control it and bend it to my will, not really a good move on that Amachi guy's part. Anko really didn't take too kindly to the way he played with that girl's head there either. I almost felt sorry for the bastard… almost."

Naruto slung his sword over his back, "And that's why we sent her and that Isaribi girl back to Konoha afterwards. Because we couldn't let her keep doing this crap if that was how she was going to react when we actually caught somebody that was willing to go down without fighting to the death. Alright, who's going with me on this one? Is Yugao heading in with me?"

Tenzo patted the boy on the shoulder, "You're going in alone on this one. If you get caught they're going to swarm and head outside. Only the best will stay inside at that point and from there if it requires it you can cut loose with the Kyuubi's chakra. I mean really cut loose, like go as hard with it as you can, that's why I'm here remember?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, about that. Why do you insisting that I keep going full blast with Kyuubi's chakra? I mean, it is really good practice without freaking anybody at home out, but won't people be able to tell that Konoha did this when they feel my chakra being left over afterwards, or can your Mokuton handle that too?"

"As long as you don't turn the place into a smoldering two mile in circumference crater we should be good." Tenzo admitted, "Although we were supposed to do that anyway, but not with demonic chakra, or alerting anyone that needs to stay alive to our presence. Both of which you using every bit of demonic chakra you can pump out would cause."

Naruto stood and dusted himself off before doing some light stretching, "So how am I doing this? Am I going in loud or am I doing this on the sly? Because the last loud one ended up almost being a clusterfuck."

"Quietly." Tenzo said, "You pretty much have the general layout of all of Orochimaru's bases mapped out in your head, so anyone else going in wouldn't have the advantage of staying under the radar like you."

Naruto took off his hitae-ate and placed it in a pocket before pulling his hair into a ponytail and pulling his hood over his head, "If you've seen one of Orochimaru's bases you've seen them all. The man has next to no imagination for this kind of thing. I swear they all have the same basic layout. Once you get past the creepiness of them they get kind of monotonous."

Tenzo placed his own mask back on, "Alright are you prepared to go?" He got a nod from Naruto, "Well then get started and stay low profile. No ninjutsu, and as little chakra use as possible. Set the charges underground to coincide with the ones aboveground and get your ass out of there."

Naruto saluted Tenzo, "Hai Buntaichou." With that, Naruto left the cave and started scaling the cliff-face with chakra on his feet as the sun began to set. This was what he had been waiting for so long for. Tsunade had finally given him a mission that was right up his alley, and though he was out of practice when he started he fell back into the swing of things quickly.

_(Flashback – 5 Months Prior)_

"_You're kidding right Tsunade-baachan? She's kidding right Shizune-neechan?" Naruto asked in an unbelieving fashion, "You're seriously jerking my chain right about now aren't you? I didn't think you would ever send me out on something like this ever again. You're actually going to send me on a real A-ranked mission? Where I'm actually going to fight?"_

_Tsunade stared Naruto down, "You were recommended for Anbu by Genma Shiranui, and even Kakashi has said that seeing what you can do in the group could be worth looking into. This is the perfect opportunity to see what you've got brat, even if you're not technically one of them at this point in time. Any objections?"_

_Naruto thought for a moment before shaking his head, "No, not really, but can you do some stuff for me while I'm gone?"_

_Tsunade thought about it, "What do you need?"_

_Naruto smiled, "First, take care of Hamako for me. She should be just fine, she lined the apartment with seals so she should be secure, but she might get lonely. Just keep her busy, she can make all kinds of stuff for you, just give her some specs on what you want in a seal and she'll pull something together for you. Second, get rid of that law for the Kyuubi. If people want to talk about it, go ahead and let them, let people form whatever opinion they want on the matter, I'll just have to change it for them later. Or kill them for being stupid and trying to hurt me, whatever comes first."_

_Tsunade sweatdropped at the casual tone but gave in and agreed to the second request, "Sure, now about your mission. You will be finally using that little spiky blonde noggin full of Orochimaru's secrets for us. What do you have from memory?"_

_Naruto sat down, tapping his chin before Shizune placed a sheet of paper and a pen in front of him, "Time has pretty much taken a sledgehammer to the minute details, but other than the unholy garbage I have on the Cursed Seal I have a few of his lieutenants' names and the coordinates of a few bases spread out all over the place. That man really got around." He said as he wrote out some of what he knew on the paper provided._

_Tsunade waited for him to finish before taking and reading what he had down, "This isn't bad at all. It's definitely more information than anyone else had been able to scrounge up on Orochimaru's workings for years before this. It's definitely settled then. You will be accompanying a contingent of Anbu on search and destroy missions against the bases you've just listed for us."_

_Naruto had to grin at that, "Finally." He mumbled out, "Are you going to promote me now or what?"_

_Tsunade lowered the paper and frowned at him, "Maybe. We'll see when you get back. I'll summon you in a few days to get your full briefing for the mission. Tell no one what exactly you're doing. I'm sure you know this."_

_Naruto had a question, "What about my money? It's been two weeks and I never got my money for Sasori."_

_Tsunade rubbed her temple, "Since he turned his body into a puppet there was no biological evidence of it being Sasori himself despite his signature poison coating the weapons you sent."_

_Naruto blinked, "You need DNA? Why didn't you say so? I kept the tatters of the shirt I used when I fought him, it has his blood from my final attack all over it. I'll send it right to you before I set out on this trip. I want my money, Suna's not shafting me on this one."_

_Tsunade sent a look to Shizune who nodded and left the room, probably to prepare correspondence to Kaze no Kuni. She then returned her attention to Naruto, "I'll handle it if you get me the DNA. Now get rested and ready for the mission. No training, and get your affairs in order before you leave. This one's going to be a long one." _

"_Understood Tsunade-sama. Consider the bases raided and sacked." Naruto saluted her and exited through the window._

(End Flashback)

Night had fallen as Naruto made his way further in from the edge of the cliff he had just scaled and eventually came upon a seemingly normal looking fracture in the rock wall, 'Pretty normal looking cave entrance. The man can certainly disguise his bases when he wants to.' The opening seemed unguarded, but Naruto knew far better than that. This base was still active, that meant that there was a guard or two somewhere within easy sight of the entrance.

Naruto simply stood still and decided now was the time to use one of his 'natural' advantages, 'Hey Kyuubi, can you help me point out any sentries posted out here. I know they're here, I just don't really know where, and attacking one without having a bead on the other could blow my stealth before I even start the mission.'

He waited for a moment for a reply before receiving one, **"There is one currently using Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Earth Release: Hidden Mole Jutsu)** **about ten feet in front of the hole in the wall. There is another just inside the entrance, right out of your or anyone else's line of sight."**

Naruto looked along the ground for a sign of jutsu use before acknowledging Kyuubi's assistance, 'Thanks a million. Alright he's close enough to the surface so that he can sense the movements of intruders, that means I can use a move to get to him, but I have to somehow get the other guy first, or else he'll get wise to something strange happening and alert the rest of the base to my presence.' Naruto was incredibly grateful for the new moon being on this night as it left him with the perfect lack of visibility for him to pull this maneuver off.

Naruto created a Kage Bunshin and henged it into a spider before pulling out a spool of ninja wire. Naruto's spider clone took the end of the wire and walked off towards the cave, the underground sentry either not noticing or acknowledging the presence of the spider. As it entered the cave and saw the Oto shinobi posted to stand watch it moved up the wall closest to him before jumping off onto him and gently walking around the man's shoulder area twice, leaving slack to ensure that the wire would go unnoticed. Luckily there was no need for the spider clone to transform back as it found a recess in the wall that it could fit its body into and hold the ninja wire. Upon getting the wire fully situated and steadied it dispelled.

Upon getting the mental cue from his clone, Naruto pulled on his end of the wire as hard as he could, feeling the steel wire tighten and run into something, the guard's throat. Naruto kept pulling until he felt the wire give a tug back, signifying that the body of his target had expired. Dropping the wire from his hands he then picked up a stone before tossing it directly into the mouth of the cave. The underground sentry feeling the vibration, jumped out of hiding and looked inside the cave, unknowingly turning his back on the direct location of Naruto who then proceeded to bury a kunai into the back of his head/neck from thirty yards out.

Naruto ran from his hiding place and pulled the kunai from the back of the man's head before holstering it and making a Kage Bunshin to clean up his mess outside while he continued on in with his mission.

Getting through Orochimaru's underground designed bases was a simple game of 'What Deadly Trap Goes Here?' The first hallway, uninhabited, which meant, avoid the pressure plates that would drop the floor out from beneath you in a flash, dropping you into a pungi pit. An easy solution to this, run along the wall. Avoid the tripwires that were set up down the long staircase leading deeper into base that would end up with poison gas secreting from the walls and saturating the area.

The second branching corridor, Naruto proceeded to take a left, hoping that he was right in remembering that the first right turn in the original Oto base that he infiltrated lead directly to the barracks… not exactly the most fun start to a mission if he could accurately recall. Before leaving however, he stuck a charge on the ceiling of the exact spot where the three paths met, using the low light of the base to hide it. Orochimaru really needed to invest in some lighting in his bases. The torches gave the place a dark, creepy, somewhat intimidating vibe, but low visibility meant guys like him could sneak in all day and have the advantage, especially over Oto shinobi and their light grey usual uniforms.

Eventually Naruto came upon a room with all kinds of communications equipment. Oh yeah, this room definitely had to go if he was going to keep doing this. As he entered the room he had to ponder something as he moved along the wall. Why did every room with equipment like this have everything facing away from the only door in there? Even one desk or table turned around would mean that his way in would have been much harder.

One guy manning the main radio out of the base with his back turned. There was no real need to flat out kill him, or even touch him. All he was getting was static anyway, so simply killing the main feed wouldn't alert him whatsoever, and then he could have the guy scrambling to get someone on the line when the place started coming down around him. Naruto followed the cable of the radio up to somewhere in the ceiling corner, with a placement like that, it probably would have led to a long range dish of some sort outside of the base. It was quickly severed with a shuriken cutting straight through it, leaving the same sound of static on the line. His job done, Naruto exited the room and continued down the hall.

XxX

(Outside the Base)

Waiting along the jagged peaks, overlooking the area that Naruto had just entered a pair of masked Konoha Anbu watched for any sign of trouble for the blonde inside.

An Anbu with long purple hair turned to her brown haired partner, "Buntaicho, how long do you think it will take him to finish up and return outside?"

"I don't know Yugao." Tenzo stated, "It depends on how many Oto shinobi he comes across in there. Sending him to do it himself was a better option than sending in two and having them split up or something along those lines, especially after what happened during the first base we ended up going after."

"You're breaking protocol taicho. Naruto must be rubbing off on you on that front." Yugao teased, "But you're right I guess. That alert inside of the first base we went after wasn't a laughing matter at all. I'm honestly still kind of scared from when Naruto had to access the Kyuubi's chakra to cut our way out. I can see why he was worried about using it around us, the bloodlust I felt was horrible."

"You were the one that insisted on checking out the barracks." Tenzo insisted before nodding, "Well either way he should be fine. Even if he gets caught he can get himself out. I think I want this kid in Anbu when we go home, he's damn good all things considered."

"Think he's okay in there?" She asked.

Tenzo chuckled, "If he wasn't then I guarantee that we would both know it."

XxX

(With Naruto inside the Base)

Naruto had only had to kill one more person since he had been there. A lone ninja that had almost caught sight of Naruto walking through the halls as he was on his way back to the barracks had to be dealt with. Naruto ended up breaking the neck of the unprepared man with a swift kick to the head before a fight could break out. Why he didn't just shout intruder, Naruto will never know, but that was neither here nor there. To hide the body, Naruto propped the corpse up in an off area corner to make it look like he was trying to catch some standing z's before someone busted him. That wasn't going to be a reasonable hiding spot for long so he had to move.

There was only one real area left for Naruto to enter and go through before he could exit; the laboratory. Orochimaru constantly had people working on experiments for him and sending him the results. It was the main reason he created Otogakure in the first place, a series of hideouts and strongholds where Orochimaru could experiment on subjects and learn ninjutsu. Every base they had been to thus far had a laboratory with tons of experiments, some reasonable, most of the inhumane variety, as well as a bunch of prisoners… many of which the Konoha ninja had discovered would have been better off dead.

Naruto's interest in Orochimaru's labs were the product of the promise he had made to Anko to get the seal off of her neck. He had discovered from Orochimaru's notes back when he was a child that the origin of the Cursed Seal were from an organic source, most notably a human being. Orochimaru was obviously keeping him somewhere and he figured if he was able to take out enough bases he would be able to find the person it came from. If he could do that then he could get Hamako to work on trying to break the seal down. He still needed DNA from Orochimaru to study, but he was sure that there was plenty of that laying around Konoha somewhere. The only ways to really free Anko that he could possibly see were to either kill Orochimaru, something he knew he wasn't going to get a chance to do anytime soon, or to find the source of the Cursed Seal and go from there.

Orochimaru's true lack of knowledge in fuuinjutsu came to the forefront once again as instead of some sort of elaborate security device the door to the lab was protected by a lock, a lock that Naruto was able to pick and move along from without any trouble. Steeling himself for whatever horrors he would find within he opened the door and rolled inside, closing it behind him to keep a wandering guard from stumbling across him.

The lab was empty and cleared out. Anything that he would have found useful or "Tch…" Naruto let out in an annoyed fashion.

A red herring of a base. He should have known, if this place were truly active the people stationed here would have been far more attentive, it would have been a rat's nest comparable to the original Otogakure that Naruto had infiltrated as a boy. Blowing this place to bits now would do nothing more than let Orochimaru know once again that someone was on to him, and that someone was obviously Konoha since for the most part the rest of the shinobi world simply let him be. They had already destroyed two bases without much of a trace, and the one in Umi no Kuni was next to abandoned by the time they had gotten there. Taking this one out now would have definitely let the snake sannin know that his gambit of using expendable bases like this was definitely working to keep the heat off of him. This one was a complete and utter bust.

As he went to open the door he found it locked from the inside. Naruto jiggled the handle before realizing that he would have to pick it all over again. This place had some stupid security measures. Just as he pulled out his tools for the job a recorded voice came over an intercom in the room.

"_To the fool that thought that trying to inspect the remnants of my research was a good idea. If you really wanted to see what I had been doing here all you had to do was ask kukukukukuku…" _The far back wall opened up to reveal three men in prisoner garb. From where they were it appeared that this room was directly connected to the cells of the prison… how fun. Especially when they looked like they were under the influence of the Curse Seal. Second stage if the discolored skin and the barely human appearances were anything to go by.

Naruto drew his sword from his back wordlessly as they stalked inside of the empty lab, the door to the prison closing itself behind them. These guys were nothing more than mindless savages now. Not worth his time whatsoever, but he couldn't open the damn door without getting rid of them first. Naruto waited for them all to rush him at once in attempt to simply overwhelm him with numbers.

From their approach it was clear that they didn't even have any real training, something that he took advantage of when he cleaved the arms of one attacker off at the elbows. Before he could even let out a scream in pain, Naruto cut his head off cleanly. Naruto shoved his shoulder into a second attacker and pushed him back, allowing him to throw a back kick to the third prisoner that caught him in the body, pushing him up against the wall. Naruto quickly backpedaled and reversed his sword in order to run the man against the wall through with it while he was disoriented.

The second berserk prisoner ran at the self-cornered Naruto who grabbed the deceased man behind him by the collar and threw him over his shoulder at him. The unexpected action of his blonde prey threw the prisoner off, forcing him to stumble and slow down. More than enough time to let Naruto grab his sword like a javelin and throw it straight at the poor fool, catching him right in the head.

Naruto watched the Curse Seals on their bodies recede with an impassive glance. He pulled the sword from his victim's head and wiped the amassed gore on the blade off on the deceased man's clothing before resheathing it and proceeding to pick the lock, swiftly getting a satisfying click, signifying his success.

"Damn it… time to pull out." Naruto gave the room one last look before shaking his head.

XxX

(One Week Later – Konohagakure no Sato)

Tsunade read over the report given to her by Naruto, Tenzo, and Yugao, "So in the end you didn't get anything else?"

Naruto shook his head in the negative, "He probably builds bases, stays for a bit and leaves, keeping some troops behind as footholds in case he needs to fall back to one. The base in Umi no Kuni was long abandoned. I think the last time he was actually there himself was when he put the seal on Anko and abandoned her. And about that, does Anko still want to kill us for sending her back to the village?"

A smirk adorned the female kage's face, "I'll leave that one a mystery for you to discover when you leave here." She then sighed and placed the written report down, "Tenzo, what do you say about Naruto's performance on the mission?"

Tenzo took off his mask and smiled, "We're all alive aren't we Hokage-sama? Naruto did a great job. The second base in Kawa no Kuni (Land of Rivers) was a bonafide death trap, but we worked it out in the end."

Naruto didn't look as pleased as Tenzo did over the whole thing, "It worked out if you call taking out a bunch of grunts a successful mission. Five months of travelling and searching and we didn't find anything on the guy that I didn't already know. We probably tipped him off about what we were doing too. I've got to find him and kill him before he can switch bodies with the Uchiha… or kill the Uchiha, which would work out too. Where's Ero-sennin? The next time we do this he needs to come with us so he can fight the snake himself."

Tsunade averted her eyes, "Yeah, about that. He came back while you were gone and asked me where you were. He was actually kind of pissed off when I couldn't tell him where you were because I didn't know. He said to summon him to you whenever you got back and heard this from me."

Naruto gave her a strange look, "How the hell am I going to do that?"

Tsunade shrugged, "He said to summon a toad and tell them to come get him."

Naruto didn't know what the hell that was going to do, but listened to his order, biting him thumb and making the hand-seals, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

In a puff of smoke a toad around Naruto's size appeared, **"Hey bro! How ya doin? It's been a while!"**

Naruto smiled, "Long time no see Gamakichi. I've been super busy these days, but hey listen, could you get Ero-sennin for me, whatever that means."

Gamakichi nodded, **"Sure thing nii-san, I'll get him back here in a second."** With that the toad vanished in another puff of smoke.

The four ninja just stayed where they were in the office silently wondering what to do now. "So…" Naruto started, "What's new around here these days?"

Before Tsunade could answer, Jiraiya appeared in a puff of smoke in the middle of the office with a small elderly looking toad by his feet, **"Now remember to visit me and ma again soon Jiraiya-chan. And bring that apprentice of yours next time."**

That got Naruto's attention. Why would any of the toads actually want to meet him? From his experience with Gamabunta he usually hated being summoned unless it was for binge drinking purposes. Jiraiya gave the toad a grin, "I'll be sure to do that next time. Why don't you meet him yourself right now? He's just over there." He said, pointing at Naruto.

The old toad looked Naruto over, seemingly appraising his worth or whatever. That was certainly what it looked like to him anyway. He finally smirked at Naruto, **"He looks as if he'll do just fine. Be sure to bring him when you think he's ready."**

Ready for what, more secrets damn it? And badly kept ones at that? Why did being a ninja have to be so enigmatic only when it was annoying to him? Jiraiya nodded, "Will do Fukasaku. Tell Shima I said goodbye."

The old toad 'Fukasaku' nodded before vanishing in smoke. Jiraiya turned to Naruto and gave him a toothy grin, "Well now gaki, did you have fun? Kill some Oto ninja did you?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Well yes, not the ones I needed to though. What was that all about by the way?"

Jiraiya chuckled, "Even the sannin have to train too kid. I went to Mt. Myoboku since you were off gallivanting across the globe to raid and pillage." He then hooked an arm around Naruto shoulder and looked at Tsunade, "Can I steal this kid away from your debriefing since you've got these other two with you?" Not waiting for an answer he grabbed the boy and jumped out the window with him, "Thanks a lot hime!"

XxX

Jiraiya took Naruto to the top of the Hokage Monument and found the boy incredibly amused when they arrived there, "They put baa-chan's face up here while I was gone. She's so lucky I wasn't here or I would have made a spectacle out of it." He now paid attention to Jiraiya who looked to be in full serious mode, "So what do you have for me now Ero-kyofu?"

Jiraiya looked at Naruto before speaking, "You do know that Tsunade did what you said and repealed the law about the Kyuubi don't you?"

Naruto shrugged, "We were moving so fast when we got back in the village and my hood was up so I don't know. And don't tell me how things are going now either. As long as Hamako is okay and nothing happened to her due to her association with me I don't care. If anyone did do anything to her and I find out when I get home, I'm going to go hurt the idiot that did it."

Jiraiya kept up his concerned look, "Are you sure you'll be okay with people if they start cursing you in the street? I'll crack some jaws for you if you want me to kid."

Naruto chuckled, "Thanks Ero-kyofu. But the people love and respect you… for the most part. No, don't throw your rep away for me, as long as no one directly tries to attack me, or my friends, I'll be cool. They can't burn my apartment out after Hamako-chan put up all of the security stuff I told her to do so only direct attacks against us would have a chance of doing anything. If they do, I'll just have to cripple something as punishment."

Jiraiya sweatdropped, "Harsh gaki."

Naruto gave him a dry look, "Gaara would suffocate them in sand and crush them to death. A broken arm or leg is me being nice just so you know."

Jiraiya patted Naruto on the shoulder, "I don't know how Minato and Kushina would feel about the whole 'you crippling the people attacking you thing'… Well actually Kushina would cheer you on while you did it and probably even jump in herself, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, I know that your growth as a ninja and your whole attitude over the Kyuubi would make them incredibly proud of you."

Naruto smiled up at the man, "Thanks a lot Ero-kyofu. I'm not really sure about that though. I'm baptized in blood, how could a hero like the Yondaime Hokage consider me anything to be proud of, I'm not even talking about my time in Root anymore, I'm talking about now. Do you know how many lives I just got through ending, either directly or remotely? I'm fourteen years old and since the age of five I've killed more people than many war veterans even have to, I know I've done more than any other ninja my age… except for Gaara. Gaara's definitely killed way more people than me, I don't even think I'm close."

Jiraiya sighed and flicked Naruto in the forehead, "Are you dumb kid? Do you know how many ninja your old man killed in his time? I can assure you that your body count has absolutely no chance of holding any kind of candle to his. How many do think you killed?"

Naruto estimated in his head, "I would say between 200 to 300… especially in the one place where we got caught."

Jiraiya ruffled his hair, "Minato killed over 300 Iwa ninja in one battle… by himself. Before that I think he killed about 100 ninja and razed their camp to the ground when they ended up capturing your mother. Hell I had to pretty much almost destroy an entire village by myself. If you call yourself a killer than what are we? That's what we have to be Naruto, that's the way things are in the shinobi world. In reality in the eyes of the public the only difference between butchers and heroes are the colors of the uniforms of the men you've killed."

"As messed up as that is…" Naruto said, "I guess you're right. I had a bit of a punk-ass moment there. As long as you're sure they would have been proud of me I believe it too Ero-kyofu. Alright, now I have to go home and see how my 'roommate' is doing."

Jiraiya then got a lecherous grin on his face, "How's that girl doing anyway gaki? She adjusting to the village okay?"

Naruto glared at him, "Get that look off of your face you damn pervert. And how would I know? I've been gone for almost half a year. I guess I'll find out when I go back home." Naruto waved at him, "Later. Don't be a stranger now." Naruto then used shunshin to disappear from the mountain.

Jiraiya smiled to himself as he watched the leaves settle from Naruto's shunshin, "I wonder how good of a sage that kid would make."

XxX

Deciding to see what the people of the village thought of him now rather than wait for a time where he had to actually do something amidst the people and be caught off guard, he decided to stroll through town on the streets on his way home. Much like before, adults didn't try to look at him, but much to his surprise instead of having angry looks on their faces quite a few of them looked down at the ground. That had never happened before.

"Demon." A passing middle aged man said as Naruto walked past his position outside of a building.

"Your mother." Was Naruto's eloquent reply.

The man stepped out from his position and marched into the street to confront Naruto, "What was that? I don't have to put up with you anymore! You don't have the Hokage's protection anymore, she obviously sees what you really are!"

Naruto didn't even turn around, "Yeah, she sees me as someone that is able to handle his own business, so I have one question for you sir. Are you my business?"

"You tell me!" He said as he pulled out a pocket knife and ran at Naruto only to be stopped by the blade of Naruto's sword at his throat.

Naruto sighed as he looked at the man from a side gaze, "That was a great idea. Let's attack the trained ninja armed to his teeth with a stupid pocket knife that's probably too dull to even cut notebook paper." Naruto used the blade of the sword to slide the knife out of the man's hand before smacking him on both of his kneecaps, dropping him to the ground in a bowing position, "I had her take away that law for your benefit. Because keeping the secret that wasn't really much of a secret in the first place was getting obnoxious. However, just because you won't get Anbu on you for speaking out about this doesn't mean that someone won't kick your ass for attacking me. I'll do it myself, I'll just enjoy it better." He then used the flat of his sword to knock him out.

Naruto looked down at the unconscious man and back up at the villagers who had just watched him knock a grown man out with no effort whatsoever. Naruto laughed nervously as he sheathed his sword, "Nice day huh? Sorry about that, please, carry on with your business."

Naruto then proceeded to whistle a jaunty tune as he continued making his way home.

From within a nearby restaurant, a group of young ninja somewhat knowledgeable about the scar-faced blonde had witnessed the spectacle. A group of 10 Konoha ninja were celebrating the fact that the 4 that were still genin would be travelling to the upcoming chunin exam in Suna and had seen just how hostile things could get for Naruto. Each of them sat in silence as they watched him walk off on his own through the window, whistling the entire way.

XxX

"Yo Hamako-chan!" Naruto yelled as he entered his apartment, "I'm back!"

Hamako came from the back room with a gentle smile on her face, "Welcome home Naruto-sama. I hope you're unharmed from your mission."

Naruto nodded as he started taking his gear off, "Yeah, I'm fine Hamako-chan. I'm just drained, I forgot how long those missions like that really are. Were you okay while I was gone?"

"Yes, I was fine. Tayuya-san and the Ichiraku family were very helpful to me while you were gone and I even got to meet the members of your graduating class when they came by asking for you." Hamako admitted to Naruto as he took of his hooded vest that probably had some kind of leftover residue from his violent activities over the last few months. Hamako scrunched up her nose as he walked by her, "You smell like blood master."

Naruto frowned, "Sorry. Throughout the mission there was a lot of it and a considerable amount got on me, repeatedly. I need a long shower and a good meal after this." He yawned loudly, "What have you been doing to occupy your time?"

Hamako winked at him, "Oh just a few personal projects. I have to say master; the seal on your stomach looks very familiar to me." She said as she looked at the visible seal on Naruto's belly, "It looks like something derived from the sealing style of Uzushiogakure."

Naruto made a thoughtful noise, "You can study it after I shower, eat, and sleep. Anything interesting happen while I was gone, or did you just watch the wallpaper to entertain yourself?"

"Hokage-sama revealed your jinchuuriki status to the village." Hamako said as she picked up his vest and walked towards his hamper to drop the piece of clothing inside, "It was a mildly entertaining spectacle somewhat."

Naruto smirked, "So how many of the old fogies called for my death when she was through talking?"

Hamako shrugged, "More than a few actually. But then the shinobi that had met and knew of the things you had done in your career thus far shut them up, especially the two that are always guarding the gate. It was amazing. You probably would have gotten a kick out of it."

"Note to self." Naruto said, "Send Izumo and Kotetsu a fruit basket or something for being good people."

XxX

(Three Weeks Later)

Once again, Naruto's training took him deeply into the Forest of Death. He put his attempts to learn how to utilize the Kyuubi's chakra on the backburner for the time being as he wanted to learn the nuances of using his sword. The rate at which it drained his chakra when he transformed the Sen'nenki no Ken into Sen'nen Kougake was ridiculous. He couldn't even keep it up for too long without tapping into the Kyuubi's chakra and even then, getting more than several minutes of use out of them was seen as a success. How the hell did anyone use this thing without draining themselves dry? Or maybe that was why it was a sealed heirloom in the first place. Hey, maybe he could use it by giving it to his enemies to use themselves. Just let them kick his ass until they dropped dead of chakra exhaustion and then take it back. Nobody would ever see that coming.

From experimentation the blades cut through pretty much everything like a guillotine blade, even without him circulating wind chakra between them, which was good, because the damn blades absorbed his chakra like a sponge. The transformed blades couldn't cut him, and with them his taijutsu was extensively more dangerous than it ever could have been otherwise.

Other than that, he was having more trouble manipulating his new lightning element than he had been expecting. He couldn't even hold the chakra in his hand like he could with his wind chakra without damaging himself. The damage would come by way of him shocking the feeling out of his hands for hours, he couldn't practice getting the feel of the chakra with his Kage Bunshin because they would dispel after taking the damage, and this was the only way for him to train the element for the time being.

His elemental Rasengan was a work in progress as well. Adding his wind chakra to the orb ended up blowing up in his face, or more accurately on his arm, giving him deep gashes that took time for him to heal even with his advanced healing. He joked to himself that he needed a medic-nin on hand for whenever he wanted to train these days the way all of his current projects were going.

Learning his seals with Hamako was a very self-esteem crushing experience to say the least. Every concept he had been working on prior to bringing her back to Konoha had been burned as she had proceeded to verbally tear down every single original idea he had come up with. Her reasoning being that everything he had made could have been classified as a forbidden technique, and not for the good reasons, like they were strong, or that if they fell into the wrong hands they could endanger Konoha. No, they were forbidden because everything he had come up with had a greater than not chance of flat out killing _him_ if he had really gone through with their usage. So as far as Hamako was concerned he had to start straight from square one, and she had half a mind to find Jiraiya and make him sit through her lessons as well if he had really been the one to introduce Naruto to those abominations that the boy had the gall to call seals. Even his 'custom explosive tags' that he designed to take the Kyuubi's chakra were flawed. The timer on them was next to two seconds before detonation, and with the mass of the explosion that really wasn't enough time to get safely away. As far as she was concerned, the only thing she _didn't_ have to reteach him was how to make his own ink and how to write the seals out.

The girl was usually very kind and patient normally, however when she was teaching Naruto fuuinjutsu she was a very harsh taskmaster. Instead of letting him freestyle seals the way that Jiraiya had done from just about day one, letting him get along through trial and error, she had him break down seals that she had put together for him by order of difficulty. Then she would have him do it again under a time limit. She wanted him to be good enough to identify every major nuance of any seal he would come across at naught but a glance, much like she herself was able to. Looking at what Konoha had referred to as seal masters had actually gotten Hamako to laugh. Not smile, not giggle, but full-board laugh uproariously.

As far as she could see, Kakashi was a hack and a novice and Jiraiya was overrated.

So when Naruto was called into Tsunade's office he figured that this was as good of a break as he was going to get from the grind he was putting himself through on a daily basis.

"What's up baa-chan?" Naruto asked, "And before you even complain about it, if anyone in the entire world has a reason or an excuse to call you baa-chan it's me and you know it."

Tsunade's eye twitched. The brat had a point, but she still didn't necessarily have to like it… and she was still his boss, relation or not, "Listen up brat. As you know, the chunin exam is taking place in Suna this time around and the finals are rolling around in about two weeks."

Naruto blinked blankly, "No. No I didn't know that. Why the hell would I know that?" A paperweight to the head was his response, "Gah! That was a reasonable question!"

Tsunade put her hand down with a smirk on her face, satisfied with the throw, "Anyway, I'm taking you and Shizune with me for my security." She pointed towards the black haired woman standing by the desk, waving pleasantly.

Naruto waved back before groaning, "Aww… another escort mission. Fine, whatever, it's an order. And speaking of Suna, where the hell's my money, I gave you the DNA which means I gave them the DNA, why am I not rolling in dough right now?"

"Yes about that." Tsunade said, "They don't feel comfortable transporting that much money themselves so they've laid that responsibility on us to collect, which is another reason that I'm assigning you to my personal guard detail."

"Oh." Naruto looked at her vapidly, "Well thank you then baa-chan. But do you think I'm really your guy in case it all goes down while we're there? Shouldn't you bring someone like Kakashi-sensei, or even Ero-sennin?"

Tsunade let out a laugh, "You don't think you're up for this? You killed a top level missing ninja that had eluded capture for twenty years and destroyed Otogakure bases. You're a jounin in everything but title kid."

"So…" Naruto said somewhat testingly, "Promote me." A grin worked its way onto his face.

Tsunade let a wry grin of her own show, "Maybe later. I'll think about it. Anyway, tie up all of your loose ends Naruto, you're coming with me and Shizune to Suna."

Naruto smirked, "If I yelled road trip out the window at the top of my lungs would you hit me?"

XxX

"Kabuto… what does that make, the fourth or the fifth of my bases that have been hit in the last half year?"

The medic in question adjusted the glasses on his face as he smirked, "The last one that was hit last month makes five Orochimaru-sama. And I think you'll find the person that is responsible for the damage to be extremely interesting." Kabuto placed a video tape in the nearby VCR that revealed Naruto fighting the Curse Seal prisoners in the empty lab, "I guess I do owe him some thanks though. He did free me of the control that Sasori had over me if the buzz over the bounty is anything to be believed."

"Well now isn't that interesting kukukuku? Little Naruto-kun is growing up… It looks like your rival hasn't been losing any steps since you left Konoha has he Sasuke-kun?"

A pair of spinning Sharingan eyes glowed in the dark, "Hn. The dobe is nowhere near my level anymore." His glare grew intense as he saw Naruto easily dispose of his opponents with little effort, "I'll be sure to prove that the next time we meet. He'll never get a victory over me again."

Orochimaru chuckled in the background, "That still remains to be seen Sasuke-kun, perhaps, just maybe Naruto here is more special than you."

Sasuke bared his teeth in the darkness as the Curse Seal ran across his face, "There's nothing special about that loser. And soon I'll finish what we started myself. First him, then Itachi."

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**Hot and fresh for your reading pleasure. It is 2 am and I am beat. Hope you have a funderful weekend, I'll just be here healing… slowly. *sigh* I want to see the sun again. I miss it so.**

**Kenchi out.**

**P.S. More undead Deidara in the manga! Reader response says HELL YEAH! Kabuto has still done absolutely nothing to prove to me he isn't a pussy, and Zetsu… Didn't see that coming. Okay maybe a little bit. But about the Kabuto bringing back every dead member of Akatsuki thing; I was not aware that Kabuto knew where to find the Dragonballs, and did he see Emperor Pilaf while he was getting them because I wonder how that guy is doing these days?  
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	28. Shifting Sands Land

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I wish I did because I'm low on funds at the moment and would just dip into my trove of riches if I did own Naruto. Share some of that wealth Kishimoto, give back to the community. And by community I mean my wallet.

**Chapter 27: Shifting Sands Land**

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"Are you all prepared to leave master?"

"Yes Hamako-chan."

"You've got all of your weapons?"

"With all of the scrolls I've got and the stuff I carry on my person at all times I'm armed to the teeth."

"You've got your suppression seals for the Kyuubi's chakra?"

"Yes, I've already given enough to Tsunade-baachan already that she could probably use one to stop me every day on this mission from now on forward though."

"Well… It is one of only two things that you can adequately make."

"…Now why did you have to go and kill my self-esteem like that Hamako-chan?"

Naruto was leaning against the front gate in the same clothing he had taken to wearing recently with Hamako doting over him before he was to leave to escort Tsunade to Sunagakure for the finals of the chunin exam. He hadn't really seen anyone from his graduating class around town since he had returned, but he then put two and two together and realized they must have all made it to the finals of the exams. Hinata and Shino had been promoted last time around so they were probably on a mission, Shikamaru probably went with Asuma to watch the proceedings, and Team Gai, who had been promoted immediately after their next exams were probably busy, because being a rookie chunin did suck. You weren't high profile enough to really put in for down time, but you were considered just good enough to get back to back 'real' missions.

Naruto gave a glance to his pleasant companion, "Are you going to be alright while I'm gone?"

Hamako rolled her eyes with a smile on her face, "I was fine when you left for half a year Naruto-sama. I don't think a week or so without you here will be too much to handle. You will be missing my birthday though." She said, pouting playfully.

"Oh I'm sorry Hamako-chan." Naruto said, actually somewhat upset by this. He _had_ been gone for half a year, leaving her pretty much on her own. All she really had were his own loose acquaintances to block being lonely. It did make him wonder if she had really been okay with him leaving or if she had just been putting up a façade so that he didn't worry.

She smiled and waved it off, "It's alright master. You don't get to dictate your own schedule, I know. And since I am your servant I am also basically controlled by your schedule."

Naruto frowned, "You're more than a servant Hamako-chan. You're way more important than you make yourself seem. Even if you don't agree with me, your master froze you inside the vault for a reason."

Hamako nodded, "I think I know why he did it. I'm certain he knew that the Uzumaki bloodline was too stubborn to just die out, and he put me there so that I could assist a future generation of them upon being discovered. Why else would he have placed me in an area that could only be accessed by one of your lineage? So the way you speak as if it isn't my job to do these things for you, that is actually contradictory, because you are the entire reason I exist."

Okay, this girl was really starting to remind him of Haku, only she seemed more prone to emotion… most of them positive. She was really receptive to the whole being his underling thing, something he didn't think he would ever get accustomed to, but she simply accepted it right off the bat. Hell, she suggested it and insisted on it in the first place.

Naruto shrugged mentally, if this was what she wanted he couldn't just keep trying to get her to stop. Hopefully she wouldn't get too into the whole servant thing, but if he had his way he would wean her onto her own independence. Naruto pulled her into a hug, catching her somewhat off guard, "I'll bring you back a present okay? Something cool, because it's not like I'm going to be short on funds when this mission is over. Just take care of yourself."

Hamako smiled serenely and returned his hug, "What if I get something from Sai?" She whispered to him, knowing that Naruto wanted to keep everything about his relationship with Root under wraps.

Naruto whispered right back, "Just keep it until I get back. I wouldn't be able to handle anything else on this mission anyway."

"Okay Naruto-sama." Naruto let go of the hug as Tsunade and Shizune came into view, allowing Hamako to bow to the blonde woman, "Good morning Hokage-sama, Shizune-san."

Tsunade smiled at the girl, "Hello Hamako. Has this knucklehead been treating you well?" She asked, ignoring the indignant rambling from Naruto in response.

A slight laugh came from Hamako, "Yes Hokage-sama things are very well here in Konoha. Naruto-sama is a good boy."

Naruto sweatdropped, "I am basically a near fifteen year old man that has been known to kill people with twice my age and experience and I'm being talked about like a five year old by my village leader and the girl that lives with me and has sworn my allegiance to me. A lot of those things in that sentence sounded good, and I'm sure you can guess which one didn't seem so great."

Hamako turned to him, "I am still older than you master."

Naruto sighed, "I know. How old are you going to be anyway when your birthday comes around?"

"I will be fifteen." Hamako added helpfully.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and looked away, "Well I figured that much. I was meaning more along the lines of how old will you _really_ be? In actual years, not in cryo-time." The street got awfully silent after he said that, "What? What did I say?"

Hamako narrowed her eyes on Naruto, "I will be fifteen master."

Naruto looked around in confusion as if he were caught in some kind of loop while trying to run through the mental math in his head, failing miserably because no one really ever told him exactly when Uzushiogakure fell, just saying that it was around twenty years ago, which could have meant anything, "Um, I know that, but for real, how old will you-."

"I will be _fifteen_ master." Hamako asserted sternly, unconsciously leaking killing intent.

He didn't quite get why he was getting the vibe of him about to be getting disemboweled from not only Hamako, but from Tsunade and to a lesser but still noticeable extent Shizune, but he decided that in this case, getting to the truth about a badly kept secret could actually be detrimental to him for once, and figured that smiling and nodding was his best way out of this. Thusly Naruto gave her a toothy grin and a thumbs up, ignoring the feeling of impending death when he did so, "So… super-amazing-expensive gift for you when I come back right?"

"Yes please!" Hamako perked back up, "Be safe on your mission Naruto-sama!"

With that, Naruto bade her goodbye and set out with Tsunade and Shizune towards Sunagakure.

XxX

(Three Days Later - Kaze no Kuni en route to Sunagakure)

"For the last time Naruto." Tsunade said, currently decked out in full -kage gear as they made their way through the desert, "You aren't wearing the robes and the hat so stop asking."

"Come on Tsunade-baachan." Naruto tried to reason, his hood up to avoid the desert sun beating down from above, "Think of it like this, Just let me Henge into you and you into me and I'll be your body double until we get to Suna. It's a totally sound idea. Besides, I'm going to be wearing that stuff soon enough anyway, I might as well get used to it now."

Tsunade shot an amused glance to her left where Naruto was standing, "Jiraiya said you were gunning for Hokage these days. What makes you think you actually have what it takes brat?"

Naruto put on a thinking face, "Well… I'm Minato Namikaze's kid, the remnant of a powerful clan, and loosely related to you so I have the lineage one would say, if you would promote me again I could start proving that I'm strong enough more than I already have, oh, and I already beat you back when we first met so I have a recorded win over a sannin!"

Tsunade got a tick mark on her head, "That was not a recorded fight you idiot! I was using one finger and was taking it easy on you, and I still ended up knocking you flat on your spiky blonde ass!"

Naruto grinned at her, "I never told you to go easy on me, and you made the terms of the fight making it an exhibition bout, you ended up using your entire hand to wail on my face thus you broke the stipulation and lost. Therefore I won, therefore I have a victory over you. And I have witnesses; Shizune-neechan, Ero-kyofu, and Tonton all saw me take you back to school."

"You should really stop talking before I pick you up and chuck you in Suna's general direction." Tsunade threatened.

Naruto's eyes were shaded by the hood draped over his face, "That actually sounds pretty useful." He looked over at the dark-haired medic holding a small pig, "Do you want Tsunade-baachan to throw you across the desert too Shizune-neechan? It has to beat walking, I hate the desert."

Tsunade flicked Naruto in the back of the head, propelling him forward into a sand dune. As a smile came to her face, Shizune rushed over to dig Naruto out alongside Tonton, "Naruto-kun are you alright?"

Tsunade laughed as she neared her bodyguards, "Shizune I hit the runt harder than that on a near daily basis. He's fine."

Naruto popped out of the dune hacking out sand and brushing it out of his hair, "That was totally unnecessary by the way. A 'shut the hell up Naruto' would have worked just fine. I _do_ follow your orders after all."

Tsunade picked him up by his collar and dropped him back on his feet as the kept walking, "I said to stop talking."

Naruto scowled as Shizune picked the rest of the sand out of his hair, "No, you suggested that I stop talking. If you had directly told me to shut up I would have, I'm not insubordinate baa-chan. If you order me to do something I'm going to do it no matter how I feel about it."

"You don't question orders Naruto-kun? Ever?" Shizune asked as she kept messing with his hair.

Naruto looked over at Tsunade, "She knows right? About how I was trained?"

Tsunade nodded, "I told her after you told me. She knows not to say anything about it."

"Alright then." Naruto shrugged, "Yeah I question orders. You hear me mouth off about some of my missions all the time, because griping and nitpicking is fun. But I never say I'm not going to do something, I always take the missions and after I accept I don't complain. You should know why I don't Shizune-neechan."

She frowned and nodded, "Because of Danzo and Root right?"

Naruto pulled his hood back up when he felt she was done, "Well Danzo-jiji tried putting his stupid seal on the back of my tongue, but I kept breaking it. When it would activate and paralyze me I would just get pissed off, flare the Kyuubi's chakra, and the damn thing would disappear. He must have tried to 're-educate me' about seven or eight times because of it... old bastard, that shit was painful."

Shizune looked appalled, "That's awful."

Naruto shook his head, "That's Root. He wanted obedient operatives, and I originally went to him, not the other way around. I wanted to be a ninja so bad, so while I would never let him own me I did do everything he told me to do. He didn't have to train me after he realized that I wouldn't be like all of the others but he did anyway and while his training was unspeakably harsh, I was the one that asked for it and it's the entire reason I can do the things I do today." Naruto's eye twitched and he grabbed his head before speaking in monotone, "Ow."

Shizune looked at him strangely for saying 'ow' randomly, "What happened?"

Naruto rubbed his temple, "When I relieved you at nightwatch at two in the morning I made a ton of Kage Bunshin to guard the area as well. Before we left I told them to train my nature manipulation, and the bastards all decided to dispel at the same time."

Tsunade heaved a sigh, "Don't train while you're on a mission brat. What's wrong with you?"

Naruto growled lowly at the pain of his headache, only to exhale in relief when a pair of glowing green hands ran over the sides of his head, "Thank you Shizune-neechan. And technically baa-chan, it isn't me training into the ground, I just got a headache. You can get a headache eating a damn ice cream cone. And before you say anything, that was not insubordination that was an opinion on my own personal well-being."

"Whatever." Tsunade let the situation drop as the sight of Suna came up in the distance, "Look alive. Shizune knows the drill, but you know nothing about being a dignitary Naruto, before you say anything about your mission way back when in Kumo, you weren't anything then because Homura never let you do anything or go anywhere with him, you were a glorified tagalong that was left to your own devices."

Naruto frowned because she was right. Oh well, consider this a learning experience.

Tsunade gave Naruto a business-like look, "Here you will need to tone it down some. Talk to me before you do anything, causing international incidents aren't going to fly here like they did in Kumogakure. Keep your senses sharp, I'm counting on you to intercept any threats that may come my way, and don't expect that just because we're in an allied village filled with ninja that I may not be attacked. If you have any questions or concerns, or you notice something off don't hesitate to talk to me or Shizune about it, that is what your job is."

Naruto nodded in complete seriousness. Shizune gave him a small smile, "We know you're good at the assault part of being a shinobi Naruto-kun, you've proven that. But this is really the most high profile escort job you've ever done. It's not about going out to find the enemy and destroy them, it's about keeping the danger away from something important, about keeping it safe. In this case that something is Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade snorted, "Please Shizune, you make it seem like I'm some fragile glass figurine. I'm not Hokage just because of my pretty face you know."

Naruto snickered, "Especially since it's just a powerful Henge. Don't kill your bodyguard baa-chan that's counter-productive!" Naruto yelled as he ducked and covered his head in anticipation of a strike that Tsunade had already wound up for. Shizune sweatdropped and nudged him forward from behind getting him to stumble ahead.

Naruto chuckled as he regained his balance, "Yeah don't worry. I'll do everything I have to do to make sure I don't let either of you down. Just remember that I'm not really accustomed to hanging back and watching things unfold. I'm more of the 'go there and beat the crap out of that' kind of guy so if I start stepping out of line feel free to check me… non-physically of course."

Tsunade had a serious face on as they neared the entrance of the village, guarded by two Suna ninja, "Well just be ready for rapid response in any event."

One of the ninja guarding the way in immediately came up to the traveling party, "Welcome to Sunagakure Hokage-sama. The Kazekage has requested your presence at his office upon your arrival if you will permit it."

Tsunade nodded, "Of course. I trust that my security detail are allowed to remain with me throughout the proceedings."

"Yes Hokage-sama. If you would follow me to the Kazekage Residence." The guard led them into the village.

XxX

On the way to the meeting, Naruto noticed that the looks the group had been getting were no longer hostile as they were for him when he had escorted Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro back home following the invasion that had taken place before Tsunade's inauguration as Hokage. The looks were more like awe, something Naruto obviously chalked up to the fact that Tsunade was walking through their village in her robes.

As they arrived at the Kazekage's building and were escorted all the way to the office, Naruto had been expecting to be taken straight to the council chamber that he ended up sitting in for three hours during his last trip to Suna, but they ended up being taken straight to an office with an ornate door, not too different from the one that signified Tsunade's office.

Naruto raised his eyebrows in curiosity, 'Huh… Well I guess that it has been two years since the Kazekage was killed. It's only natural someone else took the spot.' Wondering who it was, Naruto followed alongside Tsunade into the office after the door had been opened by the guard and Naruto froze in place when he realized exactly who it was sitting behind the desk, 'No way.'

Tsunade smirked as she saw Naruto's reaction out of the corner of her eye, even Shizune had to give off a small giggle, "Greetings Kazekage-dono."

"It is good to see you in good health Hokage-dono." Said a monotone voice, "And you as well Naruto Uzumaki." The spiky short red hair and the kanji for love on the left side of his forehead dressed in Kazekage robes was none other than Sabaku no Gaara.

Naruto looked between the robed Tsunade and the robed Gaara about four times, "Can I speak freely Hokage-sama? Kazekage-sama?"

"You may." Were the responses from the two leaders, though one was exponentially more jovial in tone than the other.

"Thank you." Naruto nodded before taking a breath, "What the fuck Gaara? You can't write a letter? And nobody thought that this was something I would like to know?"

Tsunade had an amused grin on her face, "He was given the position and inaugurated while you were off on your little rampage against Orochimaru's bases. How were we supposed to contact you to tell you when we couldn't even find you?"

Gaara then spoke, "Besides, your Hokage decided it would be far more amusing if you didn't know when you came to collect your bounty. And speaking of that there are two people that want to speak to you about that."

Naruto looked at him curiously, still not over seeing Gaara as the Kazekage, "Well sure, as long as the reason they want to see me isn't to kill me. I get enough of that." He stood in place just staring at Gaara, "So… Kazekage huh? Running a village? How's that working out for you?"

A small smirk came to Gaara's face, "Fantastic actually. You should try it."

Naruto returned the smirk, "Oh I will, just you wait. If you're already Kazekage then all I have to do is wait for Tsunade-baachan to retire and that damn hat is all mine. Where is your hat by the way?"

Gaara shrugged, "I don't like wearing the hat indoors."

Naruto's eyes widened, "I would bronze that hat and have it surgically attached to my scalp if I could. I don't get you guys, Sandaime-jiji wore it all the time, and so would I. They would literally have to pry the damn thing from my cold dead hands."

Gaara was legitimately interested in Naruto's choice of address for Tsunade, "Uzumaki why do you refer to the Hokage in such a familiar manner?"

Naruto shrugged, "Aside from the fact that she let me speak freely and hasn't told me to shut up yet, after a bit of digging I found that she is legitimately related to me way down the line, so it's appropriate."

Tsunade interjected, "Alright Naruto that's enough for now. The Kazekage has called us here for business."

Gaara nodded, "Yes, I have invited you here to observe the final round of the chunin exam selection tournament due to Konoha having four participants involved. However I have also invited the village of Iwa to watch the event as well."

Naruto got stone-faced at the sound of Iwa, as did Tsunade. Gaara took notice of this, "Is there a problem? I understand the latent aggression from your two villages after the war all those years ago, but can we not let the matter settle?"

Naruto looked at Tsunade who nodded her consent, "Um, I'm kind of the son of Minato Namikaze, Gaara. I've never really said anything about it since I found out because for the most part it doesn't really matter, but in this case it's kind of a big deal."

Gaara showed no surprise to the revelation, "I see. That is somewhat astonishing, but it makes sense. Most jinchuuriki are related in some way to the leaders of their villages to instill loyalty, though I do not see how that would have worked if you still didn't know."

"Anyway." Naruto continued, "What's the over-under that the Tsuchikage sends assassins after me after he realizes who I am. All it's going to take is one good look at me for any of them to hate my guts."

Tsunade sighed and took a seat by Gaara's desk, "If it's still the same old man from when I was a kid then he'll definitely know you at first glance. The fact that your jinchuuriki status is now common knowledge would only make that worse. Tell me why you told me to let that out again?"

"I'm already being pursued by Akatsuki. Keep your eyes open for that by the way Gaara. But anyway, at this point if it gets out and Iwa starts sending people to kill me there isn't a snowball's chance in hell they'll actually send someone capable of finishing me off. Maybe if I were my old stupid sealed self then most definitely, I would be a dead man walking right now, but I just got through killing Suna's most infamous missing ninja and have been obliterating Oto bases for the last half year." He blinked and looked at Tsunade, "Am I in the bingo book yet?"

She shook her head, "No, you haven't caused any kind of stir with any nations yet so you're not on anyone's radar. And you don't want to be in a bingo book anyway brat, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm trying to get famous baa-chan!" Naruto shouted before silently musing to himself, 'It's my mission after all. Who ever becomes Hokage when no one has ever even heard of you? That's why Danzo-jiji found it so hard to get his name in the argument after my old man died. He had spent so much time running black ops and underground stuff that people had forgotten about him both in the village and abroad. He was too good at orchestrating it and keeping himself in the shadows.'

Gaara returned to the issue at hand, "In any case, do you think I should position any protection around Uzumaki? I would rather not have another war start at another chunin exam if I could help it." He looked at Naruto, "You seem to have very bad luck with chunin exams."

"Tell me about it." Naruto sighed, "I think it would be better for the world in general if I just stopped knowing about these things. I'm two for two with these things so far so it can't just be a coincidence… I'm not even in this one."

Gaara placed his hands together on his desk, "Well now I would like to speak to Hokage-dono about matters alone. I have to ask your guardians to step outside of the room."

Naruto looked at Tsunade who nodded to him and gestured for him to leave along with Shizune. Gaara spoke again just as they reached the door, "Those wanting to speak with you about your run-in with Sasori will find you outside of the office while we have our meeting inside." With that, Naruto and Shizune exited.

XxX

(Two Hours Later)

Naruto and Shizune were seated on a bench in the hall leading towards the office, simply waiting for either the meeting to end or for whoever it was that wished to speak with Naruto, "So you're telling me that I can't ever learn baa-chan's strength enhancing jutsu because it requires medic-nin control? But if you can use it then why don't you?"

Shizune laughed sheepishly, "I never liked using taijutsu or fighting in general. All of the things I use in combat are generally ranged techniques with poison. As of now the only people that can use that technique are Tsunade-sama, myself, and Sakura Haruno."

Naruto's eyes widened, "When the hell did she learn how to do that?"

Shizune smiled at him, "She started learning it a few months ago while you were gone and during her stay in Suna she finished her training for the technique. She sent a letter back saying she did. She's very gifted at medical ninjutsu as well."

"Well good for her." Naruto grinned before returning his face to a placid outlook, "But I can't ever learn it. Oh well, I'll just have to get along with raw brute force and keep developing that."

Shizune blinked, "How strong physically are you Naruto-kun?"

"With or without the Kyuubi?" He questioned in return.

"Um… both." Shizune said.

Naruto thought on it, "Without the Kyuubi I would say that the only people in Konoha that can actually outmuscle me are adult Akimichi, Maito Gai, and of course Tsunade-baachan. Rock Lee might be able to do it if he's been doing Gai's training for all of these years and I'm sure Ero-kyofu can do it too, but the last time we sparred I couldn't get him to go all out on me so I wouldn't know for sure. With the Kyuubi; well let's just say that baa-chan isn't the only one that can finger-flick walls down."

"Naruto Uzumaki."

The attention of the two was grabbed by a diminutive elderly woman walking up to them, "Are you Naruto Uzumaki, the boy credited with the defeat of Akasuna no Sasori?"

Naruto and Shizune looked at each other before Naruto spoke up, "I am. Who's the one curious about it?"

The old woman gave Naruto an appraising look before speaking once more, "I am Chiyo, and I am the grandmother of the man you killed in battle."

Both Konoha ninja paled at that revelation, 'Damn it! I can't believe this crap is going to start another war! He came after me!'

Chiyo then bowed before them, "I apologize for Sasori's actions against you. By now it is common knowledge who you are Uzumaki-san, you became somewhat famed around Suna for being the only person that has ever defeated our Kazekage in battle, and your character has been vouched for countless times by the Kazekage and his siblings. If you engaged him in battle then he attacked you first. He was a missing-nin regardless of that anyway."

"So…" Naruto felt out, "Am I still getting paid?"

"Naruto you glorious bastard!" Was Naruto's warning before he was picked up and engulfed in a hug from a larger than him Kankuro who rushed over upon seeing him, "I can't believe you actually defeated Sasori, and you brought him back! I've got permission from Chiyo-baasama to use him as a new puppet!"

"Good to see you too Kankuro." Naruto strained out before he looked at Kankuro strangely, "Wait, I obliterated his body, how the hell could you use him as a puppet?"

Kankuro grinned, "He had spare bodies on him, sealed on a piece that you actually left intact."

Naruto nodded, "Of course he did. Well it's a good thing I hit the heart when I destroyed him isn't it? So Gaara's Kazekage, have you been promoted yet?"

If possible, Kankuro's grin got wider, "I'm a jounin now. Temari is too."

Naruto's eye twitched, "Because that's fair and everything. I can't get promoted by baa-chan to save my life and you guys just sleepwalk right past me in rank." He turned to Shizune, "When this is over I seriously need to put in for a promotion."

"Speaking of Temari…" Kankuro trailed off, looking at Naruto in amusement, "She's looking to have some choice words with you. You're so lucky she isn't here right now."

"Me?" Naruto asked, "What the hell did I do?"

Kankuro leaned against the wall near the bench as Naruto sat back next to Shizune, "Well you haven't even spoken to her since we left Konoha after the joint mission for your Uchiha kid. It's been two years since we've even talked to you kid."

Naruto almost face-faulted, "I've been busy! Between the ridiculous training I had to do to master my element, missions to other nations, and the long assignment to hunt for Orochimaru's bases I have had almost no down time. How could I have possibly visited?"

"And about that." Kankuro added, "Ever since Gaara's been Kazekage she's been Suna's liaison to Konoha, and she didn't know about your mission when she wanted to see you, and she's very pissed off for a myriad of reasons that I'm not going to go into right now. Besides the not seeing us part she's also mad because went off and got into a fight to the death with Suna's greatest puppeteer all on your own."

Chiyo was still standing there as the boys had been catching up, but it had finally swung back to a topic of her interest, "How were you confronted by Sasori anyway?"

Naruto sighed, "I didn't go looking for the guy. He came to me when I was perusing through my clan's ancestral village ruins, him and some bomber freak with mouths in his hands, Deidara was his name. Somehow I isolated Sasori and was able to kill him before the other retreated. If I don't see her before I leave you tell her that wasn't my fault I am a victim here."

Kankuro nodded, "Sure thing. But that will only work if you're going to be gone by sunrise, because she's going to be back tomorrow."

Naruto sweatdropped, "You're an ass, you know that?"

"So I hear from Temari on a daily basis." Kankuro said as he started walking away, "See you later Naruto."

Chiyo turned to follow him out as well, "Before you leave be sure to allow the slug woman to let you collect your money young man. You're getting quite a hefty sum for it."

Naruto nodded in agreement and looked at Shizune as he had picked up on the way that Chiyo had referred to Tsunade. The dark-haired medic shrugged, "She doesn't like Tsunade-sama because she kept countering her poisons during the Second Great Ninja War. People seem to be very good at holding grudges."

Naruto sighed, "Old people especially… Oh man, if that lady is mad at you and baa-chan for her just coming up with counters to her poisons like thirty years ago then how pissed off at me is the Tsuchikage going to be after my old man single-handedly made their village his bitch sixteen years ago."

Shizune patted Naruto on the back, "It's okay Naruto-kun he might-." She cut herself off when she realized how accurate that statement could have been and laughed nervously, "Well maybe you could wear your hood for your entire time here?"

Naruto slumped in his seat, "Aw man, that fucking thing is hot!"

XxX

(The Next Day)

Naruto, Shizune, and Tsunade were seated in a Suna café with Tsunade actually permitted to indulge in a little sake due to the vacation-esque feel that the entire trip had. Naruto was sitting and practicing his seal making speed on napkins while Tsunade drank, Shizune had a small cake for herself, and Tonton had a small bowl of corn, "Why did we get here so early? The fights aren't until tomorrow. And where is everybody right now? Can't we see them before the finals?"

Tsunade downed her saucer and looked at Naruto, "Brat we can't just run off to see them like that. My apprentice is in the damn thing tomorrow, don't you think I would like to see how she's doing before tomorrow? But I'm also the leader of the village and any interference from a kage on a competitor's training would be seen as some kind of favoritism, even if it was just to see how any of them are doing. We are in a foreign village after all, they would know and use it when it came time to judge on their growth and skill." She looked at the scowl on his face and realized his problem with a sigh, "You are so bored it's killing you right now aren't you?"

Naruto gave her a hopeless look, "Desperately. I can't even train and I can only work on so much fuuinjutsu stuff without Hamako-chan here, because if she finds out that I've been trying to freestyle seals without her permission again she'll kill me." He let out a small shiver, "She's so sweet, how can she be so damnably scary too? It's a paradox." He turned puppy-dog eyes to Shizune, "Can we please spar Shizune-neechan?"

Shizune quickly averted her eyes, "We can't fight Naruto-kun. We have to make sure we stay in top condition in case something happens. And from what I've heard from Jiraiya-sama about training you, you don't know how to hold back. I'm a medic ninja but I would still be less than 100% if a real battle were to break out."

"Okay." He said dejectedly before turning to Tsunade, "Baa-chan do you want to fight? Come on, you know you want your rematch with me. I can see it in your eyes, those big brown orbs are just screaming at you to tear me apart and get your win back."

Tsunade gave Naruto a dry look as she refilled her saucer, "As much fun as it would be to slap you around the desert, you are my bodyguard brat and I can't in good conscience cause the physical bodily harm to you that I would like to for that asinine remark... here." She then got a smirk on her face, "I will keep that in mind however when we get back to Konoha. I need a new human punching bag to spar with. I can't go all out on Sakura because I'm supposed to be training her, but you don't have that safeguard on you do you? And beating your ass would be the next best thing to beating Jiraiya's ass when I can't catch him for being a glorified pervert. With your healing factor you should be able to take it right?"

'Hmm.' Naruto thought to himself, 'This could either be really good or really bad, a fight with my own Hokage. In an effort to put this in the back of your mind for further thought, just smile and nod in agreement.' He then actionized his thoughts before he felt cold iron being set on top of his head, "Hello Temari-chan. Good to see you again, if I could actually see you."

"Hello Naruto." The fan freed itself from Naruto's head, allowing the boy to turn around to catch sight of her. Temari now wore a black Suna hitae-ate on her head, a black battle dress, black gloves, and a red sash around her waist. Her ever-present iron fan was strapped to her back as always, "You don't know how to keep in contact with people?"

Naruto sighed, "I could have told you where I had been for a lot of the last two years, but I would have had to kill you after sending the letter."

Temari placed her hands on her hips, "Anything to say in your defense?"

"Yes actually." Naruto said with full confidence, "Blame her." He said pointing at Tsunade, "You should know being a rookie chunin sucks. Well try that being cranked up to twelve with the rate she had me working at. In the last two years, 14 months of it have been spent working long missions. Add that on to the banes of my existence; gate guarding duty and routine border patrol, and my ass has been run ragged." He looked at Tsunade, "Why the hell did you make me work so much anyway Tsunade-baachan? I know for a fact that Shikamaru didn't work one third of the schedule I kept."

Tsunade shrugged, "When I had a joint meeting with the upper ranked ninja a few months after my inauguration to go over our mission influx I talked about how I needed someone to fall on the explosive note of picking up a lot of the slack. Gai, Kakashi, Anko, Genma, and you raised your hands to volunteer."

"Oh…" He said as he thought back to it, "I honestly was not paying attention to a single word you said in that meeting, it was so boring. I just raised my hand at the end because I saw other people doing it. You never elaborated on what it was I had raised hand for, and nobody said anything about it after that so I thought it was totally inconsequential, especially when nothing happened after that."

Tsunade and Shizune sweatdropped, "And that's why we haven't promoted you yet." They said in unison.

Naruto stood up abruptly, "Oh come on! It was staff meeting! Not a war meeting, not a mission briefing, but a staff meeting! Nothing important is ever said at staff meetings, especially to the chunin in attendance! We're too high ranked to avoid them, and too low ranked to get anything out of them."

Temari gave Naruto a look that had an air of indifference, but listening to her tone one could tell that she was somewhat perturbed, "Well the last time I was in Konoha I found something quite interesting. How long have you had a girl living in your house with you?"

This one was an easy bullet to dodge for Naruto, "It depends on when you were there. She's been there for almost six months, but I haven't been there in six months, so technically she only lived with me for about a week, then I left, then I lived with her another week."

"She called you master and Naruto-sama." Temari said.

Naruto responded, "If anything I would call her an old family friend, not a servant. She seems to really be into calling me that, so I let her, and I let her live with me for personal reasons. However she is just an old family friend. An _old_ family friend." He emphasized.

XxX

(Meanwhile in Konoha)

Hamako had taken to visiting Iruka Umino and being something of a teacher's aide for the academy when Naruto was out on missions, due to not having a lot to do when he was gone. Kids had taken a shine to her due to her pleasant demeanor being a welcome contrast whenever Iruka got into lecture mode, and the little she knew on the subject of ninja arts, while incredibly specialized, helped Iruka out when he had gone over the basics of sealing with older students. Instead of just showing them a sealing scroll and having them come to their own conclusions on what to think he had Hamako lecture for the day instead, actually teaching him something in addition to the students.

Currently however, Hamako was assisting Iruka in grading papers while the class were outside for lunch when she looked up with a somewhat blank look on her face, getting Iruka's attention, "Hamako is anything the matter?"

Hamako frowned, "I'm not sure Iruka-san. But I have an overwhelming urge to find Naruto-sama and cause him physical harm of some kind."

XxX

(Back in Suna)

"Be that as it may." Temari stated firmly, "I haven't seen you in forever, and it's mostly your fault, and I'm fairly certain you've been doing stupid things while you've been busy. What are you going to do to make that up to me hmm?"

Naruto pulled out his wallet in a placating fashion, "I am going to make a ton of money once I get around to grabbing my bounty check from your brother. So if I take you out to do whatever you want like the last time I pissed you off would that work out?"

Temari's eyes shone as she grabbed Naruto's forearm firmly and pulled him out of the café, "Let's go then!"

Naruto tried holding on to the doorframe in vain, "Wait! I have a job to do! I'm guarding baa-chan! Temari-chan let go!"

XxX

(Two Days Later - The Day of the Chunin Exam Finals)

Gaara and Tsunade, in full kage garb, were seated in a box overlooking the entire stadium which was an open air coliseum at the outskirts of Suna, dug halfway into the cliff surrounding the village. The battlefield was earthy, mostly rocky earth with boulders lining parts of the field. Naruto and Shizune were flanking Tsunade while Gaara had Kankuro and Temari doing the same for him.

While the genin up for promotion were down on the field, Naruto had taken to pointing them all out in his own way, "I could beat him, her, her, him, him, him- Oh that kid wouldn't last five seconds with me."

Sakura, Ino, Chouji, and Kiba were the Konoha ninja that had made it this far this time around. All of the others had been promoted in the previous exam, leaving them as the ones that needed to pass this time. Naruto frowned at seeing Sakura down there, "Man, I kind of screwed Sakura over when I advanced in rank didn't I? After Sasuke left she didn't have a team so trying to take this again must have been a major pain in the ass."

Tsunade tried to get him to take some blame off of himself, "She rotated between active teams while I trained her and was on Chouji and Ino's team the last time she made an attempt. They were all simply matched against opponents that they couldn't handle in the first round fights and were forced out. Sakura fought Neji Hyuuga, Chouji fought Rock Lee, and Ino fought Hinata Hyuuga. Of course you weren't there to see it."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "And whose fault is that? You had me working like a slave so how was I supposed to show up and watch? Besides, I'm not that important to them, They had to have forgotten about me by now. The only one that should even have a semblance of care about me is Shikamaru and that's because I've worked with him on the mission to Kiri and did a border patrol for two weeks with him."

"You would be surprised brat." Tsunade assured as the proctor for the fights, Baki, called for the fighters to acknowledge the crowd that had come to see them today.

One of Gaara's Suna ninja made their way to the box and bowed to him, "Kazekage-sama, the Tsuchikage and his entourage have arrived and are making their way to the box as we speak."

Naruto cracked his neck to the side, "And here we go. Let's get this over with."

Shizune looked over to Naruto, "Naruto-kun pull your hood up!"

Naruto shook his head, "To hell with that, I'm not hiding when I don't have to. Baa-chan didn't order me to cover up so I'm not doing it. If he's dumb enough to cause a stir here then I have to seriously doubt his status as Tsuchikage."

There was no more time left to speak about the subject as the man in question made his way into the area of seating. A small man dressed in the kage robes of his own village with the kanji for earth on his hat made his way towards the seat on Gaara's left, opposite of Tsunade's seat. The man had a large bulbous nose and a fu Manchu moustache/beard combination. Accompanying him was a large man with dark eyes and hair that spiked out from the back of his red bandanna style hitae-ate. He had big cheeks and a plump nose and wore the Iwa brand flak jacket and a yellow scarf over his red long sleeved shirt and red pants. Also accompanying him was a girl with short black hair and pink pupil-less eyes. Under her Iwa flak jacket she wore appeared to be a kimono with the right sleeve missing as well as the bottom left side, and underneath that she had fishnet tights and shorts.

He took his seat, prompting Gaara to initiate conversation, "I am happy you were able to make it to the event Tsuchikage-dono."

The Tsuchikage gave Gaara what looked to be a somewhat haughty smirk, "It's been quite a while since I've made the trip to watch an exam outside of the village. When the opportunity was offered I just had to jump all over it for once. I needed a vacation." He looked over at Tsunade, "Well Tsunade. How's the job since you took over? I never pegged you for kage work."

Tsunade let out a small laugh, "Let's just say that Konoha gave me an offer to return that I couldn't refuse. It's a bet I was willing to take."

On the field, Sakura was fighting first, standing out face to face against male Suna genin. Along with her still short pink hair, Sakura now had a red hitae-ate in her hair. Her top was similar to the dress she wore a few years back, but was just the top. She had black high-heeled shinobi sandals, black shorts, a short pink apron-like skirt, and pink elbow protectors as well as a tanto and a medic field pack on her lower back. As she stared her opponent down she pulled a pair of black gloves onto her hands.

Upon being allowed to start by Baki, Sakura attempted to rush right towards the boy who jumped out of the incoming pink-haired girl's path as she headed in to attack him. She made a set of half a dozen Bunshin to disorient the boy and allow her to get closer while he tried figuring the right one.

XxX

Gaara turned to Tsunade as the battle progressed, "Your apprentice is fighting much the same way she did in the chunin exam that I competed in Hokage-dono. How would she go about winning this fight?"

Tsunade smirked, "That's easy Kazekage-dono. She's a woman and an obvious medic-nin, and he's a man and probably more of a direct combat type. That means he thinks she isn't physically skilled and he'll attempt to get close."

Gaara looked somewhat puzzled, "What does that mean?"

The Tsuchikage knew what she was referring to and let out a laugh, "Oh this will be funny. Keep your eyes on the fight young one and you'll see what she's talking about in just a moment."

XxX

The boy had managed to discover which of the copies were fake and now had the real Sakura, but hitting her with any of his weaponry proved to be an arduously difficult task as she seemed to be effortlessly moving out of the way of everything he sent her way. Getting upset now, the boy rolled through handsigns, "Fuuton: Kyouryokuna Kaze no Uneri (Wind Release: Powerful Wind Wave)!"

The Suna genin shot off a powerful blade of wind at Sakura who took to ducking behind the boulders produced on the battlefield. The technique cut into, but not through her cover, showing that the boy was not fully adept at using the element.

Three versions of Sakura came from behind the boulder, charging his way, "Not this again." The boy said before reaching into his kunai pouch and hitting them with more weapons, dispelling their illusionary forms, keeping his eyes peeled around him for more instead of keeping himself locked on the boulder Sakura initially took cover behind.

As his attention was diverted to search for Sakura, the boulder that he had cut into had been lifted off of the ground into Sakura's arms before being tossed across the field at him. He felt it coming at the last moment and dodged to potentially save his life. As he jumped far to the side he never noticed that Sakura had anticipated his movement and moved to cut him off upon the point he found it necessary to turn around and face her again.

As he turned his head, all he saw was Sakura with her fist cocked back… and that was the last thing he saw for the rest of the fight. Sakura's fist collided with his jaw sending him flying across the field into the stadium wall, leaving a deep impression in the wall where her opponent's body had hit.

Baki made his way over and found the Suna genin utterly response-less. Lifting his hand in Sakura's direction he spoke, "Shousa, Sakura Haruno."

XxX

As applause sounded out for Sakura's victory, Naruto looked at a very pleased Tsunade while giving the girl applause of his own, "Damn Sakura… Kami, you just had to go and teach her how to do that didn't you? From what I remember as a genin on Kakashi's team she already hit hard enough, though that never made its way towards fighting, just the back of my head really."

Tsunade applauded and turned her eyes to Naruto, "Hey, I have free-reign to teach my apprentice what I want. If Jiraiya could teach you the spinning blue orb of death and how to summon toads then I can give Sakura a little strength boost."

Naruto sweatdropped, "'A little strength boost?' I sincerely hope she never goes back to her old habit of trying to smack me one like when we were fresh genin. Getting hit every blue moon by you is enough."

The Tsuchikage entered the conversation, forcing Naruto to subconsciously steel his features, "So if that girl down there is your apprentice Tsunade and you claim that this kid here has learned the Rasengan from Jiraiya and how to summon toads, does that mean he's Jiraiya's apprentice as well? That's curious." He got a look at Naruto, who until that point he had overlooked as a random bodyguard and almost had a PTSD flashback at the serious look in Naruto's eyes before settling himself, "You know he looks awfully familiar. I never forget a face, especially a face that caused so much impact to my village."

Naruto, Shizune, and Tsunade frowned inwardly, 'Here we go…' They all thought at the same time.

The blonde currently being scrutinized looked at his blonde leader, "Hey baa-chan can I just come out and say it? It's clear he already knows and just wants confirmation, and you know that I can't stand a badly kept secret."

Tsunade frowned and nodded, "What's with the baa-chan brat? You started out calling me Hokage-sama."

Naruto shrugged, "When you let me speak freely in Gaara's office you never told me to shut up or reign myself in. I used that as a loophole to keep saying what I wanted." He admitted, getting a small sweatdrop from Tsunade for such a simple tactic. He then locked eyes with the Tsuchikage, as much as he could anyway with the man's hat obscuring them from full view, "As for why I look familiar, well I'm the son of Minato Namikaze. My name is Naruto Uzumaki and it's nice to meet you."

That brought looks of shock from Temari, Kankuro, and the Tsuchikage's two bodyguards. As the Tsuchikage allowed Naruto to look in his eyes he didn't see any real hatred, mostly amusement really, "I honestly believed they had resurrected the man from the grave for a moment when I first looked at you kid, but then I got a look at those marks on your cheeks, and that name. You're the jinchuuriki of your village aren't you?"

Naruto nodded, "Guilty as charged. You're not going to yell at me and tell me to die for my father or something? Because that's really what I was expecting the second you got a look at me."

The Tsuchikage looked back out at the arena, "Bah, I'm getting too old to hold grudges against dead men. You weren't even a screaming brat yet when all of that happened, so how could I possibly justify trying to take you out, it's not like Iwa is looking to fight with Konoha and you know Hiraishin or something."

"Man that would be so bad-ass…" Naruto grumbled to himself, "I need something cool like that. Every kage or famous ninja has something cool that nobody else can do. I don't have jack, I'm just a jinchuuriki, therefore if I am known, I'm known as the jinchuuriki kid, not 'Naruto of something', just 'Naruto the Jinchuuriki'."

The girl that was guarding the Tsuchikage was in shock at how Naruto was casually speaking to her kage, "How can you just speak to the leaders of three of the Five Great Shinobi Nations so casually? Nobody ever talks to gramps like that."

Naruto turned his attention to her, "I hung out with the Sandaime Hokage all the time from the age of eight until his death. I call the current Hokage 'Tsunade-baachan' to her face, mostly because it's actually appropriate. And hey, Gaara." Naruto said, getting the Ichibi jinchuuriki's attention, "You remember that time you and your siblings spent the week at my house? You guys still owe me grocery money." Naruto smirked, "Unless I'm told to be meek and compliant to the honorifics that everyone uses for each other I won't use them. I hate being like that. Sometimes these guys just need someone that is willing to treat them like everyone else. You seem to be pretty familiar with the Tsuchikage to be calling him gramps so what does that mean?"

The girl glared slightly, "Because he's my grandfather. What else would I call him?"

Naruto chuckled, "That's a better excuse then I have for why I call baa-chan what I call her. I was just being a bastard when I met her and called her granny, I had no idea we were actually related somehow, so now she has no reason to tell me to not call her that." Naruto was still somewhat wary, but was satisfied at the moment that the Iwa contingent didn't flat-out want him dead. He was very happy about that. As the contestants for the next bout entered the field he figured maybe he was being all paranoid about the chunin exams for nothing.

There was no way that he would go two for two in regards to catastrophic situations right? Nobody's luck was that hit or miss. He wasn't even in this one.

XxX

"Sasuke-kun is this really what you would like?" Orochimaru asked, "Heading into Sunagakure just for Naruto-kun seems a tad over your head." Questioning Sasuke's abilities, no matter how seemingly suicidal his task was always the perfect way to push him into pretty much anything.

"Hm." Sasuke grunted, "I'll finish him off and we'll be right out of there. It'll be so fast no one will even know we were there."

XxX

"I can't believe Leader-sama told us to come all the way into the fucking desert just for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki." A man with slicked back silver hair cursed as he and his masked partner strode through the desert, "Isn't he Itachi and Kisame's mark? Where the hell are they for this?"

The masked man sighed, "Just deal with it Hidan and stop complaining about it. The sooner we finish this mission the sooner I can go back out looking for more bounties. Besides, this kid killed Sasori. Maybe he can do me a favor and finish you off once and for all."

"Heh." Hidan laughed, "If he can do it he's more than welcome to try Kakuzu. Unlike the rest of you heathens I'm Jashin-sama's chosen one. None of you fools can kill me."

Kakuzu shook his head, "Well maybe if we can get the Ichibi as well Leader-sama will give us a bonus?"

* * *

**Chapter over. Brock Lesnar got worked over on Saturday night, it was awesome, I sure didn't see that coming. I know that absolutely none of you care, but it had to be said.**

**I've not much to say. But once again, I am one of your buoys of awesome in the ocean of yaoi and I have spoken, heed my word as truth. And send me some money…**

**Kenchi out. **

**P.S. After reading the last chapter of Naruto I have come to the conclusion that Yamato is retarded for a myriad of reasons. That is all.**


	29. Showdown In the Sand Dunes

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Who do I have to pistol whip to own Naruto?

**Chapter 28: Showdown in the Sand Dunes**

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Naruto's eye twitched as he grabbed his head and lost his balance, forcing himself to catch himself on Tsunade's chair, "Ow." He said while rubbing his temple.

Tsunade looked at Naruto with a little anger in her eyes, "Stop training brat. I'm not going to tell you again, that's an order."

Naruto sighed in a downtrodden fashion, "Okay fine… It was for a good reason though." He said as he simply stood in place before cringing and falling against Tsunade's chair again, "Ow damn it!"

Tsunade got a tick mark on her head, "I told you to stop!"

Naruto pulled himself back together, "I did stop! I dispelled all the rest of the clones I made. The first headache was a ton of my clones annihilating themselves trying one of my jutsu. The second one was me dispelling the rest of them, I can't do it in waves from this far away, it has to happen all at once."

Temari looked over at him clutching his head, "You make your clones train? Where?"

Naruto growled in annoyance at the pain on his skull, "I sent them into the desert two days ago and told them to get lost and work until they dispelled and nothing else. Well they worked alright."

Below on the chunin exam battlefield, Ino had forced her opponent to surrender after taking control of their body with Shinranshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Disturbance Jutsu) and forced them to hold themselves at knife point. It was evident that everyone was much better than previously indicated from their last encounter with him, something that actually brought a smile to his face. Chouji and Sakura were to fight next round after Chouji had almost crushed the Iwa genin representative, Kiba was to take on one of the Suna ninja that had survived his first round bout, and Ino was getting a bye straight to the finals after her victory.

As he watched with a semblance of pride at his classmates actions a piece of information he had previously overlooked passed through his head, forcing a scowl onto his face, "Oh stupid fucking clones." He whispered.

Shizune turned to him, "What's the matter Naruto-kun?"

Naruto kept his voice low, "While they were making their way out into the desert to train they saw something, but they didn't dispel because I had given them strict parameters on what they could and couldn't do, and they didn't engage for the same reason."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the word 'engage', "What did you see brat?"

Naruto looked at her seriously, "Black robes with red clouds." Tsunade returned her gaze down to the arena as Baki announced a short recess before the next round of fights, "Whatever you're willing to do about this you know I'm game."

Chatter from the entire arena went up, covering up their words even further from being heard by those surrounding them.

Tsunade took in her immediate options. She could let be known to the others that Akatsuki was en route for either Naruto or Gaara; probably the best option possible as that would let Gaara mobilize the village's forces in an effort to rebuke them. The downside to that was the fact that saying anything here would cause mass hysteria, which would make it easier for Akatsuki to manage a quiet capture and slip away if either Naruto or Gaara were caught off-guard. In addition to that, a group of S-rank missing ninja were heavy hitters and would take out a mass amount of Gaara's forces even if they were able to put them down in the end. With the two nations being in an alliance and the Tsuchikage sitting right there, having him witness the toll that would be taken on Suna might not be the best option in view of possible future events.

The second option would be to send Naruto and Shizune out to engage them head on before they made it to the village; a heavy gamble as chances are, Naruto was the one they were after. She might have been able to excuse herself so that she could head out with them, but that would raise far too much suspicion. The downside to this was that Naruto was the only one she was certain of that had the capabilities to go up against these people, she didn't want Shizune caught in the ruckus. She was good but was definitely not a combat type.

Then there was the third option, probably the worst option of all. She could send Naruto out alone. She would keep a slug on the kid and one on herself so that she could be kept up to date with what was happening, but it was still long odds that this would work. The upside was that Naruto would be fighting in the desert which would allow him to cut loose with the Kyuubi's chakra, and from the reports on Naruto's attacks on a few of Orochimaru's bases when he cut loose it was a sight to behold. He already beat the Akatsuki in a two on one situation didn't he? He killed one and made the other retreat, and this time if he was in over his head he could get immediate backup.

Tsunade motioned Naruto near her, "You're going to be going on your own brat. I'm sticking you with a slug so I can keep track of you and you can keep me informed, but you need to cut those two off, handle this, and hustle back here as fast as you can okay?" Naruto nodded, "You also need a way out of here, fast, because I'm racking my brain to come up with an excuse to get you to leave." She took the time to summon two hand sized slugs under her robe and send one into Naruto's hood.

Naruto locked eyes with her and sighed, "You know how the best stories are things that are based on real life?" Tsunade gave him a confused look, forcing him to further elaborate, "You're going to have to sock me one baa-chan. A good one too to make it seem realistic, just make sure you send me north by northeast. Aim good too, because you've got to get me over that clifftop."

Tsunade frowned, "You're sure you'll survive it?" She got a nod in response, "Alright then brat. Good luck." She channeled the chakra to her hand and hit the boy square in the chest, taking care to hit him in an area that would equally distribute the damage she dealt as well as make it look like she whiffed him on the chin, opening her fist right upon contact to hit him with her palm and send him flying.

To the shock and surprise of everyone not in the know about what had just transpired, Tsunade just turned back towards the other two kage and shrugged, "Ill-mannered brats. The next generation has no respect for their elders."

The Tsuchikage snorted in humor, "You've got that right. My own granddaughter Kurotsuchi treats me like a fragile old man. Me! Ryotenbin no Onoki."

"That's because you are a fragile old man gramps." Kurotsuchi pointed at the sparkle in the sky representing Naruto's body, "Is he going to be alright after that?"

Tsunade nodded, "Oh yeah. I hit him harder than that all the time. He'll hop right back up wherever he lands… for his sake somewhere soft."

XxX

"Damn Tsunade-baachan, that was further than a kilometer I swear." After Naruto landed in the Sunagakure Scrap Heap he swiftly stood up and dusted himself off, "Man hitting the tightly packed earth around here sure would have sucked. I'm glad this pile of rusty kunai and shuriken were here to break my fall." Naruto looked around at the people staring at him strangely, "You didn't see anything." He then took off towards the northeast.

"**What's the matter with you boy?"** Naruto heard in his head as he was en route to a confrontation with whoever Akatsuki had sent for him this time.

'What in the world are you babbling about now? You've been really pissy lately and I'm getting kind of tired of your crap. The last few times I went into the mindscape you didn't even wake up to talk to me.' Naruto thought rather testily.

Naruto went into auto-pilot mode as he felt a little pull, sending him thoughts on what the Kyuubi was currently doing. Apparently it was bored enough that it had taken to chewing on some guy with long spiky black hair and strange red old style armor. Kyuubi spit him out and huffed, **"What I mean is what the hell do you think you've been doing lately? What happened to the little blonde killing machine you used to be, the runt of a human that earned my respect? What happened to the brat that cut down an entire room of Kumo ninja without batting an eye? Does that son of a bitch still breathe?"**

Naruto didn't have the time to even start thinking about what he meant by that, 'I don't know what you're talking about. This is who I am, and I'm still that damn good. Just because I can be normal after I'm done with the fight doesn't mean anything.'

"**You lie!"** He felt the Kyuubi roar to him, **"You're lying to me and to yourself. This isn't you. When you first unlocked your sealed memories once more I took the way you were acting with a grain of salt. I figured that when you got a few kills under your belt and had gotten back into some wetwork you would go back to the way you were. Rehabilitation if you will. Instead, you got worse. And now look at you; you're some guard dog for a bunch of withered old crones more often then you're in battle. You joke around and fall in line behind crones that couldn't strap on your sandals… Kami boy, you were starting to consider those Konoha weaklings in the stadium as your peers, as if they were on your level."**

'They _are_ my peers. Come the end of this exam they're going to be my fellow chunin. What do you want from me? Do you want me to just shut myself in like when I was a kid? To just train and go on missions? To be like I was in Root? News flash furball; that's why I'm not there anymore! At this point Danzo-jiji can't turn me back, he couldn't even make me a mindless drone when I was five, how in the blue hell is he going to do anything with me now?' Naruto raged at the demon in his mind.

For over a year now, the Kyuubi had been angry at something. It couldn't have just been because Jiraiya loosened the seal, that would only be enough reasoning for why Naruto was feeling it more often these days, the times where the Kyuubi was actually pleasant were becoming few and far between. This was why it was angry, because Naruto wasn't dark enough for it. He had taken the example of his sealed state and had opened up to people. He had those that he actually considered friends. He spent a lot of his time with these people instead of fighting like he used to.

As he tore through the sand dunes he decided to put this on the backburner for the time being, 'Alright listen up. We don't have time to be fighting and bitching at each other right now. After we handle this we can gripe at each other to your heart's delight, if we survive, but for the moment we need to focus. You're getting sick of me? That's fine, we were never friends, but like it or not I need you and you need me.'

There was silence before a low growl, **"As loathe as I am to admit it you are right. Right before a battle is not the time to go over this, but rest assured, this is not over. You are a mere shell of what you used to be, and at this rate you always will be."** With that, the connection between the two was cut off.

Naruto pulled up his hood as he kept up the frantic pace through the desert, 'I'm not a shell of anything you stupid fox. I'm more than I ever have been before. Why would I ever want to go back to the way things used to be? Fighting just for the sake of being a ninja is no way to live.'

XxX

As Kiba's opponent finally dropped from blood loss, giving the wild looking teen the victory in his bout, Shizune looked over at Tsunade and whispered through her applause, "Do you think Naruto-kun will be alright?"

Tsunade kept her eyes ahead of her, 'If he gets overwhelmed we'll know about it immediately and courtesy be damned, I'm going out there and cracking some skulls myself. I can't even enjoy the tournament anymore, and Sakura is in the next fight. All of my genin are the last three remaining and I can't even enjoy the show.'

Kurotsuchi looked around, "Where is that Naruto kid that Hokage-sama sent flying? She said he would be alright and that was 45 minutes ago, he still isn't back yet."

Shizune laughed nervously, "Oh, Naruto-kun has a terrible sense of direction. He probably got lost somewhere in the village on his way back. He's fine."

Naruto didn't get lost, ever. Even Gaara and his siblings knew that. From back when Naruto stayed in Suna during the treaty analysis after the failed Oto-Suna invasion it was clear that it didn't take much for the boy to find his way around. Even the way he ran through the desert straight to Konoha after his mission was complete proved that if he saw something once he didn't ever get lost. Keeping this in mind, Gaara turned his attention back to the proceedings, while Kankuro and Temari were more on edge, doing their best not to let it show.

XxX

"Are we fucking there yet?" Hidan shouted, "I hate the desert! There isn't even anyone or anything out here to sacrifice to Jashin-sama except for you!"

Kakuzu glared out of the corner of his eye, "You try it and I'll shove that scythe so far up your ass you'll be spitting chunks of metal. Now shut up and come on, we're almost there if the dome-like structure in the distance isn't an indicator to you moron."

"Raiton: Denkai (Lightning Release: Electric Field)."

Hidan and Kakuzu found themselves surrounded in a restrictive field of electricity. Hidan looked around him testily, "Now what the fuck is the problem?"

Kakuzu growled, "Shut the hell up Hidan! It's obvious someone got the drop on us. It won't be enough to win, but I suppose congratulations are in order for pulling that off. It's a pretty decent trap to say the least."

Hidan looked at his partner angrily, "Stop complementing the bastard and find a way to get us out of here. I want to catch the target and be done with this."

Naruto's voice projected itself across the desert, "Now's the time that most people would offer you the chance to simply leave and save your lives, but I'm not really most people. Sorry about that."

A sizzling noise came from within the electric field. Underneath the top layer of sand was a small cluster of explosive tags burning through, "Fuck." Hidan summed up perfectly.

BOOM

The explosion negated the electric field, allowing the force of the blast to push Naruto out of his hiding spot underneath the sand. He stood back up and looked at the smoke generated from the attack, "That was way too easy. It can't be over yet."

He was then forced to dodge a scythe came sweeping out under him from the sand. Hidan revealed himself after his failed attack, with half of his cloak singed off in the explosion, revealing deep burns on his body, "You little shit! That hurt!"

Naruto got a good look at his body, 'That should have killed him. It's clear that he didn't dodge it from the way he looks so why is he still here?' While he was keeping track of Hidan a pair of arms reached up from the sand and pulled him under before pulling him out a distance away and slamming him into the ground harshly.

Due to the ground being sand Naruto stood up rather quickly, head swimming, but then he had just gotten dragged through the earth and slammed from ten feet in the air so being a little disoriented was par the course. He stood up fast enough to see Kakuzu's arms return to his body, connected by black threads that seemed to comprise his innards.

Naruto frowned to himself, 'Interesting technique.' After getting slammed into the ground, his hood had come off, revealing his face to the two nuke-nin.

Kakuzu stared at him for a second before laughing, "Well would you look at that Hidan? The Kyuubi jinchuuriki came right to us, no searching necessary. We didn't even have to smoke him out. That certainly saves us some time doesn't it?"

Hidan joined his partner in laughing at Naruto, "What kind of idiot walks right into a two on one situation? What did you think you were going to do like this?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes as a bubbling cloak of the Kyuubi's chakra covered his body, "Let me show you." The cloak took on the shape of a fox and one tail sprouted from the back as his canines grew, his eyes turned red, and his nails turned into claws. After thinking about it for a moment he concentrated further and manifested a second tail of chakra, giving him a black outline on his lips. He crouched down in the more comfortable position of being on all fours, "On second thought, I might as well start trying to go all out right now."

XxX

Gaara's eyes turned towards the northeast as he stayed seated in the stadium. The intermission was close to being complete and Naruto had still yet to return to the kage box.

He wasn't the only one to feel the influx of dark power from the distance away. Tsunade felt it but futilely tried to hide feeling the energy. Onoki felt it as well, but seeing as how no one else was speaking up about it he wasn't about to.

Gaara finally turned his head towards his siblings, "I think I would like to stretch my legs for a moment. Kankuro, Temari, please remain here if you would." He stood up and placed his hat and kage robes on his chair, "Hokage-dono, Tsuchikage-dono, I will return in just a moment, I apologize for departing so abruptly." With that, Gaara disappeared in a wave of sand.

Tsunade felt herself release a breath when Gaara left. At the very least now the kid would have more than adequate backup from the Kazekage himself.

Onoki let out a short chuckle, "That new Kazekage is a real hands-on kind of guy it seems, eh Tsunade?"

His larger bodyguard looked down at him, "What are you referring to Tsuchikage-sama?"

Onoki looked back down into the arena, "Nothing you need to concern yourself with Akatsuchi."

XxX

Hidan took a swing at Naruto with his scythe only for Naruto to blur out of his sight in a burst of speed. He was then thrown back through the sand from a single punch to the jaw from the target jinchuuriki.

Hidan stood back up with his jaw hanging loosely before cracking it back into place. He angrily turned to Kakuzu, "You can help me out with this punk at any time you know?"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes, "Aren't you the one that always says that you don't want or need my help? Well prove it this time."

Growling at the challenge, Hidan turned back towards Naruto, "Fine then. It's no skin off of my nose." He ran back in swinging only to get cracked again even harder this time, getting sent headfirst into a sand dune.

Kakuzu looked at the scene in amusement, "Actually, it just might be. Heads up."

Hidan was about to ask what he meant by heads up when a red claw of chakra wrapped around his body tightly, "Gah! What the hell is this? Kakuzu get me out of this!"

Kakuzu elaborated, "It's the toxic chakra of the Kyuubi no Yoko. You should be fatally burned if you were normal… but the way you are you'll be fine."

"Fuck you Kakuzu! After this punk, you're next!" Hidan yelled as he was reeled in by Naruto's chakra arm. Naruto drew his arm back in a knife-handed strike and forcefully shoved his sharpened claws through Hidan's chest, sending his arm in wrist deep. Naruto then bonelessly cast him away back towards Kakuzu's side.

Naruto turned his red eyes to Kakuzu and crouched back down on all fours, "Next?"

Kakuzu shook his head and walked over to Hidan before kicking him in the head, "Wake your ass up you pathetic bastard."

After a second, Hidan stirred and stood up, holding his head, instead of his chest where there was a gaping hole, "What did you kick me for you godless teme? That actually hurt."

A mass of black threads came from Kakuzu's body, "Oh shut up already, you were careless and the kid kicked your ass. Be sure not to let it happen again."

Naruto growled, "Like hell I'm going to let you heal him!" He tensed his muscles to spring to attack once again.

A mass of the threads came from Kakuzu's body, and instead of sealing Hidan's wounds shut made a strange four legged body with thin wings and a blue eagle mask at the head, "Mind your own business boy, I'll deal with you in just a moment. Play with my wind element for the time being. Fuuton: Atsugai (Wind Release: Pressure Damage)."

The mask quickly dashed off towards Naruto before swirling around and making a whirlwind that it seemed to be compressing in place before finally letting the glowing pressurized wind go. The force of the released attack sent Naruto flying off rapidly through the arid landscape.

Naruto exploded out of the sand that buried him and glared at the mask that was coming his way once again. He pulled the sword from his back and leapt forward, his tails of chakra propelling him forward. The wind mask attempted to meet him head on but with a simple shift of movement with his chakra tails, he barrel rolled aside and kept blasting through the sand to head back towards Hidan and Kakuzu.

Kakuzu had just finished sewing the gaping wound on Hidan's chest shut, amid much swearing and death threats. As a dust cloud rushed towards the two men, Kakuzu's eyes widened , "Uh oh, you're going to want to move." With that he jumped out of the way.

"Damn it you know I'm slower than you Kakuzu-." And once again Hidan ended up taking the brunt of Naruto's wrath, this time getting his head cleaved clean off. Not stopping to check over his handiwork, he moved on to the deceptively fast Kakuzu.

As Kakuzu backpedaled through the sands he made a snake hand seal that turned his visible skin darker, near black, "Doton: Domu (Earth Release: Earth Spear)" Naruto went to swing his blade at Kakuzu and watched in shock as he simply blocked with his forearm. He then barreled at punch and drilled Naruto in the face that sent him flying back once again. Kakuzu went back over to Hidan while Naruto was still reeling. He picked Hidan's head off of the ground, "And that's why you need to actually train to be faster instead of praying to your 'God'. Maybe then you wouldn't suck so badly."

The disembodied head of Hidan held a shocked lifeless face… for about three seconds before it snarled and tried to bite at Kakuzu, "Shut the hell up you heathen! With a gift like this from Jashin-sama why would I possibly need to be fast? I can survive anything."

Kakuzu walked back over to where Hidan's body had dropped, "I don't know, maybe because sewing your pathetic ass back together is getting repetitive. Untalented ninja should just die and yet you keep sticking around."

"Just shut up and put me back together already so I can tear that kid open!" Hidan snapped.

"It looks like he's the one tearing you open from what I've been watching." Kakuzu quipped.

From where he landed, Naruto picked himself up once more, 'That felt like getting hit with one of Tsunade-baachan's love taps. I really hope that he can't hit any harder than that or I'm in some trouble here.' He powered down and tried to keep a low profile as he crept around the battlefield to attempt some kind of tactic on them seeing as how brute force just wasn't working. At least he took out one of them.

Naruto formed over twenty Kage Bunshin and sent them out and around the perimeter of where he had been knocked away by Kakuzu. Naruto kept himself as concealed as he could as he peeked over a dune and almost bugged out at what he saw, Hidan was getting his head reattached to his body, and it was speaking the entire time.

Naruto dropped down back out of sight and had to slap himself to see if he was hallucinating, a genjutsu maybe? No. Maybe that last shot concussed him? No, he'd be over it by now as long as he had been generating two tails of the Kyuubi's chakra. Putting aside the thought of how the man could still be alive after being beheaded, how in the world was he still speaking? Didn't he sever some important cords in his throat when he CUT HIS HEAD OFF!

Cutting off someone's head is checkmate, period. Naruto had fought like this, had been trained like this since day one. It was the single most definite way he knew of to finish his opponents off. Now that he seemingly couldn't kill this guy even after shoving his entire arm through his chest, even after severing his head from his shoulders, what could he possibly do to stop this guy?

The answer was simple, he would just have to cut and rend him into itty-bitty pieces. Let's see him sew the silver-haired bastard back together after that, but he still needed to get close for long enough to actually do it. That masked guy was no joke. To be able to hit him hard enough to actually harm him and hold him off when he was using the Kyuubi's chakra was a big deal. Naruto made a Kage Bunshin and dispelled it to send a message of his next move to the rest of them.

Kakuzu finished sewing Hidan's head back on, "There. It will be easier to decapitate you, but seeing as how the kid uses a sword if he cut through your neck with it you would be losing that empty skull of yours again anyway so I guess it doesn't matter."

From all around them a mass of shuriken flew into the air above them.

A slew of similar voices shouted, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" The amount of shuriken flying above their heads multiplied enough to partially shade the sun from view.

Kakuzu pulled Hidan back to his feet, "Hidan get moving now!"

"Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Release: Lightning Shuriken)!" The voices yelled out.

Every shuriken hanging in the air rained down electricity onto the two men. Kakuzu was able to dodge all of the strikes and get himself out of the area of fire as the false shuriken dispelled and the real ones fell back down to the ground. Hidan ended up getting hit a few times due to the lightning rod he called a scythe in his hand, but aside from cursing about being hit he was no worse for wear.

Naruto's clones dispelled after using all of their chakra to power both of the ninjutsu they had just utilized, leaving Naruto alone on the battlefield once more, "All right then." Naruto moved from his hiding place at top speed in an effort to blindside Kakuzu or Hidan while they were still on edge from his last attack. However he had forgotten about something that he had left in the dust that came back with a vengeance when Kakuzu's wind mask burst from the ground nearby and smashed into him sending him flying into the air.

Both nuke-nin heard and saw the attack. Hidan licked his lips as he leapt into the air to meet Naruto on the way down with his scythe, "Here we go brat! I've been waiting to get my hands on you!"

Naruto saw him rising into the air as he descended, "Well keep on waiting, Fuuton: Kaze Wakiokoru (Wind Release: Wind Burst)." Naruto stepped on an invisible bubble of air that burst under him and launched him higher into the air, forcing Hidan's attack with his scythe to miss. Naruto used the extra space provided by his jutsu to go through a few hand-seals and link his fists together, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"

The force of the wind jutsu from Naruto forced Hidan back to the ground violently, kicking up a huge cloud of sand from the impact. Naruto however once again got slammed into by the wind mask, knocking him away harshly as it followed up by releasing a powerful gust to push Naruto towards the ground even harder and keeping him from turning himself upright.

"Not really the best plan to come out here alone was it?" Kakuzu taunted as he rushed in towards the falling blonde. He launched a punch that extended due to his special technique with the black threads in his body. In mid-flight of the punch, his fist turned dark colored as he hardened it with Doton: Domu and nailed Naruto right in the body.

Letting blood and spittle spew from his mouth, he was sent flying once more, getting knocked around like a ping-pong ball. Naruto hadn't even touched the ground for thirty seconds and had switched direction and altitude at least three times. Before he could impact with the ground and slide along the sand, he found himself caught by the very thing he could see for miles and miles. Naruto then found himself turned around and came face to face with a familiar pair of seafoam green eyes with black rings outlining them with a messy mop of red hair adorning his head.

XxX

Back in the arena, attention had been grabbed for a moment as a loud lightning storm had kicked up out across the outskirts of the village.

"Man the desert has some weird weather…" Kurotsuchi chimed, "Makes me glad we live in the mountains."

Akatsuchi spoke up next trying to interject helpfully, "We have lightning storms in the mountains too Kurotsuchi."

The girl blushed in embarrassment and pouted, "S-Shut up Akatsuchi!"

Kankuro looked around, "Where the hell is Gaara? It's time for the finals and he still isn't here. And for that matter where is Naruto? Did he seriously get lost?"

Shizune waved off his concern, "Oh you know Naruto-kun."

Kankuro rubbed his chin, "Yeah, I think I do, because the last time he was here and he pissed off Temari he ran away, lost her, and hid for the entire day afterwards. He didn't come back to the house until Gaara headed out and dragged him back. There's no way that guy got lost in our village."

Gaara didn't tell them where he had gone, so Tsunade figured that when he left he came to the same realization that she did. Any talk about there being an attack would put the city in a panic, especially the currently jam-packed stadium so Gaara decided to -kage up and go defend his village himself. She had to respect that. And clearly Onoki did too since he hadn't breathed a word of the situation that she was very certain he was also privy to.

The old man currently in her thoughts put a smirk on his face, proving her right, "Wild exams this year huh?"

Tsunade laughed humorlessly, "You said it."

XxX

Naruto couldn't help but place a smile on his face as blood trailed down his lip, "Gaara I have never been so happy to be caught in your sand." He then put a dry look on your face, "You have cleaned this stuff since the last time I've been in it, haven't you?"

Gaara raised a non-existant eyebrow, "How does one clean sand?"

Naruto sighed, "Nevermind, just let me down." Gaara proceeded to do so by dropping Naruto abruptly on his back, "I meant _gently_."

"I don't do gentle." Gaara deadpanned as he looked out at the two opponents Naruto had been fighting coming back together, "So these are Akatsuki members?"

Naruto nodded as he stood back up, "Yep. I hope you got the memo about what these guys are after. Jinchuuriki like you and me. So if we lose, prepare to get your soul and your biju sucked out in a painful manner. How did you even find me anyway?"

"Besides the massive bloodlust you were letting off when you accessed the Kyuubi's chakra and the random lightning storm that hit from the middle of nowhere in my desert?" Gaara answered sarcastically, "And there's no way we're losing here Uzumaki."

Naruto drew his sword from his back once more, debating on whether or not it would be prudent to use the Sen'nen Kougake in this situation since he couldn't guarantee a swift kill even if he was able to dice them up. Kakuzu could apparently sew himself back together with his black thread innards and if he cut off Hidan's head and he still got up to fight he wasn't sure anything else would put him down, "And why is that? Because you're the Kazekage? There goes that S-rank superiority complex I keep talking about."

Gaara let his lips quirk, faintly displaying his amusement, "Tell me Uzumaki… What is the one thing that I have complete control over?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Sand. Duh Gaara, I knew that. Stop rubbing in the fact that your primary jinchuuriki form is always on and I have to trigger my own manually to get any perks, I've been bitching to you about that for the last few years." Naruto then ended up with a mouthful of sand courtesy of Gaara, "Bleh! Gross! Once again I feel I have to mention the fact that you crush people with that shit!"

"I know Uzumaki. Now please tell me what kind of landscape we currently inhabit." Gaara requested with his arms crossed.

Naruto's eyes widened as he looked around and a manic grin slowly spread across his face, "At your cue Kazekage-sama."

Gaara's face mirrored Naruto's own on a smaller scale while Kakuzu and Hidan were sizing up the new situation. Kakuzu frowned, though it was unnoticeable through his mask, 'We may have quipped about coming for the Ichibi jinchuuriki, but we're at an ungodly disadvantage against him here in his own environment. And with the Kyuubi jinchuuriki running circles around Hidan and cleaving his body parts off at will there's no way we're going to get him now with the Kazekage fighting at his side. We're outmatched.'

Hidan gripped his scythe tightly, his desire to spill blood temporarily overruled by his common sense actually making an appearance, "What's your call Kakuzu? This was actually a good idea at first but with this guy here now we can't take them both."

Kakuzu nodded, "Agreed. But maybe we can get some updated intel on these targets for a bit. Our information has been rather lax since the blonde brat took out Sasori."

Hidan chuckled, "Whatever you say." Hidan rushed from his spot with an intense shriek and swung his scythe at Naruto and Gaara, the latter blocked the attack with his automatic sand defense and started creeping his sand up the arm of Hidan.

Gaara stuck his hand out and turned it to the side before closing it, "Sabaku Sousou (Sand Burial)."

Hidan's arm was crushed, producing a sizeable burst of blood and getting a yell of pain from the silver-haired berserker. He pulled his crushed limb from the sand and ended up getting it severed by Naruto's sword before he could return to Kakuzu's side.

Kakuzu rushed to the unprotected side of Gaara and attempted to deliver a heavy kick to the unmoving Kazekage that was blocked again by Gaara's sand. Kakuzu was still fast enough however to remove his foot before Gaara could pull a repeat performance of Sabaku Sousou on him. He jumped back, "That's a nice defense. It really is something worth mentioning when one speaks of you."

"I'm forgetting something." Naruto mentioned as he saw Gaara easily defending him from both of the Akatsuki members. Seriously, he wasn't ever looking forward to fighting Gaara ever again, even if it was just a spar.

As he said this, Kakuzu's mask came at them both from a blindspot. It started making its movements to attempt Fuuton: Atsugai once again, but Naruto was damned if he was going to let that thing go off near Gaara without a fight. Naruto formed a Kage Bunshin and formed a Rasengan, "I'll show you a real wind jutsu." The Kage Bunshin put its hands around the Rasengan Naruto had formed and pumped wind chakra into it while Naruto maintained the original shape and form of the Rasengan giving it the appearance of a Rasengan with sharp spikes circulating outside of it, "Come on you ugly, ugly son of a bitch! Fuuton: Rasengan (Wind Release: Spiraling Sphere)!"

Naruto met the mask head on as it was forming the pressurized dome of air and collided the new Rasengan directly with its mask, destabilizing the mask's jutsu. The resulting clash of wind element ninjutsu caused a major outflow of force from the point of impact as a massive tornado engulfed both Naruto and the embodiment of Kakuzu's wind element. The force of the jutsu finally began tearing the black thread body apart and ended up shredding the mask itself into pieces.

Naruto stood with his hand outstretched, cuts on his own palm and insides of his fingers healing from the powerful wind technique, "Baa-chan telling me not to train… How else would I have gotten this down?"

Hidan clutched at his missing arm as Kakuzu retreated back to his side. The masked man watched with interest, "I think we've got enough for the time being. We need to report how dangerous the Kyuubi jinchuuriki is to Leader-sama." He raised his voice so Naruto and Gaara could hear him, "This was an enlightening little skirmish. We'll definitely be seeing one of you two sooner rather than later, but for now we'll just let you be. A fight between us now would only be something akin to the unstoppable force against the unmovable object." He and Hidan both made half-tiger seals, "Until next time."

Gaara raised his hand at both men, "Not so fast. Sabaku Kyuu (Sand Coffin)." Gaara covered their bodies in his sand, but before he fully covered their faces he caught a smirk on the face of Hidan.

"So sorry boys, but rest assured Kyuubi kid. I'll be seeing you again real soon." The sand covered his face entirely with his dark grin being the last thing seen.

Gaara clinched his fist, "Sabaku Sousou (Sand Burial)." The sand imploded and gushed blood everywhere before receding back into Gaara's gourd, "What a disappointment of a battle. Those were S-ranked missing ninja?"

Naruto walked over to the corpses and frowned, "These aren't the same guys Gaara."

Gaara let slight surprise show on his face as he walked over and realized Naruto was correct. The crushed, unidentified, unmarked men were not the same people that they had been fighting, "What kind of Henge could do this?"

XxX

A distance away, Hidan and Kakuzu came out of their meditative seated positions and stood back up to return to a base. Hidan dusted himself off, "That was actually a solid idea to send in those sacrifices. A damn shame it didn't work eh?"

Kakuzu cracked his neck, "It couldn't be helped. My own was almost out of chakra and without me, your copy would have just been diced up. Let's report back to Leader-sama."

"Feh." Hidan scoffed, "Shut up. All of this wasted time sitting on my ass doing nothing. We'd better slaughter a random village or two on our way back."

XxX

As Naruto and Gaara picked up the remains of the two men who had just been killed in Gaara's jutsu and prepared to return to Sunagakure a man clinched his fists and glared with his familiar spinning red eyes.

"Kukukuku… What do you think Sasuke-kun? Didn't we come all the way out here for you to fight Naruto-kun? Or is the Kazekage too imposing a figure to make a move on him. I am here with you as well you know?"

"Hn." Sasuke stated simply as he turned around and began to walk away, "He wasn't even good enough to beat those two on his own."

"I truly doubt you could do better if you had actually been in there." Kabuto sniped while adjusting his glasses only to get a full powered glare from Sasuke, "Ooh, such a scary face."

"That's enough Kabuto." Orochimaru reprimanded his right-hand man, "He is correct though. Kakuzu and Hidan are nigh impossible to outright kill. I wonder how you would have handled them if it _had_ been you fighting instead Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke stopped glaring at Kabuto and turned his head towards Orochimaru before turning around and walking away, "Whatever… I'm wasting my time out here."

Kabuto looked at his master, "Why didn't we attack them after all Orochimaru-sama?"

Orochimaru grinned predatorily, "Akatsuki is just as much a pain in my side as it is a threat to Naruto-kun. If he can run their numbers down then I see no reason to take the boy's life yet. Let them continue to pick away at one another for as long as the other can stand it."

Kabuto nodded in agreement, "And about Sasuke?"

Orochimaru began walking along the direction that Sasuke had just taken, "You and I both know that he is still no match for the boy, however in a few months that will no longer be much of an issue Kabuto, but I'll give him the satisfaction of knowing that his body destroyed Naruto-kun… it just won't be him doing it in the end."

As the group walked away, a scorpion that had been crawling nearby disappeared in a puff of smoke.

XxX

Gaara walked next to Naruto back towards Suna with two sand clouds carrying the carcasses of their kills, "Are we both in agreement that engaging them all now would not be practical for us?"

Naruto nodded, "Oh yeah. But it doesn't matter, we have more important things to worry about than the body-snatching teme. They'll come knocking at some point… and we'll be waiting."

"We?" Gaara questioned.

Naruto shrugged, "What? You act like you aren't going to get all over this after today. He did manipulate your country into a war with mine, and he is trespassing in your country as we speak. Who knows what else they did while they were here? I'm certain you aren't going to just let that slide when the time comes Kazekage-sama."

"Don't call me that Uzumaki." Gaara insisted, "It feels odd hearing that from you."

"Fair enough." Naruto accepted, "I guess it would seem strange for the guy whose house you crashed over at for almost two weeks to call you by your title, especially when I'm your age and everything. Hey I wonder who won the exams."

* * *

**Chapter done. Not much to say. Any questions not spoiler related and I will do my best to answer, but this weekend will probably be pretty hellish for me. That's why I posted this today- err tonight… um whatever 2 am is to you.**

**Kenchi out.**


	30. Homefront Concerns

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and right now Kishimoto will be getting a few angry letters tonight about some of the shit I just saw. Jesus…

**Chapter 29: Homefront Concerns**

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**

Naruto stood next to Tsunade as all of the kage ranked ninja that had attended the exams stood in front of all of the participants while the crowd applauded. Naruto had a faint smile on his face as he saw that Ino, Kiba, Chouji, and Sakura had all managed to get promotions from their efforts during the testing period. He was sort of upset that he didn't see any other fights other than the first round, but when presented with the other option of allowing Akatsuki to get the drop on him in a possibly crowded area it seemed like a hit he had to take for the team… still, somebody could have told him at least who won the whole thing.

When he returned he had to make an attempt to explain away the blood on his clothes. He couldn't even say that it was his since the amount of blood did not equal up to his current condition since he didn't have a mark on him. After the promotional proceedings, Gaara proceeded to blow his cover, making all of his attempts at playing off his disheveled appearance and what he had been doing the entire time moot.

After the tournament had ended, Gaara led everyone back to his office, "Naruto and myself engaged two members of Akatsuki outside of the village. I believe their names were Hidan and Kakuzu."

Naruto nodded as those were the names that he caught from them during their short battle, "Tell them the other part, the part that pissed us both off."

Gaara acknowledged Naruto with a simple shift of the eyes, "They were utilizing some kind of technique that allowed them to use a person as a body double and fight using their own skills and abilities from afar. We aren't even sure that they were anywhere in the entire country at all." Gaara crossed his hands in front of his face as he sat at his desk, "That is a most disturbing discovery."

Tsunade frowned, "With a technique like that they don't even need to go into hostile areas themselves to achieve their missions."

Kurotsuchi scowled as she heard the description of the encounter, "How cowardly. You would think that a group of dangerous ninja like that would be more up for coming in person, especially when it comes to something like attempting to take out a jinchuuriki."

Naruto grinned, "I'm glad you're acknowledging that I'm awesome when you don't even know me."

Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes, "I was referring more to Kazekage-sama than you. I outrank you."

Naruto sat crouched in the corner with an aura of despair around him, "Well you don't have to be so blunt about it… I'm awesome. Right?"

Everyone in the room ignored Naruto's identity crisis and continued speaking amongst themselves about the situation that transpired during the final examination. Gaara spoke once more, "Well needless to say, the goals of this organization are the capture of all jinchuuriki for the use of their biju for one reason or another. Nationality means nothing to them as you can clearly see, they simply desire all of them."

Tsunade had on a business-like face, "Reports from Jiraiya said that the Gobi jinchuuriki and the Nanabi jinchuuriki have already been taken. I guess they were looking to press their current advantage and take either Gaara or Naruto while they were on a roll."

Onoki had a displeased look on his face, "So that was what happened to Han… We assumed he had run off. How they were able to take him with not even a peep is very concerning." He looked at Gaara and Tsunade, "Which ones still remain?"

Tsunade answered him, "Those were the only two that they were able to obtain. There is still the Ichibi, the Nibi, the Sanbi, the Yonbi, the Rokubi, the Hachibi, and the Kyuubi. But the way that they blatantly came for either Naruto or Gaara, it was like they didn't have a real strategy."

Naruto got up from his spot in the corner to contribute, "They said something about intel right before Gaara finished the fight."

"Oh yes." Gaara said, "Sasori had a number of spies, including two in this village. Two of our own councilors were something akin to sleeper agents. After Sasori was killed they were exposed as his men and were promptly arrested. Apparently Sasori had an entire network of similar spies all over the place spanning back to the days when he first left Suna and became a nuke-nin in first place. It was how they were able to ascertain that you yourself were a jinchuuriki back when you were first attacked Naruto."

Onoki looked between his two fellow kage, "So what happens now? We know what they're after, should we simply hunt them down?"

Tsunade shook her head, "We don't know where they originate from. As I speak that's currently what I have Jiraiya out seeking information on. At the moment the only thing we can actually do is to anticipate their movements and prepare counter-measures."

"Do you know how many there are for members?" Kurotsuchi asked, trying to get some sort of handle on the situation.

Naruto scratched his head, "Well I was told that there were nine or ten members, Orochimaru used to be a member, but they had a falling out I guess. You have Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, the first ones that I met. There's Hidan and Kakuzu, the two that me and Gaara just got through fighting. And then you have Akasuna no Sasori, the one I killed, and his partner Deidara."

Onoki's head quickly turned to Naruto, "Did you say that Deidara was a member?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah; blonde guy, weird mouths in his hands, makes a ton of weird explosive sculptures, that Deidara. Come to think of it, he did have a slashed Iwa hitae-ate on. Slippery bastard… I'm still kind of pissed off that he got away."

Kurotsuchi stared at Naruto in surprise, "You beat Deidara-nii?"

Now Naruto still couldn't let on that he had been assisted thoroughly by Sai, lest he blow everything sky high even further. How anyone believed by any stretch of the imagination that he was fully capable of taking on two members of Akatsuki simultaneously was beyond him, but he assumed that the proof of Sasori's DNA as his only existing remains was all the proof necessary to say such.

Naruto looked at the girl who had her attention firmly on him, "Um… I'm here aren't I? That means he didn't blow me into a million pieces or suck my biju out of my still breathing body." She still had an incredulous look on her face, "Fine, believe what you want to, I don't have anything to prove to you anyway."

Kurotsuchi snapped out of it, "Watch yourself Namikaze."

Naruto looked at her with a frown on his face, "Please don't call me that. Just because he's my old man doesn't mean I'm changing my name or anything. I happen to like my name just the way it is. There's no reason to try and make myself seem more important by adopting his name."

"Naruto be silent." Tsunade said officially, clamming the teen up instantly and getting him to stand at attention. She had to hold back a look of shock, 'That was all it ever took to get him to stifle? Why didn't I just order him to do that after I first took this job?' She got herself refocused, "This is going to be a problem very soon. If they've already shown the capabilities to kidnap them right from inside of their villages and they're just now being forced to fight to obtain the jinchuuriki then they might be able to infiltrate Konoha and begin a conflict with Naruto before anyone could assist him. If they work in twos, one could simply deal with Naruto while the other keeps any potential back-up at bay."

Gaara spoke again, "And with the jutsu that they displayed to us they wouldn't even have to show up in person to complete missions. Although it seemed to make their body doubles nowhere near as effective as their true selves. Uzumaki was able to hold off both of them and seemed ready to keep going, and when I appeared to lend assistance the battle didn't continue for much longer. Together it was fairly simple to dispatch them."

Onoki's mustache twitched, "So that means that after this defeat they'll know to actually send the true operatives next time no matter which jinchuuriki they target next… I need to find and recall Roshi."

Gaara looked out of the window at his village, "They won't send anyone after me or Uzumaki so soon after the last encounter. They will wait to further analyze the latest information that they have on us from the short encounter. They will probably pursue the other jinchuuriki that are less informed of their existence for the time being."

Onoki clasped his hands in a satisfied manner, "Well that's fantastic. Now all I have to do is shore up my defenses and get Roshi back into Iwa and everything will work out."

"I'm not sure about that." Naruto said plainly before remembering that he was supposed to be silent for the time being. When all eyes turned to him he gave Tsunade a look asking her for permission to speak. She gestured for him to proceed, "Well how long do you think it will take for you to find this guy Roshi?"

Onoki shrugged, "Two weeks at least, but we will be able to locate him."

Naruto shook his head, "That might not be fast enough. No matter where he may be they still might be able to find him. I went to my ancestral home for personal reasons and told only my jounin squad leader where I was going and they still found me. They probably know where he is already and are just waiting him out if they didn't take him already."

Tsunade's eyes widened at Naruto's explanation, "Do you get reports from Roshi updating you on his condition Tsuchikage-dono?"

Onoki growled, "No we don't. I allowed him to leave many years ago to allow him to learn to control the power of the Yonbi no Saru, it was better that no one was around while he was training to utilize that power."

He had some sort of point there as far as learning to control the demonic power went. To everyone else's knowledge, Iwa didn't really have an area for no holds barred training like the other villages had. Suna ninja could simply head into the desert and cut loose, Kiri ninja had designated islands that they could use, Kumo had their own mysterious island with many strange and gigantic creatures inhabiting it, and Konoha had the Forest of Death that Naruto used frequently. Allowing him to use his power inside of the village's generally provided training grounds would have been a bad idea for at least half a dozen reasons.

The grizzled old kage continued speaking, "So you're saying that he may very well already be captured."

Naruto nodded, "Well yeah. I'm not saying it really, I'm more or less speculating, but it's not much of a stretch to say so."

"That's all we need to hear right now Naruto." Tsunade said to get him to finish talking. Naruto simply stepped back next to Shizune and stood at attention.

Onoki snorted, "I still think that these affairs should be handled domestically. The jinchuuriki should be a country's own responsibility. I will not divert any of my forces to assist you to protect your own weapons. This is just the way of keeping the status quo."

Gaara and Naruto narrowed their eyes at the weapon comment but didn't say anything about it. Both of them accepted it at this point that they were generally meant to be used as weapons, but to hear the way that he had said it as if they weren't people worked their nerves somewhat. Tsunade, Shizune, Kankuro, and Temari actually visibly took it worse that the two demon containers in the room did if the scowls on their faces were any indication of the underlying tension in the room. Tsunade and Shizune were trying to keep Naruto from rationalizing his thought that way, and they figured it would be hard enough to keep Naruto from labeling himself as a weapon due to his time with Danzo without others actually identifying him as such. Temari and Kankuro had spent years since Gaara's defeat to Naruto making sure that he knew that he was their brother, not just Suna's ace in the hole.

Tsunade attempted to speak through the tension, "That's fine. Suna and Konoha will simply have to reach out to the other villages with jinchuuriki still remaining to ensure that everyone is prepared for the growing threat." With the knowledge that unless directly involved once more, Iwa would not aid either village, the meeting shifted away from Akatsuki.

XxX

"Damn it…" Naruto said dejectedly as he and Shizune had returned to their hotel with Tsunade after the meeting, "I can't believe they left to go home already. They probably think that I'm avoiding them. I haven't spoken to anyone else in forever."

Shizune patted him on the back consolingly, "It's okay Naruto-kun, you can find them when we get back to Konoha, right Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade was taking the current down time to paint her nails and answered vacantly, "Huh? Oh, yeah sure… maybe. If I don't have any more missions lined up for him when we get back."

Naruto sighed, "There's going to be another mission…" He said as he walked towards his futon at the foot of Tsunade and Shizune's beds, "There's always another mission. Damn overflow of assignments." He lay down on top of his temporary bedding.

Tsunade rolled her eyes and kept at work on her nails, "Stop whining brat. You were the one that wanted all of the real missions, remember?"

Naruto scoffed from his spot on the futon, "You work me like a rookie chunin. Now I don't want to be a sissy or anything, but can I get some downtime again?"

"Downtime?" Tsunade almost bellowed, "Since when do you need downtime you walking chakra battery?"

"Since you send me on jobs that last a month or longer consecutively." Naruto said as he sat up at the foot of Shizune's bed to let the older woman play vacuously with his hair, "The only thing I've had time to do these days is get my hair cut. Do you want to know what I dream about these days? Sleeping in my own bed. There's something wrong with that. I've been getting back-to-back B-ranks and the one S-rank you just sent me on, not to mention this one, it should be A-ranked right?"

Shizune paused in her current actions with her pseudo-little brother's hair, "Well why don't you just take some time now Naruto-kun? We're not going to really do anything until we set out for Konoha tomorrow morning."

"My job is to watch out for Tsunade-baachan, I'm her first and most vital line of defense." Naruto said, "Even if I kept some Kage Bunshin handy around here if anyone actually attacked her that wouldn't even slow them down."

Tsunade had finished painting her nails and was simply waiting for them to dry, "It's good of you to say that brat, very responsible."

Naruto nodded and shut his eyes against the side of the bed, it was a good thing that Tsunade was none the wiser to the very long date he ended up taking Temari on the day before the chunin exam finals. You've got to love Kage Bunshin no Jutsu… and the bounty checks for S-ranked ninja.

XxX

(Five Days Later)

After getting an early start back to Konoha the next morning, the trip back was as slow as the trip up there. There was a lot to digest nowadays, there was no real doubt about it, Akatsuki was beginning to make their move and the new enemies discovered had somewhat startling abilities. There was seriously a lot of work to do if he was going to be ready for the next encounter, because for all he knew the next two-on-one encounter wouldn't be with just a pair of body doubles, it would be the real deal.

After the trek back to Konoha and a quick debriefing, brief because Tsunade was there, she knew what happened, and it was after midnight when they got back, Naruto slogged through the empty village streets, too out of it to attempt a shunshin to his own house. After kicking off his sandals and dropping his gear, operating seemingly on auto-pilot all the way through the apartment, he proceeded to drop face first on his bed and blackout.

XxX

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto awakened in a cave setting. As he sat up from his prone position on his back he looked around. Why the hell was he in a cave? His mindscape should only have been what the Kyuubi knew of Konoha. How the hell did that massive thing know anything of what a cave like this looked like? Come to think of it, why _didn't_ Naruto know what this cave looked like? He was supposed to be able to navigate Konoha blindfolded and yet he had no idea where he was right now.

Taking charge of the situation and wondering why the Kyuubi decided to manifest him inside of his mind tonight and why he picked this exact area to do so, not to mention what the hell this area actually was. As he made his way to the exit he made a small noise, "Hmm." As he jumped down from the well hidden cavern in the cliff wall he landed squarely at the edge of the woods. He actually did know where he was, he was currently in the forest situated on the backside of the Hokage Monument. In truth nobody ever went back there, even less than the amount of people that ever went to the top of the monument itself normally, 'I need to come back here in person and check this place out one of these days. I really feel like I'm missing something here.'

He walked through the forest and eventually found his own personal demon lying down in the middle of a burned out wasteland. Naruto looked around as he approached before coming to a stop and sitting down directly in front of the Kyuubi, "Alright wake up. I know you can't possibly be asleep because you're the one that brought me here."

One blood-red eye opened, staring directly at Naruto, **"You are still weak."**

He was kind of right. There were still far too many people with the ability to somehow stop him. Granted, these people were the absolute best of the best, and he felt that a full-scale fight against a true elite even if it ended in his inevitable defeat would end with some sort of permanent reminder on their person of their battle with him that is even if they were ever the same again, but after getting smacked around by two people that didn't even bother showing up in person to fight it kind of grated on his mind.

Naruto didn't even bother verbally responding. The Kyuubi opened up both of its eyes and sat up on its haunches as it looked its host over, **"Honestly, you've done as well as can be expected for a mere human child when it comes to using my power. But if three tails is the limit of your control then you might as well surrender your body and relinquish control to me. I can destroy your enemies and ensure the peace of your village."**

Naruto's lips quirked slightly, "Before you come back here and trample this place flat right?"

The sharp teeth of the Kyuubi were bared in a grin of sorts, **"Well I never said that I would leave this place alone did I? I simply said that I would destroy your enemies and ensure this village's peace. What better way to do that than to make everyone **_**rest**_** in peace?"**

"You're a very funny demon." Naruto commented, "And it doesn't matter if I have any more control, I can simply train and get it. It's that simple."

"**It could be simpler Naruto." ** Kyuubi said off-handedly, **"I can be the tool of victory that you want to be. With my true power I can eradicate any threat that you have ever come across. It would be so easy for you, all you would have to do is entrust your heart to me, and I will make it so easy for you."**

"You know…" Naruto started, "I've never really considered myself selfish before." He started pacing in front of the massive frame of the Kyuubi, "I have to admit, there is a part of me that wants to just give you the reins, to just let you handle everything on the off-chance that you aren't simply lying to my face to get me to set you free. To just allow myself the chance to let things go as they may, telling myself that I did the best thing I could. To give up my freedom and body just to ensure that your power would truly be used to keep the promise that I made when I became a ninja; to keep Konoha safe."

He stopped walking in circles and got right as close to the Kyuubi's muzzle as he could, "But I'm going to be selfish this time. I'm going to find a way to get control over your chakra, and I will get you to help me. I'm going to learn how to beat people without even taking a small hit of your chakra. I'm going to keep everyone close to me safe. I'm going to be normal, and I'm going to be extraordinary. I'm going to finish my last mission to Danzo-jiji and become Hokage. I'm going to tear Akatsuki asunder, crush them, and throw them into the wind. I'm going to do all of this… because you and I both know that if it really had to come down to it, there's not a whole lot anyone can do to stop me from doing what I want."

He turned away from the Kyuubi who had not taken his eyes off of him or interrupted him the entire time and began walking away, "And rest assured, when I finally think that I'm ready to do it, I'm going to open the seal and I'm going to kick your big fuzzy ass until you fully accept me as your partner."

"**A partner?"** Kyuubi scoffed as it lay its head back down on the ground, **"You mean a slave…"** It growled as lowly as it could.

"No." Naruto said as he started vanishing from his mindscape, "I meant partner. I'd rather be your friend and ally than your master."

Slowly shutting its eyes as Naruto fully disappeared from view, the Kyuubi adjusted itself to get back to sleep, **"That heart you seem to have developed kit… It will either become perhaps your greatest weapon, or it will be the catalyst to the end of your life."**

XxX

The next morning he awoke to the sound of tapping on the window in his room. As he made to turn over and get up he felt a weight on his back. Looking over his shoulder he saw Hamako attached to his back, fast asleep.

'Damn it, she sleeps in my bed when I'm gone? I don't really know how to feel about that right now… sheets are clean though.' Naruto sighed as he thought of figuring his way out of this without waking her. Turning his head to his window he saw a male ANBU in a cat mask waiting and watching.

Naruto looked at the man with a twitching eyebrow as he made a Kage Bunshin and used Kawarimi to switch places with it before he walked sluggishly to the window, "You were just so amused watching that I'm sure Tenzo." He remarked before he reached the window, stopping his hand from opening it up as he realized something and pointed accusingly at the man, "Oh no. Oh hell no. It hasn't even been 12 hours yet and she's going to send me right back out?" He hissed out lowly to keep from waking Hamako.

The masked Tenzo shrugged and motioned for Naruto to open up. A sigh came from the boy as he did as instructed, "Hello taicho. I wish I could say that it was good to see you, but seeing you means I have to work."

Tenzo patted Naruto on the head, getting a frown from the boy that he was sure made the man smile behind the mask, "Same to you Naruto. Hokage-sama is here to inform you to keep yourself at the ready in case any missions open up for you soon. She said something about 'mission overflow duty' and that you would know what that meant."

Naruto held back a face-palm, 'I will never sleep through a meeting ever again no matter how boring it is.' He then spoke out loud, "Well it's better to at least keep me mobilized and let me rest than to send me right back out again. Thanks for the message taicho."

Tenzo nodded, "See you later Naruto." He then jumped off to resume his usual duties.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair and turned back to where his Kage Bunshin was underneath Hamako with a deadpan look on his face, "So what are you going to do about this boss?"

Naruto shut the window and walked out of the bedroom, grabbing all of the things he had dropped the previous night off of the floor, "_I'm_ going to go do something since I'm up. _You're_ going to stay there until you can come up with a way to get away from her without waking her up." Naruto smirked as his Kage Bunshin glared at him darkly over his shoulder until he left the apartment and shut the door behind him.

Upon giving it a few seconds, the Kage Bunshin's glare turned into a grin as he gently rolled over and held Hamako in his arms, "Yeah I could do that. Or… I could just stay like this for as long as I last." His grin widened further when he felt Hamako snuggle her head further into his chest, "Yep, this option is definitely the best."

XxX

Naruto simply wandered around the village as many were out and about starting their day, and without even realizing it ended up in front of the Hokage Tower. He blinked in surprise as he shrugged and walked past without a second glance, "I guess this is what Kakashi-sensei meant by getting lost on the road of life. If this is the first place I go out of instinct then I really did need a break."

Before he got too far he heard a voice call out to him, "Naruto!"

The blonde turned around to see Sakura walking up to him with papers in her arms, "Hey Sakura. Long time no see. And by the way, way to go on getting promoted."

Sakura gave him a smile, "Thanks. Being Tsunade-sama's apprentice is working out for me huh?"

Naruto chuckled, "Yeah apparently. Just don't ever try to hit me the way she does… ever… no matter what." He said with the utmost seriousness, "I get enough of that already from her alone."

Sakura sweatdropped before perking back up, "No one's seen you around the village in a while. How are things going? Oh, I met the girl that lives in your apartment too." She said at the end with slight distaste.

Naruto frowned at her change in tone, "Hamako-chan's a good girl. She's just a friend that I wanted to help, it's a very long story, just know that everything that goes on in that apartment is completely platonic." Of course inwardly he was rolling his eyes, 'I'm just about fifteen years old and have killed more people than you can even reasonably estimate, and yet the prospect of me having sex is enough to upset you. How ass-backwards is our society?'

"Well I'm kind of busy right now." Sakura gestured with the papers in her grasp, "I need to get these over to the hospital and then I have to work a shift today so I'll see you around."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, unless our magnanimous Hokage decides to send me on a six month tilt between now and dinner time."

Sakura waved to him as she walked away, "Bye Naruto. I'll see you later."

"Tell Shizune-neechan I said hi. And tell baa-chan if nee-chan catches her drinking again and takes her stash I will not be speeding up my usual delivery just because she lost it all." Naruto said as he went off in the other direction, 'Well she certainly does seem way better these days than what I last remember about her.'

Naruto let out a yawn as he continued on his way, wandering through the village without much purpose to doing so, "Well isn't this an ironic little problem. I've been talking about how I need time off and when I get it I can't think of anything to do but train or work." After walking about for a little while longer he wound up in the forests near the residential area. If he was really this hard up for ideas he knew one thing that needed to be done when he got home.

A kunai passed by his face while his mind was elsewhere. Now when a kunai usually comes at him behind the walls of Konoha he knew it would be either one of two people, and there were very particular ways to pinpoint exactly who it was. Did the kunai cut his cheek? No. Was there a shapely female form hanging off of his back with her arms wrapped around him? Again no. Did the kunai miss him by a mile in the effort to divert his attention? Yes. Did the damn thing have a pinwheel on it for some reason? Yes. And if he listened closely he could hear the creaking of a spandex jumpsuit rubbing together at high speeds.

The time it took for him to work out this equation in real time, less than one second, which was convenient, because that was all the time he had to react to it in one way or another.

Now depending on who was coming for him he would have one of two reactions. For the first person he would only have so much time and room to maneuver himself to put himself at an advantage instead of being left to her 'tender' mercies, and by tender I mean with a kunai pushing against his jugular and his maybe his junk depending on her mood. For the second person there was only enough time for one response and one response only.

"Dynamic Entry!"

At a speed that most could only keep up with assisted by a doujutsu, a spandex-clad figure slammed his foot into the side of Naruto's head before he burst into smoke. A Kawarimi combined with Kage Bunshin.

"Damn it Rock Lee!" Naruto said as he dropped a nearby tree, "That would have given me a concussion if that had actually hit! What the hell is your malfunction?"

Lee was taller nowadays, but other than the growth that came with him growing in age and the chunin vest he now wore he didn't look too different at all from the old days. Lee simply gave Naruto one of his gleaming smiles, "Ah, Naruto-kun it has been too long since we have seen one another. When was it? Oh yes, during our border patrol mission, what a youthful assignment."

Naruto gave him a dry look, "We didn't do anything the entire time for three weeks except walk around the countryside and check the civilians that crossed our path."

"Protecting our home from foreign malevolence is always a youthful endeavor!" Lee said before shooting Naruto the nice guy pose.

Naruto simply stared at him, "Uh huh. How did you even know I was around? I just got back into town and I haven't raised a peep since I've gotten here."

"That would be me Naruto." Said a calm and familiar voice as Neji came into the picture. He had gotten rid of the straps around his hitae-ate and simply wore a simple black one around his head. Instead of his khaki shirt and dark brown shorts he now wore traditional looking black and white robes, and they suited his personality Naruto would have had to say, "I was the one that alerted Lee to your presence while we were training."

Naruto looked at the older Hyuuga, "I had to have been at least half a mile from any training field that you could have possibly been using."

Neji smirked, "Well my Byakugan can see up to 800 meters now."

Naruto frowned, "Showoff."

Neji shook his head with a satisfied look on his face, "Still upset that I was promoted to jounin before you Naruto? You found this out almost a year ago during the border patrol."

"Yes I'm upset." He replied, "You weren't chunin for even a damn year and you got boosted over me."

"Lee! Neji!" Called out a feminine voice that landed near all three boys, "Gai-sensei wanted to know why you two ran off so suddenly." A girl with her brown hair in a pair of buns on her head dusted off her clothing which had changed over time. She wore a flowing white Chinese-style blouse and loose red pants, now wore black fingerless gloves, and had a large summoning scroll across her lower back, "Of course he would make me come out here after you both."

Naruto lifted his hand in a short wave, "Hey Tenten. How are you doing?"

Tenten turned her brown eyes slightly and took in the scarred face of Naruto, "Naruto-kun? It's been a while."

The blonde rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah, I've kind of been really busy for a while. I'm finally getting some off time but I could still be called for anything at the drop of a hat. Don't expect me around for too long, Tsunade-baachan has been running me into the ground."

Tenten sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Why would you call Tsunade-sama a name like that?"

Naruto shrugged, "I have very good reasons to, you can be sure of that."

"I guess…" Tenten said before she saw Naruto shift the sheath on his back. Her eyes lit up, "Is that the sword that you replaced your old one with?" She asked brightly, "Can I see it? Please?"

Naruto almost face-fell. She hadn't seen it yet because when he knew he was going to see Tenten he left it at home. The danger of leaving his weapon at home was only equaled by the fact that if he brought it and she got a hold of it he might not get it back in time to defend himself with it anyway, "Um… About that."

Tenten turned on her puppy-dog eyes, "Please Naruto-kun?"

Naruto attempted to avert his eyes only to catch Lee giving him a thumbs up and Neji smirking and attempting to hold back laughter, "Well you see…"

Tenten's brown eyes quivered at him, "Pwease Naru-kun?" Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Why had she not used this on him yet? Is this a damn genjutsu? He was one second away from yelling 'kai'. Well she can't even touch it anyway so maybe he was being paranoid.

He reached his hand up over his back, "Okay, but-." Before he even said another word he felt the sword being pulled out of the sheath from behind him and heard Tenten yelp in pain as the sword clattered on the ground. He turned around to see Tenten with her palms cut. Naruto sighed and picked his sword up to re-sheathe it, "I tried to tell you, no one can touch it but me. It's an old family heirloom."

Tenten waved her hands around as the stinging from the cuts got to her, "You have a sentient sword?"

Naruto shook his head, "It's not really sentient. It's more like loaded down with so many seals it would take me months of inspection to find everything on it. It has security for my blood, nobody else can use it but me. Sorry about that."

"It was my fault Naruto-kun, and they're just flesh wounds. I'm fine." She assured him, "But I still would like to see what you can do with that thing. Hopefully you can swing it around better than you could the last time we fought with swords because I'm way better now."

"We'll have to see about that won't we?" Naruto said, the two getting closer and closer with challenging grins on their faces before Lee interjected himself between them, "Lee what the hell?"

"Naruto-kun! With all of this talk of competition I need to challenge you myself!" Lee said, with Tenten sweatdropping and mouthing sorry behind him.

Naruto stared at Lee blankly for a second, "Okay Lee, A new contest. This contest will be a grueling one, are you ready for it?" Lee nodded vigorously, "Okay then, this contest will be simple. Who can go longer without challenging the other one to another contest… that is all."

"Agreed!" Lee shouted, "I will win this competition and get one step closer to matching you and proving myself as a splendid shinobi! I'm off to get some advice from Gai-sensei! Yosh!" Lee then sped off to find his similar in appearance sensei.

Naruto looked at Tenten and Neji who were staring with their jaws slacked in shock. Naruto chuckled and turned to head home, "And that's how you do that. Seriously Neji, you couldn't handle that yourself back when we were kids Mr. Genius?" He walked away, leaving the other two in the woods.

Neji simply stood still until Naruto got out of his range of sight before he activated his Byakugan to stare even more, "I think I hate him. I really, really do."

"Hmm." Tenten said mostly to herself, "I wonder, if I marry him would I be able to use that sword?"

Neji turned from staring at where Naruto once was to staring at Tenten, "A-Are you serious?"

Tenten shook her head and walked off, "Of course I'm not serious." She said, getting Neji to sigh in relief before speaking under her breath out of earshot, "I mean a cool, powerful sword would only be a bonus…"

XxX

Deciding that a little lunch was in order, Naruto headed over to Ichiraku Ramen. Upon entering through the curtain he found his current next door neighbor with her head set down on the counter and a bowl of ramen by her head.

"You look pretty out of it Tayuya-chan." Naruto said, getting enough of her attention to lift her head and turn around with a groan, "Are you going to finish that by the way?" He said, pointing to her bowl of ramen.

Tayuya grunted slightly and set her head back on the counter, "No… go ahead. If I ate anymore right now I would probably just puke it up anyway." Her eyes slightly widened when she really took into account who had just pulled up a seat next to her, "So you're actually back."

Naruto nodded as he pulled Tayuya's bowl close to him and took a bite of her ramen, "Mmm, it's still warm. But yeah, hopefully I get more time off than just a few days this time. By the way, why do you look so beat up?"

At this Tayuya gave him a weak glare, "Because when this lady named Anko found out that I was your next door neighbor and a friend of your… caretaker… she took it upon herself to 'train' me until you got back. What the fuck did you do to her?"

Naruto sweatdropped, "Me? Nothing. She's just pissy because she was called back from a mission we went on together recently. Of course, when she finds me then she'll leave you alone… if I let her find me."

Tayuya pulled herself up onto her elbows on the table, "Well then I'll just tell her you're here in the village."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he polished off the bowl, "That won't do anything. Nobody can get into my house without permission anymore remember? Unless she somehow catches me in the street or goes far enough into the Forest of Death to actually search for me she won't ever get a crack at me. When I don't want to be found there aren't a whole lot of people that can do it."

"Mighty full of ourselves aren't we Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked as she came from the back. She looked over at Tayuya, "Are you feeling any better Tayuya-chan?"

Tayuya nodded, "I'll feel a lot better when I get home and sleep. Thank Kami that Anko has afternoon work at T & I."

"Hey Ayame-neechan. Let me get three bowls of miso ramen." Naruto said before a smirk adorned his face, "And Tayuya-_chan_? What happened to that? I thought I was the only person that could say that. Tayuya-chan didn't we have something special?"

Ayame giggled as she took down Naruto's order while Tayuya scowled, "If by something you mean you kicked my ass twice and captured me the second time then yes, we have something."

Naruto put a hand on her shoulder and hugged her from the side, "I love you too Tayuya-chan."

Her cheeks slightly reddened, "If I wasn't so drained from this morning I would kick your ass right now."

Naruto grinned, "And that's why I did it."

XxX

(One Day Later)

Naruto sat on the couch in his apartment staring at a wall full of whatever information he could pull up on the members of Akatsuki that he was aware of. Hamako was seated next to him with a new accessory; a black choker with gold fastens in the back and an emerald across the throat, Naruto's gift to her.

He had tons of stuff about Itachi Uchiha, him being a former shinobi of his village got him an abundance of information on his skills. Kisame, his partner, also had a fair amount on him, apparently he had a little run-in with Konoha ninja many years ago where they were able to ascertain a lot of this stuff. While the thought of a fight with either of them still raised hairs on the back of his neck he could honestly say he felt his chances against Kisame were far greater than if he had to go up against Itachi Uchiha for real.

The files he had on Kakuzu were old, very old. They were so old that Naruto was astounded that the man was still alive _and_ was an active shinobi of the highest level. If Kakuzu's body double hadn't been on the scene he was certain that Hidan's body double would have been obliterated in no time, and simply the presence of the man's body double was enough to tip the tides of the fight, how strong was the genuine article? However he didn't have much, just under forbidden abilities was Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear), and due to it being an old hijutsu from Takigakure he didn't have anything on it.

There was nothing on Hidan whatsoever. The not dying after getting his head cut off thing was irking Naruto, but there was simply no data on it for him to analyze. If they met again he was going to have to get creative to win decisively.

There was nothing but Naruto's handwritten notes taken from his own point of view and that of Hamako's for Deidara, as Iwa wasn't exactly very forthcoming with that information.

So one was down, there were five more that he knew of… and there were three more that he didn't. In addition to that they only had at the most a little over half a year to find Sasuke Uchiha before Orochimaru turned him into his own personal Uchiha body skin and then came back to Konoha to raze the place to the ground which would give them nine months to a year from now, accounting for Orochimaru's time needed to adjust to the new body and mobilize for another offensive. Why was he the only person that seemed to take this little aspect into account?

He needed to find Sai, and Jiraiya needed to get his ass back to Konoha in a hurry…

They had work to do.

* * *

(Omake – Lost Missions 1)

Naruto had been with Team Gai plus Shikamaru on a B-ranked border patrol assignment for the last week by now. Border patrols weren't really B-rank material, they were more along the lines of glorified C-ranks, but since they vaguely had something to do with national security or whatever they were given one step up above being that lowly ranked. There were minute chances of some action going down; a few smugglers here and there, a bandit party trying to hop borders and try their luck in a new country, hell if you were there at the right/wrong time you might even get something of a skirmish against foreign ninja, though that hadn't really happened on a significant scale in over ten years. For the most part it was just a rare question to a travelling civilian or merchant group here, some suspicion and even rarer checking of possessions there, and a whole lot of walkabout.

And here is where we found our blonde hero on this particular day of his routine countryside perambulation, made all the more simpler with his ungodly amount of Kage Bunshin littered about the borders, thus depositing him and his partner for the day in boredom, a state of being that his partner was doing his best to fight off.

"Naruto-kun! I spy something with my little eye, something that is green!" Lee shouted, far too enthusiastically for a person his age to be over a game of I Spy.

Naruto sighed, he really wished he had drawn Shikamaru as his partner for the day. At least if it were Shikamaru the lazy bastard would have been okay with him littering the woods with clones, leaving the others to guard the main roads, and simply sitting still and relaxing or something. Maybe Neji, at least he wouldn't be yelling at the top of his lungs every seven seconds. Hmm, maybe Tenten, at least it would definitely improve the scenery, "Gee I don't know Lee. The last time you said green you meant your spandex suit so I'm going to go ahead and guess the fucking leaves on the trees because that's about the only damn thing we have out here to look at!"

Lee paused for a moment before whipping out a small notebook, "Well done Naruto-kun! Once again you keep yourself firmly ahead of me in our rivalry. This one puts you the lead now with 28 wins to my 6. But I will catch up to you soon! If I cannot I will do 100 squats while drinking a gallon of water, and if I cannot do that I will-."

"Okay Lee I have a new contest for us to do!" Naruto hurriedly shouted before he could get off on a tangent. Noticing he had Lee's full attention he pressed his advantage, "It's called 'background noise'. All you have to do is be quiet longer than the other person is. The first person to talk is the loser, you up for it?"

Lee's eyes filled with the fires of youth, "Oh you have selected an incredible task for our latest challenge! If I cannot outlast you in a contest of silence I will-!"

Naruto cut him off, "Okay Lee let's practice! Starting now!" Both teens became tight-lipped and continued their trek along the area.

After about thirty seconds, Lee let out his emotion, "I can simply feel the leaps and bounds I will grow as a shinobi by taking part in this! I will master this-!"

"Okay Lee we're starting for real this time okay!" Naruto yelled, 'Kami, he won't even shut up to win a goddamn challenge!' The bowl-cut chunin gave him a firm nod in the positive, "Okay Lee on the count of three. One. Two. Three, and shut the hell up!" Knowing that this time was for real, Lee quickly reeled himself in and buttoned his yap, this time for longer than thirty seconds.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…!"

"…"

"!"

"…"

"**!**"

"…"

"Ahh! I cannot go any longer Naruto-kun! You are the victor!" Lee let out in a loud exasperated manner, "It is simply too great of a challenge for me, but I will best you in a similar competition later or I will do 250 ax kicks, and if I cannot do that I will-!"

Naruto palmed his face as he continued patrolling next to his exuberant partner, "Well at least I got him to be quiet for 45 seconds…" Naruto then perked up, "Okay, next time I'll get him to shut up for an entire minute, and from there a minute and thirty seconds, and then I'll get him to shut up for-!"

Needless to say the insane sounds of the two yelling kept away anyone thinking of heading their way anytime soon.

* * *

…**Really Kabuto? Seriously? It wasn't enough that he brought back all of the dead Akatsuki members, no I actually got over that pretty shortly after it happened; an army needs commanders after all. But now he apparently brought back every single fucking ninja that had even a bit part for a few chapters in the story. I'm not even going to ask how in the hell they're even going to find a way to showcase all of them actually doing something. And again Kishimoto overloads a decent high powered technique idea into the ultimate hack move. **

"**Need an army? No problem, I'll just grab some random people off of the street, put 'em in coffins, make a few handsigns and BAM! Now you have to fight every single person you've ever killed to make you stronger and grow as a person and what the hell even a few people that gave their lives for you just for some plot muddles." If it were that easy then why the hell didn't Orochimaru just do it when he invaded Konoha and we could have ended this shit with the bad guy winning about 400 chapters ago?**

**How he even knew/cared about half of the people I saw him bring back is another plot hole that I'm not even going to get into. He brought back Zabuza and Haku. How the fuck did he even know Haku existed? Nobody knew Haku existed! He was Zabuza's secret weapon! And why the fuck did he bring back Hizashi Hyuuga? What, let me guess; there's going to be about fifteen chapters each of emotional fight scene/emo-fest with Neji and his dad or with Shikamaru vs. Asuma or something. Let's take this one step further and for shits and giggles bring back all of the jinchuuriki we sucked the life out of like fucking lemons… I could simply go on all day about this shit.**

**Dead people should stay dead! Otherwise, what was the point of killing them?**

**So now we have not only the immortal guy that can survive 5 consecutive minutes of 10 billion explosive notes going off that can also control demons, knows the inner workings of **_**at least**_** two major hidden villages, has control over one of the most powerful men that has ever lived's cells, and has the ultra-hack eyes part one and two (Ultra-Mega-Uber- Hyper-Eternal- Perpetual-Whatever-the-fuck-they're-calling-it-nowadays-Mangekyou Sharingan and God Pwn Eyes Rinnengan). We now have Sir Spam-a-Corpse, the man with the power to bring back anyone that has ever done anything about anything ever and make them nigh impossible to kill for a second time, even if they aren't on anyone's level at all. Hey Kabuto, if you're giving every single person that's ever died in the series a free respawn, why don't you bring back the team of Rain ninja that Gaara violated with sand during the chunin exams? No? Well respawn my soul then, because you just killed it in the timespan it took for me to read the 7-10 pages you were involved in this chapter. **

**How the fuck are you going to call that a war? It's a war for one side because they will actually be LOSING LIFE, but for Akatsuki's side it might as well be sending a shitload of rock-em sock-em robots out to kick ass, and he can make more even if they get their asses kicked! I know that the story of Naruto is basically about the underdog and that the bad guys need to have the advantage in clear ways, but for fuck's sake, is Kishimoto taking acid and writing this shit to attempt to swerve everybody?**

**Christ… I need a cold beer and a burger after reading that steaming pile of plot-rape.**

**Man I haven't ranted like that in a fortnight! It feels good to get that off my chest.**

**Oh, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Kenchi out…**


	31. To Be The Shield or The Sword

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and thank heavens I don't because if I read what goes about as plot these days I would probably kick my own ass to the moon and back for putting that shit on paper and telling people to draw it.

**Chapter 30: To Be The Shield or The Sword**

* * *

Tsunade stood on top of the Hokage Tower looking up at the sunset drenched mountain that now bore her visage, "You need to go see the brat. His house is starting to look like the inside of a hodge-podge file cabinet. Get him to calm down some."

Jiraiya looked at her from the corner of his eye as he looked out onto the village, "Get him to calm down? He isn't losing it about the whole Akatsuki thing is he? I figured that he would be taking it way better than that."

Tsunade shook her head, "He's not losing it. I mean it isn't like he's scared of them, or scared of them taking him, nothing like that. He seems more tense these days though, more along the lines of the way he used to be when I first met him."

Jiraiya looked at her as understanding washed over his face. That was enough proof that he was feeling the squeeze of the situation. When Naruto was with Jiraiya looking for Tsunade he was scared. He would never have said so, he would never have even shown it but Jiraiya could feel the fear on him no matter how well he hid it. He was weak, he had just been attacked by Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, and a few days prior to that he had just been unsealed and had a multitude of questions and concerns to work out. That had to have been a stress tidal wave hitting right after a simultaneous stress earthquake and volcano. Coming back to Konoha to see the boy mellowed out after the failed Sasuke Retrieval really did Jiraiya's mind good.

Tsunade continued, "Every wall of his apartment living room is plastered with all kinds of amassed information; patterns of known movement, hot points of contact, eyewitness reports of known members, personal files on whatever he could get on each, which for more than a few isn't very much. He has a room full of clones going over this information and either spends the rest of his time studying with Hamako or in the Forest of Death, and that would concern me if he hadn't been using it as his own personal playground for the last few years."

Jiraiya made a noise of acknowledgement, "Maybe I should take him with me again? A trip elsewhere should do him some good. Maybe I can get into what his deal is once we get away from the village, maybe he's just nervous… it's understandable, he has a lot on his plate."

Tsunade took a moment to think about it, "A trip to where though? I don't think I can swing another training mission. I barely got the last one through the channels since I was sending him alone. The elders sure loved that idea." Tsunade said sarcastically.

Jiraiya waved it off, "Just give us any old rinky-dink chore. Preferably one that takes us out of the country for at least a week, that kid can be one tough nut to crack when he wants to be and I have a feeling he isn't waiting for someone to spill his guts about his anxiety to."

"Alright then." Tsunade said as she turned to face him at last, "I'll get it set up soon after a go over what we need done. He just got back from a short courier run earlier today so I'll leave it up to you whether or not to see him now or later."

Jiraiya scratched his chin, "Where is he now?"

Tsunade smirked, "The Forest of Death if I would hazard a guess."

Jiraiya let off a sweatdrop, "I'll go see the kid later."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Outside of Training Area 44 a.k.a. Forest of Death)

The light of the moon bathed him as Naruto was on his hands and knees dripping sweat after his most recent episode with his most prolific adversaries, the giant spiders in the Forest of Death. Naruto panted and glared at the sword in his grip on the ground, "*pant pant* You certainly crap out at the absolute worst times imaginable. I swear you do it on purpose." Naruto then proceeded to flop face first on the ground to give himself a moment of rest.

He went directly into the known nest area of the spiders to test the limits of the Sen'nen Kougake transformation of the Sen'nenki no Ken the best way he knew how; with wanton slaughter, and the endless waves of spiders that had become his favorite targets/the bane of his existence were the perfect test dummies for him and his bladed gauntlets and grieves.

The good part about the training; the blades were as good as he assumed they were. He cut right through the spiders like a hot knife through butter, it was absolutely effortless. His senses, reflexes, and physical attributes were heightened exponentially just from wearing them, and it seemed that the longer he had them on the stronger he seemed to get. Every spider he cut down was seemingly replaced by two like always, but he couldn't have cared less at the rate he was slicing them apart, he was moving so fast by the end that the blades didn't even get any spider gore on them.

Then came the bad part. That little feeling of supreme authority and superiority over the eight-legged lower life forms came at a price as it always had. The power growth was apparently something of a supernova as it just left him all at once, no fading, no waning of energy. When it decided to go, it took everything with it all at once. The euphoria of showing those stupid spiders who exactly the boss of that woodland area was and who ran things with an iron fist in the Forest of Death caused Naruto to lose track of time. Now he had painstakingly prolonged the amount of time he was able to keep going while using the Sen'nen Koukage from the pitiful five minutes he displayed against Sasori to fifteen. Still pathetic… supremely pathetic, but time flies when you're cutting down mindless drones by the dozens.

When the fifteen minutes that he lost track of time of elapsed it took everything he had to not instantly drop to the ground and black out. By all rights he should have been devoured by the damned plagues of the forest, but he saved himself at the very last second with a quick boost of Kyuubi's chakra so that he could…

A human sized orange toad in a blue jacket poked at Naruto with a slight glare on his face, "Don't you ever, ever, _ever_ do that again aniki. I never want to see another goddamn spider for as long as I live. I should bodyslam you."

…Summon Gamakichi.

Naruto rolled over slightly, "I never make you do anything. I can't remember ever making you actually fight anything. Ever. All I ever make you do when I summon you is either train with you, or get you drunk and feed you. Cashing in all of that goodwill for you running a few kilometers to get us out of a forest is nothing."

Gamakichi frowned, "Well… I did get to test out the blade the old man gave me." He grumbled to himself for a moment, "Next time call Gamatatsu to do the hard work."

Naruto scoffed, "If I had summoned Gamatatsu he probably would have just sat there and watched me get eaten before asking the remains of my spider violated corpse for a snack."

Gamakichi was about to respond before he dropped it, "Okay, you've got me there, but you owe me big next time you summon me."

"Oh for sure." Naruto said as he tried to push himself up onto his elbows, "And I'll repay you by not telling Gamabunta that you blew up his stockpiles of sake when you were practicing Katon: Gamayu Endan (Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet)."

"Asshole." Gamakichi complained, "I told you that in confidentiality."

Naruto let out a weak laugh, "You told me that in a bald-faced alcoholic haze. Gamatatsu may be dumb but at least he holds his liquor better than you."

"Whatever." Gamakichi dismissed, "Summon me to hang out later, or to meet that silver-haired girl you live with that has the nice ta-tas again. You were right, they are great." Naruto opened his mouth to curse Gamakichi out and ask how the hell he knew he said that when the toad grinned at him, "I'm not the only one that says confidential stuff when I'm smashed Mr. Gropey no Hentai. Catch you around Naruto-nii." He then dispelled in a puff of white smoke to return to his mountain.

Naruto sighed and rolled over onto his back, looking straight up at the stars, "Come out Sai. I need you to drag me back to the apartment anyway… I'm wiped out."

Sai appeared from the tree line inside of the gates of the Forest of Death with a plain look on his face, "You have groped Hamako-san?"

Naruto glared at him, "She's always coming in my bed to sleep with me and I tense up at night, fratricide of a grabby nature is par the course if she keeps doing it."

"Whatever you say Naruto-senpai." Sai said, getting a growl from Naruto, "Danzo-sama has sent me to inform you that he's already given you everything he could conjure on the Akatsuki."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Everything he could or everything he _would_? Don't give me that crap Sai-kouhai, I know Danzo-jiji knows more than he's giving me."

Sai blinked emotionlessly, "He has handed over everything to you that corresponds to your current situation. Nothing else he has on Akatsuki is relevant to your plight. I made sure to push your suspicion to the contrary on him to get him to say as much."

"That's bullshit…" Naruto said as he looked back up at the night sky, "Fine… He's given me more than the official records have forked over at least, that's for damn sure. You know Hamako has been asking when she would see you again, I think seeing one of her first friends would make her happy."

Sai walked over to the downed Naruto, "I don't have friends Naruto-senpai, you know this. You know how we are supposed to be."

Naruto sighed, "Yeah I tried telling her that but she didn't listen. She thinks she's friends with you, and from the way we both met her I can see why she would, even if you don't think so yourself. Just drop in and say hello if nothing else one of these days, it would make her smile."

Sai put one of his creepy fake smiles on, "You can make yourself smile without emotional provocation senpai. She can smile without my presence."

Naruto let off a sweatdrop, "I mean a legitimate smile, you know, because she's happy to see you." Naruto sighed when Sai gave him a blank look, "Nevermind… I forgot who I was talking to. Damn it you're going to get the concept of happiness and all of the other emotions even if I have to beat it into you at some point."

Sai kicked a prone Naruto eliciting a grunt from him, "It doesn't look like you can beat anything into anyone at this point in time senpai. Would you like me to inform a medic-nin of your condition?"

Naruto paled, "No just drag me home. Tsunade-baachan said that she would kick my ass if she found out I was overtraining in the Forest of Death again." A smile then came to his face, "Hey this would kill two birds with one stone. You can get me to the apartment and see Hamako-chan at the same time. Chop-chop kouhai, get me out of here."

Sai would have rolled his eyes if he had the emotional inclination to do so, "As you wish Naruto-senpai…"

XxX

Instead of dropping Naruto off like a normal human being would, i.e. getting the key from him, opening the door, setting him on the couch, you know, things that a friend would do, Sai dropped Naruto in a heap at the front door of the apartment and knocked on the door before disappearing in an ink shunshin. Naruto groaned from his spot on the ground, "Sai-kouhai you asshole…" Naruto mumbled.

After a moment a pair of familiar amber eyes opened the door, looking around curiously before seeing Naruto on the ground, "Naruto-sama? What are you doing on the ground?" Hamako asked with a slight tilt to her head.

Naruto looked up at his assistant with a dry look on his face, "Didn't you know? One of my favorite things to do is get chakra exhaustion and lay down on concrete floors directly outside of my apartment door."

Hamako puffed her cheeks out indignantly, "Well if that is the attitude you're going to have about it then I guess you can spend the rest of the night outside." Ignoring the indignant face Naruto had put on at that point, she shut the door.

"What? This is my house. How in the blue hell are you going to lock me out?" Naruto got over his shock after a second and inched his way closer to the door with his chin before slamming his head into it, forgetting completely about the security measures on it that rejected his 'forceful' endeavor and sent him flying into the back railing, sounding a massive clang out as he smacked the metal with his body, "Ugh… Like that obviously, because it may be my house but they aren't my seals. Hamako-chan let me in!"

Her muffled voice sounded out from inside, "If I let you in Naruto-sama you wouldn't learn anything. I'll get you in the morning."

Naruto blinked in confusion for a moment before yelling, "What the hell am I supposed to be learning?"

"What the hell was that?" The door next to Naruto's apartment opened to reveal the confused red-haired neighbor of his that finally looked upon his form, upside down, heaped against the railing, eyebrow twitching. An amused grin crossed her face as she sauntered over to him casually and kneeled down to him, "Having some trouble Uzumaki?"

Naruto let a mildly amused smirk adorn his features, "I've graduated to you using my surname have I Tayuya-chan? I'm so happy." His smirk turned to a frown, "I pissed off Hamako-chan and I do not have the energy to open my door due to me blowing all of my chakra heedlessly. Open it for me would you?"

Tayuya raised an eyebrow, "Hell no. I've tried opening your door before; the first time it shocked me, the second time I lost consciousness and woke up in the Forest of Death, and this time after seeing what happened to you I'm not touching that door."

Naruto looked up (or down depending on your point of view) in thought, "It sounds like Hamako's rotating seal works. The first time you tried to open it during the morning, the second time you did it while I was training and it 'helpfully' directed you to where I was at the time, and this time the seal just wanted to get rid of you. If I had punched the door instead of hitting it with my chin to get a knock it would have sent me flying all the way to the Hokage Tower." He rolled his shoulders and slid down the railing, ending up on his back on the ground, "Just get the key from my pocket and you can just open the door."

Tayuya gave him a long hard look, "Can't you just cancel the seal yourself?"

Naruto sighed, "Two reasons why I can't; I can't move my hands or generate the chakra to make the 21 hand-seals to cancel the security, and Hamako-chan changed the password. Right Hamako-chan?"

"Yep!" She chirped cheerfully from inside.

Tayuya shrugged and reached into both of his pockets, "Hmm… Let's see; gum, frog wallet- frog wallet? Nevermind; piece of paper with an address on it… in women's handwriting… I'm keeping that."

Naruto glared at her, "Oi!"

Tayuya ignored him and kept perusing his pockets, "Receipt for… seventeen large bowls of beef ramen from Ichiraku; not particularly surprising at this point but still disturbing, handwritten note for 'the usual order of Mt. Myoboku Firebrand Sake' along with 'the usual payment', and… *whistles* Nice size Uzumaki."

Naruto blushed and growled at her, "Get the key damn it…"

Tayuya freed her hands from his pockets, "Yeah, yeah. Oop, um bad news Uzumaki." She opened her hand to reveal that Naruto's house key had been broken, "Sucks for you."

Naruto sighed, "For Kami's sake." He rolled his eyes and adjusted himself in a laying position on the floor, "Well then I'll see you tomorrow Tayuya-chan, that is unless someone gets lucky and actually takes me out tonight because I can't fight back against a damn civilian as I am right now."

Tayuya stood there looking down on him for a moment before grabbing his ankle and dragging him inside of her apartment, getting a look of surprise out of him, "Don't give me that look asshole. You're the entire reason I'm alive right now so if I didn't help you out that would make me one miserable bitch, right?"

The red-head dropped his ankle outside of her bedroom door and pointed at him, "I'll get you set in a moment. Can you even move?"

Naruto wiggled his fingers and toes, "This is all I can do for at least the next few hours."

Tayuya grumbled to herself and lifted Naruto up before walking into her room and dropping him halfway onto the bed, "There, now be a good idiot and stay there for a moment."

"Yes ma'am…" Naruto said as he took the time to look around Tayuya's room. As he thought, it was pretty par the course for a room. He didn't expect anything else from her, like a room full of stuffed animals or something… because that would have been girly, and the only thing girly about Tayuya was that she was a girl.

Combat flute on the nightstand, yep he expected that. A few pictures of her and some of the people she had met in Konoha like Sakura (which surprised him), Shikamaru (Surprising seeing as how he thought his attitude would cause her to strangle him), and Ino (polar opposites, enough said). It was good to see that she had some friends besides him, perhaps the fact that she was so close to him helped her get their trust.

Tayuya reentered the room with her hat off and now wearing a long t-shirt, "Shirt off shithead." Upon seeing Naruto's questioning look she sighed, "Unless you would like to stay fully and perfectly dressed while sleeping."

Naruto acquiesced to the request, removing his shirt and sword slowly because he could still barely move. Tayuya grinned at him at how long it took to accomplish the action, "You're a helpless bastard aren't you?" She said as she took his sandals off, "Anyone could do anything that they wanted to you if they wanted, couldn't they?"

Naruto's thoughts kicked into gear with the way she said that, 'Okay, from personal experience, whenever someone comments on how helpless I am bad things have happened… like in my Root training. I'm going to find that personality and physical conditioning bastard and kick him in the balls one of these days. What was I thinking about again?' He asked himself right before Tayuya planted kiss on him and forced him back onto the bed.

After a moment she broke away and moved her hair from in front of her face, leaving Naruto looking up at her with a largely unchanged look on his face before he smirked, "Oh, so that's why you said that. You're going to rape me now."

Tayuya's eye twitched, "Well if you don't want me to fuck you, just say so."

Naruto looked at her amusedly, "What in Kami's name gave you the idea that I didn't? After that, if I had the energy to I would have flipped us over and showed you who was boss. I'm going to ask what brought this on though."

Tayuya blushed slightly, "Well… honestly I was going to do this a long time ago. Like when we had that clusterfuck mission to Kirigakure, yeah, I was going to try this then, but you left the entire time and came back beat up and with Hamako."

"Oh." Naruto said in understanding, "So the whole 'me-coming-back-with-a-girl' thing threw you off from saying that you lo-."

Tayuya cut him off sharply by jabbing him in the chest, "Do not fucking finish that sentence because I fucking don't. You will never ever hear me say that to you understood? You're a decent looker, you're a nice guy, and you're a hell of a lot more reasonable to choose than any other guy in this place. I mean who else my age is there to choose from that might actually be a decent lay?"

With that, Naruto grinned, "Oh so you have an itch that you need me to scratch do you?"

Tayuya stared at him, "Why are you not flustered by this? You haven't had sex before, have you?"

'That was the one part of the training that Danzo-jiji never had the time to get me to finish, damn seal…' Naruto gave her a robotic look, "Nope, but still… I _have _seen you naked before." He grinned when he saw her face, "I snuck around Oto's original main base in Ta no Kuni for nine months and went everywhere and saw everything. Do you really think that the women's showers weren't one of the places I hit? Spies don't have dignity."

Tayuya mouthed at him silently before settling for glaring at him and sitting on his chest, "I'm going to make you pay for that." She leaned down with a smirk on her face, "And the best thing is; you aren't going anywhere whiskers."

(Lemon Start)

Naruto blinked at the intent of her tone before looking up at the hitae-ate on his head, "Could you take that off for me Tayuya-chan?"

She looked confused at why that mattered at the moment but did as he asked. Upon lifting the cloth from his forehead a pill fell from the folds and landed in his mouth, "What the hell was that?"

Naruto grinned and swallowed, "Emergency soldier pill." With renewed strength and vigor, Naruto flipped Tayuya over, getting a yelp of surprise from her, "Now, what were you saying about you making me pay?" Naruto's fingers crept along her sides until he finally pulled the shirt off, revealing that she had nothing on underneath. He spoke to her with a smile on his face as he gently squeezed her C-cup breasts, "I still don't know why you wear those bulky clothes Tayuya-chan, your figure is killer. What's that scar on your shoulder?"

Tayuya writhed beneath him, "You did that when we chased you out of Oto you bastard." She let out a yelp that turned into a moan when he switched to pinching her nipples.

"Well then we're even Little Miss Scar-my-face." Naruto said as he let one hand go to take off his own pants and boxers. Showing his ability to multitask he took one of Tayuya's erect pink nipples into his mouth while finishing undressing.

Tayuya pulled Naruto down into a searing kiss and broke away just as roughly, "Kimimaro did that you teme. Don't blame me."

"You were an accessory." Naruto said as he picked her up and placed her roughly against the wall, getting a loud bump for his trouble while continuing with the kiss. Naruto switched from her lips to her neck and collarbone, at times leaving shallow bites.

His actions forced Tayuya to bite her own lip lest she keep moaning and possibly inflate his ego, "W-What the fuck are you doing? Where are you taking me?" She asked as she noticed that he was moving closer to the door of the bedroom.

Naruto kept silent until he brought her into the bathroom and stepped into the shower still holding onto her, "I never got to shower after training, so I'm killing two birds with one stone here." His hands found the cold water faucet first and turned it on, laughing to himself at her yell of surprise at the cold water while feeling the goosebumps on her skin.

Tayuya growled and slapped him hard on his wet back, leaving a red mark, "Turn the hot water on ass!" The smirk that formed as he obediently did as ordered turned to a look of contentment on her face when the steam from the shower began to cloud the bathroom, "Fuck me already you lightweight, or can you not keep holding little old me up?"

Naruto scoffed, "Testy aren't we? You're so lucky that I always thought you would be a violent lover in the first place and knew this was coming. I'm surprised you didn't bite me yet- Ow goddamn it!" Naruto exclaimed as the brown eyed redhead bit down on his earlobe, "That's it… payback's a bitch Tayuya-chan." Naruto positioned himself carefully at her pussy before inserting himself slowly until he found himself buried fully, "No hymen?"

Tayuya adjusted to the feeling of the blonde inside of her, "No, I broke it years ago. Orochi-teme's training was a- Fuck!" She cried out as Naruto sharply thrust into her.

"Stop talking Tayuya-chan." Naruto said as he held her up against the wall of the shower and pounded into her, "I would rather hear you scream."

Tayuya bit her lip and glared out of the corner of her eye as she held onto him tightly, 'Like hell I'll give you the satisfaction of thinking you're a stud. You've got another thing coming.'

The time from that point forward was split for Naruto between marveling at the way Tayuya felt wrapped around his cock and studying her facial expressions. Naruto lovingly kissed the scar on her shoulder before shifting his grip from her hips to under her thighs, pushing her legs up over his shoulders. As he started plowing into her from this position he felt her nails dig into his back, and after looking at her face he saw her eyes shut tightly as her breaths became pants. His thrusts slowed when he felt his lady friend's body tighten in his grip, signifying that she had reached her climax.

"Did you come?" Naruto asked, getting a tired nod from Tayuya. Naruto let her down and kissed her, still holding her soaking body against the wall of the shower.

They broke once again and stood in place while Tayuya caught her breath, placing her head against Naruto's chest, "But you didn't…"

Naruto rubbed her back soothingly, "I know." Naruto said turning off the shower and grabbing a towel to dry himself and her as well, "I'm surprised, apparently I'm a fucking juggernaut."

Tayuya let the towel drop and she took Naruto's hand, dragging him back into the room and throwing him on the bed. Before he could verbally or physically respond she had climbed on top of him and started kissing his chest, one of her hands working his shaft slowly to keep him hard. Tayuya wasn't going to let this lie. There was no way she was getting hers and he wasn't getting his… she was benevolent like that.

Tayuya swung her leg over him and positioned herself over his cock before descending and placing Naruto's hands on her waist, "Mmm, help me out here Uzumaki. I'm not doing this by myself." Tayuya started to bounce up and down on him, with Naruto helping her momentum. Tayuya's hands were placed on his chest keeping her upright when Naruto pulled her down for a kiss.

Naruto started pumping upward into her from the bottom more aggressively than he had in the shower. Tayuya moaned and held Naruto's head in her bosom as her blonde lover kept up a furious pace while holding her down. Tayuya threw her hair back and looked down at Naruto's face to see that his pupils suddenly dilated. After spending a lot of time around medic-ninja like Sakura she knew what this was a symptom of, "U-Uzumaki… your eyes." Her comment was kept inside as Naruto rolled over and fucked her furiously.

Naruto's eyelids started fluttering, "I know Tayuya-chan, the soldier pill is crapping out on me."

"Don't you dare wuss out on me here!" Tayuya cried out as she buried her fingers in his hair, "You haven't come once and I'm about to do it again, now finish- mmp!" Naruto once again cut her off by burying his mouth onto hers, Tayuya wrapped her legs around him to pull him deeper inside of her.

Naruto let go of the kiss only for Tayuya to bite his bottom lip, "Ow! Damn it, I knew you were a violent fuck, and I couldn't care less. Let go Tayuya-chan, I'm going to come."

"Not on your life…" Tayuya breathed out from underneath him, "It's alright I promise, go ahead."

Naruto rolled them over into a sitting position and held Tayuya close to him while bouncing her up and down on him. Naruto buried his face in her collarbone as he finally shot his seed inside of her, and the the force of his climax was the trigger for Tayuya's as she followed him shortly thereafter.

Naruto collapsed backwards with the girl still on top of him breathing heavily. With the last of his energy, Naruto lifted Tayuya off of his cock with a pop and set her down next to him. The blonde yawned and pulled her close to him, smiling to himself when she didn't fight the intimate contact.

Tayuya rubbed her cheek against his chest, "Next time you better go longer."

Naruto shut his eyes, chuckling weakly to himself, "Next time huh?"

(End Lemon)

XxX

The next day, Naruto emerged from Tayuya's apartment far more chipper than he had entered. So much so that he felt giving Tayuya a morning wake-up was called for, a wake-up that was more along the lines of a repeat shower session. Heading directly next door he found the security seal disabled, allowing him back in. Sitting on the couch in the living room was Hamako, going over her sealing notes with a smile on her face, "Good morning master."

'Yes, yes it is.' Naruto smiled and walked past her towards his room, "Good morning Hamako-chan."

The house was in comfortable silence for a moment before Hamako shut her notes and looked at Naruto who had returned to the living room, "I guess I need to teach you how to make privacy seals again huh master?" She said with a sly smile.

Naruto stopped in his tracks and stared at her like a startled deer, "You heard us last night?"

Hamako giggled, "I really doubt that anyone in the entire complex didn't hear Tayuya yelling at you last night. At least you had fun, right?" Hamako laughed out loud at the look on his face, "If I were you, when you leave today I would take the window."

Naruto silently nodded in agreement and pointed his thumb back towards his room, "Right… well I'm going to shower and get some new clothes on."

"Okay." Hamako said cheerfully, "I will have breakfast ready when you get out." Naruto retreated out of the living room and after a moment, Hamako turned to an empty corner in the room, "You got all of that didn't you Jiraiya-sama? The job is done."

Jiraiya dropped his transparency jutsu and had a smile on his face as the shower turned on, "Well I told you to get him to take the edge to get his mind off of Akatsuki and he ended up doing what I thought you would set up, but I thought more along the lines of you doing it yourself."

Hamako shrugged, "If it were me he could have simply told me no and I would have had to listen. He basically had to do what Tayuya said to do and since he was exhausted in the first place he wouldn't have fought back if he wanted to at all, besides she has known him longer than me, it is only fair that she gets him first."

"First?" Jiraiya said as his smile turned into a perverted grin, "And that means?"

Hamako showed no real reaction to being teased, "It means what it sounds like Jiraiya-sama." She then moved towards the kitchen without missing a beat, "*sigh* If only it were that easy to get master to stop eating ramen for the bulk of his meals…"

Jiraiya opened the front door and left before pulling out a small notepad and writing down speedily, "This brat is going to be my muse for the next decade!"

XxX

(That Afternoon)

Jiraiya looked over at his blonde apprentice who simply couldn't find it in him to put any kind of scowl on his face, "You seem to be in an unusually good mood today gaki."

Naruto looked over at Jiraiya as they walked and looked forward with a small grin in place, "Many, many good things have happened."

Jiraiya nodded in understanding, "Yeah I assumed you would end up doing the Oto chick first. All of the factors were there; she knew you closely, you dominated her already outside of the bedroom, you live right next door, you might be a sucker for aggressive redheads like your old man due to genetics… yep, all there."

Naruto glared slightly at Jiraiya, "And you are aware of this because?"

Jiraiya patted him on the head, "Tsunade got a list of noise complaints from your complex this morning. Oddly enough, your apartment and hers were conspicuous from that list." He sniffed a fake tear, "I. Am so… Proud. You make an old man happy to be your godfather."

Naruto pushed his hand off, "I'm not a sucker for anything, don't be creepy Ero-kyofu. And where are we going anyway? Tsunade-baachan didn't even want to make eye contact with me when I walked in today and you already had a busted up mug before you shooed me out and we got going."

Jiraiya's face turned serious, "After your little episode in Suna we're going to start reaching out to the other nations to see who would like to join forces to deal with Akatsuki. Right now they only have two of the biju, but this is going to become a much bigger problem very soon with the players we have in action."

Naruto frowned at how he remembered that he was barely able to fend off the two body doubles of Hidan and Kakuzu until Gaara arrived. If he fought Hidan he was sure he could win, but Kakuzu he wasn't that sure. The next time he would be hitting harder, moving faster, and the fight would be going to a finish. He looked at his godfather, "But why am I coming? Aren't you way more important in the grand scheme of things than I am? How would bringing me even help you?"

"Because kid. You're the jinchuuriki that has had the most run-ins with the Akatsuki and has survived so far, you even took one of them out." Jiraiya explained, "No matter what anyone wants to say to you about it, your input is important."

"So…" Naruto started, "Where are we going?"

Jiraiya pulled out a map and pointed, "To probably the only place with a jinchuuriki that is on good terms with you besides Suna. We're heading up to Kumo to start. At least we know that they'll listen to what we have to say before they kick us out of the country."

Naruto nodded but had his mind elsewhere, "What do I do from here Ero-kyofu? I think I've hit the wall. I don't think I'm going to get much better than I am now, I can't seem to use anymore of the Kyuubi's chakra, and from the way I was rag-dolled in Suna that won't be enough for a guy like Kakuzu, and he's not even the leader."

A questioning look came from the old sage, "What about the other one?"

Naruto waved him off, "I already know how I'm going to beat that teme. But between Hidan, Kakuzu, Itachi, and Kisame this is looking like one steep mountain to climb. Then there's that Deidara that got away. He knows how I fight so he'll be more dangerous if we meet again." Naruto sighed to himself, he had never asked this before, "I… need your help."

"You what now?" Jiraiya asked, genuinely surprised. Naruto had never asked for his help, not once. Not to learn the Rasengan, not for training to improve his atrophied attributes, not to find out his lineage, not even on how to get a better rapport with his summons, not anything. To be honest he had been wondering when this would come up if it ever would. The kid seemed like a problem solver, "You need my help? For what?"

Naruto looked at his hands and balled his fists, "I'm supposed to be Konoha's ace in the hole, the village's ultimate tool to protect it. Well what good is a tool if it gets stolen by someone else? Gaara's stronger than me now. He's a kage, and I'm just a chunin. I was losing that fight against those two in the desert, it wasn't even a matter of being powerful. I was pumping out three tails worth of the Kyuubi's chakra and they kept coming. Kakuzu just seemed to step his game up that much better to compete and Hidan just would not stay down."

Naruto shut his eyes and walked ahead, "People like to refer to jinchuuriki like me as monsters, as inhuman. Well then what do you call guys like that? Definitely not normal. They're all freaks, and they just get freakier as you run down the list of them… they're all prepared on how to fight me, they can find me anywhere in the entire world, and they can attack anytime they want to." He stopped and looked back at Jiraiya, "How am I supposed to win when fighting at my best wasn't good enough?"

Jiraiya stayed silent until Naruto was finished before walking up to Naruto and punching him square in the jaw. The shot sent Naruto flying off of the path down a hill into a field on the side of the road. Naruto pulled himself to his feet, wiping the blood from his lip and planning to retaliate when Jiraiya spoke, "That's how."

Jiraiya stood at the top of the hill looking down at Naruto who finally stood up, "You want me to magically show you what you need to do? Or do you want me to give you some miracle move that will kill all of your enemies in a split-second, find the answer to world peace, and make it shower down gold coins all across the landscape? I can't give you the answer of how to stop these people, of what you need to do to beat them. If I had that don't you think I would have told you, or better yet used it myself so that you don't have to put your neck on the line?"

He pointed down the steep slope at Naruto, "You walk up here right now. I don't want to see you jump, and I don't want to even sense you channel any chakra or you're going back down there."

Naruto did as told and walked up the slope he was knocked down, climb was more of an accurate description as by the time he reached Jiraiya at the top he had to use his hands to keep from falling back down. Jiraiya jerked Naruto by his collar and set him back on the road, "This isn't supposed to be easy Naruto. If it was then someone else would have already solved the problem for you, if it was easy then there would be a bigger problem out there that you would have to face. The only way to do this is to claw your way to an answer. You need to lower your head, grit your teeth, and plow right on through. You move along. Stop worrying about what will happen if such and such shows up whenever and you're doing who knows what and you aren't good enough. You get good enough, you find your own way to handle things and I promise you, you can do this. I believe in you kid."

Jiraiya patted Naruto on the head and walked on down the road, "You take it one step at a time. Just keep climbing, do not stumble, and you're going to make it. That's how you're going to win. I'll be here to help you as much as I can, but if you ever give up like you were just about to again I'll beat you back into your old brain-dead self, because at least he was stubborn enough to never quit. _He_ had guts."

Naruto followed Jiraiya in silence like a zombie from that point forward.

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

A knock on the office of Tsunade's door brought in Shizune with an uneasy look on her face, "Tsunade-sama. Danzo is here to see you."

Tsunade then understood the look that her assistant wore. Danzo was always a subject that she was sore on. She knew of his clashing of values against her sensei and predecessor Hiruzen Sarutobi, mostly over how Konoha handled its foreign affairs, but the thing with Naruto she didn't know quite what to feel about it. Without Danzo training him and placing him in Root he would never have been as strong as he was when she first met him, but she was well aware that Danzo's detestable training methods were quite harsh. Ino Yamanaka's mental cleansing by her father after her match against Naruto years ago revealed what Naruto had to go through in training.

There was also the fact that he had been very quiet, not bringing things to her or even being seen in public outside of council gatherings… it was odd, the old war-hawk not stirring anything up the way Jiraiya warned her he would the entire time he briefed her when he first brought her back to Konoha.

Tsunade dismissed Shizune and informed her to send Danzo in as she schooled her expression for her meeting with the bandaged man, "Danzo. What can I do for you today?"

Danzo stood in front of her desk, steadying himself with his cane, "Tsunade-hime I've come here today to discuss one of Konoha's assets with you, one that you are very well aware of. One Naruto Uzumaki."

Tsunade planned on nipping this in the bud before anything could happen, she had been planning on this for years, "I will not let you take him Danzo. He is doing just fine, he's more than powerful enough without your training."

Danzo actually let out a chuckle, "Would you send your ANBU out so that we can discuss this properly?" Tsunade gave him a hard look before making a vague hand gesture. The atmosphere of the room changed, signifying that her guards were gone. Danzo cleared his throat and took a seat, still with his hand on his cane, "You and I both know that the reason he is so powerful in the first place is my training, but that is neither here nor there. There is not much more that I can teach Uzumaki other than a few jutsu, but they don't seem to be much along his avenue of usage."

Danzo tapped his cane on the ground, "I do not want the boy. I simply wish to ensure his safety, with all of the business of the Akatsuki that you and I both know will do whatever it takes to obtain him it is of the utmost importance to keep his well-being as a priority of sorts."

He hadn't overstepped any boundaries, laced his words with any subtle threats, and he had been speaking the truth the entire time. Tsunade could afford to continue to hear him out, "Please continue."

Danzo nodded and did just that, "I would like to assign one of my personal best to work alongside Uzumaki. I can assure you that he is the brightest shinobi I have trained besides Uzumaki himself, but then again being a jinchuuriki that would make it hard for him to compare to."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, "Do not attempt to jerk me around Danzo. I'm warning you, let that boy be. I don't need any treachery against him from within the village when we have more than enough against him from outside of it."

Danzo kept his face steady, "I agree, which is why I am putting this offer on the table. I do not want to cut back Uzumaki's growth or hold him back in any way. He is a jinchuuriki and is destined to be one of the most powerful men in existence with the biju imprisoned inside of him. Having him be captured by a group of rogues simply because he had insufficient backup would not keep our village safe or powerful in any way, especially when that power ends up turned on us and the rest of the world."

Seeing that she had her eyes firmly on him, but not saying a word, the elderly man stood up and turned to leave, "Well I will leave the final decision up to you. Until the next time Tsunade-hime." With that, the only sound in the room was the sound of Danzo's cane thudding off of the floor as he left.

XxX

(Two Days Later – Gates of Kumogakure no Sato)

After Naruto and Jiraiya were confronted at the entrance to the village by posted sentries, Jiraiya flashed a message from Konoha that he was to deliver to the Raikage, important information necessary for Kumo's consideration he called it. With that, both Konoha ninja were watched carefully as they made their way to the main building.

Naruto simply peered around their surroundings and took in the village. Nothing that he could see had changed over the course of the time he had been away from Kumo, but being here for business he passed that thought off to the side. Jiraiya was getting sick of walking in silence, "You need to stop worrying about the Akatsuki gaki. Calm down a bit."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "It's going to be kind of hard to pull that off when we're about to talk about it with the Raikage isn't it? And they really don't care whether I'm in a hidden village or not, if they want me badly enough they'll find a way in."

Jiraiya sighed, "I've got your back if anything goes down you know that. Now focus, we need to convince the Raikage what a threat the Akatsuki are and how joining forces with Konoha and compiling our collective forces alongside Suna would be the best thing to handle this."

Naruto shook his head, "No way. No way in hell this is going to work. We have about a snowball's chance in hell of getting one village to work with us. Iwa already basically told us to go fuck ourselves, Kiri's just getting over the civil war, no way we're getting help there, and Kumo is basically the only shot we've got, but this isn't going to work either."

"And why not you skeptical brat?" Jiraiya asked as they neared the tower.

Naruto rolled his shoulders, "The same reason that the Tsuchikage told us off; because as of now it isn't his problem. Kirabi and Yugi-chan haven't been targeted yet so the Raikage won't make a move or else it might upset the status quo."

Jiraiya shook his head, "There has to be a leader out there with some foresight. If they come for you what's to stop them from going after someone else? But you're right… the problem is going to be in explaining it to him."

XxX

(Three Hours Later – Raikage's Office)

Standing in the background, Naruto listened as the conversation between the two elder shinobi droned on.

A sat at his desk, decked out in the traditional Raikage garb of Kumo, listening to Jiraiya intently. The sannin in question was seated in front of the desk with a look of seriousness on his face, "The organization is beginning to make emboldened moves. They have made three attempts on Naruto since I've uncovered their existence and may have the Nanabi of Takigakure and the Gobi of Iwagakure as I speak. Soon enough they will come for either your Nibi or Hachibi jinchuuriki. Some of the most notorious ninja in the world gathering together to capture demon vessels, you know that this can't possibly be for a good reason."

The Raikage sat in thought for a moment before sighing, "Jiraiya-dono, as grateful as I am that you have brought this concern to me instead of keeping the threat to yourself I don't think I can put my support behind an alliance just for the sake of stopping a group of less than nine shinobi, no matter how talented they may be. Kirabi and Yugito are powerful enough to defend themselves and their comrades in case they are attacked, and clearly Uzumaki-san is to if his still being alive and in one piece right before me is any indication."

Naruto frowned from his spot in the background by the door. This was going roughly the way that he expected it to, and from the look on Jiraiya's face he wasn't expecting things to go much better when they walked in himself. The two Konoha ninja shared a glance before turning their attention back to the Raikage, "I cannot commit Kumogakure to a coalition at this point in time for this reason. I'm afraid you have both come here for nothing."

XxX

(That Night – Kumogakure Hotel)

Jiraiya had turned in soon after they had bought a room for the night as they had to get up early tomorrow and leave to return to Konoha to report on the results of their mission before Tsunade would decide whether or not reaching out to the remaining villages was a worthwhile endeavor. Naruto could not bring himself to sleep and rather decided to sit out on the roof until he grew tired or sunrise hit, whichever came first.

Naruto simply sat against the ledge of the hotel, pulling the sword on his back out of its sheath and placing it back in just so he could hear the sound of the metal sliding. The monotonous sound and action brought Naruto into a state of lucidity drifting between consciousness.

"You sure look like you're having fun." A voice broke Naruto from his trance. He turned and saw an older Yugito standing on the ledge he was sitting against waving cheerfully, "How have you been for the last few years Naruto-kun?"

Yugito sat down beside Naruto against the ledge and pulled her knees to her chest as she looked him over. He didn't look that much different other than being naturally bigger that came with aging through puberty. Naruto looked over Yugito as well, coming to the same conclusion except that she was over 18 now, "Busy. Very busy. We came here to talk to your Raikage about something, but since you found me before I left I might as well tell you myself. You're aware of the Akatsuki right?"

Yugito nodded, "Not a whole lot is known about them but I'm aware of the name."

Naruto looked at her seriously, "You need to look out for them. Black cloaks with red clouds… if you see people wearing that then you had better either prepare for a fight to the death or get in gear to hightail it. They want the Nibi from you just like they want the Kyuubi from me. They'll pull it from your body and leave you a lifeless husk… don't let them take you alive Yugi-chan, better yet don't let them take you at all."

Yugito frowned at the way Naruto was talking about them. Something was different about him here. He didn't seem to be as confident as he had been back when they had first met, "What's wrong Naruto? Something's changed about you. Is it Akatsuki?"

Naruto rubbed one of his exposed arms, "These aren't normal people Yugi-chan. You need to expect the absolute worst, most twisted things that you would never think humans could do to themselves or others. These are the boogeymen of the ninja world."

Yugito turned away from Naruto and looked up, "So you're scared…"

Naruto sat in silence for a moment, "Yeah. Yeah I am. But not for myself. If they can catch me then it isn't my problem anymore and there's no need to be afraid of what happens from that point because I'll be dead. I'm scared for all of the people close to me, I'm scared for Konoha itself. If anyone is looking to utilize the power of the Kyuubi for any reason whatsoever it will be destructive, and it's going to kill a lot of people. I would be stupid to think that if I die and the Kyuubi is extracted that things are just going to be alright for everyone in Konoha. My friends, hell everyone, they'll all be doomed."

Yugito took in his words in silence and looked up at the moon with him, "You know if Bee were here he would call you a punk-ass and then cut you down in that terrible rhyming rapping he does, and I think I would have to agree." Naruto's head snapped over to her as she kept looking up, "The moon is full tonight. It's giving off a very good light here on the mountain Naruto-kun."

She turned her slightly slitted eyes to her blonde companion, "The light from the moon reflects in your eyes and I can see your fear as clear as day. Not on your face but in your eyes, the light reflects it as if you were saying it out loud to me. If one of them were to show up right now and fight us your heart wouldn't be in it, you would be too afraid of the widespread consequences should you lose."

Naruto clinched his fists, "If I lose then my village, the entire Elemental Nations are screwed Yugi-chan. Even one of the biju under their control would be catastrophic, not even mentioning that I have the most powerful one. To get all of them would mean Armageddon pure and simple, no other way around it."

"So don't let them get you." She said simply, "Sometimes it isn't one big maze to find the answer Naruto-kun. Sometimes it's just as simple as saying this is what's going to happen, and this is why I'm not going to let it happen. Just don't give them the satisfaction of getting you. Fight them tooth and nail. Do everything in your power to ensure that they don't take you and if you fail, so what? You handled the situation the only way you could, but the thing about it was that you weren't scared out of your wits to fight back. They're human too. They can be beaten just like you or I can. We have demons in us and we've been beaten, it's just a matter of going out and getting it done."

Naruto laughed humorlessly, "You say it like it's that easy…"

"Because it is." She asserted firmly, "When you fight, fear isn't necessary or even reasonable for us in that situation. No victory against an enemy of that magnitude can be born of fear. When you dodge, you won't let them hit you. If you protect something, you won't let it die. And if you attack, you will kill them. After all…" She said giving Naruto a faint smile, "When you fight them you'll sure be seeing their resolve to kill you, and to harm everything you care about."

Naruto stared at his fellow jinchuuriki as she stood up and stretched out widely before kneeling down to his level with a smirk, "Think about it Naruto-kun. Because when I fight them I'll be thinking the same thing." Yugito leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, "I won't let them harm you." With that, the Kumo jounin left Naruto alone on the roof to his thoughts.

Naruto turned his eyes back up to the moon for the longest time after being left alone. He thumped the back of his head off of the ledge and sighed to himself, 'What the hell is wrong with me? One little lackluster fight and I can feel my nerves slipping. What kind of shinobi am I? What kind of protector am I?' Naruto growled softly to himself.

XxX

The late night streets of Kumo were traditionally empty as a village-wide curfew was in effect on most days due to Kumo's constant militarization. Shinobi would patrol the streets, keeping watch over the citizens and ensuring their safety. This was what Yugito had been conditioned to know as a fact as she strolled through the streets alone on her way back home.

The feeling of being followed is common for most people, but when you are a ninja you kind of have to give that feeling a little bit more attention instead of chalking it up to simple paranoia, because in that line of work your paranoia is based on a well-founded fact that you are never truly safe, not even surrounded by shinobi of your own home.

Yugito stopped in place and bared her teeth in annoyance, "Okay. I'm tired, it's been a long day, and I need to get up early tomorrow. Whoever it is that has a problem with me can come on out and either do something about it or go away."

Two men in red cloaks and straw hats revealed themselves from the shadows, one with a three-bladed scythe on his back, "You're Yugito Nii are you not?"

Yugito smirked as a nervous sweat worked its way to her face, "Well then… it looks like I have some admirers. A friend of mine told me you would be coming, now let me show you what I do to stalkers."

* * *

**Blaow. I had to post this despite my need to write a paper that is due Friday and me only having one and a half pages of it done. Hopefully this will throw my blockage out of the way. Seriously, I can smack down 10000 words like clockwork for this but a double-spaced paper that only needs to be five pages minimum escapes me at the moment. **

**Some writer I am huh?**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy it. Hope the first lemon of the story was decent seeing as how I see them as my Achilles heel more than anything else. Any questions or what may have you are always welcome since reading reviews helps me out more than any of you could imagine.**

**Kenchi out. I need to turn my lackluster writing skills over to a more academic purpose if'n you catch my drift. **

**Explode for the power of college midterms! Yosh!**


	32. The Undead Connection

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, however in a perfect world I could storm up to Kishimoto's mansion, slap him across the face with my glove, challenge him to a duel, shoot him in the back before we properly take 10 paces with no observers around, and claim everything that belongs to him as mine.

**Chapter 31: The Undead Connection**

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Yugito ran through the tunnels of the sewer system of Kumogakure, breathing heavily as she shot a quick look behind her, "This is such a bad idea…" She said to herself but thought otherwise, 'But I can't just fight in the middle of the village like that. I would destroy so much of it just trying to defend myself.'

She stopped in the middle of an open area where several tunnels lead to, making it something of an open air central chamber. As she looked around her new setting, Yugito was forced to dodge a scythe attached to a cable that landed in the center of the water in the room, "Are you going to stop running now, because this chasing shit is getting irksome." One of the cloaked men said as he took off his hat to reveal slicked back silver hair, "You did good to dodge that though, but I am the slowest member of Akatsuki so that isn't saying too much."

"She did us a favor Hidan." The other said as he took off his hat to reveal a mask covered face with only his strange eyes with green irises and red sclera visible, "Down here there is less of a chance of the Kumo ninja interfering."

Hidan let out a laugh, "Yeah too bad about that. I can't kill her so slaughtering the droves of fools that came to stop us would have been the only thing I would have enjoyed about this whole thing." He shrugged carelessly as he picked his scythe back up, "Oh well then. Shall we do this already Kakuzu?"

Kakuzu growled at his partner, "You should take her seriously she is the Nibi jinchuuriki after all. She could kill you."

"Don't be stupid Kakuzu." Hidan said, "You know there's nothing that can kill me. And even if she could, good for her." He pulled a strange amulet on a necklace out, "But let me start this out with a prayer to Jashin-sama."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes, "You really piss me off with all of that praying."

"Hey you asshole!" Hidan snapped at Kakuzu, "It's a part of my religion."

Yugito smirked nervously, still trying to show her bravado, "You both walked right into this? Do you really see me as that little of a threat to you? Fine then." Yugito made a hand-seal that activated an explosive note above the tunnels they had taken to get to the chamber, "I brought you down here for a reason. A fight between us would destroy a lot of the village, but this sewer is far below the peaks of the village. We won't be hurting anyone by fighting down here."

Kakuzu chuckled, "A patriot huh? I remember when I used to be like you. One day you'll see what that gets you, more specifically when we're pulling your biju from your body and no one comes to save you. Then you'll see how much your beloved village cherishes your life."

"Hey." Hidan said reasonably, "I can't kill you so there's not a whole lot of motivation for me to get into a fight. Why don't we just talk this out and you come quietly with us. You don't have a chance to win."

"Maybe, maybe not." Yugito said, "But just talking about it isn't going to get us anywhere, I knew you were coming and I was ready for a fight." Yugito focused her power that actually blew her ponytail apart and began generating the Nibi's chakra, hunching over as it formed a spectral blue flame around her body in the form of a massive cat.

Hidan simply looked at her with not much of any emotion on his face, "So I guess that would be a no?"

Kakuzu palmed his face, "For the love of-… You are so stupid."

Hidan licked his lips in anticipation of a fight, "This is some jinchuuriki though. She's totally become the beast she holds."

Yugito roared and swatted Kakuzu's body into a wall, sending rubble about from the impact of his frame. She then turned to Hidan and opened her mouth, generating a large fireball, "Shit!" The fireball forced Hidan to dodge as it hit the wall behind him, utterly obliterating it and causing a mini cave-in.

Hidan sighed in somewhat relief as he hid behind some of the misplaced rubble, "So this is the Nibi no Bakaneko, and apparently I'm trapped like a rat." He smirked as he saw her charge up another fireball, "How fun."

XxX

The silence of the Kumo night left Naruto alone with his thoughts as he left the hotel to walk around the village to still his mind, "Yugi-chan… How can she be unafraid to fail? She has to know what's going to happen to everyone else if they get her biju. That thing would tear just this country apart by itself." Naruto punched the side of a nearby building before pulling his fist away and watching the torn skin on his knuckles heal before his eyes.

"**Such a shame kit."** Kyuubi said suddenly, **"All of this power seemingly at your disposal and yet you find yourself locked in combat with those that do not flinch when faced down with it. I would somewhat respect them if I didn't want to crush them so much for daring to stand against me."**

Naruto continued to walk, "Three tails. I was using three tails when I fought in the desert and they just kept coming forward. It was like the more power I was pumping out the better acclimated to the situation they seemed to be."

Naruto kept walking as the Kyuubi chimed in again, **"Well if power doesn't work you're simply not using enough of it."**

Naruto rolled his eyes, "And you did? Tell me how that worked out for you over the past hundred years, because without a jinchuuriki you were a raging monster incapable of any rational thought other than to destroy."

A low chuckle sounded out in his head, **"You say that like it's a bad thing."**

'It is a bad thing you baka fox!' Naruto roared inside of his mind, 'That's what the problem was the entire time! I'm a ninja first and a jinchuuriki second! I was trying to outmuscle them the entire time and while it may have seemed like it was working they had a tactic. For the love of Kami, these guys have been preparing to take down eight others just like me, they had to have been prepared in the event of one of us going all out and releasing our demon on them.'

"**So what are you saying boy?"** Kyuubi questioned to him.

Naruto clinched his fist, 'I need to fight them the way anyone else would fight them, not like a demonic juggernaut. I know I'm a good enough ninja to beat any of them that come my way, I have to believe that. I already beat one of them after all. How hard could the rest be?'

At that, Naruto felt the ground shake slightly, 'What the hell? An earthquake? Up here?'

"**Not an earthquake… That is the sign of a fight below the surface."**

Naruto frowned, "It's three in the morning. Who would be fighting right now?"

The Kyuubi would have slapped Naruto if it could, **"I don't know… Maybe someone that didn't want to get caught fighting? Use your head you fucking simpleton! Now get your ass to the site of the battle and find out what that was!"**

Naruto grit his teeth, 'Kiss my ass Kyuubi. Now help me remember the schematics to this place, how do I get underground from here?'

XxX

The chamber in the sewers that Yugito had lead her enemies to was now open-aired after the battle that had taken place. Hidan lay down in a symbol of Jashin with black skin and white markings making him look like a skeleton. He lay still as if he were dead with a spike sticking out of his chest.

Kakuzu sat on some nearby rubble from the fight against Yugito as he impatiently watched Hidan's unmoving form, "Hidan, it's been thirty minutes. Aren't you done yet?"

Hidan seemingly sprang back to life as he looked over at his nuke-nin partner, "Oh shut the hell up damn it! Don't mess with me while I'm doing the ritual!" He reached up and pulled the spike out of his chest, "Ouch."

Kakuzu sighed as Hidan stood up off of the ground, "You do this Jashin ritual stuff every time. Can't you just skip it every once in a while?"

Hidan dusted himself off and wiped some of his blood off, "It might be annoying to you but it's a part of my religion. It's necessary since we didn't kill the jinchuuriki." He pointed at Yugito who was pinned by both of her hands to a wall with a long pike.

Kakuzu snorted, "We're just lucky that she lead us so far away from the village in the tunnels that you could get away with this. If no one came for her during that fight no one will be coming at all." He stood up and began making his way over to Yugito who was unconscious from her wounds, "That cat set you on fire about three different times… heh, that was actually entertaining to watch."

"Fuck you Kakuzu." Hidan snapped, "That shit actually hurt you know. I had to jump into the fucking sewer water to put myself out. You could have jumped in anytime you wanted you know."

Kakuzu laughed, "Oh I know, and I did if you remember correctly."

Hidan grumbled, "Asshole." He walked up to Yugito and reached out to grab her from off of the wall when a kunai impaled itself deeply through the hand he reached out with, "What the-?"

"Get over here!"

Ninja wire was tied around the ring of the kunai and stiffened out, pulling Hidan back violently up and out of the hole in the top of the open sewer. A blur jumped inside and launched at Kakuzu with a kunai drawn, however this attack was blocked by Kakuzu's hand which turned dark as his odd eyes turned down to his opponent, "Didn't think we'd be seeing you again so soon boy. Come to turn yourself in?"

Naruto grit his teeth and cocked his fist back to punch Kakuzu in the face, getting not even a movement of his head or neck for his trouble as the darkened skin carried over to his face as well, "Didn't you learn what Doton: Domu (Earth Release: Earth Spear) could do from our last meeting?"

'Naruto' smirked, "Yeah, I did. But can you take an explosion up close with your elephant skin? Let's find out." Naruto opened his shirt to reveal three quick burning explosive tags stuck to his torso, "Kaboom."

A massive explosion rocked the ruined battlefield as Kakuzu sighed from the smoke of the explosion, looking no worse for wear, "That's not good enough to get through boy." He said as he walked towards Naruto, who had taken Yugito off of the wall and was holding her unconscious form bridal style, "And now it looks like we're going to get two jinchuuriki for the price of one. My kind of deal."

Naruto glared at him as he held Yugito protectively, "You won't get either one of us. The last fight wasn't on my terms, it won't go the same this time."

Kakuzu laughed loudly, "The last fight wasn't on your terms? And what do you call this? Or is 110 pounds of extra dead-weight going to give you an advantage here? I suppose you could use her as a battering ram or something. The last time the Ichibi had your back and we were fighting him in the desert at less than full power. What makes you think you have a chance?"

"Who knows?" Naruto said, "You might walk right through me, take us both, and that would be the end of that… but you might lose something very important along the way. Then again I might win… That seems like a good enough reason to fight doesn't it? I might have the chance to save my own life and even if I lose you were going to capture me anyway so it doesn't matter."

"Heh heh…" Hidan landed back inside of the hole in the ground next to Kakuzu, "Did you really think a few dozen of those stupid clones of yours would be able to actually stop me?"

Naruto shook his head, "No not really, but they weren't meant to, they were just meant to buy me some time." Naruto lowered Yugito to the ground, getting surprised looks out of Kakuzu and Hidan when she stood up, facing them with a smirk on her face before she turned into another copy of Naruto.

At that moment, hundreds of Naruto clones surrounded the entrance to the hole, looking down at the two Akatsuki members with the swords on their backs drawn. Hidan smirked as he held the scythe in his hand, "And here I thought I wasn't going to get a slaughter out of this mission."

XxX

The real Naruto had Yugito over his shoulder as he escaped through an exit point under the water in the sewer room Yugito had been fighting in. Hey, the water had to go somewhere, and the grate under the surface of the water had been inconspicuous enough for him to slip away through while his Kage Bunshin had been running interference. How long they lasted would be up for debate, but the search for him after they had been taken out would take a little time even if he hadn't covered his tracks and left without a trace.

Being a village situated atop a mountain, Kumo had a need to pump water from lower on the mountain and even from places on flatland, vice-versa for getting waste and other things off of the mountain. The system set up was large, elaborate, and the most important part, well documented… at least by Danzo in the case of war with Kumo. Hey, ninja don't fight fair, if he needed Root to poison their water supply in case of prolonged siege then that was what was going to have to happen.

However in this case it was a swift way to exit the general area swiftly and under the nose of Hidan and Kakuzu. If he had simply attempted to run back to Kumo the way he had come he would have been overtaken while carrying Yugito. This was taking him so far away from the village it was absurd, but right now, putting distance between them and the Akatsuki members was the most important thing.

Naruto ran into another grate, he looked over his shoulder before he started kicking at it, the sound of his foot thudding off of the metal echoing throughout the tunnel. After a series of shots, Naruto finally kicked it off full force, sending it tumbling into the dark. Naruto adjusted Yugito on his shoulder and began running again, "Come on Yugi-chan, you're alright. We're going to get you out of heeeeeeere!" Naruto, in the dark of the tunnel did not see that it dropped off steeply, and he fell down the channel with Yugito in his grasp.

XxX

A series of threads simultaneously impaled the bodies of several of Naruto's clones, dispelling them immediately, "What an annoying diversion. You have to finish them all off or they might get a lucky shot on you. I'm not losing one of my hearts to a damned bunshin."

Hidan scoffed as he placed his scythe on his back after exterminating the last of Naruto's Kage Bunshin, "That was a complete waste of my time! There wasn't any blood or anything, I'm going to cut that brat's legs off when we catch him!"

"Calm down Hidan. Once we have him cornered we'll have him right where we want him." Kakuzu assured him, "He won't be able to get very far with the Nibi jinchuuriki as injured as she is. He's going to need to find somewhere to treat her wounds to keep her alive very soon."

Hidan growled, "He's probably halfway to Kumo by now, we'll never catch him before sunrise."

Kakuzu shook his head, "If he took the direct path I would be able to catch him, but he's not that stupid. Any other way he could possibly take would lead him far away from Kumo once he escaped here."

Hidan let a smile slowly spread across his face, "So you're saying that for all we know the little bastard could be miles _away_ from Kumo instead of a hair's breath away? Well what are we waiting for? Let's hunt down our jinchuuriki."

XxX

Naruto was on his hands and knees panting as he had just pulled himself and Yugito from a water source halfway down the mountain range and was now getting his breath back. Naruto reached over and felt for Yugito's pulse, sighing in relief as he felt a steady one. It was slower than expected, but it was steady. He also felt to make sure she was breathing, luckily he didn't have her underwater for long enough to have it affect her.

Naruto ran a hand through his soaked hair, "Goddamn it Yugi-chan… wake up. I need you awake."

What to do? He could begin the long trek back to Kumo, but any idiot would be able to ambush him on the way and he knew that his enemies were far from stupid. At least Kakuzu was, no one survived to be 91 and a still active ninja by being a damned fool. If he went back to Kumo by himself he was as good as handing Yugito over to them on a silver platter, himself as well.

He could try and make it to Unraikyo (The Valley of Clouds and Lightning), but Kirabi obviously wasn't anywhere near Kumo or else he would have seen/heard him by then. And besides that it was on the other side of the mountain range, he would have to go around the mountain to circumvent a direct path to Kumo, which would have left him as much of a sitting duck as heading straight there would have.

Naruto frowned as he looked over Yugito's wounded frame. Her hands had been impaled when she had been pinned to the wall. Her top had multiple slashes all over it, revealing wounds all about her body from Hidan's scythe he presumed, a few stab wounds as well, she had lost a lot of blood. He could feel torn muscles in her calves and biceps and could even feel a floating rib. They had worked her over to put her down, "What a mess… What the hell am I going to do?" He said as he moved the hair from Yugito's face.

Naruto stood up and carefully picked Yugito up before setting out again. Where was there to take her? He needed to get her somewhere to help her, if he just kept going like this without stopping to treat her she might take a turn for the worse, 'Kyuubi any ideas? I'm drawing a complete blank here. I'm not used to running away.'

"**You need a hiding place and a way to contact someone. You have the means for one of those things, but if you do that here you'll be a beacon for the masked one. He'll feel you generate the chakra from wherever he is."** Kyuubi said, **"As loathe as I am to watch you flee like a coward it is the only option open to you at the moment. It would be two on one and you have the girl to protect."**

A fight while Yugito was unconscious and unable to even defend herself would be the worst case scenario. If she would wake up he could have a better chance if a fight were to break out, hell he could pick her brain for somewhere to go that was safe right now if she were awake.

"**You have a base you know."** Kyuubi said suddenly, surprising Naruto.

'What are you talking about? What base, and how is it _my_ base?' Naruto thought to his inner demon.

The Kyuubi huffed audibly before responding, **"What I mean is that there is a Root safehouse not far from here, I would say two hours out. The same one you used years back as a child on your mission in this country. Go there."**

Naruto's eyes lit up and he looked at Yugito hopefully, "Hold on Yugi-chan. We'll get you some rest and help in just a moment, we just need to find it first."

Time passed and the luck that Kyuubi's memory was able to guide Naruto across the mountainside to a safe area held out as Naruto ran in the midst of the fading night with his fellow blonde demon container being carried in his arms, 'Why isn't she healing? If she were me at least the wounds on her hands or some of those on her body would have come close to healing up by now if nothing else.'

Kyuubi chuckled in Naruto's mind, **"All jinchuuriki do not share the same traits. Your rapid healing, massive chakra reserves, and immense natural strength and stamina are all results of your bond with me. The female has skills of her own from the Nibi, but you do not share the same attributes attributed to the demons you contain."**

"Damn!" Naruto said, "I was banking on her being able to heal up without much treatment. I'm no medic, at best all I've got is battlefield medicine skill and all that will do is keep her alive. She won't be in any condition to fight in case we get attacked again."

Naruto kicked a risen rock column, sliding it slightly and revealing a trapdoor hole in the ground that he dropped down in with Yugito before the hole shut, leaving them in the dark area that Naruto navigated by keeping his back against the wall and walking along, keeping his senses aware.

As he came through an entryway, a small whooshing noise came before the room was illuminated by numerous candelabra along the rock walls of the room. Naruto laid Yugito down on the ground and slumped against a wall, sinking to the floor next to her. He pulled a scroll from his pocket and unsealed a bedroll as well as a series of prepared packs, reaching for the one with the medical symbol on it.

"**Kit."** Kyuubi's voice cut through the silence, **"Fix the female in a moment, inform someone of the situation for the time being. I will not be captured due to your negligence."**

Naruto frowned but nodded as he bit his thumb and made the necessary hand-seals, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)."

XxX

(Kumogakure no Sato – Sunrise)

Daybreak was beginning to show itself in the mountaintop village of Kumogakure no Sato and one could find one of the most legendary ninja of his time, Jiraiya of the Sannin, the fierce toad sennin, asleep with his entire body lain askew on his futon. As he slumbered through the sunrise a faint pull in the back of his mind stirred him from his forty winks.

He sat up out of instinct and bit his thumb before making a small set of hand-seals before mumbling out his technique, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)…" –And falling backwards onto his futon once more to remain in the land of the quiescent.

A human sized orange toad with a blue vest appeared in the room, looking around only to see the source of his summoning out cold, **"Jiraiya wake up!"** He shouted, not even getting a twitch of a toe from the man, **"Seriously, get up already! Naruto's in it deep right now and he needs some help!"**

Jiraiya heard Naruto's name and sat up, still dazed and confused, "Wha-? Naruto huh? What about the gaki, what's the matter?" He rubbed his eyes and noticed the huge toad in his room, "Gamakichi what's going on? Did I summon you?" His response was a stream of water from Gamakichi's mouth to his face, "What the hell!"

"**Are you awake?"** The young toad asked impatiently, **"Good! Now listen up, Naruto-nii is trapped outside of Kumo with the Nibi jinchuuriki who is injured. Two Akatsuki guys were here to take her and nii-chan got her out of there before they could take her. Get up and I'll be able to lead you back to where he summoned me!"**

Jiraiya's face turned serious throughout his explanation of the situation and at the mention of Akatsuki, "Let me get dressed and we'll get out of here."

XxX

(With Naruto and Yugito)

Naruto had done all that he was able to for Yugito. He had bandaged as much of her body as he could while allowing her to maintain her modesty, as well as her hands. She still needed a medic-nin for those because from the damage she had taken he could swear that her hands would have had nerve damage.

For the past hour after fixing Yugito up he had been going through his weapons and ninja tools for when Hidan and Kakuzu found them again. When they attacked he would be ready and he had a plan to even the playing field, but he would have to be fast and accurate for it to work, he would only have one shot to make his move and once they knew what he was going for they would never let him pull it off.

A change in Yugito's breathing pattern alerted him to her regaining consciousness, "Welcome back Yugi-chan." Naruto said with a smile, "We almost lost you there for a moment."

Yugito's eyes opened and slowly widened once she heard Naruto's voice, "Naruto-kun? What about the two Akatsuki guys, did you beat them?"

Naruto laughed humorlessly, "I wish it was going to be that easy. All I could do was get you out of there and run away. They messed you up… it looked bad, there was blood everywhere."

Yugito smirked, "Would you believe me if I said that most of it wasn't mine?" She painfully tried to sit up only for Naruto to gently push her back down, "Naruto-kun!"

Naruto gave her a stern look as he took his hand off of her, "You're staying down. You're not me, you don't get over injuries in a flash. You still need actual medical treatment, all I did was patch you together enough to keep you in one piece."

Yugito pulled herself up and sat next to him against the wall, "I'm a jounin and I'm older than you. You're not in any position to tell me to do anything."

Naruto simply stared at her dryly before poking her in the side, smirking when he got a yelp of pain out of her, "What were you saying? I could hold you down with a Kage Bunshin the way you are. You'd be next to useless in a battle." Yugito glared at him, getting him to roll his eyes, "The entire point of me showing up in the first place was to keep you from being caught. If you get right back up and fight them again then this was for nothing."

Yugito's eyes softened, "One of them can't die. All of the blood that you said you saw, most of it was his. You were right, they are monsters. The one guy couldn't die and the other…" She rubbed her bruised cheek, "I've never been hit so hard in my entire life. They took me on when I was using the Nibi's full power."

"And that was your mistake." Naruto said to her, "I went three tails when I fought Hidan and Kakuzu the first time because it worked on somebody else I had fought. But you aren't going to brute force these guys, you have to stop fighting like the demon that you carry and start fighting like the ninja that you're supposed to be. When a group of people dedicate themselves to capturing demons you have to believe that they're prepared to handle way more demonic power than you can pump through your body."

Yugito raised an eyebrow at her blonde comrade-in-arms, "So your plan is to…?" She questioned.

Naruto grinned at her, "Fight like an elite shinobi; with control, skill, and finesse. I'm not going to bully these guys, and I'm going to get hurt to win." A chuckle came from him, "That's if I win at all. But who cares? You fought, you lost, if I lose then it won't really matter because we'll both be dead, right?"

Yugito sweatdropped, "That's um… That's really dark Naruto-kun."

Naruto shrugged, "Battlefield humor Yugi-chan. All battlefield humor is dark by nature."

She pouted and leaned against Naruto's shoulder, "I'm still fighting though. You won't beat them alone. Two jinchuuriki are better than one, and I said I was going to protect you didn't I?"

Naruto shook his head amusedly, "And where's the chivalry there? Well if you're dead set on fighting get as much rest as you can, because they'll find us sooner rather than later and I want you able to at least throw a kunai straight."

Yugito shut her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, "Just don't hold me back Naruto-kun. I don't want to have to save your ass during the fight."

"Like I saved yours?" He quipped as he found his own eyes slowly closing.

"Kiss my ass…" Yugito mumbled.

Naruto smirked with his eyes closed, "Maybe after we get out of this Yugi-chan…" Naruto never saw the blush fill Yugito's face from his comment.

XxX

(With Hidan and Kakuzu)

"Where is that fucking brat?" Hidan yelled as he and Kakuzu made their way across the mountainous wilderness of the area around Kumo, "We're in the middle of nowhere, one other guy and a billy goat have passed anywhere near us and that's it!"

Kakuzu thought to himself while his partner continued to gripe, "He isn't running towards or away from Kumo. He's hiding now. Instead of running and eventually getting caught like he knew he was going to he found somewhere to hide to wait us out." Kakuzu chuckled, "Desperate isn't he?"

Hidan looked at him strangely, "Hiding? Where could he possibly be hiding? I'm certain that Kumo wouldn't allow places like that so close to their village. We're not even forty miles away. Are you sure the kid isn't just on the run?"

Kakuzu nodded, "I'm absolutely positive because it's the better option to hide right now. And every village has a few cracks in its security system. We got in after all didn't we?"

Hidan laughed, "Yeah, but all we did was just kill all of the guards. We basically walked right through the front gate." He continued to laugh even harder, "And now there aren't even any pitiful guards to try and stop us."

The two men continued their search across the mountain for Naruto and Yugito. Kakuzu grunted, "We have to find and capture them soon. It won't take long until Kumo finds out that something is amiss and they find the ruins from our fight with their jinchuuriki. Then it would be too risky to stay any longer."

XxX

(Kumogakure no Sato – Raikage's Office)

"What do you mean Yugito is gone!" A roared, slamming his fists into his desk and pulverizing it, "How could someone just get away with Yugito right under our noses and no one was the wiser about the whole situation?"

The Raikage's assistant didn't flinch in the face of her enraged commander, "Darui and C found the signs of a major battle just outside of Kumo, however there was no indication of exactly where she or her attacker had gone after the struggle ended."

A, the Yondaime Raikage felt like punching a few new holes in his office, "Who the hell could do something like this to Yugito? And this is terrible timing, Kirabi isn't in the village right now either. We need to scatter our forces and search for her immediately. How can she just vanish?"

"Because my apprentice is with her." Jiraiya said as he cracked the door to the office, "Naruto is with her."

A turned a glare to Jiraiya, barely holding back his killing intent, "And you would know this how? It's too much of a coincidence that the day after you send me a warning about a group that kidnaps jinchuuriki our own gets taken."

Jiraiya's eyes took on a hardened glance at the towering Kage, "Don't begin to insinuate what you're thinking. Naruto is keeping her away from the people that attempted to take her. He's stuck somewhere outside of Kumo by himself, keeping her hidden until someone can find him. However if he finds himself in a fight he will be at a decided disadvantage. There are two of them, and he's alone with your wounded jounin."

"Then what are we waiting for?" A said, "Lead my forces to your student and Yugito so that we can keep them safe."

Jiraiya sighed and leaned against the doorway, "I wish it were that simple, but my toads aren't much for tracking. And if you couldn't find any trail of them either then that means Naruto did too good of a job of covering his tracks when he escaped… I can't really blame him given the circumstances though."

A looked over at his assistant, "Send out the order to scatter our forces out along the countryside to look for Yugito Nii and Naruto Uzumaki. Stop and question anyone in sight that is travelling in that area."

His assistant nodded and exited the office in a hurry to relay his orders to Kumo's shinobi force. A turned his attention to Jiraiya who still stood in the doorway, utterly serious, "How legitimate a chance do you think the two of them have by themselves out there."

"It depends." Jiraiya simply stated, "It depends on whether or not the gaki is sick of playing the victim and switches over to playing executioner." A groan came from Jiraiya's mouth at that moment, "And for my sake he'd better turn into the executioner quick, or else Tsunade's going to castrate me bare-handed if he gets himself caught."

XxX

(With Naruto and Yugito – Two Hours Later)

Yugito was seated with a heated face as she had her shirt off and her back turned to Naruto, "Are you done yet Naruto-kun? This is embarrassing and the ink is cold."

Naruto was drawing a major array on Yugito's back, one that matched the one that was currently drawn on his bare chest. A circular formation around his heart, a trail of kanji leading from his heart to the other side of his chest and an overlapping straight trail resembling a DNA helix ending in a significantly larger kanji surrounded by another circular array, "Just keep holding still. You're lucky I can do this on your back too or else I'd be getting a primo view right now. Be lucky that I'm not Ero-sennin or I wouldn't have even given you the option."

"Naruto-kun! And I don't even know who that is!" Yugito said indignantly, "Besides, we're in the middle of something serious here!"

Naruto grinned as he continued to make his seal on Yugito's back, "Oh come on Yugi-chan. It's just you and me, we're all alone in this dark, hidden cavern, you're shirtless, I'm shirtless, we're about to die more or less… If there's anything you want from me then now's the time to ask." He hinted, wagging his eyebrows.

"Fine…" Yugito said, seething and blushing hard, "What I _want_ is for you shut the hell up and finish this seal so I'm not worthless when the fight starts! Now hurry up and stop flirting with me!"

Naruto held back his laughter so that he could focus on the task at hand, "Sorry, sorry. But if you knew who my sensei was, and you knew what he was really like first-hand you would know why I'm hitting on you." Naruto placed his brush next to his ink and looked over his handiwork, nodding as he cut his palm and placed a premade seal tag on her back, "Alright, this was done with my ink so it should be super-effective. More so than usual."

"Why?" Yugito questioned as she looked over her shoulder to see Naruto slowly making hand-seals.

Naruto continued to slowly work his way through his memorized hand-seals, "Because my blood is a very potent medium for sealing ink, and that's what I put in all of my ink. Now then; Fuuinjutsu: Chakura Takuwaeru Kuriireru (Sealing Technique: Stored Chakra Transfer)" Naruto finished his seals and clapped his hands together before placing them on the seal he had placed on Yugito's back.

The array faded from Naruto's heart to the circle array he had drawn on the other side as the seal on the tag started glowing. From that point the small circular array on Yugito's back glowed and faded all the way down to the point on her heart where that array began to glow. The light lasted for a few moments before dying out and allowing the seal to fade.

Naruto pulled the blank seal tag from Yugito's back and moved away from her, "And that should be that. You can go ahead and put your shirt back on Yugi-chan… or feel free not to. Either way is good with me."

Yugito growled at him and put her shirt back on before whipping her still loose hair out of her face, "Pervert… But thanks. I feel like I have all of my chakra back."

Naruto chuckled, "You'd better have all of your chakra back, as much as I used to pump into those things for storage. I only brought one though so try not to run out of chakra again."

"Will do." Yugito said, "I'm as ready as I'm going to be for them the next time." Yugito said, gingerly feeling at her ribs with her wounded hands. She made hand-seals and frowned at the speed her fingers were moving at, "Fuck. I've got stupid hands."

Naruto shook his head, "It's probably nerve damage. We really need to get you to a medic." His face switched moods as he looked up, "Nevermind. I guess banking on someone to come and get us before they did was asking too much." Naruto resealed his supplies and placed the scrolls in his pockets before slinging his sword over his back as he started making his way to the exit. Yugito grabbed his arm and turned him around abruptly, pulling him towards her. Before he could even respond Yugito's lips covered his for what seemed like an eternity but was in reality thirty seconds.

Yugito released the kiss and grabbed Naruto by his collar, "That was just because I wanted to, not a last act to release regret understood? We're not going to lose this time."

Naruto nodded and pulled her hands away from his collar, holding them in his and rubbing the backs of them softly with his thumbs, "If it starts looking bad you cut out and run towards Kumo as fast as you can, got it? If I go down you leave immediately. You don't try to get me away from them, you don't even try to fight them. You run." Yugito opened her mouth to dispute when he cut her off, "_You run_."

Yugito's response died in her mouth and she simply sighed, "Okay Naruto-kun. I'll run."

Naruto nodded once more, "Good, now let's get this over with."

XxX

Hidan kicked aside some loose rock while Kakuzu simply looked around calmly, "Are you sure this is where they are?"

Kakuzu glared at his partner, "I wouldn't have dragged us over here if I wasn't. He thinks his Kage Bunshin were so well hidden, the little bastards never saw it coming. They were his lookouts, his security measures, and that means he's around here somewhere." The area was a relatively flat rock field, lots of up risen formations and no flora about, nothing but hard earth.

Taking Kakuzu's word for it at face value, Hidan pulled his amulet from around his neck and closed his eyes as he began to pray for forgiveness as he was not allowed to kill Naruto or Yugito in the forthcoming battle.

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Skill)!"

A pair of hands locked themselves around Hidan's ankles and pulled him under the solid rock, leaving him stuck up to his neck. Naruto came out of the ground directly in front of him, "What the fuck is the big idea you lowlife heathen? I was praying to Jashin-sama!"

Naruto drew his sword from his back, "Sorry, I don't really fight fair." Before he could attempt anything on Hidan a series of black threads tried to impale him where he stood, forcing him to begin dodging as he saw the threads drive through rock, and knew from his clones' experiences that they were very dangerous.

Kakuzu's threads were chasing after Naruto from under the sleeves of his coat as he tried steering the young chunin away from his partner. Even though there wasn't anything he could do to actually _kill_ Hidan, putting him back together after Naruto did whatever he was going to try and do was still going to be a pain in the ass.

As he attacked Naruto, a hole opened up in the ground behind him, revealing Yugito who jumped out and threw a kick at his head that he dodged. Yugito followed up upon landing back on the ground and threw a set of shuriken at him that made him jump into the air in order to dodge.

"Fuuton: Repuushou (Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm)!"

A wind from Naruto changed the trajectory of the shuriken that Yugito threw to rising above Kakuzu. Kakuzu saw this and sighed, "Not again."

Yugito made a few hand-seals before calling out her jutsu, "Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Release: Lightning Shuriken)!" From the shuriken flying overhead, bursts of electricity snapped down at Kakuzu who was able to avoid every attack. He had already seen this jutsu in the desert against Naruto and his was far deadlier in its usage.

Hidan wriggled and squirmed as hard as he could to free himself, but the ground wasn't loosening up. It wasn't soil, it was solid rock and he cursed Naruto for taking advantage of his rituals to get such a cheap shot on him.

Kakuzu outlasted the lightning jutsu from Yugito and dashed towards her, who in her injured state was unable to stay out of Kakuzu's speedy clutches and wound up grasped by the throat by the tall missing-nin. Yugito clutched at his outstretched arm as she felt him rob her of her oxygen, "You were very aggravating to run down. Do you know that?"

His monologue was cut off from going any further by Naruto attempting to run him through with his sword. Kakuzu shifted out of the way and threw a kick at Naruto who moved his sword to take the kick that still managed to push him back roughly fifteen feet before he was able to ground his feet to a stop, 'Just how strong is this son of a bitch? He's just as strong as me and he's got the size to bully me around if it comes to that.'

Yugito was still in Kakuzu's chokehold and tried fighting him off by trying to dislocate his outstretched elbow with punches, but he used his free hand to hit her in the body, robbing her of even more air and forcing her to cough up blood. After delivering the hit to her she burst into smoke and Kakuzu found himself holding Naruto around the neck instead, and he was none too pleased.

Naruto brought his blade down and cleaved the arm of Kakuzu off, freeing himself, only to find that Kakuzu's arm quickly reattached itself due to a thick bulk of black threads that reconnected the two segments of his arm.

Yugito was gasping for breath over by herself behind the cover of rock, with protection from two of Naruto's Kage Bunshin, "*cough cough* I think he was right about the whole 'boogeymen of the ninja world' thing. Kami what a monster." She held her neck gingerly, feeling the bruise that simply being in Kakuzu's grip left.

"So that's the Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear)." Naruto said as he set himself back in a ready stance to face off with Kakuzu, "At least now I know what to call those thread things of yours after our first encounter."

Kakuzu shook his head, "Listen kid. We've wasted enough time getting the Nibi. We're already late so how about this; you simply let us take her and we'll let you go for now. We can't seal your biju until last anyway so we can just pretend we never encountered you. You don't even need to fight."

Naruto kept his eyes locked on Kakuzu, "I could do that, some would say that I should do that, but I'm not going to. You either take me _and_ Yugi-chan, or you don't get either one of us. And either way you're in for one hell of a fight. I won't just let you have her."

"Fair enough." Kakuzu said before his skin turned dark and he launched a punch at Naruto extended with his threads.

Naruto dodged the punch and ran in at Kakuzu who blocked his follow-up slash with his bare hands. Naruto growled as his sword was caught in Kakuzu's grasp, "That same damn move again."

"Why mess with what works brat?" Kakuzu said, obviously amused, "That's lesson number one for punks like you that want to survive to be older than thirty."

Naruto tugged in vain to free his sword from Kakuzu's grip, "Surviving older than thirty? That doesn't sound very fun." Naruto channeled lightning chakra to his hand and attempted to place it on Kakuzu's arm to help him free the Sen'nenki no Ken. However when Kakuzu heard the crackling of electricity he let go of Naruto and got away from him, landing next to Hidan who was still trapped. Naruto moved over towards the rock formation where Yugito was with his clones, still recovering, "Surviving until I'm as old as you without anyone knowing who I am with mere name association defeats the purpose of my goal, and as long as I achieve it I could care less how old I am when I die. Besides, it's better to burn out than to fade away like you Kakuzu. When I kill you, only a handful of people will even get the reference."

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at Naruto and sent his black thread into the ground around Hidan's head, loosening the rock around him, "Ow! You stabbed me damn it! That fucking hurt you bastard! I don't stab you to free you do I?" Hidan bellowed.

Kakuzu pulled him out abruptly, "Shut up Hidan. First of all I never get captured in the first place, second of all if you stabbed me I would tear you apart and sew you back together backwards, and lastly of all, I'm sick of playing around with these brats, we take them down, now."

Hidan licked his lips anxiously, "Now you're talking my language rag-doll. Get over here brat!" The silver-haired nuke-nin rushed at Naruto, drawing his three-bladed scythe from his back and swinging it once he found Naruto within the long weapon's range.

Naruto started parrying the strokes of the scythe with his sword only to realize that the scythe was obscenely dangerous. It didn't take much for that thing to cut him, but it wasn't as deadly as it could be… like killing him wasn't really the point of using the weapon. After a ducked swing of his weapon, Hidan lifted it to block an incoming set of shuriken from Yugito who threw from behind cover.

Naruto took advantage of this and stabbed his sword into Hidan's foot, pinning him in place before pulling out a kunai and driving it down into his other foot to immobilize him. Hidan swatted Naruto back with the pole end of his scythe but was unable to do anything else to follow up as simply that movement caused him to lose his balance.

Naruto growled and grabbed onto the arm holding Hidan's scythe, keeping his other hand free to pound the daylights out of the Akatsuki member. Naruto was stopped from pulverizing Hidan when Kakuzu kicked him in the side, sending him flying off of his partner.

Kakuzu pulled both weapons from Hidan's feet and tossed them aside, "And once again I step in to save you from certain doom. Start thinking before you put your attacks together."

Hidan spit blood from his mouth and worked his jaw with his hand, "Shut the hell up Kakuzu. All that did was piss me off. That punk can't kill me and you know it, he's just wasting his own time."

Naruto bounced off of the side of a rock and landed next to Yugito and his clones. He groaned and shook off the cobwebs as he looked over at Yugito, "Do you feel any better Yugi-chan?"

Yugito pulled him up into a seated position, "My ribs are sore, but I'm okay. What about you?"

Naruto rubbed his side, "Why the fuck does Kakuzu hit so hard? It's like getting nailed by a hammer."

One of Naruto's clones peered over the rock and paled, "Um boss? You might want to move right now." It then dispelled so that he could relay what he saw without saying anything and Naruto got the message instantly.

The blonde male jinchuuriki picked up his older female counterpart and beat a hasty retreat from the formation just in time to see it pulverized by a small fireball that erupted into a torrent right where they were just sitting.

Naruto cringed at the feeling of getting burned alive by the ninjutsu that had engulfed his clones. Naruto set Yugito down and looked over at Kakuzu who had called out one of his thread creatures with the mask on its face, however it looked very different from the one he had fought in the desert, but that was not the point, the point was that it was now effectively three-on-two and one of the two was hurt.

"Can you generate any of the Nibi's chakra safely? We need some more kick to our attacks." Naruto asked.

Yugito nodded, "Yeah, but when using all of the Nibi's chakra I can't use any jutsu."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Then don't use all of the Nibi's chakra. Just pull out enough to make these guys sweat at your speed and power. You do get faster when you use the Nibi's chakra don't you?"

Yugito hit him on the arm, "Duh Naruto-kun."

"Well then turn up the heat already! We need an edge here!" Naruto yelled as he dug deep and pulled out a tail of Kyuubi's chakra, "I start overloading stuff at two tails and at three tails there's only one normal jutsu I can really use."

A blue aura wrapped around Yugito's body, however instead of looking like a tail the way Naruto's did it took the appearance of a still-burning flame, "I only have two tails to work with in the first place." She looked over at Naruto, "So do you have anything in your repertoire to let them know this is serious?"

Naruto grinned at her, "Do you?"

Both jinchuuriki grinned evilly and began generating massive amounts of their respective chakra while making hand-seals.

"Katon: Karyuudan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Missile)!"

"Fuuton: Kamikaze Hashira (Wind Release: God Wind Pillars)!"

* * *

Jutsu List

Fuuinjutsu: Chakura Takuwaeru Kuriireru (Sealing Technique: Stored Chakra Transfer). No rank. Fuuinjutsu. Requirements: Sealing ink, prepared seal tag. The user draws identical seals on themselves and the recipient of the jutsu. Once drawn, the user will place a seal tag used to store chakra in its sealing array on the person that is to receive the chakra in order to activate the jutsu. Warning; there is a chance of overloading someone with low chakra reserves if an oversaturated seal tag is used. Caution is to be exercised when using this jutsu lest the recipient find their chakra coils crippled by the influx of chakra to their system.

Katon: Karyuudan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Missile). B-ranked ninjutsu, Mid-to-long range. After completing hand-seals the user breathes deeply before releasing a steady stream of fire from their mouth that expands on contact with the opponent.

Fuuton: Kamikaze Hashira (Wind Release: God Wind Pillars). B-ranked ninjutsu. Mid-to-long range. Upon completion of the necessary hand-seals, The user's spins around for a short time. Mimicking his movements, four pillars of spinning wind will appear around a certain target, moving ever closer to the target upon their formation.

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**I'm done and I have to say, Sai has jumped up a notch or two on my badass scale due to his angry face. I have not much to say so I will end it with that. As always I will do my damndest to answer any questions of yours that I am able to. Enjoy your weekend… I won't because my car is still fucked and I have a presentation to write for Monday…**

**Until next time everybody, Kenchi out.**


	33. Who's The Real Monster?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I have a great way of staying in shape for lazy people. 20 pushups and sit-ups every time I have to write this shit and you read it at the start of one of my chapters in any story. You'd have a fucking 6-pack and 24-inch pythons if you adhered to that.

**Chapter 32: Who's The Real Monster?**

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The call for Kumo's shinobi to fan out and search the countryside for Yugito had gone out, and a three man team had come to a stop to get their bearings of their surroundings as they sat on a boulder to take a rest.

"Man…" A dark-skinned man with shaggy white hair and a white one shoulder Kumo flak jacket over his high collared, sleeveless Kumo uniform said. On his left and right arms he had the kanji for lightning and water tattooed, and on his back he had a large cleaver blade, "These guys were able to get Yugito. How is Raikage-sama sure she's still around here. We don't have a trace of her presence at all."

"Calm down Darui." A young blonde man with a sleeveless black shirt, black pants, his white one shoulder Kumo flak jacket, elbow-length arm guards, and red and white shin guards replied, "If she's anywhere around Kumo I'll be able to find her. No problem."

Darui sighed, "I know Shi, but what if she _isn't_-." He was cut off when a series of large rising pillars of flame shot into the sky before merging into one massive torrent of fire, "What the hell was that?"

The blonde man, Shi, stood up abruptly with a serious look on his face, "I don't know, but the chakra that thing is pumping out is one hell of a beacon for me to follow."

Darui rose to his feet watching the unnatural flaming structure, "You think it's Yugito?"

Shi snickered, "Do you know anyone else that pumps that much chakra into their jutsu?" He stopped laughing and motioned for them to move, "Jei, get one of your messenger lizards to Raikage-sama fast, we've got to get moving!"

The man named Jei, a bald, dark-skinned man with sunglasses and his Kumo hitae-ate on his head, and apparel similar to the rest of his teammates, finished writing a small message on a scroll that he gave to a small lizard, "Get this to Raikage-sama, coordinates on Yugito's possible position."

XxX

"What if Yugito got taken by a cultist group that worships the Nibi and want to free its spirit to get its revenge on Kumo for imprisoning it for so many years?" A white-haired dark-skinned boy with a sucker in his mouth pondered.

"Omoi shut up with your overthinking crap!" his dark-skinned, red-haired teammate replied, "Me and Samui are getting sick of hearing your bullshit theories on what happened to Yugito, all we have to do is find her now mind on the mission!"

Omoi visibly deflated, "You don't have to be so angry about it Karui…" He then perked back up, "But you are acting kind of defensive… is there something you would like to tell us? Like maybe what _you_ did with Yugito?" His answer was a fist to the head, "Ow!"

Karui glared at him, "I'm running out of patience with you. Now focus or I'll break your jaw and shut you up for good!"

Samui looked back at her teammates that she was leading, "Both of you focus. No one has been able to find a sliver of a clue about her whereabouts or even who took her. We're operating blind here."

A faint sound of explosion rang out before a series of rising pillar of flames came into view in the distance. Omoi pointed lamely in that direction, "Not anymore…"

Karui stared at the ever growing infernos as they seemed to merge together and grow larger, "Kami, what on earth did that?"

"I'll give you one guess." Samui was already on the move towards that area with Karui and Omoi right with her.

XxX

(With Naruto and Yugito)

Yugito and Naruto's fire and wind ninjutsu had combined and caused a major upswell of fire in the form of a towering tornado that burned the entire environment, leaving the already barren landscape utterly lifeless and scarred with cinder.

"*cough cough cough* Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!" Naruto rid the general area around him and Yugito of all of the smoke and charred debris scattered about from their combination attack, "I think we were standing way too close to that." He said as he wiped the blackness from the heat off of his face.

Yugito, covered in soot, cleared out her lungs with a few coughs as well, "You think? *cough cough* Did we get them?"

Naruto shook his head, "Not a chance in hell." He tried peering through the leftover smoke but kept on his toes as he knew their respective chakra cloaks made them beacons to Hidan and Kakuzu, "I cut one of their heads off last time we fought and he still kept coming. If it was going to be as easy as spamming a big-ass fireball then wouldn't you have been able to beat them alone?"

Yugito bristled at the remark, "But look at this!" She said as the land around them was colored black due to the intensity of the flames they generated, "That had to do something! That would have put one of us down for the count for sure!"

Naruto remained silent as they walked along the smoldering battlefield and reached to his back only to gasp in surprise before realization set in, "Fuck. They disarmed me before we did that combination." As a substitute, he pulled out a kunai and held it in a reverse grip for defensive purposes as they continued along the area.

"There should be bodies, a char mark, something to let us know we got them. There was no way they got out of that one." Yugito said as her chakra cloak billowed around her. Yugito channeled the Nibi's chakra to her eyes to assist her seeing through the smoke. She wordlessly pointed off in a direction that she and Naruto then followed to find Hidan leaning against a wall breathing heavily.

The top of his Akatsuki cloak had burned and stuck to his skin in certain places, and from the view of many other part of his skin it was clear that much of his front took intense third degree burns from Naruto and Yugito's combined ninjutsu. From the way he was shaking, Yugito figured that he was in shock from his injuries, "You're still alive. I'm surprised."

Naruto held his kunai up high, "I'm not. Where's your partner?"

Yugito looked at Naruto, "Look at this guy Naruto. Just because he survived doesn't mean the other one did. This guy is on his last legs himself so why would you-?"

"You fucking bastards!" Hidan roared as he threw his scythe at Yugito. Naruto grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way of the incoming blade, "You're both really pissing me off. It's getting really hard for me to not flat out want to kill you two. Especially you girlie, we already beat you once."

Yugito glared at him harshly, "How are you still alive and able to move? That should be agonizing."

"Oh it is." Hidan assured her, "But you've got to hit harder than that to stop me! I'm _immortal_ bitch. You know, I can't die? The punk ass brat next to you should know better than you."

Naruto sighed, "Yugi-chan, I told you that I cut his head off and he still cursed me out and kept coming." Naruto let go of her, "Now where the hell is your partner?"

Hidan smirked, "Would you believe me if I said that you killed him." He chuckled as Naruto gave him a dry look, "I didn't think you would, neither did he."

"Raiton: Gian (Lightning Release: False Darkness)!"

Naruto and Yugito moved aside as a spear of lightning cut into the ground where they were standing. Both jinchuuriki split apart to avoid the jutsu but found a flaw with their plan of evasion when the bolt of lightning branched out and followed them both. The solid rock of Kumo's mountain range was effortlessly carved into by the force of the arcing lightning.

'One chance to get this thing off of me.' Naruto said as he formed hand-seals on the move and crossed his arms in an 'x' to finish, "Fuuton: Senpuu Kakasui (Wind Release: Whirlwind Pyramid)!" A sudden wind kicked up around Naruto's body, strong enough to deflect the quick and forceful lightning attack off to the side, effectively ending the threat it posed him and allowing him to move back in to continue fighting.

He was cut off from rejoining and assisting Yugito by Hidan appearing in front of him with his scythe drawn for attack. Naruto grit his teeth in anger at being diverted by the immortal berserker, "Do you even know any ninjutsu or genjutsu at all?"

Hidan smirked, "Nope, just one really. I'm pretty straightforward, you know what you're going to get with me, but does that mean you can stop it?"

Hidan started swinging at Naruto who found it difficult to dodge due to the angles of Hidan's strikes. It was clear he was used to fighting people with extreme dexterity as his attacks were tailor made for opponents that were far more mobile than he was. Naruto barely diverted a slash from Hidan's scythe with the kunai in his hand but seeing how close he came to actually taking a cut from the wicked weapon, he needed to get that damn thing away from him.

Hidan attempted a cross slash that Naruto stopped by grabbing on to the pole of the weapon with both hands before it could impale him. Hidan kicked low at Naruto's shin, disrupting his balance and his grip. Hidan butted the pole into Naruto's face and knocked him back before swinging at him again. Naruto ducked, losing a few stray hairs in the process and pissing off Hidan further, "Just bleed already damn it! What do I have to do to draw blood on you?"

"Aim better for one!" Naruto said as his fist collided with Hidan's scythe pole in an attempt to hit the man in the face. He dropped low for a kick, but Hidan shifted the scythe to block him again and kicked him backwards across the ground, a kick that Naruto easily recovered from, "For second you need to be faster."

Meanwhile Yugito was still dodging Kakuzu's Raiton: Gian, 'How long can he hold this jutsu for? He must have the reserves of six shinobi to keep this up for so long.' Using the Nibi's chakra kept her a step ahead of the lightning due to her not having a defensive jutsu the likes of Naruto that was strong against lightning ninjutsu, 'Where is it even coming from? I can't even see the guy firing it!'

Yugito sharply abstracted her forward motion with a back handspring and started moving closer to the source of the lightning through the smoke that was still hanging around the battlefield. She played a dangerous game by twisting around the dangerous attack and dodging its branching stems of electricity that tried hitting her as she ran. She eventually found the source of the lightning in another one of Kakuzu's black thread creatures with a mask.

As she caught sight of the creature it broke off its attack and sent out some of the threads that composed its body to ensnare her. Yugito turned up the heat of her blue, protective, flaming chakra cloak to keep them from touching her, "I'm so tired of you Akatsuki assholes!" She got back out of range of Kakuzu's mask and opened her mouth, channeling chakra all the while, "Katon: Reizau Hari (Fire Release: Laser Beam)!"

Yugito fired a thin, straight, narrow red laser from her mouth that instantly impacted off of the mask of the creature and burned a hole right through, coming out the back of it and continuing on to burn a deep hole into the side of the mountain. Kakuzu's masked creature immediately collapsed in a quivering mass of black thread as the mask that signified its face cracked.

"You troublesome upstarts." Yugito turned her head at the sound of Kakuzu's voice, "You brats destroyed two of my hearts with your last two attacks." Kakuzu no longer had his Akatsuki cloak on, instead he had on a black sleeveless shirt revealing muscle tone and visible stitches that carried all across his body. The mask was now vacant from his face and showed that he had shoulder length brown hair and stitches around the edges of his mouth.

Yugito narrowed her eyes at him, "What the hell do you mean 'two of your hearts'?"

Kakuzu turned around to show her three masks sewn into his back, one of them cracked, and a vacant spot that looked like it used to be filled, "The mask you just destroyed was my lightning heart and that combination jutsu you and the Kyuubi boy launched destroyed my earth heart.

'Mask… Heart…' Yugito thought before her eyes widened, "Each one of those masks is a heart? You have five hearts?"

"Had." Kakuzu corrected, "I _had_ five hearts before I fought you and the boy. Now I have three. But that is of no real consequence, I'll simply have to replace them after we capture the two of you, we are in Kuminari no Kuni, I'm certain I can find a replacement lightning element heart somewhere."

Yugito smirked, "So you're not really immortal. All I have to do is kill you three more times before you're gone for good right?"

Kakuzu chuckled at the simplified plan of action, "You say it like it's going to be easy little girl. Hidan get over here!" He shouted to his partner who was still swiping furiously at Naruto who was shocked that he was still able to move at that intensity after attacking for as long as he had been.

"I'm a bit busy right now Kakuzu!" Hidan yelled back as he carried on with his assault on Naruto, "This kid's going to get sluggish soon and then it's game over for him!"

Naruto scoffed and kept narrowly avoiding Hidan's attacks, noticing that the silver-haired man was beginning to get his timing down and had stopped openly telegraphing his attacks, "Please, if you're waiting on me to get tired just from moving around like this you'll be here for the next three days." That was a lot of bluster because at this rate Hidan was going to inevitably hit him. He was adapting to Naruto's style of movement very well he had to give him that, and the way he kept coming forward was annoying enough to press other shinobi into making mistakes.

As Hidan got tunnel vision on getting a shot in on Naruto he failed to notice Yugito come at him from his blind spot, narrowly sliding out of the way of a kick from the girl only to end up eating a haymaker from Naruto right in the mouth that sent him flying at least thirty yards away due to the Kyuubi's chakra giving Naruto's considerable natural strength a boost.

Yugito landed at Naruto's side and smirked at him, "Good shot Naruto-kun."

Naruto shook his right hand out, "Yeah it was. It took long enough for the teme to drop his guard." Naruto looked at the fist he used to hit Hidan when he felt it stinging and saw a small cut on his knuckle, but shrugged it off as irrelevant. Yugito however looked at his knuckle in abject horror, "What's the matter Yugi-chan?"

She looked over at Hidan who was slowly getting up, "Did he cut you?"

Naruto looked at his fist, "Yeah, I must have cut my hand on his teeth when I punched him or something."

"No…" Yugito said hopelessly.

"Yes… Jujutsu: Shiji Hyouketsu (Curse Jutsu: Death Controlling Possessed Blood)…" Hidan said victoriously as he stood up, his skin now marked black with white outline that made him look like a skeleton. As he reached his feet he revealed a red symbol similar to the one around his neck drawn into the ground, "And now you lose brat."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "What is this asshole babbling about? Nothing is any different than it was two minutes ago. You're still an immortal douche and you still haven't gotten a decent hit on me yet, and now I'm going to finish tearing you apart. Naruto made a set of hand-seals and placed his palms on the ground, "Raiton: Kaksen no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Livewire Jutsu)!" Lightning raced from Naruto's hands along the ground towards Hidan who did nothing to move.

Instead of moving, Hidan slowly began laughing and when the jutsu hit him and began electrocuting him his laughter turned downright manic and insane.

Naruto wondered why he was cackling away like a lunatic until he saw the jutsu hit Hidan, and then he felt as if he had been the one to take the hit as he felt the muscle stiffening effect of the electricity that should have been coursing through Hidan's body. His vision went spotty as the smell of burning flesh filled the air.

"Naruto-kun!" Yugito watched Naruto drop to the ground as his frame began to smoke. She tried helping him to his feet only to take a subtle aftershock as Naruto's body was still able to complete a live circuit. Again she tried and succeeded in picking him up to his feet as he leaned on her.

"W-What the fuck just happened?" Naruto asked, still out of it.

Yugito shook her head, "That was how they beat me. They ended up getting a wound on me, that guy ingested my blood, and then everything that happened to his body happened to me in return."

Naruto glared at Hidan, "You think this is going to stop me you son of a bitch?"

Hidan licked his lips, "I know this is going to stop you." He drew a pike from his ruined cloak and extended it to full length, "I owe you a few wounds brat." Hidan stabbed the pike into his left foot, delighting as he heard Naruto shout in pain.

Blood started coming out of a phantom wound on Naruto's foot. He shouted in pain again and collapsed back to the ground when Hidan stabbed the other foot. Hidan dug the pike into his foot and ground it around, sighing in relief at the pain he was inflicting on himself and Naruto, "Come on Kyuubi-brat, don't tell me this is all you can take. We're just starting to get aquainted! Sharing utter physical anguish like this lets me bond with my victims, so don't give up yet, give me some fight!"

Naruto stood back up, ignoring the wounds in his foot, "Is that the best you've got you talentless piece of shit?" Naruto growled out, "I can sleepwalk through this."

Yugito hissed at Naruto, "What the hell are you doing?"

Naruto turned to Yugito with his eyes shadowed by his hair, "He can't kill me. As long as he can't kill me he can't stop me. There's nothing he himself can _do_ to himself to actually stop me. This is where my demented physical training is going to come into handy." Naruto started breaking out in a run towards Hidan, actually surprising the man that he was able to do so.

His surprise faded quickly as he drove the pike into the meat of his own thigh to bring Naruto's advance to a stop with their link.

Yugito grit her teeth at Naruto's desperate attempt to reach Hidan and turned her anger to Kakuzu who was smirking at the sight of Naruto's struggle, "I told him to just let us have you and we would leave him alone. He brought this on himself."

That got her attention, "Why would he do that? I'm not even a ninja of his village?" 'Would he really put himself in harm's way like that for me? Our villages aren't even allies.'

Kakuzu shrugged, "That's what I said, but he said if we wanted you we had to take you both… and I don't have any problems with that." Kakuzu clapped his hands and motioned towards himself in a patronizing fashion, "Here kitty kitty."

Yugito was within a hair of going full Nibi and attempting to tear him apart when Naruto yelled out to her, "Yugi-chan you'd better remember what I said to you goddamn it!" She turned to him to see him picking himself up off of the ground, "Get fucking moving already!" Yugito shook her head to him getting Naruto to sneer at her, "That wasn't an option!" Naruto threw a mass of kunai that spread all around, some nearly hitting Yugito and some nearly hitting Kakuzu.

The unmasked nuke-nin openly laughed at the blonde boy, "What was that? You too disoriented and faint to throw your weapons anymore?"

"Kiss my ass scarface." Naruto said as he made hand-seals, "Raiton: Denkai (Lightning Release: Electric Field)!"

Kakuzu found himself encased in a roughly shaped dome of electric chakra, "You threw those kunai to-!"

"That's right dumbass." Naruto said as he held the seals for the jutsu, "Who throws kunai that badly and lives this long?" He turned to Yugito, "Now I'm not asking you Yugito I'm telling you. Get the fuck out of here and find someone to help you!"

Tears started pushing to Yugito's eyes, "You can't tell me you're just going to give up, that you're going to lose to them here!"

Naruto smiled weakly and shook his head, "It was never about winning or losing Yugi-chan. Go."

Yugito stood in place for a moment before taking off back towards Kumogakure. Kakuzu tried to force his way through the barrier only to bounce off, getting a little electric shock for his troubles, "So what's your plan boy? To keep me trapped here? To keep us trapped here? We're the ones that have you at our mercy, not the other way around."

Naruto smirked at him, "You're right, So why doesn't Hidan just leave and chase her down so that you and me can have it out. There's nothing keeping him there, hell he can even stab at me while we're fighting can't he? Just by attacking himself?" Naruto's smirk turned to a manic grin, "Unless he has to stay right where he is to keep his little link to me! Am I right?" He shouted at both Akatsuki members.

"Shut up brat!" Hidan yelled back and he dug his pike back into his thigh, bringing Naruto to his knees.

Naruto's laughing fit hit a hitch when he took the damage that Hidan dealt out, but it came right back, "No matter what you two do there's no way I'm letting go of this jutsu. You both know I have the chakra to hold you here for as long as I want. Hidan can't move because the second he moves I will unleash all hell on him. And every second I hold you there Kakuzu Yugi-chan gets farther and farther away."

Kakuzu glared at his electric prison, "You think you've won? You think this is over?"

Naruto shook his head, "No I don't think I've won. At best this is the ultimate stalling tactic. But it's better than letting you get us both. Even if you catch me you said it yourself that you have to wait to seal the Kyuubi last, so that gives time for a rescue attempt. And to even seal me you have to at least catch Gaara, re-catch Yugi-chan, and I'm not even going to mention Kirabi. If you can put him down then you deserve to take the Kyuubi."

"So what you said to the girl." Kakuzu pieced together, "About how it was never about winning or losing."

Naruto nodded, "It was never about winning or losing, it was about surviving. And I'd say that we're both going to survive this one don't you think?"

Kakuzu frantically turned to Hidan, "Hidan make him drop the barrier now!"

Hidan started pounding away at his legs and arms with his pike, trying to weaken Naruto's hold on the seal he had his hands held in. He repeatedly stabbed away at his left arm, "Let go of the jutsu damn you! You can't keep taking this, no one can!"

Naruto held his teeth together and hung tough as the Kyuubi now had time to heal his other injuries due to Hidan's focus on his arm, and the way he was his healing increased due to the one-tailed cloak surrounding him, "I can take this all day you fucking wuss! Is that all you've got, all you're willing to do to get me to break? I've taken worse than this when I was 6 years old! Kill me! Fucking do it already you pussy! You can't break the jutsu!" He said before breaking into loud, pain filled laughter.

Hidan shrieked insanely as he started carving up his own chest with the pike trying to up the ante, "Shut the fuck up!"

"What's the matter?" Naruto roared, "Aren't you having fun? Weren't you enjoying this just a minute ago? Answer me goddamn it! How about you Kakuzu, you enjoying the show?"

"That's it!" Hidan drove the pike directly through the palm of one of his hands and ground it around deeply,

One of Naruto's hands went limp, dropping the jutsu that had Kakuzu trapped and the Taki nuke-nin took off in the direction that Yugito took, "Hidan finish the brat off and start getting him out of here! I'm going after the Nibi!"

Hidan looked himself over. He was a total mess. He had stabbed his arm into hamburger meat, if he could walk after the damage he did to his thighs to keep Naruto on the ground he would be shocked, and his chest was spilling blood openly after the carnage he had wrought on himself to hurt Naruto. He found solace in the fact that the intended target of his butchery was looking just as horrible as he was. Naruto's clothing stayed intact, but the blood was seeping through his pants and running down his legs from his wounds on his thighs. His top was sticking to his chest, stained entirely red by the blood from his chest and blood completely covered his arms from those injuries.

Which is why it was so surprising to see Naruto stand right back up so quickly after taking all of that damage to his limbs, "Finally." Naruto said in the gravelly voice that using the Kyuubi's chakra gave him, "That should be more than enough time for her to give him the slip and now I've finally got you all to myself, and better yet you've already done half of my job for me."

"What the fuck are you on about now?" Hidan asked as he still had his pike stuck in his hand.

"Kakuzu was the real threat the entire time." Naruto said, his face still smirking, "While I kept my eyes on Kakuzu the first time we fought you were always there, just walking right through any offense I threw and coming at me while I was avoiding him. You even got in the way of a few attacks from your partner just so you could hit me. Alone, you're nothing to me."

Hidan seethed at the insult, "We'll see how much shit you talk after I carve you a new hole to speak out of!" He tried pulling at the pike in his hand to deal Naruto more damage, but it stuck fast. Before he could look up, Naruto was in his face and unleashed a savage uppercut to his body that sent both Hidan and himself flying backwards into rock formations, crumbling them from the force of the impact. The good thing for Hidan was that the punch dislodged the pike from his hand.

"Ugh." Naruto emerged from his rubble spitting blood, "It was either that or punch you in the face and I really don't feel like growing my teeth back right now."

Hidan crawled out of his own side, "You little bastard. This isn't over." He had to get back inside of the circle or it was indeed over. He could barely move and yet this punk kid was not only still standing, he could still move about and beat the crap out of him. He had to wonder what was keeping him going, not only that but what kind of threshold for pain did he have?

Hidan shakily reached his feet and began his all out rush to reach the Jashin circle to continue his torture of Naruto when he saw the red blur that was the Kyuubi powered Naruto coming at him again, "Not this time!" Hidan pulled his scythe back and blocked Naruto from punching him again when a second tail bubbled from Naruto's chakra cloak. Hidan got a good look at the grinning Naruto whose face looked like pure evil once his lips took on a black outline as his red eyes seemed like they locked with his very soul.

One of Naruto's chakra tails grasped Hidan's scythe and ripped it from his hands while the other grabbed the man himself and slammed him into the ground heavily. Naruto's tail dragged him through the ground before throwing him into the air and joining with the second tail to swat Hidan off into a cliff wall.

Hidan stood back up and shouted with his back turned to the direction he was thrown from, "Is that all you've got! I'm immortal you fucking half-wit!"

He turned his head only to come face to face with a Naruto brandishing familiar steel, "Look what I found!" Naruto used the Sen'nenki no Ken to once again sever Hidan's head from his body. As he saw Hidan's head hit the ground and tumble along he sighed to himself and powered down, letting his fox shroud drop.

"I'm still alive you useless waste of sperm!" Hidan's body-less head spouted, "I'm going to snatch your bleeding throat out with my teeth, just get over here! You're so lucky I can't get back up!"

Naruto slowly walked over. Without the Kyuubi's chakra helping him along he was starting to feel the strain from the battle, "I wonder if I can get your bounty even though you're still alive." Naruto pondered out loud, "It should still be good right?"

Hidan stopped cursing long enough to look at Naruto with curiosity, "Huh? What are you saying?"

Naruto grinned a bloody smile and reached into his pocket to pull out a storage scroll. Hidan's eyes widened as his motionless head could only watch the process that Naruto had pulled and opened the scroll for, "I'll kill you! You fucking demon fox bastard! This isn't over! As long as I'm alive I'll never rest until I pierce your heart! I'm going to watch you bleed out in front of me and I'm going to savor it! Do you hear-?"

In a puff of smoke, Naruto had sealed Hidan's head inside of the storage scroll. At that point the only thing preventing him from collapsing to his knees was the fact that the fight still wasn't over yet. Naruto pocketed the scroll and dragged his sword along the ground in exhaustion as he went off after Kakuzu and Yugito, 'Is it possible for fifteen to be too old for this crap?'

XxX

Yugito hadn't turned back since Naruto told her to run. If she had turned back she would have gone back to help him and she figured that going back when he demanded her not to would have pissed him off more than anything else she could have done at that point.

Her coils were burning as she continued pumping the Nibi's chakra throughout her system to keep her body moving towards Kumo. The two fights against Hidan and Kakuzu had really done a number on her. Had Naruto not given her the okay to start using the Nibi's chakra in the fight she wouldn't have lasted long enough to even begin fleeing in the first place.

"Yugito!"

The voice that had called out to her and got her attention almost made her shout out loud in relief, "Shi!" Upon seeing someone friendly that didn't have a demon inside of them she deactivated her chakra cloak and collapsed on her hands and knees.

Shi, Jei, and Darui came to a stop all around her. Darui kneeled down, "Yugito what happened? Who have you been fighting the whole time?"

Shi turned her over onto her back, "She needs medical attention she's really beaten up." He made a few hand-seals to get his hands glowing green, "Shousen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Jutsu)."

Yugito looked around at them, "Akatsuki tried to kidnap me. Naruto-kun is still back there fighting with them. Someone needs to help him."

Darui looked confused, "Naruto? Who's Naruto?"

Jei realized who she was talking about, "You mean the kid that came here with Jiraiya of the Sannin from Konoha, their jinchuuriki, Naruto Uzumaki. He was helping you fight? And he let you get away?"

Yugito nodded with hopeful eyes when Shi snorted, "Why would we go back and risk our necks for a Konoha ninja when we already have you back Yugito? He's not our ally. For all you know he was just fighting with you because it was convenient to him."

Yugito narrowed her eyes at her fellow Kumo ninja, "He was the one that saved me in the first place. He didn't even have to get himself involved. He's the only reason you were all able to find me at all and you're just going to leave him to my fate!"

Shi nodded, "Better him than you. Why does it matter? This way Konoha loses their jinchuuriki. They probably brought him here as a show of force or something."

"Get off of me!" Yugito shouted, forcing Shi to cancel his jutsu when she shoved him while getting up, "I'm going back to finish those guys off and help Naruto-kun. You three can sit here with your thumbs in your asses if you want."

Jei moved to stop her, "Yugito you're still a mess. Shi didn't get to do much and you're just going to reinjure whatever he did manage to fix."

Darui nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Shi didn't have to be such a bastard about it but he's right in a way. You're risking your neck for this guy, why?"

"Because he did it for me!" Yugito yelled at them, "Can't you see that? Do you not get the picture here? There was no incentive, no reason, no actual objective to find me and get me away from them but he still did it. So why can't someone extend the same damn courtesy to him, nationality be damned!"

"Well isn't that sweet. It looks like the Kyuubi jinchuuriki lit a fire under your Nibi jinchuuriki."

Yugito paled at the sound of that voice and immediately turned the Nibi's chakra cloak back on, "Kakuzu." She hissed out in anger, "What did you do to Naruto-kun?"

Kakuzu laughed, "Me? Nothing. Hidan probably maimed the brat to put him down and is probably dragging him across the mountain range as we speak. And look, you even brought me an entire mess of new hearts to replace the ones you destroyed. You're a responsible young lady aren't you?"

Yugito flipped him off, "Fuck you… I'm going to finish you off."

"Yes I'm sure that you will." Kakuzu replied sarcastically. His stitches on his body opened up to reveal a mass of black threads that his two remaining masks were attached to, "You and your little friend tried a little combination jutsu a while back on me. Allow me to return the favor, "Katon Zukokku (Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work)! Fuuton: Atsugai (Wind Release: Pressure Damage)!"

Yugito remembered the force that she and Naruto generated with their combined jutsu and that was a wind and fire combination as well. Kakuzu sounded extremely confident in his own, and that didn't exactly inspire confidence in her for everyone else around her or even for herself, "Get away from him now! Get far away!"

Hearing someone like Yugito tell them to get away got the other Kumo ninja in gear as they immediately bugged out and took off running away from Kakuzu just in time for him to launch his attack. One of his masks spit a regular sized fireball at Yugito when the other one sent off a tornado like mask that compressed the fireball before finally releasing it in a white hot torrent. The intensity of the heat that it generated forced all of the other Kumo ninja to look away.

As the attack faded it revealed that Yugito had to turn into her full Nibi mode in order to block the jutsu for the others. At the end of her rope she transformed back to normal and dropped to the ground, visibly singed in a few places.

Shi looked at her in disbelief, "Did… Did Yugito just lose?"

Darui grit his teeth, "She took the hit for us. If we weren't here she would have just dodged it and been okay, but she took it for us because we all wouldn't have gotten away."

"Damn him!" Shi shouted before rushing right towards Kakuzu, "I'll finish him myself!" Ignoring Darui and Jei telling him to stay put he went right at Kakuzu while making four hand seals, "Raigen Raikouchuu (Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning Pillar)!" An extremely bright light seemed to exude from Shi that blinded Kakuzu.

Kakuzu shut his eyes and snapped out his arm that flew off and grasped Shi around the throat before he could take any action to follow up. Kakuzu looked the young man over before smirking, "You're a lightning element aren't you? Your heart will do just fine for now."

"Hyakunen Tsukkakaru (Century Rush)!"

A red buzzsaw flashed through the area and hacked Kakuzu's arm holding Shi off, freeing him and letting him retreat back to his own ninja. Jei kneeled over the man as he held his own throat and caught his breath, "Are you alright?"

Shi coughed to get his breathing back to normal, "Who was that?"

Darui pointed over to the source of the attack. Naruto stood not far from Kakuzu wearing a bladed pair of gauntlets and grieves, staring at him intently. Kakuzu's good mood vanished as his arm reattached, "You were able to finish Hidan? And how exactly did you get here so fast?"

_(Flashback)_

_Naruto was starting to run of fumes at this point but the entire situation wasn't over until he and Yugito were safely with someone that they could absolutely trust to ensure their safety, and he sure wasn't going to find that out in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain, 'I need to catch up to Yugi-chan and see if she's fighting.'_

_Naruto squinted as three figures came into his view from not too far away. He really wished that they weren't Kakuzu's stupid masks. He was so sick of those things by now it was absurd._

"_Hey is that who it looks like?" A fiery female voice called out, "Kami he looks like a complete mess."_

_They all came to a stop not far from each other, Naruto breathing heavily and staring at them all, "Hey Karui, Omoi, Samui. Long time no see you guys."_

_Omoi looked Naruto over and took the sucker out of his mouth, "You look like you lost a fight to a kitchen knife. What in Kami's name happened to you?"_

_Naruto sighed, "Well I for sure didn't lose to anything… yet. Anyway what are you guys doing here?" He said, stumbling slightly but playing off his fatigue_

_Samui spoke up, explaining the situation "Raikage-sama ordered our forces to scour the area for Yugito since it was revealed that she was missing. We saw a massive tower of flame a little ways from here and rushed over, but you were all that we found."_

_Naruto grimaced, "Damn, so you haven't gotten an order to return yet. She's still out here, I need to go now." _

_Naruto ended up getting grabbed on his shoulder by Karui, "Hey wait, you know where Yugito is? You saw her?"_

_A nod came from the blonde chunin, "I told her to escape from some unsavory people while I held them in place but one got away. We were fighting them, that's where the massive fire thing came from." He held up his sword, "I really hate using this thing but I'm not catching up any other way. __Sen'nen Hakkei: Ichijiraware (Millennium Release: Primary Materialization)__!" The sword dematerialized and reformed as grey/silver gauntlets around Naruto's arms and grieves on his legs with wicked blades on the outsides of them._

_Samui poked at Naruto's weapons in surprise, "What on earth just happened? What are these?"_

_Naruto shook his head, "No time to go into detail right now. Yugi-chan took off back towards Kumo so you probably missed her or came here from another side of the mountain range. Follow me… or follow the trail I carve out, because you're not going to be able to follow me directly." With that Naruto took off at top speed, leaving a trail of dust and upkicked rock in his wake._

(End Flashback)

"Don't worry about that." Naruto said, "Let's finish this once and for all stitches. I'm sick of looking at your face."

"About that." Kakuzu said before sending two of his masks off of his body to attack an incoming contingent of Kumo ninja consisting of Shi, Darui, and Jei, "I don't need anyone interrupting us you understand."

"Understood." Naruto then rushed in to attack Kakuzu at a speed Kakuzu hadn't seen him move at, a speed faster than when he had been using the Kyuubi's chakra. Kakuzu jumped back out of Naruto's way but ended up getting cut along his stomach. Black threads poured out of the wound en masse and attempted to swarm Naruto and block him into place.

Naruto spun out and cut through the threads as he dropped back in position to avoid a mishap with the threads that had been plaguing him in their last series of conflicts. Kakuzu's body pumped out more black thread then Naruto had ever seen come from Kakuzu's body any time prior to this point. It formed an octopus-type figure around his body and stretched out twenty feet in every direction the arms went, "You're too fast now to allow you to get in close again. Luckily I can keep you off with this. It's a shame, you have a very powerful heart. I'd like to take it for myself to be quite honest." He then whipped his arms at Naruto to initiate an attack.

Naruto spun in a rapid circle turning into a blur as he cut and repelled Kakuzu's threads before dodging as a second thread appendage smashed into the ground where he had been a moment before. Kakuzu was so far succeeding in keeping Naruto at a distance from him, "I already finished off the Nibi. Once I beat you too you can kiss your infantile ass goodbye, and I say good riddance."

Naruto had put on the gauntlets to get the speed boost needed to catch up. He hadn't really planned on how he was going to handle Kakuzu from that point forward, but he did have something to fall back on; Kakuzu had sent off two of his masks to run interference with the rest of the ninja in the area thus keeping him from spamming multi-elemental jutsu combinations at him. On the other hand, Naruto was beginning to suck wind. Once again the downside of his weapon was coming into play. For the boost it gave him it sucked his chakra like a sponge. He was already dipping into the Kyuubi's chakra to keep it from sucking his own reserves dry. At this rate it was only a matter of time.

XxX

Jei dodged another Katon: Zukokku from Kakuzu's fire element mask, "Who the hell is this guy? What are these?" The heat from the attack licked at his body as he stayed out of its range.

Darui had drawn his cleaver blade and had been attempting to hack away at the wind element mask that had been keeping its distance since he didn't feel like dodging any wind attacks from it, "Yugito's been fighting these things? Her and that kid?" He cut through its body only for it to reform right in front of his eyes, "Shi, how is she doing?"

Shi had carried Yugito out of the line of fire and was once again hard at work healing her injuries, only this time she had a few burns to go with her pre-existing wounds, "She's going to be out of it for a while. She's not getting back up, her insides are wrecked. How long has she been lasting like this?"

Darui had enough of the regenerating freaky mask creature running roughshod all over them and made a dragon hand-seal, "Ranton: Reizau Saukasu (Storm Release: Laser Circus)!" A halo of bright light formed around his hands and shot off several beams of electricity at both masks. The fire mask showed awareness to the situation and took cover behind some rocky formations while the wind mask simply attempted to dodge in the open field. It got a nasty surprise when the beams of light maneuvered back around towards it.

The wind mask generated chakra and fired off Fuuton: Atsugai, disrupting the attack and blowing Darui back off of his feet. The mask took advantage of its freedom from fighting Darui and moved towards Shi and Yugito to take him out and capture her for Kakuzu.

Shi looked up to see the black thread monster moving his way but he stuck it out near Yugito to keep her out of its clutches and take his chance against it on his own.

"Lariat!"

Shi was saved by a massive, muscular dark-skinned arm plowing into the mask of the wind element creature, shattering it on impact and putting it out of the fight, "Raikage-sama!"

A looked over his shoulder at his subordinate standing by Yugito. The Raikage smirked victoriously upon seeing that she was still with them, "Good work. Now where are the fools that thought taking our Yugito was a good idea?"

Shi was about to answer when he noticed Jei still under pursuit by the fire mask that had just shot off another jutsu. The jutsu was diverted as it changed trajectory completely and found itself sucked into a scroll, "Fuuka Houin (Fire Sealing Method)."

Jiraiya rolled the scroll he used to seal the jutsu back up, "It looks like we were able to make it after all eh Raikage-sama?" The mask charged up another attack, but Jiraiya only smirked and pointed behind the mask before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

The mask ended up getting eradicated by a Rasengan that carved through the back of its head, all the way through the front, defeating the mask and the heart that went with it.

Shi watched in awe before his focus returned, "Raikage-sama, the man that tried taking Yugito is over there!" He pointed over to where Naruto was still engaged in combat with Kakuzu.

A wrapped his body in a layer of lightning chakra and prepared to make his way into the battle when Jiraiya called over to him, "Raikage-sama let Naruto finish the fight himself. He did this much by himself, I want to see him finish it off."

A looked at Jiraiya, "We could just head in and end it ourselves. There's no need for the boy to be at risk any longer, he's proven himself by staying alive this long."

Getting a nod from the white-haired man was his response, "He needs this. If only to prove to himself that he's capable of defeating these people."

XxX

Naruto had sweat beading down his face, mixing with the grime and blood as Kakuzu kept him on his toes with his defensive offense. It was as if he knew that keeping this style of fighting up was wearing on Naruto and all he had to do was outlast him and the battle was his.

'Damn it this is like the Forest of Death all over again!' Naruto thought frantically to himself, 'Wait…' He realized, 'This _is_ like the Forest of Death all over again! And I'm just as tired now as I was then. I've been running away and fighting for at least twelve hours straight and that was before I even started using this thing.' A tentative smirk came to Naruto's face.

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow at this 180 in Naruto's attitude, "What are you smiling about brat? You still can't touch me."

"The last time I tested this move out I exterminated half of a nest of spiders." He mumbled lowly to himself out of Kakuzu's earshot.

"What was that?" Kakuzu teased, "Saying a short prayer for yourself? That can wait, you aren't dead… yet."

"Nope." Naruto said more to himself than to anyone while still on the move, "But you are." Naruto slammed the blades on his gauntlets together loudly three times, setting a low droning noise that stuck around over the battlefield. Kakuzu simply took it as irrelevant noise as he felt nothing from it. Naruto then slammed his blades on his greaves together three times while in mid-stride, turning the noise higher pitched.

Naruto stopped running as the threads all closed in on him, getting Kakuzu to cackle as he believed that Naruto had finally run out of energy. Naruto clashed the blades of his weapons together one more time and focused the point of the sound into one of the blades on his leg, making the noise conspicuous to Kakuzu who prepared himself for whatever was about to happen, getting his threads away from Naruto. Naruto lifted his one foot and stomped it, burying it into the ground from the force of the stomp. The vibrations from his leg blade carried through the ground, promting Kakuzu to leap off of the ground as he assumed this was all an earth element ninjutsu.

"Tenbin no Hiroukonpai (Scales of Total Exhaustion)!" A high pitched whining noise that droned into Kakuzu's ears seemingly sapped him of all of his energy.

XxX

Meanwhile, with those watching the fight from a distance a few of the ninja that had been in battle against the masks felt their energy suddenly leave them as a faint white noise hit their senses, forcing them to visibly look winded all except for Jiraiya and A. A commented on it, "I can feel my chakra leaving my body. Is it this sound?"

Jiraiya looked on at the scene between Naruto and Kakuzu, "I would guess as much. I can only imagine the effect it's having right at the heart of the noise."

XxX

Kakuzu began to leak blood from his mouth, eyes, and ears, "What the hell are you doing!" He willed his threads bestowed upon him by the Jiongu to move forward, but they only flickered forward for a moment before dropping to the ground limply.

Naruto's ears started to bleed himself, "This jutsu takes the fatigue that I've accumulated in comparison to my full capabilities and saturates the air with this sound. Anything that is caught in the noise gets their chakra drained to the extent of the amount that I've used in relation to my full reserves." That fact widened Kakuzu's eyes. With only one heart left he had no ludicrous reserves the way that Naruto did, and he had been fighting just as long as Naruto had been all day long.

"You… brat." Kakuzu said weakly as he slumped to the ground in a heap, "How could I be beaten by a punk kid that's barely out of diapers?" He said quietly as the noise persisted.

Naruto walked over to him sluggishly, now bleeding from his eyes to go with his ears, "Because this punk kid's been training to kill guys like you since he was able to read." Naruto drove the blade on his foot into Kakuzu's chest, leaving it sticking straight out of the side of his chest his heart was on. Kakuzu let out a death rattle and he went still once and for all.

A groan of discomfort came from Naruto as he allowed his weapon to return to its original ninjato form before he began walking over to where the others were.

XxX

Jiraiya had a wide grin on his face as he saw his apprentice walking back over to them after finishing off Kakuzu, "What did I say Raikage-sama? I told you he could handle it by himself. You just need to have faith in the kid."

A chuckled at Jiraiya's pride in Naruto's performance, "As long as that boy is in your village I can see him keeping it safe as its protector. What he was meant to be as its jinchuuriki."

"Yep." Jiraiya beamed, "He's the spitting image of-. Oh hold on." Jiraiya frowned when he saw Naruto unceremoniously drop face-first onto the ground in exhaustion in the distance.

A sweatdropped as he gestured for his ninja to go out and assist him, "Is he going to be alright?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "Meh, he's fine." He cupped his hands to his mouth, "Come on gaki, walk it off! You're blowing my wise teacher moment here! And here I was starting to think you were tough!"

Naruto, face down on the ground, heard Jiraiya's remark and started muttering curses to himself as he found himself unable to move his body or raise his voice.

"**Alright…."** Kyuubi's voice boomed in Naruto's mind, **"He's back on the list."** Naruto could only give a mental nod to his tenant in agreement.

* * *

Jutsu List

Katon: Reizau Hari (Fire Release: Laser Beam). A-ranked ninjutsu. Long range. Chakra is forced to the point of attack on the user's body and is then blasted out in a heat laser. The attack is direct and straightforward, unable to have its path altered. It is slow to charge due to the attack's power and focus, but upon being fired moves around the speed of light. It is small and precise in its aim, but is fast and capable of burning through nigh anything upon making contact. Has a range of roughly 100 yards.

Raigen Raikouchuu (Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning Pillar). Supplementary genjutsu. Mid-to-short range. This genjutsu blinds the enemy with an extremely bright light that appears to emanate from the user's body. A secondary genjutsu can then be used within this genjutsu.

Tenbin no Hiroukonpai (Scales of Total Exhaustion). A to S-ranked ninjutsu. Effectiveness depends on range. Requirements: Sen'nenki no Ken, extreme exhaustion. After being driven to the brink of collapse by lack of stamina/chakra the user will use their chakra to generate a sharp noise that fills the air. The intensity at which the noise is heard will result in the drain of the enemy's chakra ranging from 5% of the user's overall lost amount to 100% of the amount of chakra that the user has wasted thus far in combat. Keeping the jutsu going also slowly but steadily drains the remainder of the user's chakra along with the usual drain of using the awakened Sen'nenki no Ken.

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**I couldn't just leave it sitting with the fight the way I had left it so I had to finish the next chapter before I was able to get to work proper on my presentation. Now maybe I can get some legitimate work done. God writing these fucking fanfictions are turning into an addiction, but I guess it's a more productive addiction than say; heroin, or murder… although heroin is magically delicious… Mmm heroin… the breakfast of champions.**

**What was I talking about? Nevermind.**

**Kenchi out. Until the next time… later.**

***If I hit 3000 reviews I will do the no-pants victory dance on tape… and then I will hide it to never see the light of day… Never. To see. The light. Of day. Cheers.***


	34. Allergic to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do however OWN a friend of mine for reasons unspecified. That mf'er will never read this, but in case he ever does he knows exactly who he is and what I did and now he must live it down forever! And rest assured it was completely awesome… I only wish I had a camera when it happened because it was utterly Youtube worthy.

**Chapter 33: Allergic to Life**

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After the little conflict with Kakuzu and Hidan had been settled, Jiraiya had made sure that Naruto had gotten treatment back in Kumogakure for his more nagging injuries and wounds suffered from the prolonged battle. For the physical price he paid keeping Yugito out of Akatsuki's clutches a stay in the hospital was the least that could be allowed for him.

Speaking of Yugito, surprisingly after the battle was complete the worst damage she suffered was the injury through her hands that had been inflicted at the start. She didn't suffer any permanent nerve damage, but it was advised that she refrain from training until further notice to keep from reinjuring herself.

During Naruto's hospital stay Jiraiya took to trying to examine Naruto's sword… and failed miserably as it did not let Jiraiya lay a finger on it without cutting into his hands with wind chakra, which piqued his interest as that was Naruto's main element type, however from what he had seen of the sword Naruto, who had finished his wind element training, never channeled chakra through the blade, and then it had that second form that simply augmented his abilities, but from what he had gleaned from Naruto it drained him heavily.

Naruto was strong. This was always evident to Jiraiya. Back when he took Naruto with him to retrieve Tsunade it was clear that anyone short of the absolute best in the world would have a horrible day if they had decided to tangle with Naruto, but now Jiraiya wasn't sure if he could put Naruto down without having to resort to his absolute best, although any stirring from the Kyuubi and he could always slap a suppression seal on Naruto, but getting it on him was an entirely different matter altogether.

He and Tsunade needed to have a conversation on his growth once he got the kid healed up and dragged him back to Konoha. In the meantime he was getting his kicks off of watching the nursing staff in Kumo's hospital keep Naruto in place. Apparently with a jinchuuriki like Kirabi they got used to him trying to break out before he was released early on in his life and had way more experience dealing with a rowdy, powerful demon container. No leniency was given, even stepping out of bed set off an alert for trained orderlies to put him right back, forcefully… and if that wasn't enough the head doctor was a woman with a glare that could freeze lava on point.

Yes, after the first day Naruto was a good boy. The company didn't hurt either however.

XxX

(Kumogakure no Sato - Kumo Hospital)

Naruto sat, seething to himself in his bed, "I never thought I would find something I hate more than Konoha's hospital, but now I think Kumo's is pushing it firmly out of the way for sure."

Yugito rolled her eyes from a nearby chair, "Oh get over it Naruto-kun, they'll let you out when they think you're good and ready."

"I _am_ good and ready! I was ready the day after I was admitted and now it's been three days! They're just now letting me bathe myself!" He nearly whined to her, "Hospitals are for the dead and dying. I am neither so they should let me go." He ran a hand through his hair, "I can't believe mugging that orderly and transforming into him didn't get me out… I thought that would work for sure."

Yugito didn't miss a beat, "Kirabi tried that six years ago."

Naruto sighed, "Of course he did." He then lightly glared at her, noticing that she was dressed in her own clothing, "How come they let you go?"

Yugito grinned cheekily at him, "All I had besides the busted ribs were a few burns and my messed up hands." Yugito lifted her heavily bandaged palms and waved them at Naruto showingly, "You had all kinds of torn muscles in your legs and arms. How did you even tear the muscles anyway?"

Naruto glowered, "The bastard sword I carry with me." He let off a scowl as his heirloom blade, "That thing is more trouble than it's worth sometimes. How am I supposed to train with it when it rips my body apart just using it?"

"Oh just toughen up you big baby!" Yugito said, popping him lightly on the arm, "We just beat the Akatsuki and here you are complaining about your sword. Prioritize Naruto-kun, just relax. Getting all stressed out will do you no good."

"Yeah, no good." Naruto replied, "No good like your bum hands!" He said, grabbing her wrists and waving her arms around as if she were a marionette before she realized what he was doing and narrowed her eyes at him.

"What do you think you're doing scarface?" She growled out at him, "Getting beat up by orderlies and your sensei isn't enough? You want me to stomp you too?"

Naruto smiled at her disarmingly, "I'm bored. I haven't seen anything but white walls for days, and I'm well enough to leave. Since I can't leave, I'll have to have you keep me company Yugi-chan… my lovely entertainment."

Yugito smirked at him, "Your entertainment am I? And lovely you say?"

Naruto shrugged, still holding onto her wrists, "It is what it is."

Yugito moved her chair closer to Naruto and inched her face closer to his, "And what makes you think I'm here to entertain you? Maybe I'm here for my own fun."

Naruto gave her a dry look in response and then looked at his hospital gown clad form, "I don't really see what would be so entertaining about me right now?"

Yugito's eyes went along his form, "You wouldn't would you Mr. Paper-thin-gown?" She placed her mouth near his ear, "It's a shame we weren't in the same room while I was in mine." She pulled away from him once she felt him let go of her wrists and laughed at the incredulous look on his face, "I just had to get you back for all of the stupid things you said in the cave. Don't be mad Naruto-kun."

Naruto's face went back to normal once he heard the laughter from Yugito, "That wasn't fair Yugi-chan. I thought you were serious, especially after your little kiss right before we fought Hidan and Kakuzu."

"Speaking of that." Yugito trailed off, "Why did you do it? Why did you fight for me against them? You could have just let them take me, they weren't here for you. You would be fine right now."

Naruto gave her a long hard look, "Because we're friends Yugi-chan." He set his head back on his pillows and looked at her from his side view, "I would protect you just as much as I would anyone else that was close to me and needed my help."

Yugito frowned, "Fighting when you didn't need to against such dangerous people and losing would have crippled your village's military presence. There wasn't any reason to do this- umf." Yugito stopped talking when a pillow smacked into her face.

Naruto's arm was still extended from the throw, "I just gave you the reason. Being one of my precious people means I'll fight for you when I have to, because it's the right thing to do. It doesn't hurt that I had to face off with them eventually anyway, but I needed to make sure you weren't caught. It's just that simple. The entire reason me and Ero-sennin even came here in the first place was to try and set up an alliance against Akatsuki's workings so the reason I came here was more or less to protect you I guess you could say, heh." He finished with a laugh.

Yugito looked at him long and hard with an expressionless face trying to ascertain any sign of falsehood in his body language after what he had just said. She finally sighed and stood up, hovering next to Naruto's bed and looking at him as he simply stared back at her equally impassively, "I told those idiots that you did it just because you were a sweetie." She said as a smile slowly worked its way to her face once more.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto said, "I'm your hero and all of that crap. How could I just let you go and get killed like that without trying to stop it Yugi-chan?" He then felt Yugito lean over him and give him a short kiss on the lips, "What was that for?"

Yugito stayed close to his face, "That was for all of the effort it took to get me back from them in the first place." She kissed him again, "That was for fighting them as hard as you did for me." She then placed one final, very long kiss on him that she had to somewhat climb onto his bed/him to prolong before breaking it, "And that was just for me… speaking of which-." She scratched the side of his face hard enough to draw blood, getting a cry of anger from Naruto, "That was for making me run away when you were in trouble." Naruto tried to open his mouth to reply, shutting it firmly when he felt Yugito's close range glare on him, "No arguments, no excuses, you simply won't be doing that ever again, understood?" Naruto nodded quickly seeing as how he was pinned down, "Good boy."

With that Yugito lowered herself down, still straddling him, and proceeded to renew their previous activity with Naruto dynamically reciprocating her actions via beginning to reach under her shirt until-

"Yo Mr. 9 I got here fast after hearing about those guys that kicked your ass!"

The door to Naruto's hospital room was then kicked almost off of the hinges and the towering form of the very familiar Hachibi jinchuuriki filled it through, grinning widely, "It's Kirabi-sama singing you a tune, hoping to see you get well soon!"

He failed to notice that Naruto was sitting up unusually ramrod straight with most of his bed-linens askew over one particular spot around his legs as if to cover something as well as Yugito sitting statue-still in her chair, hair slightly awry and her face with a healthy blush running across it... as well as both of them panting slightly. Naruto snapped out of his trance first, "Bee what the fuck? You knock before you enter a room with a closed door!"

Kirabi scoffed at Naruto, "I don't knock motherfucker!"

"Clearly." Yugito said with her eye twitching at her older jinchuuriki friend wishing he would spontaneously burst into flames right that minute.

"Kirabi-sensei you need to slow down and be quiet, we're in a hospital!" Karui came inside of the room followed by Omoi and Samui who rolled her blue eyes at her teammate at the hypocrisy of that statement. Karui blinked at seeing Naruto up and about, "So you're finally able to take visitors Naruto?"

Naruto gave her a dry look, "I could have taken visitors yesterday, but I tried breaking out the moment I woke up and after three attempts they isolated me until today."

Kirabi nodded in understanding while the others simply looked at him like he was insane. Omoi, with the ever-present sucker in his mouth spoke up, "You're talking about this place like it's prison or something."

Naruto's dry look switched over to him, "It is when there isn't anything wrong with you." He looked between them all, "I will give each of you 10,000 ryo if you get me out of here now."

Omoi and Karui went wide-eyed while Samui simply gave him a questioning look, "Where did you get that kind of money to spend on something like this?"

Naruto smirked inside of his head. He was still counting his money from the bounty on Sasori, he had gone on back to back high level missions, didn't have any expenses other than food and Hamako handled those matters herself with the money she made assisting at the academy when he wasn't there… yeah he was so moving out of that apartment when he got back. Hell, with the money he was going to make off of Hidan's head he was going to be more loaded than ever before. Damn! He didn't get Kakuzu's corpse. Oh well, there's such a thing as too much money after all.

At that moment Jiraiya walked into the room, "That's not going to be necessary brat. You're good to go." He threw a bundle to Naruto that when caught showed that they were Naruto's clothes and other possessions that he sealed into scrolls for travel, "Yep. It's time we get out of here and go back to Konoha."

"Finally, it took long enough." Naruto said as he began to peruse through his things. He looked up in time to catch himself from taking his hospital gown off to prepare to change, "Um, could I get minute here?"

Yugito plopped down on the bed next to him, "Aww, you don't want me to stay Naruto-kun?"

Naruto pushed her lightly, "If you stay then changing is going to be the last thing that I end up doing in here." He panned his eyes over to Jiraiya who was writing down something in a small notepad, "Ero-sennin what the hell?"

Jiraiya looked up at Naruto and put his pad away, "Oh get over it gaki. I've been using your life to brainstorm ideas for my books since right after we went after Tsunade." He chuckled lecherously, "Lately you've been giving me quite a bit to write about I have to say. I didn't see you becoming a ladies' man."

Naruto sighed, "I'm not a ladies' man."

"Liar." Yugito stated plainly with her arms crossed.

Karui nodded, blushing slightly, "I remember the last time you were here you know. You're full of crap on that one."

Samui rubbed her shoulders, "Is there any chance you can give me another massage like you did last time you were here before you go?"

"Um…" Naruto said unsurely, "Ask him." He pointed over to Jiraiya who was once again rapidly writing and mouthing out 'massage', "Oi! Don't make me burn that thing Ero-sennin!"

"Oh shut up and get dressed already." Jiraiya said, wiping away the small amount of blood coming from his nose from what he himself had written, We have to get back to Tsunade-hime and give her the results of the successful mission."

Naruto blinked owlishly, "Success? But the Raikage turned down the idea of us joining forces."

Jiraiya grinned at the boy, "Well after your little rescue stunt and after he saw how two of the Akatsuki could get right into his village and engage Yugito here without a trace going out until the fight was more or less over he saw that there was a need for some kind of measure to be put in place. So congrats kid, your little hero act brought about another alliance… you seem to be making a habit out of that."

"You act like you're mad about it." Naruto said, "Now can you all get the fuck out so I can change?" He then stopped to think about it, "Girls can stay." Naruto hopped out of bed once he felt everyone start to move towards the door and almost started taking his hospital gown off until he felt the presence of others still in the room. Turning to the door he saw Yugito, Samui, and Karui still standing there, one smirking, one blushing, and one with no noticeable reflection on her face but a sparkle in her eyes told him all he needed to know.

Naruto let off a sweatdrop, "You know I was kind of joking about that."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

Tsunade stared at Naruto and Jiraiya with her cheek in her hand, leaning on her desk lazily as she looked at the two of them, "Well you certainly took the roundabout way towards doing so but good work you two. That's one village we can mark down for having our side against Akatsuki alongside Suna."

Jiraiya nodded, pleased with Naruto's rendition of how the battle went, "Three of the five villages isn't a bad number at all." He patted Naruto on the head, "Now don't you have something to discuss with the kid?"

"Oh yes." Tsunade perked up and reached inside of her desk, rummaging around for a moment before dropping a small stack of papers in front of Naruto and handing him a pen, "I just need you to sign some things for your identification."

Naruto shrugged and grabbed the pen, signing his signature on all of the corresponding areas Tsunade designated for him. After handing the pen back over upon completion he finally asked, "So what was that for anyway? I've never had to sign anything before."

Tsunade didn't answer and simply took out a stamp before slamming it on the paper and looking up at Naruto with a grin, "Oh that was just the registration forms for your promotion to jounin. Congratulations brat."

He simply stared at Tsunade for over a minute fully processing what he had just heard, "You're not messing with me right? You're finally promoting me? Why now?"

Tsunade sighed, "Politics brat. I would have done it sooner but you need ample backing from many high rankings sources in the village these days for any decision like this to go through. You can at least take it as a sign that things are definitely changing around here for you." She finished with a smile.

'Yeah, either that or I have friends in blackmailing places.' Naruto thought as he couldn't fight the smile peeking through on his own face.

Jiraiya ruffled Naruto's hair, "Way to go, I knew they couldn't keep you off of that rank forever. It was just a matter of time." He looked up to Tsunade, "So are we supposed to head straight out to the next village?"

Tsunade shook her head, "No. Naruto is on a probationary period as a jounin. He needs to get three more missions under his belt as the leader before it's truly decided whether or not he'll remain a jounin or get demoted to tokubetsu jounin or back to chunin."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "I'm on probation? We have probation?"

"Ranks higher than chunin have probation." Jiraiya explained, "We have a pretty large population of ninja so this is to make sure we have the best of the best leading the pack so to speak. Smaller villages don't have probation since they need their 'elite' ninja for a showing, but Konoha ninja are already perceived as the outright best so we simply make sure of that."

"You'll be fine." Tsunade assured him as she put the papers away, "You don't seem like a choke artist to me so just work the way you always do and things should go smoothly. You've earned this rank."

Naruto reached into his pocket, "Speaking of stuff I've earned." He pulled out a labeled scroll, "How much do I earn for this?" He unsealed the scroll and covered the desk in smoke.

"You blonde cock-chasing son of a bitch, I knew you'd let me out!" On Tsunade's desk sat the disembodied head of Hidan, snarling and nigh foaming at the mouth at Naruto, "Get down here and fight me like a man instead of like a bitch!"

Tsunade looked at the head on her desk cursing Naruto out colorfully, "You… didn't kill him."

Naruto looked up at his village leader slowly, "I can't kill him. But this should be better right? I mean, he's still alive. That's got to count for something." Naruto started raising his voice higher and higher as Hidan yelled over him, "We could always-! We could-! We-!" Naruto glared at the head and stuffed the scroll he had been sealed in inside of his mouth, "Shut the fuck up! Winners are talking here!"

Tsunade rubbed her temple and pulled out some sake, "I thought I'd seen everything physically possible in this world and then you literally drop something like this in my lap. You lead a… charmed life brat." She said before pouring herself a small cup.

Naruto then took the bottle from her and took a swing straight from it, "It's not my fault Tsunade-baachan. Stuff happens." He tried passing the bottle to Jiraiya before Tsunade snatched it back out of his hands.

"Shizune!" Tsunade called loudly.

Naruto pointed at the muffled Hidan's head, "Can I keep that?"

Jiraiya gave Naruto a deadpan look, "Why in Kami's would you ever want to keep that for?"

Naruto shrugged, "Hamako-chan could use some company when I'm not home and he'd make a great pet. I'll even de-fang him so he can't bite or anything. Hell I'm certain that I can interrogate him for some good stuff on Akatsuki."

"That's actually a decent idea." Tsunade admitted, "The interrogation part, not the house pet part. What is wrong with you?" Naruto looked away awkwardly when at the same time Shizune walked into the room, "Shizune can you take this to ANBU HQ until I can get a hold of Ibiki Morino or Inoichi Yamanaka?"

Shizune walked closer to the desk and froze when she saw a severed head mumbling curses with a scroll shoved into its mouth, shooting death looks at everyone around. Her eyes fluttered before she fell backwards into unconsciousness.

Naruto and Jiraiya looked down at the fallen black-haired woman, "Did Shizune-neechan just faint?" Naruto kneeled down next to her, snapping his fingers in front of her face and shaking her lightly in an attempt to revive her.

Tsunade looked over her desk at her oldest companion, Naruto, and Jiraiya, "Yeah… you're dismissed brat. I'll wake her up."

XxX

"Another bowl oji-san!" Naruto called out, placing an empty bowl of ramen to the side of the counter in an effort to wait for his next bowl, "I have no shortage of funds to pay today!" Naruto's exuberance over his meal caused Teuchi to chuckle at his most prolific customer.

A pair of hands were placed over his eyes before a very welcome voice let him know exactly who it was, "I knew that I would find you here Naruto-sama. Why didn't you come home first?" The voice finished almost poutingly.

Naruto smiled and removed the hands from his eyes, allowing his aide to take a seat next to him inside of the ramen stand, "Hi Hamako-chan. Anything interesting happen while I was gone?" He stopped smiling and looked at her rather gravely, "You didn't burn the apartment complex down testing stuff out did you?"

Hamako rolled her eyes and leaned on the counter, ever present smile still on her face, "No, I'm not even working with anything volatile now, all I did was outfit your gift with some seals and that was pretty much all I did. It's only been a week since you left you know."

"Speaking of seals." Naruto changed topics, "I can use the hardest stuff that you taught me on actual people now so let me in on some new stuff next time we train." He picked up his sword, "Also I need you to seriously help me break down all of the seals placed on this thing and help me work out how this thing works. Going blind with this thing isn't such a good idea anymore." Naruto stopped talking as a bowl of ramen was placed in front of him.

"Of course master." Hamako agreed before smirking, "By the way, you're in trouble."

Naruto stopped eating and looked at her with noodles hanging from his mouth, "Huh?"

A small laugh came from the white-haired girl before she explained, "Where do I start? Well you keep failing to tell people when you leave and that usually leaves me to inform them of your absence, people don't like that, especially the people that were looking for you."

"Like who?" Naruto asked as he continued to eat, "I was only gone for a week, who could have possibly had anything to say to me?"

"Tayuya-san first of all." Naruto stopped eating to listen, "I'm certain you were expecting that though. Then there was Anko-san as well about the cursed seal, but I handled that appointment in your stead… right up until Tayuya-san came over for what assistance she could offer and the story of your… ahem… exploits, got out."

Naruto stopped slurping up his next bowl of ramen at a breakneck pace and looked at Hamako, still holding his chopsticks to his mouth, "And?"

Hamako looked away sheepishly, "Everyone that knows of you now knows about it. I am sorry Naruto-sama."

Naruto looked over at Teuchi who had also been looking at him before the ramen chef turned away, whistling innocently. He then thought about that statement. Everyone that knows 'of' him. That was actually a ton of people in reality, "So when you say 'everyone' you mean-."

"Naruto-niichan!"

Naruto turned around on his stool to find Konohamaru along with Udon and Moegi. The leader of the trio was looking at Naruto defiantly, "Hey Konohamaru. You guys are genin huh? Good for you all." Hamako at his side waved pleasantly at the trio who waved right back to her.

Konohamaru made a fist and thrusted it out at Naruto, "I'll show you how much stronger I am now Naruto-nii, Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Jutsu)!" Konohamaru promptly transformed into a beautiful, nude, brown-haired woman, only to sweatdrop after realizing nothing was happening.

Naruto simply raised an eyebrow at the display, "Huh. Man I haven't used that move in forever." Naruto vacantly realized that a pair of chopsticks were being held in front of him with food on them, "Oh, thank you Hamako-chan." Naruto gleefully partook in his meal, forcing Konohamaru to face-fault out of his transformation.

Moegi and Udon helped Konohamaru stand back up, "Man… well I guess for someone that invented the technique and can see the real thing whenever he wants it won't have much effect."

Naruto immediately stopped letting Hamako feed him before looking at Konohamaru emotionlessly, bringing a shiver to the newly minted genin's spine. Naruto turned and placed his money for the meal on the counter before cracking his neck and turning back to the trio, "So you know how I could never legit 'train' with you guys because you weren't ninja yet? Yeah, that little restriction is off."

The kids turned to run, but before they could take their first step, Hamako flashed some seals into Naruto's hands that he slapped onto the bodies of the three young genin before making a set of half a dozen hand-seals, "Fuuinjutsu: Mahi no Fuuin (Sealing Technique: Seal of Paralysis)." Naruto nodded in appreciation at the effect of the seals as he saw the kids freeze in mid-stride, "Good work Hamako-chan. How long do I have until it wears off?"

"The seal isn't attuned to you personally so I would give it two minutes since I don't think they know how to stop their chakra flow that well yet." Hamako informed him.

"Damn." Naruto started to gather them all up at once, "That isn't enough time to get all the way across town to the Forest of Death so I can cut loose. Oh well, I guess I'll have to make this informal at a nearby training ground. Later Hamako-chan, I'll be home in a bit. I've got stuff to talk about with you later anyway."

Naruto jumped off with Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon all being carried by him unable to escape, "Don't beat them up badly master! You'll get in trouble again!" Hamako called out to him before she began to make her way home.

XxX

Naruto didn't really beat them up, sparing them from the horrible flashback to their time in the academy. He really actually did train with them, not on things that they could do with their jounin sensei who he found out was Ebisu, such as tree climbing or teamwork drills. He made Kage Bunshin and actually worked with them for a bit on things that he figured played to their strengths. With Konohamaru being the heavy hitter he gave him a few pointers on strength exercises and told him that the sooner he showed marked improvement in the things that Ebisu had been training him in the sooner both he and Ebisu would more than likely teach him more ninjutsu to work with.

For Udon, Naruto taught him what he knew of wicked traps that the boy already had base knowledge on after hanging out with Konohamaru for so long and tried to steer him towards starting specialization in fuuinjutsu, citing that other than Jiraiya, himself, Hamako who wasn't a ninja, and maybe Kakashi there really wasn't anyone in Konoha that could claim any kind of advanced skill in sealing techniques. The things that Naruto attempted to give him a crash course were more of starter concepts for someone as smart as Udon was.

For Moegi as far as concrete teaching there wasn't much he could show her. She wasn't going to have the chakra reserves to handle Naruto's form of combat so all of the ninjutsu he knew were out of the question. He didn't know any genjutsu, he didn't know any medical jutsu, so he figured that if nothing else he could show her some blade work as an effort to teach her something. She surprisingly took to it rather well and worked hard to learn the basic things that Naruto was trying to teach her. He also promised her after giving her a wooden training sword that if she could show him that she had learned enough on her own he would buy her an actual sword and teach her more than just basics. He didn't just head right out and buy her one after finding out she was interested because he was certain that she wouldn't need one for quite a while, being a genin for a little over two weeks, and that he wanted to give her some incentive to actually train instead of coast on her laurels.

After a few hours of working with the genin, and hearing Konohamaru lament about how he wished Naruto could have been promoted sooner so he could have taken them as a team he sent them on their way, telling them that any time they wanted to reach him they could look for him or Hamako.

"Well just look at you Naruto." Naruto saw Kakashi emerging into the clearing of the training field eye-smiling at him as the sun was going down, "Maybe you should lobby on taking a genin squad of your own if that's how you'd work with them."

Naruto chuckled to himself, "No way Kakashi-sensei. I just like those kids, they're going to be good. I don't think I could take a team just like that. And from that I'm assuming you've heard that I got promoted." As a missed thought he rubbed the back of his head, "I hope Ebisu isn't sore about me stealing his team for a few hours."

Kakashi nodded, "Who do you think put in an endorsement for you to move up. I may not look it at times, but I am very influential."

"Ah." Naruto said as they began to walk back towards the town, "You're right. Walking around with your face buried in Ero-sennin's pervert book all the time doesn't make you look very influential, no offense."

Kakashi wagged his finger chidingly, "Says you. From what Anko said to everyone about you and the Tayuya girl-."

"Damn it Anko-chan!" Naruto shouted to no one in particular, "She just spread that around to spite me after she got sent back on that mission we were on. I'm going to get her back later, she better know that."

"You're in trouble." Kakashi chirped with a sing-song voice, "After that little bit of news broke there were some people very interested in speaking with you."

A twinge of rememberance ran through Naruto's head, "Hamako-chan said that too. She didn't really get a chance to elaborate on it though. What the fuck does that even mean Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi simply gave him his trademark look, "It's not my place to say. You'll find out soon enough, I'm certain." Naruto could swear that the man was radiating an aura of I-know-something-you-don't, "Once you get off of probation I should set up a party for Konoha's newest jounin."

"You never know Kakashi." Naruto said off-handedly, "I might get myself demoted. I mean what if I'm not good enough." Both of them stopped walking and turned towards each other, both of them with complete and utter straight-faced looks, right up until both of them simultaneously burst into laughter, "Yeah right. Can you imagine me saying that out loud to anyone? Yeah, everything's going to be fine… working with people way older than me that I have to lead might be awkward though."

Kakashi motioned for them to keep going, "Meh, you get used to it. I was a jounin at 13 remember, imagine how I felt. You're just lucky that there isn't a war going on right now."

Naruto immediately countered, "If there was a war going on right now I would have been promoted faster and the team leading thing wouldn't be an issue since I would lobby for more solo sneaking missions than anything else." He looked over at the masked jounin, "I get where you're coming from though. But that's just another reason that I wouldn't take a genin team even if I could get one right now. Akatsuki is still after me. What would my genin do if we were attacked while we were out?"

"Well then that's just extra incentive for you to finish them all off so you can experience the joys of teaching like me." Kakashi said cheerfully.

"What teaching?" Naruto asked, "All you taught Team 7 as a team was how to climb trees."

"I'm sorry Naruto did you say something?" Kakashi asked as his nose was right back in his favorite book.

Naruto's eye twitched as he fought the urge to tackle Kakashi and beat the crap out of him, wondering if he could get away with it, "Nothing important Kakashi-sensei, nothing important at all."

XxX

Sitting at the kitchen table behind Naruto, Hamako was using the only thing she knew that could possibly be construed as a ninjutsu, Shikoku Fuuin (Finger Engraving Seal) that she was using to engrave a seal on Naruto's upper shoulder.

Hamako wasn't too thrilled with doing this, as it required her to actually burn the seal into Naruto's flesh before she could actually apply ink to make a tattoo out of it, but Naruto wasn't complaining, or flinching, or even showing that this was mildly hurting him, allowing her to proceed with a steady hand. The entire time she was simply telling Naruto about the things of mild interest that transpired when he was gone.

It wasn't until Naruto started going over what he had been doing in Kumo, with Yugito, that she felt a twinge of something in her. Luckily for Naruto she had finished the part that required her to burn the seal onto his shoulder or else she might have slipped her control and messed up the pattern. From that point on, Hamako refrained from responding verbally to anything he said that tried to engage her in the conversation. She simply stayed silent right until she finished placing the ink seal over Naruto's burn.

After allowing the ink to dry he looked himself over in the mirror, "That's good work Hamako-chan. What was this thing again? You were pretty insistent on putting it on me."

Hamako responded almost robotically, "It is a simple seal of communication between you and I Naruto-sama." She lowered the shoulder of her kimono to show that she had already placed the exact same tattoo on her shoulder, "It will allow you and I to communicate by channeling chakra in short bursts resulting in sharp pulses to the other person's corresponding tattoo." She then tested it out on Naruto.

He felt the same feeling she told him he would feel on his shoulder, "So it's like morse code? Okay then, that's great." He then noticed that the small serene smile she usually had on her face was gone, "What's the matter Hamako-chan?"

Hamako tried to speak three times, but closed her mouth with nothing to say each time. She finally steeled herself in front of Naruto, "I allowed your relations with Tayuya-san because she knew you longer than I did and having someone like her care for you would have been a good thing. What of this girl in Kumo?"

Naruto leaned against a wall, "Yugito? Yugi-chan is interested in me. We didn't have sex Hamako-chan."

"But you were going to." She countered, "That's where your story was going until Kirabi-san interrupted you if you were to be believed."

Naruto frowned, "Maybe that's where it was going to go. What does it matter in the end?"

Hamako looked down, "Why do you think I've stayed for so long master? Why do you think I enjoy doing so much for you and helping you? I even sleep in your bed with you all the time. Do you really dislike me that much?"

Naruto blinked at her mood, "I figured you were just one big sweetheart that I couldn't convince otherwise. And no, I love you Hamako-chan. I don't know what I did to deserve you doing so many things for me."

Hamako shook her head, "You don't love me. Not the way that I wish you would at least." She stood up and started walking closer to him, "You are the most important person in the entire world to me Naruto-sama. You are the only man that I would readily give my life for if need be. I know you tell me not to, to live for my own dreams… well I've found something to live my life for."

Naruto looked at her expectantly, "And that would be?"

Hamako closed the distance between them and placed herself firmly against Naruto's body, "All I want is you Naruto-sama. I just want to see you be happy, not only that but I want to be the one that makes you happy. Without you I don't know what would have become of me if I had ever gotten out of cryogenic freezing without you, but you need me, and that makes me feel wonderful."

Naruto sighed and held her against him, "I can't marry you Hamako. I've said it repeatedly to more than just you; real relationships won't work for me, there are-."

"I don't want you to marry me, and from the way you reacted when we first met nothing about our relationship is normal." She cut him off, "I just want to know that you care for me. Because I really do love you, honestly."

Naruto tilted her chin up to face him, "I already told you that I love you didn't I?"

Hamako made a pouting face at him, "I don't mean like that master."

Naruto kissed her on the lips and felt her nearly go limp in his arms, "Oh you didn't?" Naruto asked, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, "Are you sure? Because I think that was the kind of love you wanted to hear from me."

The amber eyes of Hamako were quivering at the prospect of this being some kind of trick, "C-Can I kiss you? Please?"

Naruto grinned down at her, "You never had to ask me if you wanted to do that Hamako-chan. Like I said since the day I brought you to Konoha; you're more than a servant to me. And I would do anything to make you happy."

Hamako's smile returned and Naruto thought it could have single-handedly lit the room were it dark inside. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed Naruto possessively, he didn't think she had that kind of aggression in her, the back of his head bounced off of the wall when she did that. Naruto scooped her up and plopped himself down on the couch, still holding onto Hamako with her sitting in his lap.

Naruto laughed when he felt her squirm for a better position, "Alright we need to talk about stuff."

Hamako shook her head, "I don't want to talk." She emphasized this by kissing him again, "I don't care what you end up doing as long as you love me master."

Naruto leaned down and placed her on the couch, "I can't not love you. I can't not love anyone. I don't have it in me to turn people down for some reason. Can you believe that? I'm supposed to be a killer aren't I?"

"I know." Hamako said, "And that's why people like me and Tayuya-san like you, probably why Yugito-san likes you too. If you care about someone you won't let them down, but if anyone hurts someone close to you, you destroy them. That's very reassuring."

Naruto laughed, "I'm the meanest nice guy in the entire world." Hamako pulled him back down into another kiss. Hey, he said she never had to ask didn't he?

XxX

(Hokage Tower)

Jiraiya sat across from Tsunade's desk, both of them drinking from her bottle of sake as the day wound down to a close. Jiraiya finished his drink and looked over at his old teammate, "I'm planning on heading off to follow up on a lead sometime soon. It shouldn't take too long, just in and out."

"When?" Tsunade asked, filling her cup back up, "We still need you to finish the mission with Naruto. You still need to head to Kiri."

Jiraiya watched her drink down her own sake, "We should give them a little more time to bolster their rankings before we try with them, possibly after the next chunin exams if I were to give it a timeframe." He laughed once she gave him a look of disbelief, "Hey I know enough about politics. I'm doing this alliance thing for a reason right?"

Tsunade let a smile grow on her face, "Alright, alright. So when do you plan on leaving on this mission of yours?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "Let me rest up a bit from this one and get word from my network operative and I'll be good. It should be about a month or so. And just so you know I'm going to take Naruto with me so have his schedule cleared by the time I'm ready to go."

Tsunade paid special attention when she heard that. Anything about Naruto was a point of serious interest to her, he was her only living family and she truly did care about him, "Why do you want to take Naruto with you?"

Jiraiya scratched his face, "A few reasons. But anyway, can you do that for me? He should be done with his probation period in a month or two shouldn't he?" He turned on the begging, "Please Tsunade-hime?"

Tsunade simply rested her face in her hands, "You're thirty years too old to be doing that you pervert. You're giving me more of a mutt face than a puppy-dog face." She lowered her hands once he went back to normal, "Alright. When he's all set with his new responsibilities you can take him with you again. Kami I'm going to regret sending you two out again aren't I? Both of you are bad luck and sending you both out at the same time is just begging for trouble."

"Yeah you would know about bad luck wouldn't you?" Jiraiya quipped, getting a tick mark to form on Tsunade's head, "Oh you know I love you Tsunade-hime! Now come on and show me how much you love me!"

Within a second after uttering that, Tsunade had sent Jiraiya flying backwards, obliterating the office doors and who knows what else with the force of her punch, "I love you that much pervert." Tsunade smirked while cracking her knuckles.

"I… knew you did." Jiraiya called out weakly from his place among the rubble.

* * *

Omake – Kage Bunshin Chronicles

"Alright Bee why the fuck am I here?" Naruto asked, seated in Kirabi's hut in the Unraikyou, "What kind of training are we about to do here?"

Bee sat down in front of Naruto with a look of utmost seriousness on his face. He took a deep breath before speaking, "This is the most important kind of training I could ask you to help me with." That immediately disarmed Naruto, Kirabi never spoke to him normally, ever, "Can you help me?"

Naruto pondered for a moment. What the hell could he possibly do to help someone like Kirabi train? Oh well why not? Maybe he could learn some cool jinchuuriki moves while he was there? That was more than enough incentive to help even if the fact that they were friends wasn't enough, "Alright, you've got it. What do you need me to do?"

Kirabi smiled and reached over to the side before thumping a sizeable batch of notebooks off of the ground. Looking at them curiously he picked one up. Maybe Kirabi was trying to work out the physics for a new jutsu or something. Upon reading what was logged inside he blanched and face-faulted, "What the-? What is this?"

Kirabi grinned, "My shit is old after the passing of time, it's time for the Killer Bee to make some new rhymes!"

Ignoring the large black man sitting in front of him, Naruto perused through the notebook before slamming it on the ground, "Down on the town, a face with a frown, a sad clown…" Naruto raised an eyebrow at Kirabi, "Seriously?"

Kirabi nodded, "Don't be a shiv kid let me know, do my rhymes kill or do they blow?"

Naruto stared at Kirabi as a war waged in his mind; the unbridled, unadulterated truth vs. his own personal survival instincts. He could tell Kirabi the truth; that everything he just read on that paper gave him brain cancer that the Kyuubi had to purge from his system swiftly. However, Kirabi took pride in his horrible rapping ability, and he seemed to take an incredible amount of pride in the drivel that Naruto was reading… and it got worse as it went along. Were Naruto to tell him how much it sucked then Kirabi would probably quickly show him exactly why he needed to come this far away from Kumogakure to actually train, and he wasn't looking forward to that.

Finished with his covert thoughts Naruto opened his mouth to answer Kirabi, "Well I think that I'm not interpreting the rap right or something. Maybe I'm not taking this the right way, rap's not my thing."

"Oh that's all?" Kirabi picked up one of the notebooks and randomly flipped it open, "I can teach you to feel the rhyme kid it's all right, Hachibi-sama's got all damn night!"

XxX

(On the road back to Konohagakure no Sato)

Naruto stopped right in the middle of the road before looking back down the road they had just come from with a shiver. Jiraiya poked Naruto in the side of the head to get his attention, "What's got you all messed up in the head gaki?"

Naruto shook it off and kept walking down the road as a stray tear fell from his eye, "I love my Kage Bunshin so much."

* * *

Omake – Kage Bunshin Chronicles 2

"Tell me again how I got myself into this situation?" Naruto asked as he was trying his very best to keep his eyes from straying downward. The reason being, there was a very naked Samui covered only by a towel, lying down on her bed with a content look on her face. The reason for _that _being, Naruto had his hands going all across her back and shoulders in a very soothing manner.

The girl in question turned her head to the side and looked up at him questioningly, "Are you complaining?"

Naruto shook his head as a grin broke out onto his face, "Are you kidding me? I'm here aren't I? Now chill out and let me work some of these knots out Samui-chan. You're so rigid all the time, it's bad for you." He cracked his knuckles before getting right back to work, eliciting a moan of pleasure from Samui.

"You know if you lived in Kumo I wouldn't have shoulder and back problems Naruto-kun." She replied sleepily, "I'm certain you'd make sure of that."

Naruto smiled wryly at her, "Trying to get me to defect huh? And what exactly would I get out of it?"

Samui smirked, "I'd be more than willing to let you touch more than my back if you were." She ceased speaking when Naruto worked over a particularly sore spot, stifling her words with another groan.

"Ah-hem." Naruto turned his head towards the door way to see Yugito and Karui both standing there in towels. Yugito was tapping her foot impatiently on the ground, "It was to my understanding that we were all supposed to get a turn here."

Samui didn't even spare her fellow kunoichi a glance, "I saw him first, get your own."

As Yugito visibly bristled angrily at that, Naruto felt the makings of a catfight brewing and despite his desire to see it, especially with them in only towels, he simply couldn't let it happen for his own reasons. He wordlessly made a cross hand-seal and in a puff of smoke, two Kage Bunshin were at the other girls' sides, escorting them to their own spots on the bed, Yugito grinning the entire way, Karui blushing and somewhat scowling, but her heart wasn't into it.

XxX

(On the road to Konohagakure no Sato)

Naruto and Jiraiya had stopped on their way to Konoha for the night and had set up camp. Naruto was simply poking at the fire they had started to cook their food just as blood slowly started coming from his nose and a goofy grin crossed his face, "I love my Kage Bunshin so much."

* * *

Jutsu List

Fuuinjutsu: Mahi no Fuuin: (Sealing Technique: Seal of Paralysis). A-ranked fuuinjutsu. Supplementary. The user applies the prepared seal tag to the target and activates it using their own chakra. Upon activation the seal will bring an enemy's physical movement to a complete stop, using the chakra needed to activate the technique to disrupt the opponent's chakra flow, much like a genjutsu. One talented enough with their chakra control can easily break the seal if they know how it works as all that is necessary is for one to stop and restart their chakra flow. The time limit on the seal when fully applied with full preparation and all needed hand-seals (25 in all) lasts up to five minutes.

Shikoku Fuuin (Finger Engraving Seal). C-ranked ninjutsu/fuuinjutsu. Supplementary, close-range. The user concentrates chakra into their finger and using the heat from that can apply writing on whatever they want. This allows them to write on the skin of animals, iron plates, or a wide range of things however doing so requires them to be very delicate with their chakra control. This jutsu causes _slight_ discomfort for a living target and if it is on flesh, it will scar.

* * *

**This is merely a bridge between arcs so to speak. It would have been out sooner, but preparations for exams, writing my final papers for the semester, and my ultimate physical ownage of a training partner of mine have taken up much of my time thus pushing my free time to nearly nonexistent.**

**Speaking of the ownage, I know you don't care but I need to tell everyone I can. I beat him in a full-on submission grappling contest BLINDFOLDED. As in, I could not see shit the entire time and still managed to legitimately choke him into near unconsciousness in less than 5 minutes, winning 50 bucks and eternal bragging rights in the process. No matter what I do from now on I can always say that I beat a state championship caliber wrestler in a grappling match blindfolded. How many people can say that?**

**Anyway, the next chapter will be Naruto adjusting to his rank just so that you know. Give some time for stuff to develop for the next serious story arc and all that… it is necessary. Hope your weekend doesn't bite.**

**Kenchi out.**

**P.S. For those in the know Georges St. Pierre will be fighting Josh Koscheck for the UFC Welterweight title on Saturday night. Once again, against my better judgment I am betting on the underdog Koscheck for potential monetary purposes. The odds are too great for me to ignore with them making Koscheck such an underdog in this one… much like Chael Sonnen a few months back, and he almost won (30 seconds short, fuck! I'm still pissed about that!) so why not.**


	35. Good Natured Hazing

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… Unless Santa Claus robs Masashi Kishimoto and drops a contract with the rights for the series down my chimney on Christmas… and even then I still wouldn't own it because it would get burned to ashes in the fireplace.

**Chapter 34: Good Natured Hazing**

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* * *

**

Naruto sat in the shady branches of a tree situated near the main gates of Konoha as he waited for the team he was intended to lead on his first mission as a jounin. He had finally decided to wear his flak jacket, and underneath that a black long-sleeved muscle shirt. The change in clothes due to the climate he was going to be facing for this mission. He had never lead anyone before, that was for certain. He was more accustomed to taking orders and dealing with whatever he was instructed to handle and he was for the most part okay with that. However overlying mission parameters didn't direct him to be a follower, they directed him to be a leader, because what Hokage couldn't lead a few missions?

Hamako, who was relishing her new position as the primary woman in Naruto's life more or less by default, but it didn't matter to her, was quick to give Naruto a goodbye kiss when he left for the mission that morning. After that point, Tayuya caught him outside of his apartment and laid her own claim on him, heading back inside of her apartment after stealing a blistering kiss of her own with a toothy grin. Strange, Naruto assumed she'd be more pissed about their little escapade.

Oh well, it was time to get to work as usual, "You're punctual aren't you Sai-kouhai?" Naruto said to seemingly no one before Sai appeared in an ink Shunshin with his strange smile on his face, "You're the first to arrive. Looking forward to working with you."

"This certainly makes things easier now doesn't it?" Sai asked the scar-faced blonde.

Naruto nodded, "Yep. Now I can just act like we met on this mission and hit it off and became friends. It takes away one pain in the ass of finding you to talk to for sure."

"You should get used to it Naruto-senpai, as of now I am a permanent fixture on your squad for the foreseeable future." Sai said, pulling out a notebook that he began drawing in as they waited for the rest of the team. Naruto watched Sai from above and began to chuckle, "What's funny?"

Naruto stopped laughing and looked at his comrade, "You might be all about pushing your emotions away and all of that, but you still have a coping mechanism for all of the crazy stuff we do, just like every other good ninja does."

Sai looked up at Naruto blankly, "I don't understand senpai."

Naruto shook his head, "Your notebook. What are you doing with it right now?"

Sai looked at the notebook in his hand and back to Naruto, "I don't understand."

Naruto jumped down from the tree and took the notebook from Sai's hands, flipping through it with an analyzing eye, "You draw more than just stuff to fight with?" Sai nodded and Naruto handed him back the notebook, "That's your thing. Drawing is probably the thing you always do when you're not on missions keeping you from cracking like an egg, the only blatant link to your emotions you have. And to prove my point, give me that for the duration of the mission."

Sai looked at his notebook for a moment before handing it over to Naruto who gave it right back, "I thought you were going to take it away, why give it back?"

Naruto grinned at Sai and patted him on the shoulder, "Nah I didn't want it. I knew no matter what it meant to you, you were going to hand it over since I was the one that told you to do it. All I needed to see was the little flash of hesitation you gave me before handing it over. That would be a normal thing to other people, but to guys like you that Danzo-jiji trained that's exceptional. I'm starting to get through to you kouhai."

Sai's face showed no inflection of actually caring, "I fail to see how you being able to see through my emotions is a good thing. It means my training is a failure and I need to be conditioned again."

Naruto let out a phantom shiver at the thought of being reconditioned, "No you don't. You're my liaison to Danzo-jiji and apparently his successor so that means that you need to be somewhat functional in social situations or else you'd be really suspicious. How else are we supposed to work together to help each other do our missions if I can't even get you to hold your own in a public forum? Although I'm barely the guy to be counting on for that…"

Sai put up his drawing notebook and pulled out a smaller one, "Then I will simply have to take notes on regular interactions from you. You are my senpai and you have far more experience than I do with the matter."

"Um." Naruto stared at the pale teen blankly, "Sure, why not? Let's try that."

Sai's eyes flecked to the gate, "We will have to continue this conversation another time. I believe it is time to get to work."

Naruto rolled his neck loose and started towards the gate to reach his other teammates, "Alright, let's do this. You might want to have on some better clothes for where we're going, but hey, you're a grown ninja." He patted Sai on the shoulder as they both walked over, "Everything's going to be a-ok on this one, it's an easy detail."

XxX

"Hello Tenten." A cheerful Sakura said as she walked over to the gate only to see the bun-haired girl with a sweatdrop on her head, "What's the matter?"

Tenten rubbed her temple, "Other than the fact that you and I are the only ones here on the squad we also have-." She pointed at a middle aged man with glasses freaking out about something around a crew of others, "This guy that's all worked up in a frenzy and he's not telling me what's wrong."

Sakura's reply was cut off when Naruto and Sai walked onto the scene, "Hello Sakura, Tenten-chan, meet Sai, he'll be working with us on this one." Sai nodded in confirmation of Naruto's statement, "You guys ready to do this thing?"

Sakura pleasantly greeted Naruto with a wave, "Hi Naruto. Congratulations on your promotion." She looked him over, "So you're the jounin on this mission? You're pretty young for it aren't you?"

Naruto shrugged, "Everyone's got to grow up sometimes right? Hell, Neji's a jounin and he's one year older than us, right Tenten-chan?" Naruto looked over at the weapons specialist who haughtily turned away from him getting Naruto to sweatdrop, 'So she's one of the people that wanted to *ahem* 'talk to me' is she?'

Sai nudged Naruto out of his stupor, getting him to clear his head on the matter, "Okay so let's get this show on the road and roll out already, we've got to get moving to get to the coast right? Where's the Sandayuu guy that hired us?"

"We can't leave yet!" The man that had been so upset the entire time came scrambling over to Naruto and clutched at his vest, "The entire reason we needed the escort, Yukie Fujikaze, isn't here! She's missing!"

Sakura gasped, "That's who this is meant to protect? The movie star? I've seen all of the Princess Gale films!"

Naruto hadn't, but he knew who she was, she was so famous. Being busy almost nonstop for years kind of kills your free time. He looked at the man before gently pushing him off, "Alright then. This mission is starting off just great isn't it?" He sighed before calling his team in, "Sai, Sakura, you two search for Yukie and I'll send a Kage Bunshin with you in case you two or me and Tenten find her."

Everyone nodded and set off to search. Naruto simply walked, keeping Tenten from running off like Sai and Sakura had, "What are you doing Naruto? We have to find her."

Naruto noticed her snappish tone and how she had taken the –kun off of the end of his name, but didn't say anything. He simply made the hand-seal for Kage Bunshin and created three dozen before setting them out to search the village. He gestured with his head for her to follow him as he walked through the village to wait for any feedback giving him Yukie's location. He could feel Tenten's eyes on him, but when he panned his onto hers she would turn them back down the street, "You want to talk while we wait Tenten?" He kept the –chan off of her name that he had been calling her ever since their border patrol mission because she was doing the same. Maybe he could get her to snap and tell him what was wrong.

"I don't really think we need to talk Naruto." Tenten replied, keeping her eyes straight ahead, "I think I know all I need to without even hearing a word from you."

Naruto groaned inwardly, this wasn't going to be something she could set aside for the duration of the mission and the last thing he needed was her attention split if they wound up in a fight. He stepped out in front of her and stopped her from moving any further, "Alright I was going to wait until you told me yourself but this isn't something that I can hold off on. Tenten what's wrong? What did I do?"

Tenten's eyes locked with his, glaring before she had to turn away from him, "What happened to Tenten-_chan_? Or did you drop that once you did your neighbor?"

Naruto froze in place, confused look on his face before he slowly spoke, "What me and Tayuya-chan did is between us. Why does it bother you? And I stopped using the –chan because you're acting all pissy and you dropped the –kun from my name."

Tenten took a deep breath, "I was starting to like you a lot Naruto-kun. The month we had doing the border patrol was the best mission I'd ever had. Everything you did was so sweet and you made me think that you were into me."

Naruto could see where this was going, "I do like you Tenten-chan…" He looked around seeing people in the streets looking at them both, "Can we talk about this some other time?" He almost flinched at the recoil her face made, "I promise we can talk about this later, I swear. But we have to work. One of my clones found Yukie and they're bringing her to the gate as we speak."

She liked him too? Man this couldn't have come up at a worse time. He could only hope the mission wrapped up quickly so that he could work this out. He put a hand on her shoulder and pulled away quickly when she balked under his touch. What could he say? There wasn't any time for him to even try and smooth this out with her, they had to move out now, "…Come on Tenten-chan. We've got to get moving. Everything's going to be okay."

This was all his fault, he never thought girls would actually get attached to him if he dropped his guard and acted like a spaz around them as opposed to being iceburg cold like part of him wanted to be and he was fully capable of pulling off. They hated him when he was sealed and he was a total airhead then, so how would he know how different they would see him after that?

'Does Tsunade-baachan even know she's giving me such clusterfuck missions or is it just me?' Naruto thought to himself as he and Tenten headed back to the gate.

XxX

(With Naruto – A few moments earlier)

After telling the rest of his team to head back to the gate and wait for him, Naruto kicked in the door to a dimly lit small bar with a perturbed look on his face. He saw Yukie Fujikaze downing shots like a champ at the counter of the bar, only taking note of the people in the room… Yukie and the bartender, a middle aged man with short black hair, visibly graying in certain places.

Yukie's cheeks were tinted pink to show how under the influence she currently was when her eyes turned to the door and took note of Naruto, "Ugh, this kid again. Why do you keep coming after me?"

Naruto kept a straight face as he sauntered in, "Because it's my job, and I'm not really into failing missions. I'm supposed to escort you to Yuki no Kuni and be done with it. It's kind of hard to pull that off when you mace me. I wouldn't try that again by the way, it won't work twice even if you did actually get me with it this time."

She glared at him for a moment before letting it go, "Oh what would a kid like you know about life anyway?"

Naruto chuckled slightly, sharing a look with the bartender who had a smirk of his own, "Oh lady you have no idea. Now come on, let's get going so that you don't let down your legions of fans by not finishing your movie."

Yukie let out a bitter laugh, "Actors are the biggest fakes in the world kid. This business is dirty, almost as dirty as being a ninja like you I could guess." He really doubted that most actors had to kill people with metal wire on a day to day basis, "We're just fakes, following the lives of others written by others, never really being ourselves." She looked Naruto over before a drunken leer met Naruto's eyes, "Hey, you want to know what it's like to be with a movie star?"

Naruto blinked and looked at the bartender who was simply cleaning glasses and watching the dialogue between them with an amused grin. Naruto turned back to Yukie, "First of all I tend to avoid hooking up with drunk women as a personal bylaw, second of all you wouldn't even know what you were getting yourself into. Now let's go, I'm sure you can take your drinks with you… and I'm paying. Sandayuu's waiting, he's pretty upset right now."

"All he's worried about is me and his meal ticket. Let someone else play Princess Gale. Movies switch actor's roles all the time. Another actress can take my place in the next movie, I'm not going to Yuki no Kuni no matter what you say."

Naruto sighed and sat down at the bar next to Yukie, "Yo Ren, get me a quick shot. Top shelf stuff if you would." The bartender nodded and grabbed what Naruto asked for.

"Finally decided to quit and let me do what I want?" Yukie gloated before downing more alcohol, "And you even decided to drink and keep me company."

Naruto shook his head, keeping his eyes forward at the bar, "Nope, not quite. One shot, no matter how strong it is, won't do anything to me. I'm just drinking so I can get myself ready to be bitched out for what I'm about to do." Before she could ask what he was talking about another Naruto clone appeared behind her and grabbed a point on her neck, rendering her unconscious, slumped over the counter.

Naruto took his shot and swiftly downed it, grimacing at the taste before pulling the money out to pay and dropping it on the counter. He stood up and hoisted Yukie up over his shoulder, "Later Ren. I'll probably be right back here after the mission is over so I'll see you soon enough."

XxX

True to his previous thought, Naruto was indeed chewed out once he got Yukie to the front gate… Mostly by Sakura, who only refrained from trying to hit him due to him outranking her and the fact that she still had never forgotten him dropping her with one punch all those years ago. Sandayuu almost fainted at seeing the actress out cold.

Once the princess was set inside of the carriage intended to transport her, still unconscious, the ninja got everyone moving to the coast, hopefully able to make it there by the end of the day. The group moved surprisingly fast and got to the ship intended to transport them by sunset where Naruto proceeded to drop the woman he was intended to protect in her cabin on the bed.

Naruto shook his head as he looked her over. She was very beautiful, that much was for certain, but her attitude needed a serious adjustment. He was about to leave her until something caught his eye around her neck.

He got closer and almost backed away in surprise, "No way… the last time I saw that was 10 years ago…" He looked at the woman that was out cold and tried to dredge her face up from memory, "It is her. Holy shit."

_(Flashback – Ten Years Ago – Yuki no Kuni – Naruto: Age 5)_

_Naruto was sent on a simple mission of reconnaissance to Yuki no Kuni (Land of Snow) by Danzo as his first assignment in order to get his feet wet in the kind of work he was to do. This was intended to supply Danzo with information on what was to go on in the country. The old master of espionage was well informed that there was underlying turmoil being stirred up in the court of the daimyo even though the man himself was unaware, and Naruto was to bring back info determining whether or not Danzo should send any of his Root ninja under the radar to push things along for one side or the other to keep the status quo among the nations._

_This seemingly easy mission however would be the first sign of a pattern of Naruto's propensity for drawing missions that undoubtedly would go sour as soon as he began. Shortly after arriving in the capital city of the country and beginning to record his findings a ruckus broke out at the daimyo's castle. An entire attacking force made of amassed mercenaries and ninja from a new, small village, Yukigakure, took on the outmatched royal guards of the daimyo._

_Staying hidden in the shadows the entire time he forsook taking his notes and made it a priority to get the hell out of dodge before he was caught in the crossfire. It wasn't his fight and he had no reason to stay there any longer._

_As he made his way out of the city under siege he saw one of the most famous men his village had ever produced. Gravity defying hair, facemask covering his nose and lower face, and hitae-ate covering… nothing. His single Sharingan eye was out and looking behind him as he drove a sled out of the area with a small girl, 4 years older than Naruto, away from pursuing forces also on sleds._

_Either get discovered or allow Kakashi Hatake and the girl he was protecting to be caught and maybe killed by the people after him... Kakashi was too valuable to allow to die, and having Konoha fail a mission like this no matter the circumstances would undoubtedly have negative economic repercussions for years to come. Naruto pulled a plain white mask over his face and jumped out into the open between the retreating Kakashi and the pursuit force._

_Facing down the enemy of the copy-ninja, Naruto made a quick set of hand-seals and linked his fists together before pushing them out, "__Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)__!" Naruto shot off a full power burst of wind from his knuckles, not worried about missing, knowing that they didn't even see him standing in the way, fully focused on Kakashi._

_The shimmering wind attack hit them all with the blunt force of a brick wall, and at the speed they were moving on sled it might as well have been one, as the concussive force killed everyone it hit on impact. It missed one however as he jumped off of the sleds and over the attack, letting his fellow warriors perish from Naruto's jutsu to cover his next move. He rapidly descended and attempted to crush the young Root under his heel. Naruto rolled aside and slid to a stop on the surface of the ice._

_Naruto patiently looked the man over. He had a forehead protector similar to the Nidaime Hokage only with the insignia of Yukigakure, a grey high ponytail, an odd set of armor and an arrogant look on his face._

_He laughed at the diminutive ninja facing off with him, "This is what they send to protect the princess? A baby ninja and 'Copy Ninja Kakashi'?" He stopped laughing and sneered at Naruto, "You allowed Kakashi and Princess Koyuki to escape. Doto-sama will at the very least reward me when I return with your head."_

_Naruto had used a lot of his chakra hoping that he would blow away the entire contingent with that one attack that he got them off guard with, seeing one had survived didn't really bode well for him, especially since he looked to be a top flight adversary. He slowly drew the small tipless tanto he was provided early in his career for combat before wordlessly rushing his enemy. The man quickly drew his own kunai to clash against Naruto with when he slashed at him, "You're just a little brat playing ninja! Get that useless toy out of my face!"_

_Naruto felt himself being pushed back. Even if he wasn't physically inferior to his opponent, he was still only five years old. The pure size that the man had over his own was too much of a decisive factor. He learned this the hard way when the man simply held him off with one hand, grabbed his collar and slung him across the landscape, Naruto's body hitting the solid ground with a thud and sliding to a steady stop._

_Naruto stood up and lifted his tanto to swiftly block a kunai intended for his chest only to see his enemy close in. Naruto rolled under the man's lunge and took his legs out from under him with the sudden move. Naruto tried to scramble to his feet only to take a kick to the face from the man that knocked his mask off as he himself picked himself up._

_Naruto shook the cobwebs of the kick off and saw the Yuki ninja attempt to stab at him with a kunai. Naruto diverted the stab with the tanto, but a grown man being blocked completely by a five-year old boy with a little over one complete year of training, the best training feasibly possible yes and far from being a normal little boy, but still only one year of it and still a little boy, was an impossibility._

_Naruto still wound up stabbed in the side with the kunai, watching the man smirk as he let out a pained gasp as blood began to flow onto the ground. He weakly elbowed the man off of him, freeing the kunai and spilling even more blood onto the ground, as he weakly held his tanto up despite the bloodloss._

"_You ignorant runt." The man taunted, "Did you really think you could kill Nadare Roga? I'm the finest ninja Yukigakure has to offer."_

_Naruto finally spoke, as he could feel blood welling up inside of his mouth, "If you're the best that your village has then you're lucky I fought you instead of Hatake. I'm only 5." He could see that his comment rose the ire of Nadare and that wasn't going to do him any favors while he was wounded, 'I can't die now! Not on my first mission! I promised Danzo-jiji I would be the best ninja there ever was! The best don't die like this!'_

"_**Do you want to live boy?"**_

'_What?'_

"_**You heard me! Do you want to live?"**_

_There was no one else around, but then he remembered what Danzo had told him shortly after his training began. The fox that had attacked the village the day he was born was entrusted to him when the Yondaime sealed it inside of him. Danzo said he could use it as a weapon, but he had never felt anything… until now, 'Can you give me enough power to survive this?'_

_The laughter of the demon echoed throughout Naruto's mind and Nadare circled him like a predator, __**"Give you such a miniscule amount of power just to survive? Why not enough to eradicate this pathetic human in one blow? Very well, you asked, you shall receive… just stay alive."**_

_Naruto immediately felt his entire body reenergized. The wound on his side faded from a biting pain, to a dull throb, to nothing at all in just seconds. Nadare saw this all as an orange aura began to generate off of his body and proceeded to move in to attack before anything else could be done. Naruto slammed his tanto against Nadare's kunai, only this time he held fast. His heart was pumping a mile a minute as he held the larger figure back. He freed one hand, noticing how his nails had sharpened and swiped at the man's exposed face. Causing him to recoil in pain and let Naruto slam his fist into his face, sending him flying backwards._

_Naruto didn't stick around to survey his damage dealt as he took off, in order to leave the country in the midst of its insurgence._

(End Flashback)

"**Ahh, good times."** Naruto heard the Kyuubi say inside of his head. Naruto had wandered out onto the deck and sat out there as night fell and everything went still on the ship.

"What's going on around here?" He wondered to himself, and to the Kyuubi as it was the only soundboard for any input and ideas, "I can see why she doesn't want to go back to Yuki no Kuni after everything that went down that forced her away, but still..." He shut his eyes in thought, "It's just for the movie. Once the movie's done she can leave. As long as no one recognizes her then she'll be fine."

"Who'll be fine?" Naruto turned and saw Tenten walking up to him, "You've been out here for a while."

Naruto sighed, "Meh, don't worry about it. By the way, in case anything goes down you're second in command."

Tenten blinked before narrowing her eyes, "This isn't a way for you to get on my good side is it?"

"Is it working?" Naruto quipped before getting serious, "No, it has to be you because you have more experience than Sakura and while Sai has way more experience than you he's not one for leading squads if you get my drift." He looked around, "Where are Sakura and Sai anyway?"

Tenten pointed behind her, "Below deck. Me and Sakura were talking for a while with the rest of the film crew and all of that. Sai went off on his own, writing stuff in a notebook. He's kind of odd isn't he?"

Naruto laughed slightly, "Everybody's got quirks. At least he isn't ranting about youth or fate."

Tenten nodded and stared out at the sea along with Naruto for a while before speaking, "So you said we were going to talk later. Well it's later now isn't it?"

"It is." He still wanted to wait until the mission was over, but Tenten was a very stubborn girl… the kind he tended to attract, Kami how did he not see this coming? Naruto rubbed his jaw and spoke, "Okay then. You want to talk? Let's talk. Go ahead and fire away Tenten-chan and I'll tell you what I can."

Tenten looked at him intently, "You had sex with that Tayuya girl next door to you?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah. She wanted it, I didn't back down. Why would I have? I'm 15 and it was sex… with Tayuya… who is really, really hot once you get past the attitude and the swearing. And I would do it again too, I care about her a lot."

Tenten frowned, "And Hamako, your assistant? Helper? What is she?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know. Assistant sounds good. Although it could double as girlfriend now though if she has anything to say about it."

Tenten raised an eyebrow at him, "You did her too?"

Shaking his head rapidly, Naruto disputed her claim, "No I haven't. Not yet anyway I should say. I care about her a lot too. She's the only link to my family and clan that I have and I'm the same to her. I would never leave Hamako-chan alone… not after what she told me." Naruto locked eyes with Tenten, "She told me she loved me. Not like a brother, not like a benefactor, legit loved me." He noticed Tenten look down in defeat, "And she isn't the only one."

Tenten let out a sigh, "So you finally got it did you?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah. Temari-chan does too, so does Yugi-chan, so do you."

"Wait." Tenten's head snapped back up, "Other girls like you too?"

Naruto could only scratch his head in confusion, "It's just as weird to me as it is to you. Yugi-chan is from Kumo though. I swear I'm seriously not trying to do all of this stuff, it just happens when I go places. I don't want to hurt you or any of these women, how can I pick?"

Tenten stared at him before a smile crossed her face, "So the only one you have is Hamako for sure right? Since she's bonded to your clan no matter what?" Naruto nodded, Tenten then moved in and kissed him on the cheek, "Well then I better get myself in gear and put my name in for consideration shouldn't I?"

Naruto stared at her vacantly, "What?"

Tenten giggled, "You just said that you don't really have a girlfriend, that you and Tayuya only had sex for the fun of it. You're still on the market as far as I'm concerned, and I'm not letting this drop. You will be mine Naruto-kun, count on it." With that, Tenten confidently stood up and walked back inside, making a show of waving her backside as she vanished, leaving Naruto by himself outside.

Naruto stood staring at where Tenten had just been walking for upwards of two minutes before talking, "Wait a minute… What the hell just happened?"

The Kyuubi was laughing maniacally in Naruto's head, **"For such a powerful human you sure are whipped by the females in your life boy!"**

Naruto growled audibly at the Kyuubi's taunts before he stopped and thought, 'Hey did you just actually vocally admit I'm one of the most powerful people in the world?'

Kyuubi stopped laughing abruptly, **"No I… You… I mean… *sigh* Shut up kit."**

Naruto grinned and looked back out at the ocean, 'Aww, Kyuubi I love you too you big furball of amassed violence and hatred.'

"**I really can't wait to eat you…"** The powerful entity growled inside of his container.

XxX

(The Next Day)

The next day had the team on basic guard duty while the film crew shot the scenes that they were able to on the ship. Having never seen one of her movies before, Naruto had to admit that Yukie really was a fantastic actor. Now if only that translated over into her having a great personality there would be something there. Honestly he was more surprised that she wasn't visibly hung over from all the drinking she had done yesterday.

"She's like a completely different person once the cameras turn on." Sakura commented from nearby, getting a nod out of Naruto.

"That's Yukie." The director commented, "Once it's time to play that character there's no one like her in the world. She was born to do this role."

Naruto turned towards the area away from the shoot to see Sai, leaning on the railing of the ship with his notebook out, "How are you holding up Sai?"

Sai turned his attention to Naruto, "Just fine Naruto-senpai, though I am learning much about interaction between others from you. For instance-."

Naruto cut him off before he could say a word. Tenten raising an amused eyebrow as she heard what Sai was saying, "Sai-kouhai I have not handled a single personal relationship the right way since this mission has started. At all. Everything I did yesterday, absolutely everything… it would be better for you if you just forgot that it ever happened. How long have you been taking notes?"

Sai flipped back in his book to the indicated point, "Since the point in time where you drank with Fujikaze-san to diffuse her temper in order to ease the difficulty to have your way with her. Allowing her to drop her guard and let you get close." He stared at Naruto expressionlessly, blinking at regular intervals.

Naruto deadpanned a look at Sai, opening his mouth before thinking on it and trying to speak again, "Okay that actually works depending on exactly what kind of personal relations you're aiming for. However that is a whole 'nother conversation I don't feel like having here in the open."

Naruto turned to the others only to see Tenten smirking and Sakura shaking her head with a dry look on her face, "Oi, quit gawking! You ain't being paid to look at me. And Sakura, do you really think you can do a better job teaching Sai about relationships?"

Sakura had a smile come onto her face from the banter, "Better than you I'm sure."

"Really?" Naruto said, getting into the spirit, "Well let's backtrack shall we? In the academy you basically threw your best friend away for a guy that showed no interest at the age of 10. 10! You just now got around to fixing that not too long ago, and that's probably because the guy had issues and left the village, thus taking away the point of your conflict! And don't even get me started on Sasuke-teme himself because that's about two hours of griping right there."

"You try to fuck anything with legs and a uterus!" Sakura shot back, "I thought you weren't a pervert?" She said tauntingly.

Naruto frowned, "Okay, I'm somewhat a pervert, but in my defense I never had a chance. Look who all of my most prominent sensei were; Kakashi Hatake and Jiraiya of the Sannin. One reads porn everywhere he goes, blatantly and brazenly. The other writes said porn among other unscrupulous activities. I'm well balanced by comparison, which is weird because the way I live and as strong as I am you would think that I would have some extreme quirk at some point right?" He then stopped and snapped back, "Hey, I don't try to fuck _anything_ with legs and a uterus, I've only ever done it once…" He sniffed haughtily, "…And I haven't tried to fuck you yet have I?"

"Yes you have…" She said dryly, "I count all of the stuff you did when we were first genin as you trying to fuck me."

Naruto gave her a perplexed look, "You thought I was trying to fuck you back then? I barely understood what that implied until right after the chunin exams. I just wanted to date you. I was simple like that; I figured that was the pinnacle of what I was going to get out of you. What made you think all I wanted was to fuck you?" He looked her over, "Though now I might be considering it. You filled out quite a bit Sakura."

Sakura gaped at Naruto before growling with a flustered face, "Na-ru-to!"

Naruto shook his finger at her chidingly, "Ah, ah. Superior officer standing here. I'm not one to abuse my power, but in this case I'm more than willing to as long as you don't hit me."

"Hey! We've got a scene going here!" The director snapped at Naruto and Sakura.

"Sorry." Both of them said before Sakura went to silently fuming at Naruto.

Tenten noticed Sai writing dutifully in his notebook and looked over to see what he was doing, "What are you writing in there?"

Sai simply read back what he had been writing, "Friends tease and provoke one another by bringing up negative character traits that distinguish them as well as bring up examples from the past that serve little other purpose than points of humor. Also friends of opposite sex tease one another with innuendo laden remarks and suggestions, such as what Naruto-senpai did with Ugly over there."

Tenten sweatdropped, "Yeah… I wouldn't try that with anyone if I were you. People don't like being called derogatory names like ugly. That's no way to make friends."

Sai simply looked at the bun-haired girl, "Well I understand that nicknames are a way to endear yourself to the people around you. If that is the case and going along with all of the other things I've learned thus far I think have a name for Naruto-senpai."

"You do?" Tenten asked. This Sai guy was totally weird. Did he really not know anything about other people, "What is it then?" Tenten moved her ear closer to Sai so that he could whisper the name to her. Tenten choked back a laugh and patted Sai on the back, "I would keep that to myself at least until we're done with the mission. It might disrupt things if you start calling him that."

Sai gave her one of his smiles, "Okay Bun-girl."

'Bun-girl?' Tenten asked herself before remembering her hairstyle, 'Well he might not be totally clueless at the name giving thing.'

XxX

The crew and the ninja protection detail disembarked from the ship on the site of a massive glacier. As the crew took to setting up the lights and sets for the shots the director ran around manically, "Yes! This is absolutely perfect for the fight scene I have written out! Who says that going on location to shoot is dead?"

As the fight scene began being filmed, an explosion rocked the glacier, causing a slab to crack from the top of it towards the crew. Naruto narrowed his eyes and sprang into action, jumping in front of everyone and making his hand-seals before linking his fists together and thrusting them out, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!" Naruto viciously smashed the chunks of ice to harmless powder with the force his jutsu hit the debris with.

"Get into standard defense formation!" Naruto knew his allies were astute and learned enough to know the simple formation and was not disappointed when they immediately backed him up.

"It's just like last time!" Yukie began to panic as the chaos started building, "I should never have come back here again!" She began to run off in no particular direction, getting a growl out of Naruto for making his particular job that much more difficult.

"Sakura!" Naruto barked, "Go get Yukie and get her back to the ship. Keep watch over her until this is all over." Sakura nodded and went after her to fulfill Naruto's order.

As Sakura drew near Yukie, a large man on a snowboard quickly bared down on both women. Tenten saw this and broke formation to cut him off. She quickly brought out a scroll and produced a large metal sphere spiked with kunai welded into it that she threw into the man's path before it suddenly exploded. Showing a great amount of navigational skill on his board, the man dodged all of the shrapnel and debris from Tenten's ball.

"Well I remember that jutsu." Naruto's eyes turned red and slitted for a moment as his memory dredged up recollection of who the voice belonged to, "I remember that face too." Suddenly appearing in front of Naruto and Sai was the Yuki-nin from Naruto's last escapade in Yuki no Kuni, "It's good to see you again boy. From the looks of your face the years haven't treated you too kindly have they?"

Naruto scoffed, "Look who's talking. Although I guess you wouldn't mention the little gift I left you the first time we met would you?" Naruto was referring to a small vertical scar right under the man's right eye. The glare he got for that remark settled him down enough to get Sai an order, "Sai-kouhai go back up Tenten-chan. This is their squad leader."

Sai nodded and rushed off to take on Tenten's adversary alongside her.

"Now Nadare." Naruto said as he set himself in a fighting stance, "Let's get to round two shall we? I have a habit of paying back all of the few bastards that left scars on me when I was kid. Lucky you, you were the first one that did, and you're also the last one left alive... Not for long though."

Nadare put his hand out expectantly, "Just hand over the princess punk, you couldn't beat me then, you can't beat me now."

"Princess?" Naruto feigned ignorance, "But the only princess here is an actress that plays a princess in movies. You might be able to get an autograph though but I doubt it, she's kind of a bitch."

Nadare narrowed his eyes, "You were there, you can't tell me you don't recognize Yukie as Princess Koyuki." He let out a short laugh, "Still a brat that doesn't know any better." Nadare taunted, "Yukigakure has made some improvements over the last ten years that you couldn't imagine. You won't get a lucky shot in on me again the way you did last time."

"Funny." Naruto said as his face turned stone serious, "That was going to be my line." With that, Naruto lowered his center of gravity and rushed at Nadare who immediately jumped back out of his hand-to-hand range.

XxX

(With Sai)

Sai swiftly made his way over to Tenten, however before he could get to her he found himself trapped once a pillar of ice incased his body, freezing him solid. A woman in a grey winter hat with two pink pigtails sticking out the side appeared with a smirk on her face, "Hyourou no Jutsu (Ice Prison Jutsu)."

Sai's body suddenly turned to ink within the pillar. The woman then found herself forced to dodge a swing of Sai's tanto as he appeared behind her. As she got away from Sai's surprise attack she sneered at him, "You're rather talented to avoid that in the blink of an eye like that."

Sai said nothing and pulled his scroll from his back.

The Yuki kunoichi made a tiger seal as a burst of ice flew up around her and took the form of miniature swallows, "Hyoton: Tsubame Fubuki (Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm)!" The sharp winged projectiles scattered about before focusing in a straight line at Sai.

Sai drew out his brush and special scroll, "Choujuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)." Sai quickly drew a gigantic leech, three times Sai's size that covered his body, taking the brunt of the attack from the enemy jutsu as it riddled the leech's body. It eventually turned to ink and dripped to the ground, revealing Sai had vanished again.

The woman licked her lips, "Cute and somewhat talented…"

XxX

(With Tenten)

Tenten threw a salvo of kunai and shuriken at the large man, but instead of impaling him on contact they simply bounced off of his body. The man barreled on through her attack on his snowboard and slammed his body into her, sending her sprawling through the snow.

The man laughed as Tenten stood up, glaring at him, "Your little projectiles won't get anywhere near me as long as I have my chakra armor on and active."

"Chakra armor." Tenten said distastefully, "What a useless shortcut."

The large man simply laughed at her, "Say that when I'm alive and you're dead." He placed his right arm out at Tenten and seemingly fired it out at her when she realized that it was a weapon. She dodged the hand that flew past her and grabbed into the ground, but when she turned back towards her opponent he was coming right for her, being pulled in by a cable attached to the hand behind her.

Tenten quickly summoned a katana to avoid being smashed into fully by the man's metal snowboard. It did still make impact with her and send her sliding through the snow once more. Tenten rolled through to her feet this time, getting angry at this person. He wasn't even really that good, but he was troublesome to try and fight with her style. He could ignore her projectiles for the most part and just run right through to attack her.

This guy was seriously getting under her skin with the way he was just snowboarding all over the place. He wasn't even moving that fast. The markswoman in her just wanted to fill his slow ass with projectiles and be done with it but that damn armor was in the way. She was about to seriously test that crap out and see who had the better tools.

XxX

(With Naruto)

Naruto was sick of Nadare playing keep away with him, getting him to finally back off, "Here's a throwback for you, Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!" Naruto fired off one of his oldest and most favored ninjutsu at Nadare who simply allowed it to hit him flush before it simply dispersed in front of an odd colored shield of light, "What?"

Nadare smirked, "Like I said, Yukigakure has made improvements that you couldn't even imagine boy. Our chakra armor is the pinnacle of shinobi technological research."

Hearing this didn't faze Naruto at all, "Then I'll just have to break it won't I?"

"If you think you can, go ahead and try it." Nadare began making a set of hand-seals, "Hyoton: Haryuu Mouko (Ice Release: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger)!" From the ice surrounding the field of battle a massive dragon bodied tiger formed and went at Naruto.

Naruto moved and the jutsu crashed harshly into the glacier quaking the surface and cracking it from the collision. He still wasn't safe however, as the tiger penetrated the surface and continued its pursuit, it came so close to his body the temperature dropped immediately. If it had hit him it would have flash frozen him. While the respective battles were raging on, the director was screaming at his crew to get all of this on film, saying it was better than any script.

Dodging this tiger was beginning to utterly piss Naruto off. He turned towards Nadare and saw him holding his hands in his last seal. Grinning widely at what he saw as a sitting duck, Naruto began rushing straight towards Nadare, choosing to completely ignore the tiger altogether.

Nadare saw Naruto coming and pumped more chakra into the jutsu, speeding up the tiger, adding more mass to it, and putting more force behind it. It crashed right into the ground behind Naruto's feet drudging up a cloud of powder snow and ice chunks. Nadare smirked as he felt the glacier begin to collapse from his jutsu, there was no way the kid walked away from that.

His party was short lived however when the blonde figure of his hatred flew out of the cloud of snow and delivered a jaw shattering punch that sent Nadare's body flying before smacking roughly against a wall of ice. Naruto goaded Nadare from a distance as the glacier started to split, "I thought you said I wasn't going to sucker punch you again?" He could feel the place coming down around them, getting him to glare at Nadare who had picked himself up, rubbing his red jaw, "You're lucky…"

Naruto started making his way back to the ship, yelling around for his partners, "Sai-kouhai, Tenten-chan! This place is going down, we need to get out of here!"

Tenten looked back at a retreating Naruto and narrowed her eyes at her opponent, "You'd better hope we don't see you again."

The man grinned at her untastefully as Nadare called out to his own squad to fall back, "Mizore, Fubuki! With me!"

The woman, Fubuki ceased her battle with Sai and winked at the boy before making her way to her leader, "I'll see you later cutie."

Sai simply blinked and stared emotionlessly before moving to get back to the ship with the rest of his team.

Naruto, Tenten, and Sai reconvened onboard where they watched the glacier quickly break apart into small chunks and sink. Naruto sighed and slumped against the siding, "Too many x-factors or else I would have torn that asshole apart." He looked at himself and noticed the back of his arms, legs, and torso had a layer of ice on it, "That last jutsu must have been closer than I thought."

Tenten frowned, "You're not the only one. That stupid giant with the armor… I was about to put him under."

"The glacier was unstable." Sai commented.

Naruto nodded, "That was the only thing keeping me from tearing Nadare to pieces. Using anything high level enough to maybe get through his armor would have done just as much damage as the idiot's last attack if not more. It would have definitely taken the glacier out if I had used it." Naruto shrugged, "Oh well, he wasn't worth it anyway."

Sakura came running up to her team, "Are you guys alright?"

Naruto blinked before looking at his fingertips and toes, "Can you cure frostbite Sakura?"

* * *

Omake – Lost Missions 2

(During the Border Patrol Mission – 1 Year Prior)

Naruto and Tenten were seated in the lookout tower of the border outpost their group of them, Neji, Rock Lee, and Shikamaru were stationed at for the month along with twenty other ninja that were out and about or scattered along the base. Naruto was seated all the way across the space from Tenten, holding up a kunai by the blade and waving it around right as a second kunai from across the way hit Naruto's kunai right through the ring.

Naruto looked and whistled at the accuracy of the throw, "Damn Tenten-chan, If I wasn't so sure that you wouldn't spike me with that damn thing I might have been weary of letting you do this. That makes you 22 for 22, point well proven, you own me in accuracy."

Tenten stood up and proudly walked over to Naruto to retrieve her kunai, "I wasn't blowing smoke when I said I would Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded before snorting and looking away, "I still dominate you with a sword though." Tenten got a tick mark on her head, much to Naruto's amusement, "Hit a sore spot there did I now?"

"Says the guy that lost his own sword in the middle of a fight once." Tenten said as she pulled out a scroll and quickly summoned a katana.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "You aren't seriously going to-." He was cut off when he had to draw his own ninjato to keep from being split vertically by the bun-haired kunoichi. Naruto blocked and began to push back as he kept sitting in his chair, "I don't think we should be doing this right now… we're going to get busted for this."

Tenten smiled as she continued to push against Naruto's sword, "Shikamaru is with Neji, he won't be very motivated to finish his rounds quickly and Neji won't be able to make him go any faster. Lee is on his own, so once he finishes his rounds he'll probably head out to do more for some reason."

"Good points." Naruto mentioned as he continued to defend. He sat back and placed the bottom of his foot on the back of his sword before kicking it, generating enough force to throw Tenten off of him. Tenten stumbled back as Naruto fell backwards out of the chair and ran back towards him to keep fighting.

Naruto quickly stood up and kicked the chair at Tenten, hitting her in the legs and getting her to trip up right into Naruto's grasp, who disarmed her and performed and over the shoulder toss that took the air out of her, letting him put his body weight on top of her as he held his sword to her throat, "But I can think of way better things we can do with this free time than fighting." He stared at Tenten who began to fluster under such an intense gaze, "Huh, you have really pretty eyes Tenten-chan."

Tenten blushed at being complemented so intently by a boy that was right on top of her, "Uh, y-you too Naruto-kun."

Naruto grinned and got up off of Tenten, helping the girl to her feet as he set his sword over his shoulder, "Thanks! I don't really hear too many complements you know. We can spar this evening when it's our group's turn to take a break."

Tenten remained anxious around Naruto, "That sounds good." 'What the hell is wrong with me?' She tried to look anywhere but at Naruto when her eyes rested on his sword, "Wait, that's new. You have a new sword?"

Naruto looked at the blade over his shoulder before holding it out for her to see, "Oh yeah. This is the Sen'nenki no Ken, it's an old heirloom of my clan… it's a long story." However Tenten wasn't concerned about that at the moment. Naruto had to pull the weapon back before, "Oi! You can't touch it!"

A sparkly-eyed Tenten pulled her hand back empty without Naruto's sword in hand, "Mou, why not Naruto-kun? What wrong with me touching it?" She said with a pouty face.

Naruto looked at her face, 'Wow, that's a really cute look.' He cleared that thought, "You can look but you can't touch, it's my most personal piece of hardware. It's basically in my genetics."

Tenten moved closer to him, prompting Naruto to hold the sword overhead out of her reach while he kept his hand on her head to keep her from jumping up, "Come on Naruto-kun, something like that is meant for others to enjoy."

Naruto let out a laugh, "Yeah, it's really enjoyable when I shove this thing into someone. You should see when I pull it out too." Naruto shook his head, "You couldn't handle this thing Tenten-chan."

Tenten's face furrowed in anger, taking that as an insult, "I'll have you know that women like me were born to handle things like this."

"You're right, some are. Too bad for you, you're not one of them!" He was referencing the fact that it was an Uzumaki heirloom. Naruto gave her a challenging look, "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Fine." Tenten said with a grin, "You'll see right now!" With that she tackled Naruto to the ground and started trying to wrestle his sword away from him.

XxX

Outside of the lookout room on the stairwell, two Konoha shinobi were frozen in place at the door to the room with their ears to the door and blood trailing down their noses. They had been standing there ever since Naruto had said, '-…It's a long story.'

Tenten grunted loudly from inside, "Give it to me Naruto-kun!"

"I thought you could take it?" Naruto taunted right after she spoke, crashes and bumps sounding out all throughout, "Call me Naruto-sama and I might lighten up."

"Do your worst." Tenten said, "You won't break me." She grunted in effort before cursing loudly, "Damn it why are you so big?"

That was all the poor eavesdroppers could take as they blacked out and fell halfway down the flight of stairs.

* * *

Omake – Kage Bunshin Chronicles 3

Naruto stared across a desk with half-lidded eyes that were steadily shutting quickly. He caught himself and snapped his eyes wide open with a hard slap to his own face, "Give it up Tsunade-baachan, I'm better than you. It's that simple."

Tsunade gave Naruto a look much like the one she was giving him, "You're a few decades too soon to be trying to outdrink me brat." Tsunade snapped her fingers, "Shizune, fill us up again."

Shizune stood off to the side with a container of sake and a sweatdrop on her head, "Tsunade-sama I don't think a drinking contest with an underage subordinate is such a good idea. And Naruto-kun you shouldn't be getting drunk like this, it's not good for you." She had been sitting there watching her master and her surrogate little brother throw back drinks for the better part of two and a half hours. What had started as allowing Tsunade a reward for finishing her work so efficiently degenerated into a competition once Naruto had randomly ambled into the office. After heading home and returning with a ridiculous amount of alcohol for any 15 year old to have he began to engage Tsunade in a game of the drink.

Naruto slapped his hand on the table hard, "Oi, I'm not as think as you drunk I am! Now you heard Baa-chan Shizune-neechan, fill it up again!" He finished loudly, holding his saucer out for her to fill.

"Eager to get put under the table brat?" Tsunade wisecracked as Shizune topped them both off, "I outdrink Jiraiya on a regular basis, what makes you think that you can put me down?"

Naruto didn't answer he simply smashed his fist on the desk and grabbed his drink before tossing it back down his throat in one go, followed by Tsunade doing the same. Both of them held the saucers up with both of their heads tilted back before Tsunade fell backwards out of her seat onto the ground, snoring with a content look on her face.

Naruto lowered his head and saucer, swaying in place for a moment before shakily standing up and walking over to Tsunade, nudging the unresponsive Hokage with his foot, "I think I can put you down because I'm not really Naruto…" With that, 'Naruto' fell backwards and disappeared in a puff of smoke once he hit the ground.

Shizune was visibly gaping at what she had just seen. She rubbed her temple and sat down where Naruto had been sitting before pouring herself some sake of her own, "I need a drink."

XxX

Naruto was seated out on the deck of the ship by himself just looking out at the ocean when a memory hit him, "Damn it!" He scowled, "My Kage Bunshin and Tsunade-baachan drank all my sake!" He held his head and growled, "And I get the hangover effect? Fucking stupid clones!" He stood up and headed inside, "Sakura! Can you do Shizune-neechan's hangover cure?"

* * *

**Alright this was filler that I feel is necessary to keep from just throwing main plot after main plot out, exhausting my storyline too quickly. One more chapter of this, then one more filler chapter, then back to the main story. The good news is that none of these things should take too long to get out to you so there's that. Hell you might get two before Christmas Day, won't that be nice?**

**Besides, no one else is really steadily updating these days. Not like me. I _make _the time to update. Because I care. And I'm a young college student _and _a fledgling MMA fighter that has a job, so get up on it! If I have time then you have time! Feed the need!  
**

***hint hint* (Some of my favorite writers actually read this story)  
**

**Anyway I hope this at least brightened your day. There isn't shit really being updated today for me so I'm about to go run laps around the good ol' hood in the snow. How funderful.**

…**I miss my car.**

**Whatever, you don't care. Kenchi out.**


	36. SelfEsteem

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Happy New Years. Hope you didn't get locked up, because if I managed to stay out of jail then what the hell was your excuse?

**Chapter 35: Self-Esteem**

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* * *

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As Sandayuu was fretting over Yukie, now definitely ousted as Koyuki Kazahana, and the director was inside alongside his assistant drooling over the action scenes he had shot due to the battle that had just taken place, Sakura was busy trying to get feeling back into Naruto's fingers. The last jutsu that Nadare used against him didn't hit, but the sheer cold it produced from simply being in its vicinity was enough to give him frostbite. Lucky for him he had a medic-nin on his squad or else he might have been out of luck when it came to his fingers and toes, especially since they were in Yuki no Kuni and it wasn't going to suddenly get all warm and pleasant outside in this country.

"Hey Sakura." Naruto said as they sat inside of the main trailer of the expedition through Yuki no Kuni with all of the others. He got a 'hmm' in response letting him know she was listening as she used Shousen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Jutsu), "I know a better way to get my hands warm. It doesn't cost chakra either."

Sakura's head turned up from her work on his fingers, "What?"

Naruto looked away innocently, "You could just let me put my hands under your shirt. You know, body heat."

Sakura gave him an even look with a tick mark on her head, "You're a pervert." Naruto placed his fingers slightly apart and mouthed out 'a little bit'. Sakura's brow twitched as a dark smirk came to her face, "Tsunade-shishou taught me how to deal with perverts like you."

"Please." Naruto rolled his eyes, "Just because Ero-sennin trained me up a bit doesn't mean that I took on his habit of standing still when an asskicking was about to come his way."

Sakura gave him a sickeningly sweet smile, "Maybe, but you are currently sitting here with your hands in my grip." Naruto's face paled as he tried pulling them free only to find them stuck fast, "So watch yourself from now on, okay taichou?"

Naruto gave her a stiff nod, "You got it Sakura."

"Good." Sakura chirped as she tugged on his cheek.

Naruto sighed in relief when she stood up and walked away from him, 'Okay, do not do that stuff with Sakura, she does not find it cute in any way.' He started flexing his fingers out, Sakura did really good work, 'Why did the idea of her pummeling me actually turn me on though? Kami, there's something wrong with me. Ero-kyofu's roots run deeper than I thought.

Naruto's thoughts were cut short when Sai and Tenten entered the room and sat down at the table. Naruto, getting in the spirit of the predicament as team leader put his proverbial game face on, "What do you guys have for me?"

Sai immediately responded, "We didn't find them Naruto-senpai. The glacier sank not long after the ship got out of sight. They weren't there anymore."

Tenten took a seat at the table, "Who were those guys anyway?"

Naruto answered her, "Ninja from the hidden village of Yukigakure. And they're here for Yukie… or should I say Princess Koyuki. And you knew this the whole time didn't you Sandayuu?"

Sandayuu's eyes widened, "How did you possibly know Naruto-san? You couldn't possibly know anything about our country and what has transpired over the years, you're too young."

Naruto crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, "It's a story that you don't want to hear right now, but that's not important right now. You had to know that this was totally dangerous bringing her back here at all, identity change or not."

Sandayuu sighed, "You're right, but it was the only way I could think of to get the princess back to Yuki no Kuni." He said despondently.

Sakura looked over to Koyuki who was in the corner of the room with a cold look on her face, "So Yukie Fujikaze is a real life princess of an entire country? And Sandayuu is from Yuki no Kuni as well?"

"Yes." The middle-aged man admitted, "When she was just a little girl I was her aide… before the revolt. I don't blame her for not remembering who I was. It was far too long ago and there were far more important things about than me." He adjusted his glasses, "I served the princess's father, the former daimyo of the country Sousetsu Kazahana. We were a peaceful nation… Sousetsu-sama adored his daughter and was beloved by our people, but then the lord's younger brother Doto staged a revolt. The palace was burned to the ground and I feared the princess had perished with her father and the palace." He then looked over at Naruto, "But how do you know anything about our princess? Konoha had nothing to do with our nation except for the one man that was there for negotiations on the day of the revolt."

Naruto's eyes darted to Sai who let out a near unnoticeable nod, "Fine." Naruto said, "I was there too."

That got a round of gasps from everyone in the room except Sai. Even Koyuki, surprise showed on her face at hearing that her bodyguard had seen her already. Sandayuu almost had a heart attack, "Y-You were there? But that was ten years ago, you couldn't have been any older than five years old!"

"Yep." Naruto said as if it didn't matter, "I was five. Oh don't give me that look, Kakashi-sensei was a chunin at six, is it really so hard to believe that I was training at five?"

"Kind of, yeah." Sakura said matter-of-factly, "What the hell were you doing in this country back then? What kind of training does a five year old do in a foreign country and who the hell sent you out here when you were five?" She and Tenten were both interested in this. It had been years since Naruto had gotten exponentially powerful, but for Sakura especially, after seeing the goofy blonde she had become accustomed to as a child in the Academy it was hard to grasp that he did anything like that before showing up in school.

Naruto had a blank look on his face that could give Sai a run for his money, "I was gathering intel on Yuki no Kuni's situation to take back to my sensei to see if he needed to bring up a point to lend the country assistance. The coup happened when I was still here, there was nothing I could do." His face was somewhat apologetic, "All I could do was make sure that Kakashi-sensei, who was here, could get away with Koyuki."

"Who was your sensei?" Tenten asked inquisitively.

"Don't worry about it." Naruto responded. Sai let on that he could talk, he didn't let on just how much he was allowed to say so he was going to keep Danzo's name out of it. They wouldn't flat out know who he was talking about even if he told them, and they sure didn't need to know.

"How did you help Kakashi-sensei get away?" Sakura tried her own hand at asking a question.

That was apparently the right question to ask as Naruto was willing to answer it, "The team leader that fought us this time, Nadare Roga. Back then I had to fight him long enough for Kakashi-sensei to get away with the princess. If it weren't for my buddy on the inside he would have killed me."

Sakura's breath hitched, "You mean the-?" Naruto nodded, getting a shiver out of her. Even though Naruto was still Naruto it was hard to imagine such a thing trapped inside of his body. It was a good idea he wasn't in Konoha when Tsunade released that information. It took time for a lot of people to get used to that knowledge that didn't already know. The knowledge that Naruto contained the Kyuubi no Yoko.

"**Not your buddy brat."** The Kyuubi growled from within him, heard only by Naruto himself, **"I still fully intend to eat you once you overstep your bounds."**

'Still looking forward to kicking your sorry ass all over the fake Konoha in my head too furball.' Naruto focused back on the real world and his human companions, "Yeah, anyway we fought until I had bought enough time and I got away myself. I never learned what happened to Koyuki after that, it's interesting."

"I should have died back then." Everyone turned to face Koyuki who was looking away lifelessly.

Sandayuu moved towards her, "You shouldn't say such things princess!" He exclaimed, "Everyone feared the worst for you! You can't imagine the panic that went up in your absence, we never stopped praying for your safety."

"Well you can stop praying now Sandayuu…" Koyuki said, "I'm alive as you can see, it's just my heart that's dead." She said solemnly, "That day all those years ago any tears that I had left dried all up."

Sandayuu had to wipe his own eyes hearing his princess speak in such a defeated manner, "Eventually I found the princess under her new identity and became her manager, and have since been biding my time for the day when I could escort her back to her country."

The director's assistant spoke up, "So you've been using us the entire time?"

"I apologize for deceiving you, but it was for the sake of our people." Sandayuu turned to Koyuki and bowed on his hands and knees, "Koyuki-hime please confront Doto and take your rightful place as leader of our land. I will sacrifice myself without hesitation to protect you so I beg you, please take up arms and lead our people!"

"I don't think so!" Koyuki said indignantly, "You've got to be kidding!"

"But, but…" Sandayuu stammered, "What about your people? We need you Koyuki-hime!"

"I could care less about them! Just forget it, you'll only get yourself killed in the end!" She argued vehemently, "Would you give it up already? Don't be stupid, it doesn't matter what you do, you will never get rid of Doto."

"Well…" Naruto said, "We're already here, and we're supposed to stay and protect her until the movie is done… so who feels like taking down a tyrant?" Naruto asked his team.

Tenten smirked and cracked her knuckles, "You know it Naruto-kun, I wanted a second shot at that hulking loser from the glacier anyway."

Sai simply stood in place, "I'm to follow your lead Naruto-senpai. You've got my support."

Sakura smiled, "Yeah, how could we just let things lie the way they are? Of course we'll fight."

"Are you all insane?" Koyuki shouted at the band of shinobi and kunoichi, "Doto will massacre you all! You can't beat him!"

Naruto scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Lady, combat is what I'm good at, sucky odds are just an inconvenience. I'm the best and I specialize in the ridiculous, don't count any of us out. Everyone on my squad is ready for this." He stood up out of his chair, "A little chakra armor isn't enough of an ace in the hole to beat us. Not by a long shot." He looked over at his people, "Can you guys get through it?"

"Absolutely." Tenten said with full confidence, "I was just about to when you called us back to the ship."

Sai nodded his head, "I'm certain I can find a way around it."

Sakura smiled and punched her fist into her open palm, "I'll turn it into scrap if I end up fighting one of them this time."

The director started speaking quietly, "As long as there hope, there is a dream. As long as there is a dream there is a future… This is perfect! What a perfect theme for the final chapter of the Princess Gale Movie!"

Sakura looked at him with a sweatdrop, "Are you seriously going to keep filming after everything that's happened?"

The director nodded with self-assurance, "I told you all back at the glacier, the movie simply evolving. I mean, just think about it; how often do you get to make a movie with real princess? This is the opportunity of a lifetime here!"

"You're right." The director's assistant started liking the idea more and more as the realization set in, "The buzz is going to be enormous! Even the making of- will be a hit, we're sitting on a sure-fire blockbuster here!"

"Hey!" Koyuki shouted only to be cut off by Sai of all people.

"There's only one course of action available to us in the current situation." The usually quiet teen said firmly, "Now that Doto has discovered your identity you will never be allowed reprieve. The only option is to fight to get through this."

Naruto stated the changed status of the mission, "So in addition to keeping the princess here in one piece we also need to finish off Doto, otherwise this thing is never going to end."

Koyuki got progressively angrier listening to everyone, "Stop joking! This isn't some movie, there's no such thing as a happy ending!"

The director shouted right back, his mood noticeably far better though, "Of course there is if you're willing to fight for it!"

Naruto called Sai in close, "Is there any way you can send one of your ink animals back to Konoha or are they not fast enough?"

Sai shook his head, "No, by the time they would manage to get there everything here would be over with anyway. It would be pointless Naruto-senpai."

Naruto frowned but nodded, "Well it should still be just fine. Nadare is Doto's heavy hitter and even he shouldn't be too much trouble once I get past that armor of his. You and the girls are more than enough for this." He then spoke up to Sandayuu, "Well this is seriously stretching the limits of the contract, but I hate leaving business unfinished. You've got us for as long as this lasts."

Sandayuu spoke quietly with tears in his eyes, "All of you, thank you so much."

The director looked at the scene eagerly, "Oh yeah that settles it, we're definitely going along with this picture."

"And you can bet this one will have a happy ending." The assistant said. The entire time Koyuki was looking at everyone in the room with a sense of utter detachment.

XxX

For the next few hours as the caravan traveled, Naruto and his team came up with a plan of action for who would be fighting who in case Nadare's team decided to attack again. Per the requests of everyone else the dynamic didn't change too much. Everyone wanted the chance to finish their own battles from before, especially Tenten who saw the use of chakra armor as a cop-out way to fight, even for a ninja.

The contingent came to a stop outside of a cave as directed by Sandayuu, "Our hideout is not far from here. It is just beyond this cave. Once we've finished shooting here we will pass through to the other side… and then my people can rest easy with the fact that they have their princess back." He was visibly excited about having Koyuki back in the country.

The director was completely agreeable with this, it would probably bring some good footage, "Alright then people, let's get this show on the road!"

"Director there's a problem!" The director's assistant shouted, "Yukie has up and vanished again!"

Naruto palmed his face upon hearing that, "Stupid bitch… She's seriously testing me here. How do you protect someone that seems to have a death wish?" A small black rat ran up Naruto's leg and into his hand before turning into words, "And Sai is still awesome." With that, Naruto shunshined away from the caravan.

Sakura looked around with her hands on her hips, "Where is Naruto? We need to find the princess."

Tenten shrugged, "He was just here not too long ago."

"Naruto-senpai is handling the situation." Sai said, scaring both girls with his presence on top of one of the trailers. He was drawing absently in his notepad while speaking, "He should be back shortly."

XxX

Koyuki was frantically running through a snowy forest away from her crew as fast as she could, 'There's no way! Absolutely not! I won't go back there!' She was so intent on running she failed to notice herself slip in the snow and fall downhill until coming to a stop. She simply lay down there, unmoving with her eyes slowly drifting closed, 'You lied to me father… there is no Spring in this country.'

After a short while she opened her eyes to the sound of footsteps only to find herself staring at a pair of shinobi sandals. Her vision turned upwards to see Naruto standing over her, "You know I've done my fair share of both and I have to say, it feels better when you face down your problems instead of running away all of the time. Now let's go, everyone's waiting."

Naruto picked her up piggyback and carried her back towards the others, "This has turned into a fine clusterfuck hasn't it princess?" He said in a conversational manner, "Maybe next time you should shoot your movies somewhere like in Tsuki no Kuni or Oni no Kuni. You never hear about this kind of stuff happening there."

"Why did you even bother coming after me?" Koyuki said as she put up no resistance to being carried by Naruto, "And how the hell do you even keep finding me?"

Naruto laughed to himself, "Because it's my job. Even if I didn't want to I would still do it, and I can find you because me and the people I'm working with are good, and I just so happen to be the best."

Koyuki smiled slightly at that, "Modest aren't you?"

Naruto grinned, "Well if you don't believe in yourself then who else is going to?"

Her smile dropped back into her usual cold expression, "Well you can drag me back all you like. All I'm going to do is act in front of the camera, that's all, you got that?"

"Whatever you say." Naruto said as they found themselves inside of a tunnel. Suddenly a train whistle sounded out behind them, "What the hell?"

XxX

Outside of the tunnel the ice melted to reveal train tracks. Sakura kneeled down to inspect them, "There's chakra running through these rails."

Sandayuu's eyes bulged out, "He's here." He started yelling around to everyone in the area, "Everyone hurry! You need to get out quickly, it's not safe! You can't let them find you!" The man started running up a nearby slope.

"Wait Sandayuu!" Tenten yelled, "Where are you going?"

"Tenten don't go after him." Sai said, "We need to protect the princess and that means we have to wait for Naruto-senpai."

XxX

A light appeared behind Naruto and Koyuki. That, along with the whistle and the train tracks revealing themselves told her all she needed to know about what was happening, "It's a train."

"A train?" Naruto repeated in an irritated fashion. The entire tunnel began to shake with icicles falling down from overhead, "Of course it is. And why not?" Naruto said before taking off at full speed before the thing quickly reached his heels, 'Fuck! It already had a ton of momentum!'

"It's no good, we'll be run over!" Koyuki shouted as she held onto Naruto tightly.

"Well excuse me if I don't want to be put down by a train! I've had too much stuff try to kill me to let a giant hunk of metal be the thing that gets the job done! That would be embarrassing!" Naruto bellowed right back.

Koyuki shook her head desperately, "It's impossible!"

Naruto grit his teeth trying to pull every ounce of speed he could out of his leg muscles, "Woman I live the impossible every damn day! Now let me run!"

"Look, there's no way you can outrun that thing!"

"Well I might be able to for sure if I drop a few pounds! Are you volunteering?"

"No!"

"Then shut the hell up and let me save your ass already!" That ended the argument right there, 'Come on Kyuubi, a little assistance wouldn't hurt here.' The feeling of the malicious chakra circulating through his body came forward and drove him faster than he otherwise would have gone at top speed, "We're getting out of here!"

They both finally breached into the light and Naruto immediately jumped to the side allowing the train to speed past them. Naruto stood up laughing at dodging the massive locomotive and helped Koyuki to her feet, "Who can't outrun a train? You need to get some faith!"

"It's been a long time Koyuki." A voice belonging to an older man said.

She looked up at the train as a gasp escaped her lips, "Doto…"

A man with brown hair trailing down to his shoulders wearing an ornate robe was standing on top of the train that had come to a stop, "It's been ten years hasn't it? Don't be shy now dear, let me see that beautiful face of yours."

Koyuki shirked under his gaze, bringing an evil grin to his face until Naruto moved in front of her with his hand on his sword, "So this is the guy I'm supposed to kill? He doesn't look too tough at all."

Before anymore words could be said a mass of logs slid down a nearby slope and plowed into the side of the train. At the top of the hill stood Sandayuu in samurai armor along with many others garbed in the same, "Do you see it men? Our beloved princess is here to watch over us! With her at our side victory will be ours!" As the men all cheered out, Sandayuu drew a sword from his hip, "Doto we have waited a long time for this day of reckoning to arrive Sandayuu Asama and fifty loyal warriors stand before you to avenge our fallen leader Lord Sousetsu! On this day you breathe no more!"

Doto looked at the men distastefully, "I thought that you had destroyed the last of the insurgents."

Nadare appeared at his side, bowing slightly, "My apologies my lord, we will get rid of them immediately."

"No, no." Doto said amusedly, "With men such as these there is little that they can understand but total annihilation"

With that and a battle cry, all of the men charged down the hill at Doto's train. Doto nodded and in response Nadare made a hand-seal that opened up the train doors to reveal holes throughout that began to rapid-fire kunai at all of the men, mowing them down in cold blood.

Naruto watched the scene in amazement at the quickly distributed carnage, "They have something like this? As if just throwing the damn things weren't lethal enough." Naruto glared at Doto who was laughing at the violence.

Sandayuu was still standing with kunai sticking out all over his body when Doto signaled for another salvo to go out to finish him off. As the mass of metal weaponry was about to hit him, Tenten jumped in front of him and pulled out one of her scrolls that she used to summon a large iron dome around both of them. Sakura started punching and kicking at the ground at the top of the hill with her chakra enhanced strength technique to cause an avalanche that blocked the volley guns on the train.

Tenten sealed her iron dome and threw kunai with explosive tags attached at the bridge in front of the train, destroying it and almost taking an escaping train with it, however the train car holding Doto detached from the rest and got away quickly.

"Naruto-senpai." Sai said as he saw Naruto walking with Koyuki around the remnants of the massacre, "What are we going to do now?"

The film crew was helping with the dead and wounded, and Sakura was doing what she could for Sandayuu, "This is terrible…" She said as she did her best to heal the man, "What kind of monster is he?"

Koyuki looked around callously, "This is what comes from never giving up. If they hadn't stood against Doto then none of this bloodshed would have happened."

"No." Sai said, "This is also what has been happening to civilians. Women… children… anyone that Doto even suspected of being against him, it made no difference to him. A true tyrant that cares not for the evils he commits."

Tenten looked from the dying Sandayuu to Sai who said that entire thing without a hint of anything in his voice, "Don't you feel anything for all this?" She asked him. She was pissed off personally at the thought of Doto getting away with this.

Sai shook his head, "I don't have feelings."

Sandayuu choked for a moment before looking at Koyuki and speaking, "Princess… please forgive me. I should have never gotten you involved in this. But every one of us all believed in spite of everything, because we knew you were alive. You must believe in yourself… You have always been this country's ray of hope princess, so do not waste your tears on me." With that he let one last breath go.

Sakura stopped her jutsu and looked at the others solemnly. Koyuki simply kept her eyes on his lifeless form, "You are such a fool Sandayuu… I can't cry. You have my eye drops." She then looked at the director and the Konoha ninja, "Are you all satisfied? Let's go back. If you stay here your lives will be in jeopardy, let's just go home."

"Your home is here." Naruto said, "And it's a mission, of course our lives are in danger. You can't just disappear now, Doto knows you and he'll keep coming after you until you're dead. No amount of running is going to keep him away."

"What would you know about it?" She snapped back, "Spring doesn't come to this country. Our tears are frozen over and our hearts are hardened with the cold."

"No." Naruto replied, "That's him." He said as he pointed at Sai, "But you could change this country yourself if you would just face up to what you know you have to do."

Sakura's fists shook in anger hearing Koyuki speak so cruelly, "Sandayuu believed in you. He lived his entire life keeping you safe so that you might come back here and free the country one day. You haven't even shed one tear for his sacrifice because you're a coward!"

"Sakura calm down!" Naruto said. Sakura stopped herself, realizing she was about to walk up to Koyuki and hit her in the face. Her muscles were tensed to deliver the punch when Naruto's voice stopped her, "Hitting her won't change anything or bring anyone back."

Koyuki tried to walk away when Tenten stood in front of her with a firm look on her face, "Sorry, but you can't just do as you like in this instance." Koyuki then gasped at something behind Tenten. A blimp rising up over the nearby cliff. The large man, Mizore aimed his retractable hand at Koyuki from his spot at the bottom of the blimp and snatched her up swiftly.

His female partner Fubuki threw kunai at them that branched out into jagged ice trees that the others were forced to dodge, "Motherfucker!" Tenten shouted, "They have even more of this crap?What do we do now Naruto-kun?" She said, looking at the team leader.

All eyes turned to him as he looked at the blimp flying away, "Sai-kouhai?"

"I have eyes on the blimp Naruto-senpai. Right up there with you." That got a look of confusion from the girls and a grin from Naruto.

"Good." Naruto said, "The real me will be in touch with you soon. Just follow where the blimp went and be ready to fight soon."

XxX

(Onboard the Blimp)

"You have grown beautiful Koyuki." Doto said, "Do you have the Hex Crystal?"

"Yes." She said. For standing in front of her father's murderer her tone was exceptionally even.

"Very good." The man said with his disturbing grin, "It is the sole link to the Kazahana clan and the key to opening its greatest treasure."

"Treasure?" Koyuki said. What treasure? She didn't know about any kind of treasure.

"When I…" Doto stopped, trying to come up with a term for what he wanted to say, "Obtained… control of the kingdom from your father the resources of the clan were all but gone. Sousetsu obviously hid his treasure somewhere so I searched high and low for it before finally finding it, hidden deep within Rainbow Glacier. A keyhole there can only be opened by the Hex Crystal. Once I get the fortune hidden there I can finally gain military superiority over the Five Great Nations."

"Now…" Doto said with his hand outstretched towards Koyuki, "I will take the Hex Crystal now. After all, you don't need it do you?" Koyuki removed the necklace from around her throat and passed it off to Doto who examined it before his face twisted angrily, "What is this?"

"What?" Koyuki said, taken aback by his shift in temperament.

He grabbed her by the collar, "You think that I can't recognize that this is a fake? Where is the real crystal?"

"That's impossible!" Koyuki reasoned before realization hit, "Naruto… The blonde boy. He was the only one that ever could have."

Nadare who was leaning against a wall in the room growled lowly, "Yes, that boy. He certainly grew up to become a thorn in my side on a consistent scale didn't he?"

Fubuki gave a sultry smile, "Do you want us to head out and round it up? We'll find it in no time."

Doto grinned again, "No that will not be necessary. Why bother chasing after it when the group will show up for their princess of their own volition. All we have to do until those rats stumble upon us is to just wait." He never took notice of the actual rat, in black and white, scuttering across the corner of the floor.

XxX

(Doto's Fortress – Prison Level)

Koyuki sat by herself in a cell with her knees up to her chest. Every few seconds two armed guards would walk past her cell as they kept watch over her. As they walked out of sight she heard sounds of struggling followed by complete silence. A matter of moments later, Naruto appeared in front of her cell with a kunai in his hand, "Well look at you. Prison doesn't suit such a pretty face, would you like to leave?"

She looked at him in shock, "How did you get here? How did you even find this place?"

Naruto picked his ear, "I was on the blimp with you the entire time. It's not that hard to hide from these guys. Take away that armor of theirs and their practical skills suck."

"Why the hell didn't you get me off then if you were there the entire time? Or better yet why didn't you just defeat them all and end it there?" She hissed lowly with a tick mark having formed on her head.

Naruto gave her a deadpan look, "Yes, because you and me jumping off of a blimp at least a thousand feet in the air would have ended well. And then if I had killed everyone on board the blimp I'm personally trained to safely land it and make sure that we all survive instead of die in a miserable, fiery crash in middle of a winter wasteland." He said sarcastically before poking at the lock with the kunai, "Goddamn it." He cursed lowly when it proceeded to shock him.

"Just quit." Koyuki said, "You can't win all by yourself against all of Doto's men."

"You really don't know me very well." Naruto said, "This is just a setback. And what is your problem with having faith in something? You're so cynical I was this close to letting Sakura clock you."

Koyuki fixed Naruto with a stare as she watched him examine the lock probingly, "My father always told me that Spring would always come. To imagine myself in a field full of flowers, running through it. He always said that if I never gave up, always believed, then Spring would come to Yuki no Kuni. But this place has no Spring. My father died, I was forced to flee, and I stopped believing. I began to run away and lie to others, but to no one more than myself. I told you that I deal in lies as an actress and I'm the best at it, but that's because my entire life is one huge charade."

"You done?" Naruto said as he pulled out a slip of paper and a brush and began drawing on it, "Because if you are I'm going to tell you a little story while I work on freeing your pessimistic ass. You say all of these things about your life being a charade and everything but you chose that life. Yes you were worked into a corner and had to run as a little girl, but eventually you quit, you quit without ever trying."

His eyes flickered to hers before getting back to work, "I was worked into a corner too, right from the start. I have within my person a murdering, malicious, palpable mass of living chakra in my head… or belly… one or the other, I never really figured it out. Either way, it was placed there moments after my birth by my father, to protect a village that spited my existence all throughout my childhood, that refused to acknowledge me as a child. So do you want to know what I did?"

"What?" Koyuki asked.

"I worked my ass off. I underwent detestable training for years and became a ninja for my village. I fought and bled for that place in far away lands that most of them will never hear anything of to keep them safe. I did all of this before I became eight. I wanted to be the best, because if I was the best ninja in the world there was no way that they couldn't recognize me as a person. Do you want to know how long it took? It took eleven years and things are just now getting to where I wanted them to be. And now I have a group of superpowered criminals coming for the demon locked inside of me and my life, so I've got that going for me too. So do you know what I'm going to do about that?"

Koyuki shook her head, bringing a grin to Naruto's face, "I'm going to kick their asses. I'm going to beat them all they're not beating me no matter what I have to do, and that's going to get me where I want to be. And I'm going to show you that right now because this seal is done!" Naruto stood up making one-handed seals, "Fuuinjutsu: Genso Kyuushuu (Sealing Technique: Elemental Absorption)!"

He slapped the finished seal tag on the bars and held his hand to it. As the electricity from the trapped cell coursed, Koyuki turned her head away so that she didn't see Naruto die of electrocution. After a few seconds when she didn't hear his body hit the ground she opened her eyes to see electricity coursing around Naruto's arm that was stuck to the seal. The electricity faded and Naruto then proceeded to rip his seal off of the door and pick the lock open.

"How did you do that?" Koyuki asked when the cell door popped open.

Naruto ripped up his used seal into bits, "That seal takes the element of whatever it sticks to and converts it to chakra… but if the element isn't your affinity then your coils are going to get destroyed by whatever the element actually is. Good for me my affinity for lightning is strong enough right?" He held out his hand for her, "Now let's go."

Koyuki gave him a smile and took his hand before they ran out of the prison area of the fortress. They eventually came upon a group of Yuki ninja when Naruto prompted Koyuki to stop, "Hello you guys. Good to see your ink rat made it back to you in one piece."

Sai and the others got rid of their disguises, "Yes Naruto-senpai and to you as well." He had his signature smile on his face, "You've got the princess. Do you want the crystal you gave me back?"

"Give it to her." Naruto said, pointing at Koyuki, "Because I'm about to raze this place to the ground and beat Doto's skull in, and I might destroy it if I have it on me. Now get out of here so I can finish this."

"I'm not leaving Naruto-kun." Tenten said, "Why would we leave you alone like that?"

Sai echoed her sentiments, "I am here to ensure your safety, I'm not leaving Naruto-senpai."

"Someone's got to heal you when you get yourself busted up you idiot." Sakura said, but she had a smile on her face.

"Fine…" Naruto grumbled, "I would write you all up for insubordination in my report, but I'm on probation and that might make me look bad."

"We need to move now." Koyuki said, taking the Hex Crystal back from Sai, "I can hear the guards coming. Follow me." She said, taking off with all of the Konoha ninja following behind her.

She led the team into a room where Doto's voice sounded out in laughter, "Well done Koyuki." She ran towards him standing atop his throne area and before any of them could stop her, Nadare, Fubuki, and Mizore appeared ahead of them, cutting them off from intercepting her.

Fubuki blatantly winked at Sai who simply raised an eyebrow and Mizore made a lewd tongue gesture at Sakura and Tenten who simply started radiating killing intent. Nadare simply had a victorious smirk on his face as he looked at Naruto, "It looks like you lose boy. You still can't beat me after all these years."

Naruto's face went stone cold, "I'm going to enjoy shutting that mouth of yours with my sword." He turned his eyes up to Koyuki who was standing next to Doto, "What do you think you're doing Koyuki?"

The princess gave her necklace to her uncle and looked down at her hired team, "This shouldn't be any surprise to you. I am an actress after all, aren't I?"

Doto laughed triumphantly, "Yes, another magnificent performance from the great Yukie Fujikaze!"

"Yes… it was all an act." She then revealed a tanto hidden underneath her clothes and stabbed Doto, "I told you didn't I? I'm an actress."

Naruto had an interested look on his face, "Well that's taking things into your own hands I guess. Good stuff."

"Why you little…" Doto grabbed Koyuki around her throat.

Naruto cursed and made a move, but the other group of ninja stopped him and his own team before they could try anything. Koyuki grabbed Doto's arm, "I always knew Naruto, that I was going to die if I ever returned to Yuki no Kuni… At least in the end I could."

Naruto grit his teeth, "You'd better survive damn you! It's an empty victory if you die achieving it!"

Koyuki smiled weakly at Naruto while still in Doto's grip, "It was thanks to you Naruto that I was able to face my home in the end…"

Naruto's eyes flickered red, "Nadare get out of my way or I will rip your head off!" Naruto barreled into Nadare suddenly, shoulder-checking him out of the way as he ran towards Doto and Koyuki who both fell off of the throne area.

'I'm sorry father… Sandayuu…' Koyuki thought to herself as Naruto reached her side.

"Koyuki, you'd better be alright damn it!" Naruto said as he kneeled down at her side. While fretting over Koyuki he didn't notice Doto reach his feet and that gave the man the opportunity to kick him away from her.

Doto untied his robe and revealed advanced looking black chakra armor, "You really thought that little toy could kill me?" The knife had left a mark, but had not pierced it, "The latest prototype of our chakra armor. Worth every bit paid." He grabbed Koyuki and laughed when she tried to struggle against him, "Stop wasting your time. Every ounce of your chakra is being taken from you, you're powerless." She continued to fight in vain as the ceiling broke and Doto shot a line up to escape, "Come Koyuki, let us go beyond the rainbow."

Naruto seethed in anger as he watched them escape. Naruto formed a blue ball of chakra in one hand to make an improvised exit, "Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!" Naruto destroyed a nearby wall and got outside to see Doto and Koyuki flying off, "Northwest! Get moving now!" He shouted to his team that immediately went out through the hole he made and gave chase. Naruto was prevented from proceeding by a series of kunai keeping him there.

"Let's finish this shall we little Naruto? No running away this time eh?" Nadare said tauntingly as they both stood on the cliffside surrounding the fortress.

Naruto glared darkly at Nadare, "I don't have time to play with you Nadare so I'll make this quick and brutal." He threw a kunai right down the middle at Nadare that simply bounced off of a chakra shield, "You should know by now that it's pointless! Now it's time to show you my original jutsu, Hyoton: Roga Nadare no Jutsu (Ice Release: Wolf Fang Avalanche Jutsu)!"

The snow gathered at the top of the fortress spilled over and raged towards Naruto in the form of a pack of wolves rushing right at him. Naruto made hand-seals and stopped his movements with his arms in an 'x', "Fuuton: Senpuu Kakasui (Wind Release: Whirlwind Pyramid)!" A violent wind whipped around Naruto's body, most prominent in the area that was facing the avalanche of wolves.

The ice jutsu smashed into Naruto's wall of wind, kicking up a blur of powder as it flowed down over the cliffside. Nadare laughed loudly at disposing of Naruto in such a manner, "Your weak little jutsu couldn't stand up to the power of my chakra armor! You were still ten years too young to put me down brat!"

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Jutsu)!" Naruto's hands wrapped around Nadare's legs and pulled him underground. After a short moment Nadare found himself driven out of the cliffside he had been standing on with a pair of explosive notes, one on his forehead, the other on his back.

"Damn you boy! You aren't better than me, my armor is invincible! You can't do this!" He said as he fell down the sheer drop, raging with lunacy.

Naruto stood at the edge of the hole he had pummeled Nadare's body through and placed his hand in a half-tiger seal as he looked down on his enemy's descending body, "Invincible huh? Let's see it survive a thousand foot fall. Boom." Naruto said just as his tags finished burning down and detonated, consuming Nadare's body in an explosive fireball. He then took off to chase after Koyuki and Doto.

He circled around the front of the fortress when he heard someone calling out to him and saw the director on a mobile trolley of sorts. Naruto smirked, he wondered how fast that thing was.

XxX

(With Sai)

Sai flew through the trees of a snowy forest dodging a series of ice pillars forming up and crashing through the branches he leapt to and from, "Choujuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)!" Sai drew up a flock of birds to fly off at his enemy to buy himself some space.

"Aww come on sweetie, don't you want to chill out with me for a bit?" Fubuki said as she saw Sai's birds incoming and allowed them to bounce off her chakra shield from her armor, "You should know that won't work by now."

Due to the destroyed birds a mist of ink surrounded Fubuki that she came out of looking around for Sai, "Come out wherever you are!"

"Alright then… peek-a-boo!" Fubuki turned to see Sakura leap out of the ink mist and drill her straight in the face with a hard right hand. Her body was sent flying through the forest, taking out trees that crashed down all around her.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief and wiped her brow, "Finally! Thanks for that Sai! That bitch was getting on my nerves!"

Sai landed from the trees next to Sakura with his smile placed on his face, "No problem u-." Sai caught himself before he could call Sakura 'ugly' due to Tenten's advice, 'Names based on amassed traits of the people they're intended for.' He tried again, Blossom-san."

Sakura gave him a small smile, "Blossom huh?" She shrugged, "It's damn better than being called ugly, isn't it Sai?" His smile was the only answer she got.

XxX

(With Tenten)

Tenten stood in place as her opponent Mizore flew through the trees surrounding them swiftly on his snowboard, "What are you going to do little girl? You still can't do anything to me!" He threw out his cable retracted arm at her.

Tenten dodged it and pulled out a scroll, "Eat this then, Bakuryuugeki (Exploding Dragon Strike)!"

A large flame dragon emerged from the scroll that Tenten opened and unsealed, sending it right at Mizore, melting the snow as it came right at him. The fire bounced right off of the shield produced by the chakra armor, "Ha ha! You can't even touch me!" His snowboard slid along the rough, course ground where there he ended up tripping over something stuck in the ground, "What the fuck?" He said to himself as he picked himself up, rubbing his injured body, and looked where he fell. He shouldn't be this hurt just from a simple fall, "What is this?"

Tenten smirked, "I knew you were coming after me. Didn't you notice me waiting for you? I set tons of those things all over this area and you stumbled right over them jerk." Mizore looked down at them and saw that she had planted tons of spiked metal balls beneath the snow, and he had fallen on and slid all across them, his snowboard was mangled, "Now let's see you block this." Tenten took the large scroll from off of her back and threw it into the air over him, "Sougu: Tensasai (Manipulated Tools: Heavenly Chain of Destruction)!"

He couldn't dodge with the metal of his snowboard mangled around his feet due to Tenten's trap so he simply prepared his chakra armor to take the shot. He realized something was wrong when he tried to put his shield up, but it simply fizzled out. He looked at his armor only to find that a vital part that converted chakra into the shield was broken from the unprotected fall, "No!"

Tenten's mid-air scroll started bombarding him from directly above with countless tools of all sorts. Kunai, shuriken of all sizes, fuuma shuriken, broadswords, large spiked iron balls, anything that could be sent at someone. Mizore quickly found himself impaled with multiple weapons of all types throughout his body.

Tenten looked at him and all of the weapons surrounding him, "Yep, that armor of yours… something that strong would have to have a weak point. I saw you touch a certain place on your armor repeatedly during the last fight… an accident and something like that could get really messed up huh?" She looked around with a sigh, "Do I have to pick all of this up now?"

XxX

(Rainbow Glacier)

Doto looked around frantically. He had used the Hex Crystal, and nothing was happening. There was no secret passage revealed or anything at all, "Where is it? Where is the treasure? The Kazahana fortune?" Hissing sounds rang out and the frozen ground began to melt, "A heat generator? This is the hidden treasure that I've spent so much time looking for?" He said, outraged.

"It's so warm…" Koyuki commented to herself quietly.

"Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken (Lighting Release: Lightning Shuriken)!"

Lighting struck from overhead from a single shuriken positioned directly above Doto who automatically responded by turning around and forming hand-seals, "Hyoton: Kokuryuu Boufuusetsu (Ice Release: Black Dragon Blizzard)!" He shot off a dragon formed from the ice around him by him arm at Naruto who was standing not too far away. The dragon hit him, launching him into the air where he burst into smoke, "What?"

He turned around to see that the princess was no longer there and was a ways off with Naruto who had her in his arms and put her down. Naruto faced Doto and cracked his neck, "No skill, all power… and not even that much of that really."

"Who are you boy?" Doto asked, nearly frothing at the mouth at the current turn of events. Everything he had done, it was all for nothing.

"Naruto Uzumaki…" Naruto replied with his arms crossed, "ID number 012607, jounin-level shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, and the future Hokage… nice to meet you."

Koyuki looked at Naruto with his game face on, "Naruto… please, don't die."

Naruto gave her a reassuring smile before turning back to Doto and walking out away from Koyuki, "The day I get finished off by a guy like this… Well, let's just say I'll be fine Koyuki. Just believe in me."

Koyuki let him walk out into the open ice to face Doto, "Naruto! You are by far the strongest ninja I've ever known! I believe in you!"

Naruto smiled to himself as he continued to walk forward, "It's about time." His smile dropped once he looked back at Doto, "Now let's finish this."

"My sentiments exactly." Doto said, "Hyoton: Souryuu Boufuusetsu (Ice Release: Twin Dragon Blizzard)!" This time he released two black ice dragons at Naruto that quickly merged into a large black tornado, "Now die!"

Naruto bounced on the balls of his feet to loosen himself up, 'So Kyuubi… how should I handle this one? Any ideas? Subtle or Loud?'

"**Oh for Kami's sake kid, just take some chakra and blow his ass away. Asking me what to do like you didn't already know…"** Naruto smirked at Kyuubi's outburst.

Naruto's eyes flickered red as a one-tailed cloak emerged around his body, "It's going to take a lot of chakra for this one, but since you have a tornado I might as well show you how strong the wind can really be!" Naruto rolled through a long chain of hand-seals as the black tornado came ever closer. He finished his seals and inhaled deeply as his chest expanded, 'I may not have had the finesse for any of Danzo-jiji's wind techniques, but I do have this…' "Fuuton: Hirogari Tei Ihen (Wind Release: Spreading Air Disaster)!"

Naruto exhaled full force and unleashed a terrible blast of wind large and wide directly at the black dragon tornado, tearing up the ice plates on the ground and ripping up the landscape. The high-speed wind hit the tornado and ripped it to black snow, scaring Doto shitless when he saw it coming his way. He turned on his chakra shield but that only protected him, not the ground beneath him, which ended up getting torn asunder by Naruto's jutsu.

It picked him up off of the ground and threw him backwards across much of the tundra, slamming him into a wall of ice hard, back first. The force of the hit should have killed him, but his armor proved exceptional when compared with the rest as the impact left him with internal injuries, coughing up blood, but otherwise alive.

He walked out, still looking ready to fight, but on his last legs with Naruto charging towards him with a blue ball in his right hand. He smirked a bloody smile as he saw that, "I have on chakra armor you fool! You can't harm me with that! It's pure chakra!" He kept that thought up until he didn't notice his chakra shield activating. He looked at Naruto with fear in his eyes as he saw the Rasengan in his hand turn multi-colored.

Koyuki's eyes widened, "Is that rainbow chakra?" She said in disbelief.

Naruto thrusted his hand forward, "Die you son of a bitch, Nanairo no Rasengan (Seven-Colored Spiraling Sphere)!" The Rasengan carved right through the armor like a buzzsaw and pulverized its way into Doto's body as Naruto continued driving forward right into the thick ice wall that Doto had hit after Naruto's wind jutsu. The wall cracked and collapsed on top of both of them, revealing one of the walls of the massive generator.

Quiet reigned over the area as the scenery changed due to the rapid melting of the ice until the voice of the director could be heard, "Tell me we got all of that! Holy shit we're going to need to make this movie 3-D after that!"

"Believe in the future and Spring will surely come."

Everyone looked around and saw a large projection of Princess Koyuki as a little girl. "What will you do when Spring comes Koyuki?" The voice asked her.

The little girl smiled brightly, "I'm going to be a princess!"

"What kind of princess?" The voice said.

"Let's see…" Little Koyuki said, "One that's strong, and kind, and most of all one who fights for justice!"

The man chuckled," That's some dream."

Koyuki found herself tearing up as she watched this, "Did I… really say those things?"

"Well so long as you believe in your dreams and never give up one day you will be that princess." A man then appeared in front of the image and put the necklace around Koyuki's neck, "You can see it right? A beautiful princess standing right in front of you."

Koyuki's tears finally started to fall just before she heard her younger self speak again, "But… there's sort of something else I want to be." She said with uncertainty.

"And what would that be?" The man, her father asked.

"An actress!" She said full of spirit. The older Koyuki began to laugh as her tears fell, tears of joy instead of sorrow.

Over by the generator Naruto threw the slowly melting chunks of ice off of himself and stood up, looking himself over with a disgruntled look on his face as his frame was covered in Doto's blood, "Great… I need a shower now. I guess it's a good thing I didn't blow up that fortress after all huh?"

XxX

(Koyuki's Coronation Ceremony)

Koyuki was speaking to the ninja squad that had helped her country, "The generator wasn't even full developed in the end." She commented as she stood in the beautiful garden where the ceremony had taken place.

Sakura smiled apologetically, "I guess it will be back to winter soon huh?"

Koyuki shook her head with a big smile, "No, not really. If we take what we know and keep researching, before you know it Yuki no Kuni will be Haru no Kuni (Land of Spring)."

Tenten rubbed her own shoulder, "Yeah… but it's a shame though. You're such a big star, are you really going to stop acting now to run your country?"

Koyuki gave a sly grin, "Who said I was retiring? Ruling over Yuki no Kuni and acting, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle them both. I mean I would have to be out of my mind to give it up now." She said as she pulled out a script in full sight of the team.

Sakura blushed at the sight of the heading as she was very familiar with it due to what her first sensei could always be seen reading, "You're going to star… in Icha-Icha?"

Koyuki let out a laugh, "Well I'll be seeing you. And Naruto…" She said, getting the scar-faced blonde's full attention, "I'll be needing a leading man for that role. Do you think you would be interested?"

Naruto's eyes widened before a smirk formed on his face, "Do I need to audition?" He said as a drop of blood came from his nose.

XxX

(In Konoha – Two Weeks Later)

Danzo sat in Tsunade's office as he fished inside of his robe for something as he spoke to Tsunade, "It seems that Naruto is doing a fantastic job. His last mission should get Konoha plenty of new business and publicity."

"Yes I read his report." Tsunade said evenly as she remained suspicious of what Danzo was looking for, "He did wonderful for leading his first mission. And his success could lead to a potential trade alliance with Yuki no Kuni, their technology is something to take note of. But I don't know too much about the publicity."

Danzo pulled a poster out of his robe and set it down in front of Tsunade, "Oh, I believe so." On the poster was Koyuki and a picture of Naruto in a blown up action pose as the title of the new movie was emblazoned above. Tsunade's eyes widened at the sight until Danzo spoke again, "I wonder if Princess Koyuki will ask him to star in her next film if this one is a success?" He then obstructed Tsunade's view of the poster by dropping a script on her desk that made her grab her desk so hard it cracked, "Have a good day Tsunade-hime." The bandaged man said as he left the office.

Shizune entered shortly thereafter and saw Tsunade staring hard at something on her desk, "Is something the matter Tsunade-sama?" She asked.

Tsunade didn't look up even when Shizune came around her desk and looked at what she had her eyes locked on, "I don't know who I should take a certain pressing new issue up with. Jiraiya for signing off on this movie of his… or the brat if he actually ends up being in it." Shizune read the heading and had a small trickle of blood leave her nose.

* * *

Jutsu List

Fuuinjutsu: Genso Kyuushuu (Sealing Technique: Elemental Absorption): B-rank Fuuinjutsu. Supplementary. The user uses the seal as a medium to take a natural element and convert it into chakra of said element. Can be used as instant extra ammunition for an elemental ninjutsu of the same element or can simply be dispersed if such a use is not needed. An affinity for the element being absorbed is required or else the user will be maimed by the element they try to absorb.

Fuuton: Hirogari Tei Ihen (Wind Release: Spreading Air Disaster): A-rank Ninjutsu. Long range. The user hones in a great amount of wind chakra within their body. Taking the chakra within their lungs, focusing it and refining the chakra to a much higher level. The users chest expands as they finally then release the jutsu. Sending forth a great and terrible blast of wind. This wind had no cutting power, but has a pure destructive power behind it. Able to tear through a large plot of land within moments and sending even things firmly attached away in its wake.

* * *

**Alright I have a continuity problem with canon that just hit me. Apparently the Rasengan was created after the Fourth Hokage saw and analyzed a Tailed Beast Ball. My question is; when the fuck did he even see one before he fought the Kyuubi? Food for thought.**

**Anyway, chapter complete. Happy New Year, I hope you didn't get locked up last night and if you did I hope that you enjoyed spoonin' with Big Bubba.**

**Now I'm going to go get ready to watch UFC 125, Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard. UFC Lightweight Title; it's on. Later.**

**Kenchi out.**


	37. Road Trip With EroSennin

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did there would be a chapter out this week Shonen Jump be damned, because I care about my constituents.

Kenchi618: For the people.

**Chapter 36: Road Trip With Ero-Sennin**

* * *

The sun was rapidly fading as Naruto ambled back through the gates of Konoha with the team he had been placed with to lead on his latest mission, Kurenai's squad, Team 8. Kiba grumbled as Naruto signed them back in at the check in station and caught up with Izumo and Kotetsu for a moment, "Man, how come nothing cool happened on this mission? We had Naruto leading it, he's like the magnet for irksome situations or something so we should have had _some_ trouble."

Shino spoke as Naruto continued with the pleasantries with the gate guards, "Kiba it is illogical to actively desire a desperate confrontation the way you do. Though from what I've heard it is something of an anomaly to go on missions with Naruto-san and avoid trouble."

"Yeah, right? Exactly!" Kiba exclaimed, "From what we hear you could go on a C-rank with Naruto to deliver a wagon full of plush toys and chances are he'd end up fighting a A-ranked missing-nin with a plan to control the economy of an entire country with the plush toys! And don't give me that crap like you're not disappointed Shino, you know that you wished something happened too."

"Perhaps." Shino alluded to him being right, "But unlike you I can keep the complaints to myself and can keep the amount of noise pollution in the air to a minimum." Kibe fumed at his usually stoic and silent teammate.

"Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, stop fighting." Hinata chided softly, "The mission was successful and we're all okay, that's what matters right?"

Naruto watched the team interact from afar. This was his third mission led as a jounin and it went off without a hitch. He actually couldn't wait to get to Tsunade's office and see if his probation would end with him as a jounin or if he would get demoted. He'd better not get demoted, every single mission ended with him bringing the team back in perfect condition and then some. As he looked at the team of his former classmates he had to admit, they were way stronger than he thought they would get when he fought them after bringing Tsunade back, especially Hinata. His incident with her was either going to make her or break her, and apparently she had enough fight in her at the time to have that episode end up building on her character. Getting promoted was proof of that.

She was still sweet as could be, and he could tell she still had a little something for him, but damned if it wasn't manageable now. He could easily work with her, and from the looks of things she could be the voice of reason between the two extremes of emotion and logic that resided on her squad. It was clear she was skilled enough in a fight or else she wouldn't have been promoted in the first place and of course it never hurt that she was absolutely gorgeous.

Kiba and Shino were stronger, that much was clear just from looking at them… and Akamaru… who was fucking huge. Kami how did he miss that during the Chunin Exam in Suna he was there to watch? Anyway, after his last mission with Team 10 as well it was evident that everyone was stepping their game up for the future and he was proud of them. Why he was proud of them he didn't know. They were friends of his. He would hang out with Kiba when they ran into each other sometimes, good times. Shino was actually ballsy enough to head into the Forest of Death every now and then, not so good times actually. And then Hinata, when Neji asked him for spars every now and then she would sometimes watch and talk to them afterwards. She never wanted to fight him herself though. Still she was good company.

"Alright everybody." Naruto said, directing their attention back to him, "Good work. That was quick and clean, my kind of mission actually." He smirked when he heard Kiba snort his displeasure at the lack of action, "I'm going to go and give an oral report on the mission to Tsunade-baachan right now. You guys can turn in your written ones whenever you get to them."

Shino nodded and walked off on his own. Kiba nodded as well, "See you later Naruto. Don't be a stranger okay?"

Hinata smiled at him with her arms behind her back, "Goodbye Naruto-kun. You should come back to the clan compound sometime, it's nice speaking with you."

"Sure thing Hinata." Naruto said, "Take it easy and make sure you kick Neji's ass for me next time you two spar. I owe him." Getting a giggle out of her, he turned and shunshined away towards the Hokage Tower.

XxX

Naruto stood out in front of the Hokage Tower with an intent look on his face as he wrestled with himself to make a decision, 'Should I take the front way or should I take the window like usual?' He pondered to himself, 'This could be important to my full promotion… If I take the regular way it would show professionalism and that I'm ready to be a jounin. But it might show that I get rattled by pressure, while going through the window would show that I can stay cool in important situations or-.'

"For the love of Kami brat!" Naruto's head snapped up to see Tsunade looking down out the window from her office with a tick mark on her head, "You've been out there for twenty minutes just standing there. Get up here already and get debriefed!"

'Well I guess she doesn't care as much as I thought she would.' Naruto thought as he bent his legs to get ready to jump, 'Maybe I overthink some stuff?' Naruto jumped up and landed on the windowsill of Tsunade's office, "Hi Tsunade-baachan."

Tsunade shook her head with a smile on her face, "Get in here already and get this done."

Naruto hopped down into the office and smiled at Shizune who was standing by Tsunade's desk holding Tonton, "Hello Shizune-neechan, hi Tonton."

The dark-haired assistant returned his smile, "Hello Naruto-kun, you seem awfully upbeat today." Tonton oinked as if to agree.

"And why wouldn't I be?" He said, unable to keep the excitement off of his face, "I didn't screw up and fail and missions, all of my teammates were always in top condition when we got back. There's no way I'm getting demoted, I'm a jounin now!"

Tsunade took a seat at her desk, "Alright, I'll be the judge of that. Now go ahead and debrief."

"Okay Hokage-sama." Naruto coughed and got down to business, "The mission, a B-ranked reconnaissance mission into Ta no Kuni came up with no new outward fortifications by Orochimaru's forces. He hasn't made any new moves since I sacked his bases on the mission that ended a little over a month ago. We were unable to recover anything new and there hasn't been any presence at what was formerly his main base since we last took it out."

Tsunade nodded, "That sounds about right. Orochimaru was never too careful when it came to covering his tracks. And we only have five months left until he attempts his jutsu on Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto leaned against her desk, "Should we really be wasting resources like this to stop him before he can take Sasuke's body? I mean, he already failed trying to take Itachi Uchiha's body at full strength and when his body wears down this time he should be easy pickings. Sasuke will kill him when he tries unless he's been lazy for the last few years and I just don't see that."

Tsunade sat her chin on her hands, "Do you think that he will come back after he beats Orochimaru or something?"

"Hell no." Naruto said immediately in response, "He's going to go after Itachi probably, but that won't matter right now. All that matters is that Orochimaru will be dead and his forces will be in disarray. That's the time to actively search for the smattering of bases and disoriented forces with a few quick task forces if we have any ready at the time. Let Anko-chan do that to make up for sending her back on the last mission we took to take his bases out."

Tsunade nodded with a serious face before a grin came across her features, "Trying for another promotion so soon are we brat?"

Naruto smirked, the serious moment for the most part over with, "Not really Baa-chan. I don't think I want one right now anyway… that is if I'm a jounin."

Tsunade rolled her eyes, "Yes, your probation is over, you're a jounin now, congratulations. You've earned it." She smiled at him, "You're really earning that necklace of yours too aren't you?"

Naruto pulled it from under his flak jacket and held it out, "I'm glad you think so. I make it look good don't I?" He said with a grin.

"Alright calm down, sheesh." Tsunade said, waving him off, "You're dismissed. Stay in good condition to move out on another mission soon, don't overexert yourself, and get some rest. The specifics behind what you're doing should be out for you to know of in a few days."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Why so secretive on the mission Tsunade-baachan?"

"It's supposed to be at least S-ranked in difficulty and importance." She said, "Do you still want it?"

Naruto didn't flinch, "You wouldn't have asked me to do it if you didn't think I could or didn't think I was needed. Of course I'll take it. I told you already Baa-chan, I may mess around a bit, but I'll follow any order you give me. That's the way I was taught." Naruto gave a two-fingered salute to the women in the room and left through the door.

XxX

Naruto opened the door to his apartment to find Hamako laying on the floor in the living room with notes strewn about. Naruto quietly shut the door and prepared to sneak past her to get to his room when he was stopped in his tracks, "I already know you're here master. I felt the security seals go off when you opened the door."

Naruto sighed and walked over to her, sitting on the couch nearby as he looked at what she was doing, "Been busy?"

Hamako stood up and sat down in Naruto's lap and kissed him happily at seeing him, "Welcome home Naruto-sama." She then looked at the floor and the mess she had made with all of her work all over the place and blushed, "Well, yes. I have been. I've been studying Anko-san's seal."

"And?" Naruto said curiously. Hamako had taken over systematically studying the seal in his place due to the fact that she was far better at fuuinjutsu than him and could work it out better than he could and faster as well.

Hamako looked away sheepishly, "I've hit a brick wall of sorts in getting it off of her." Feeling Naruto's gaze on her she squirmed in his grasp, "It's not that I don't understand what it entails because I do. And I'm positive I can get it off of her."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "I'm sensing a 'but' here somewhere."

"I need certain things to get it off of her." Hamako said, a frown marring her pretty face, "Apparently Orochimaru engrained some of his very being into the seal, and enzymes of someone else too. Without the DNA of both of them I can't break the seal without doing anything to her mind. It could either stunt her abilities and mental to physical capabilities or break her mind altogether. Orochimaru is a true villain, he won't even bother taking it off of her the way he did with Tayuya-san because he still sees use in keeping it on her unlike Tayuya."

Naruto returned her frown, "I'm guessing you weren't able to get any of Orochi-teme's DNA from the hospital, or Baa-chan or anything like that right?"

Hamako shook her head, "No such luck Naruto-sama." He rested her head in the crook of his neck, "I'm sorry. I haven't told Anko-san that I've failed yet."

"Good." Naruto said, letting her get closer to him, "Because you haven't failed. You know what to do, you just don't have everything you need to do it. That's what I'm for. I don't know how, but I'll end up getting Orochimaru and our mystery jerk's DNA for you to finish. I already promised Anko-chan I would anyway."

"You're going to ask for permission to hunt Orochimaru?" Hamako asked curiously, "Can you do that?"

Naruto shrugged, "I have no idea. But I'll have to build up some credibility to ask for a mission like that. Maybe after my next one I'll build up enough, it's supposed to be S-ranked at least." He felt Hamako stiffen in his grasp, "What's the matter?"

"You're going to be gone again?" She said sadly, "I know you're an important ninja to the village and everything, but you're always away. Always working. I miss you a lot master."

"You know all of my friends and I know they like you too." Naruto tried to reason, "I can't take you with me. You know I can't."

"I know, and I love that you keep correspondence with me through our tattoo." Hamako said desperately, "But your friends aren't you. And I don't really fit in with them. They're all ninja except for the Ichiraku family and I'm not. Just because I sometimes teach seals at the Academy doesn't mean much."

Naruto stood up, "Well I have time to rest for a bit, so I'll tell you what." He said pleasantly, "You and me are going to go to bed, because it's clear from the notes everywhere and the tired look in your eyes that you haven't been sleeping too well while working on this. And then tomorrow the whole day will be about you, okay? Whatever you want to do we can do, and it's about time we look for a new place too right?"

Hamako smiled at him before pouting playfully, "And give me an even bigger space to clean up after you?" Her smile returned, "I would like that very much." When she noticed the he carried her past her room into his she looked at him curiously, "What are you doing Naruto-sama?"

Naruto set her down in his bed, "You said you missed me didn't you? So why would I make you sleep in your own room tonight?" He started taking his shirt off, "You're with me tonight, or do you mind?" He pulled his shirt off to see that Hamako had already shed her own clothing and was securely underneath the covers of the bed waiting for him, "Fast."

"Master." She said softly, "Come here and keep your servant company."

'I thought I was the one that was supposed to be giving orders?' Naruto thought to himself as he shed his pants and climbed into bed where Hamako immediately latched onto him, "You haven't done this in a while. And you still don't wear anything when you sleep."

Hamako looked up at him from where her head was on his chest, "My offer from the first night I spent with you still stands master. I have no issues with you taking advantage of my body if you wish."

Naruto felt her lovely breasts press against his bare torso and felt himself stiffen, "You have no issue, or you would love it if I did?" Okay was it him or did they grow since he had met her?

Hamako smiled sweetly, "A combination of the two if I were to be honest with you."

'She knows it would put a smile on her face for the rest of the month if I did.' Naruto thought to himself as he started rubbing the sides of Hamako's body. He locked eyes with hers, blue staring into amber, "And I did say that I would do anything you wanted tomorrow. I guess I can start that a little earlier than anticipated."

Lemon Start

Hamako smiled and pulled back the covers enough to reveal her nudity to him, "As you wish master. *giggle* Or as I wish in this case."

Naruto gave her a kiss before pulling away, "You're never going to stop with the master stuff are you? I think it's been turning you on all this time to be calling me that." He rolled her over onto her back where he began kissing his way down her jaw and neck.

Hamako mewled in pleasure as her hands roamed up and down Naruto's neck and back, "No, it was simply the proper way to refer to someone of your stature over me. You _are_ my master by blood relation thus I have always and will always insist on calling you such." She let out small gasps when she felt Naruto biting down softly on the juncture between her neck and shoulder.

"It's a habit I can't break you of I guess." Naruto said, letting up from her for a moment only to feel Hamako making to remove his boxers, "You sure it hasn't been turning you on to call me that? Because you're kind of into it right now and we haven't even started yet." Instead of a verbal response, Hamako stroked his length softly. Man she had really soft hands.

"I don't know how well I'll do for my first time master." Hamako said, not able to take her eyes off of Naruto's cock, "But I'll do my best for you to enjoy it." She let out a squeak of surprise when she felt her legs pulled out from beneath her and blinked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Naruto shook his head and began to softly massage Hamako's chest, "This isn't for me Hamako-chan. I'm going to enjoy it no matter what we end up doing. This is all for you, what do you want us to do?" Hamako had a heavy blush on her face as she turned her head to the side and mumbled something, "What was that?" He said, switching to playing with his female helper's nipples, "Speak up if you want something."

Hamako let out a moan before repeating what he had instructed her to, "I want you to make love to me Naruto-sama, not have sex with me, make love to me." She turned her eyes to his, "I want my first time to be really special, especially with you."

Naruto smiled warmly at the white-haired girl and leaned down towards her face, "I can make sure you remember it Hamako-chan, I'll make it as special as I can for you." He lowered his face the rest of the way and kissed the very receptive girl who had her arms wrapped around his head, pulling him close to her. Hamako opened her mouth, inviting Naruto's tongue inside, an invitation he accepted as they continued to kiss passionately.

They broke away and Naruto noticed the look of absolute delight in Hamako's eyes just from a kiss. Naruto looked at the body of Hamako as the moonlight through the shaded windows hit her and gave her an ethereal glow, "You're beautiful." Naruto traced a finger along her jaw, down her neck, chest, belly, and finally reached her soaked womanhood, "And you're very excited too."

"And you aren't?" Hamako bit back playfully, "Or is that the normal size that you walk around regularly with?" She gestured at his rock-hard member, "Because if you aren't even erect yet master then I'm kind of scared." She finished with a laugh.

Naruto rolled his eyes at her joke, "Yes, I'm very excited Hamako-chan, but there's something I want to do first." Naruto moved down her body and placed his hands on Hamako's knees, which instinctually closed when he moved towards her pussy. Naruto rolled his eyes, now was the time she actually chose to be shy about it, and gently parted her legs to take in the sight of his lovely servant fully.

"Please don't stare like that master." Hamako said, "It's embarrassing."

"Nothing to be embarrassed about." Naruto said in return, "You know I've always wanted to know just how sweet you really were Hamako-chan." He said with a grin.

"Ara?" Hamako muttered in confusion before she felt Naruto's tongue run along her private place. Hamako grabbed the bed sheets tightly as Naruto's tongue danced about inside of her. Her breaths started coming out in rather ragged pants as her legs wrapped around Naruto's head.

Naruto's oral fixation on Hamako didn't cease or slow an inch as he continued eating her out. His tongue darting in and out, he didn't even register it when Hamako's legs wrapped around his head and neck. For having such pretty, shapely legs they weren't as strong as he expected a kunoichi's legs to be due to Hamako not really training her body like one. If he had been doing this to someone like Tenten, Tayuya, Yugito, or any of the other ladies that were interested in him they might have severed his spinal cord while he had been doing it.

Naruto allowed enough room to start moving a finger in and out of Hamako's wet warmth. He licked his own lips as the sounds of her panting filled the room. As he lifted his head, continuing to finger her, even adding a second one much to her delight, he could not see her face due to her rather large mounds on her chest obscuring his view and rising and lowering to go with her breathing. His attention returned to her special spot when he made her shiver violently with the movement of his fingers.

He lowered his head back down and quickly found her clit which he began to suck and stimulate, getting a loud cry from Hamako. Hamako's eyes were shut tight as pleasure jolted all throughout her body. She grabbed a fist full of Naruto's hair with both hands, encouraging him to increase his tempo, "Naruto-sama I'm going to cum!" He didn't hear her or he didn't care because he stayed down there and allowed Hamako to scream his name as she finally let go and coated Naruto's lower face with her juices.

Naruto let Hamako splash his whiskered cheeks and licked what he could from the inside of her thighs as she slowly calmed down. Naruto's head popped up with a grin, "Well your disposition and your pussy have something in common Hamako-chan. You're both sweet."

Hamako smiled at her master and grabbed his arms to guide him back on top of her, "I'm ready for the real thing master." She adjusted her legs so that Naruto's pelvis was set right between them.

Naruto used the back of his hand to stroke her cheek, "You sure? We don't have anything here to keep you from getting pregnant."

"Oh it wouldn't bother me in the least if you did get me pregnant!" She said cheerfully, "But we do have something for that." Hamako tapped the emerald on the ever-present choker around her throat and made a few hand-seals before tapping it again. A rapid series of kanji appeared on it before disappearing, "There! Everything's fine."

Naruto poked at the choker around her throat, "A seal? You put a seal for birth control on the choker?"

Hamako nodded, "Yes, and many other kinds too. It's a fantastic medium. Such a good birthday gift master, it's so useful."

Naruto lowered his mouth and loudly sucked on Hamako's right breast, letting go with a loud pop, "You're welcome Hamako-chan. Now you said you were ready right?" He got an eager nod from the cheerful girl that brought a smile to his face. Naruto adjusted the tip of his penis at her wet entrance before slowly sliding inside. Hamako bit her lip and moaned softly until Naruto hit a barrier, "Virgin…" Naruto said lowly. He didn't want to hurt her, but from the look on her face she didn't care too much.

Hamako reached up and stroked Naruto's whisker marks lovingly, "Go ahead Naruto-sama. I trust you completely. I love you."

Naruto nodded down at her, "I love you too Hamako-chan." He kissed her hand and held on to her waist so that he could break her hymen in one motion. With one push forward he forced Hamako to cry out in pain. Naruto leaned over and kissed her lips, trying to quiet her whimpers. Hamako held back tears as Naruto whispered to her soothingly.

After a few moments the searing pain turned into a dull throbbing. Moving around herself a few times to see if everything was okay, Hamako whispered into Naruto's ear, "You can start moving now master." She said, licking her lips in anticipation now that the pain was subsiding.

Having been given the green light, Naruto started to rock his hips slowly back and forth, burying himself further and further into his beautiful attendant with each thrust. With each motion he heard Hamako moan into his ear and speak his name breathily as she wrapped her legs around his waist to push him deeper. The feeling of being inside of Hamako stirred something inside of Naruto and prompted him to steadily pick up the pace, drilling in and out of Hamako as her pants matched his rhythm.

Naruto pulled up from Hamako's grip and freed her legs from around his waist by grabbing her ankles. The cute look of confusion on her face when he held her legs apart by them soon turned into a face twisted in satisfaction as Naruto's speed picked up from the new angle he was using. Naruto was more or less hypnotized into keeping his rhythm by the bouncing of Hamako's generously gifted breasts.

Hamako turned her head side to side and bit down on one of her fingers as a loud moan escaped her. Naruto wasn't being gentle with her anymore and she couldn't care less. He was hitting her spot deep inside of her again and again and she absolutely loved it. She started putting her own hips into it and moving to meet him, increasing the intensity of the sex even further and getting a low grunt of effort from Naruto.

Hamako felt her vision haze over and started playing with her own nipples to stimulate herself further as she was brought closer and closer to climax. Naruto felt the girl tighten around him, signifying her release. The increased tension from Hamako's inner walls then proceeded to milk Naruto of his own cum, letting it coat her insides.

Naruto let Hamako's legs relax against his chest as they were both breathing hard from the sex. Despite her exhaustion and the sweat coating her form, Hamako had a look of complete satiation on her face, "I feel so full Naruto-sama. Thank you so much." She said in a tired voice.

Naruto slowly pulled out of her, relishing in the sound of her moan of disappointment once he freed his cock from inside of her. He could see some of their mixed juices leaking out of her pussy before she closed her legs. Naruto moved up the bed and lay down next to her, planting a soft kiss on her lips, "Don't thank me Hamako-chan. I enjoyed it just as much as you did. We'll have to do this again soon."

Hamako sighed in contentment and snuggled up to her blonde master, "Well you said that I have you all to myself to do whatever I want tomorrow. Right now this is what I want to do the most for the time being. I want more tomorrow."

Naruto laughed as he draped the covers over both of their bodies, "Whatever you want Hamako-chan."

XxX

(Four Days Later – 11 a.m.)

"Master, wake up. Come on Naruto-sama you have to get up."

Naruto opened his eyes to see a mop of red-hair on his chest and his own body sprawled out on a couch, "What the…" Naruto looked around to see a few bottles of sake on the floor around the couch, "Ugh. What happened?" He looked over at the door to the apartment to find Hamako standing there with her hands on her hips, "Hamako-chan?" He felt the person on his chest stir, "Tayuya-chan?"

Tayuya looked up at Naruto's face and held her head with a pained look on her face, "Uzumaki… What the hell did we do last night?"

Hamako walked over to the both of them who were still fully clothed much to Naruto's surprise as he could feel the effects of a hangover, "You, Naruto-sama, and all of Naruto-sama's friends went to a bar last night to celebrate him being done with his probationary status for jounin."

Tayuya's eyes widened in remembrance, "Oh yeah." She looked at Hamako, "You didn't go?"

"I don't like drinking." Hamako replied with a distasteful look, "I was kind of scared off of it when I saw a few people mix alcohol with experimental fuuinjutsu." She shivered in terror. "That's why I locked up all of the notes and supplies last night when you two left the complex. It seemed like the wisest course of action available at the time."

Naruto's brain was working in slow motion as it muddled through the leftover brain cells he killed last night. It was him, Tayuya, Sai, all of the rookie teams, all of Team Gai… and a lot of alcohol, mostly because he could afford enough for everyone ten times over and not even make a dent in his account so he paid for most of the drinks for everyone. He was generous like that.

And in gracious fashion, everyone got smashed, even Sakura who was the one who was most against it in the first place. Yeah, she loosened right up once she got a few in her. For sure.

Even Rock Lee. Once he was good and fully tied up by every dude in the building. Hands and legs… tied together… and he still wound up destroying two tables and part of the bar itself with the use of only his head before he finally blacked out much to everyone's relief. Lee was a mean drunk.

Even Sai… though nothing seemed to happen to him. He drank, he drank just as much as anyone else but when it was time to head home he didn't have a waver in his step at all. Damn Sai could hold his liquor.

As if remembering something interesting, Tayuya suddenly pointed at Naruto and smirked, "Ha ha, you made out with the girl with the buns in her hair last night."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, he did make out with Tenten. A lot, "You say that like it's a bad thing." A memory then triggered that got him to smirk right back, "I made out with you too Tayuya-chan, all the way back here apparently."

"Yes." Hamako said plainly as she put two glasses down in the kitchen and started fishing through the cabinets for some kind of medicine, "You did. And you probably would have done more if Tayuya-san hadn't passed out on top of you Naruto-sama."

"Ha!" Naruto said to a stunned Tayuya, not stunned because things might have gone further, she was actually kind of disappointed that they didn't, stunned because she passed out first, "You lightweight, you passed out first. I'm still the reigning champ." He looked at himself and saw that he was extremely dirty and disheveled, "I don't know why I look like this from making out though. Were you that rough with me?"

Ignoring his question and focusing more on his teasing of her ability to imbibe in the drink, Tayuya poked Naruto in the stomach, "We all don't fucking have demons stuck inside of us that help us process poisons and the effects of alcohol through our systems you fucking ass. If you didn't have the Kyuubi I would have put you down." She went back to holding her head, "Kami I feel like that fatass Jirobo tap-danced on my fucking head."

Hamako placed a glass of some orange substance in front of her face, "This should help with feeling in your head right now." Tayuya took it and she handed the other to Naruto who quickly drank it down and cringed for a moment, "Naruto-sama, there's a message for you to show up at Hokage-sama's office immediately for a mission."

"So today's finally the day?" Naruto groaned, moved Tayuya off of him and stood up, "Damn, is there time for me to at least wash up and change? I smell like a complete drunk right now."

Tayuya held the glass of what Hamako gave her in her hand, "You _are_ a drunk Uzumaki, you just control yourself better than most. Get it through your head. You do this every time you're home. I don't see how Hamako here is even able to put up with taking care of your ass."

"So?" He said moving towards the bathroom, "I'm taking a shower and changing before I go. Tsunade-baachan is going to be pissed off even if I do show up on time because I smell like booze. So if I'm going to be in trouble no matter what I might as well smell fresh when I am and give the monster headache time to go away. Kyuubi better get to earning his rent."

"**Fuck you ningen, I'm not the cure for all that ails you."** Kyuubi mentally butted into Naruto's conversation vindictively.

'You are today.' Naruto shot back as he entered the bathroom and flipped the lights on.

Tayuya finished downing Hamako's apparent remedy and cringed like Naruto did at the taste, all she knew was that crap better have worked, "Aw hell… I have a mission today too. I might as well go and shower for that too. I would get in with Uzumaki, but that would just end up making us later." Tayuya said with a sheepish grin.

Hamako smiled at Tayuya, "I hope you feel better Tayuya-san." Tayuya let out a grunt of acknowledgment once she reached the front door. Hamako turned towards the bathroom and called out, "Master I'll help you. You'll take too long otherwise. I think you only have a few minutes to be there anyway."

XxX

(Two Hours Later)

Naruto stepped into Tsunade's office with a huge grin on his face only to be forced to duck a paperweight thrown at his head. He looked at Tsunade who still had her arm outstretched from the throw, "Brat there had better be a good reason you're late."

Naruto grinned to himself once more before it faded, it would only get him into more trouble, "I could tell you the reason and you could get even more pissed off at me or I could say I'm sorry and it won't happen again and we can drop it." He didn't feel like telling Tsunade that a shower had turned into him having sex with Hamako for well over an hour and forced him to take another shower lest he smell like Hamako once he got there and get hit for real.

"Fine." Tsunade said, "We're just waiting on someone else and you can be briefed on what you're doing. You're to work under this person on this assignment." That got his attention. He was a jounin and was supposed to work _under _this person instead of _with_ this person.

A moment later found Jiraiya jumping through the window with a grin, "Tsunade-hime! You left the window open for me this time! I knew you cared!"

Tsunade sighed, "Just get on with it and tell the brat what you two are doing."

Naruto looked between the two sannin, "I'm with Ero-kyofu on this one?" Naruto said before shrugging, it sounded good to him, "So what's up? What are we getting into this time?"

Tsunade was listening clearly as she wasn't sure what this one would be all about either. All she knew was that it was to be something of a reconnaissance mission. Jiraiya's face was gravely serious, "I've found the base of operations for Akatsuki."

Naruto and Tsunade both showed clear shock at what Jiraiya had just said. Tsunade spoke, "That's great!" Then the reality of it hit her, "Wait, why do you two have to go? It's too dangerous, let me send someone else."

Jiraiya shook his head, "Can't do it Tsunade-hime. Nothing spoils quicker than information and you can be sure we won't have a surefire window to enter the village for long. Besides, the only people you have in Konoha good enough to get in are me and the gaki. You know what I can do, and the brat's proven he can do it by repeatedly sacking Orochimaru's bases right from the heart again and again. Since he was eight I should add."

Naruto glared lightly at the perverted man, "You still screwed me over in that one. Who fucking blows up an entire section of the base during a reconnaissance mission?"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, "Get over it gaki. Things are on the up and up now aren't they?"

Naruto didn't let it drop, "No, you never explained this to me, I want to know. What in Kami's name possessed you into thinking that was a good idea?"

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I wanted to leave with a bang…"

Naruto palmed his face, "The entire point is to make sure no one knows you were there stupid… Sometimes I forget you're a sannin, I swear." Jiraiya rapped Naruto on the back of the head, "Oi! I will break my foot off in your ass Ero-kyofu!"

Jiraiya got into Naruto's face, "Come and try it gaki! You're still ten years too soon to even be in my league!"

Naruto pushed right back, "You want to test that out? You feeling froggy Ero-sennin?"

"I summon toads you idiot!" Jiraiya cracked back, "Are you sure you have the brain power to be a jounin? You seem to be back to your stupid twelve year old self."

The two were stopped by Tsunade's fists neatly depositing them onto the ground, "Both of you shut up and be serious!"

Naruto pulled himself to a seated position, "Ow, damn Baa-chan. But yeah, Ero-kyofu's right. We can handle this, and besides, who else could you send that actually knew what to look for and could actually pull it off?"

A frown came to Tsunade's face, "I really don't like this you two. This is a little too close to the hornet's nest, don't you think?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "It's no different than running around Orochimaru and his cronies on eggshells inside of those rat nests he calls hidden villages, but this time I have more room to move about and I don't think we'll be there for over half a year this time."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement, "He's right Tsunade-hime, it'll be a quick in and out to confirm some things and that will be that. Like the leader of the entire organization." His face turned serious again, "Apparently the man's name is Pein. The entire village sees the man as a god of sorts."

Naruto scoffed, "Sounds like another case of that S-ranked arrogance again."

"Quiet Naruto." Jiraiya said, "But yeah Tsunade, anyway, we'll be there for a moment to confirm this and that, maybe get some new information or see if they've bolstered their rankings since super-gaki here keeps taking them out one by one."

"Hey…" Naruto said, "What about Hidan's head? You've had that for a good month now. Have you gotten anything out of him yet?"

Tsunade shook her head, "He's unbreakable brat. Even Inoichi can't get too far to get anything on the group out of him, and since his head is gone and he's probably in screaming pain every second of his existence there isn't anything we can do to persuade him any further that way."

"Fuck." Naruto said, "I thought I had something this time."

Jiraiya ruffled Naruto's head after standing back up, "Well that's what we're leaving for. Rest assured we're coming back with something big. Count on it."

Tsunade looked away from the both of them, "Just… Just be careful you two. Don't get yourselves killed out there. I need you two here."

Naruto grinned at her, "No worries Baa-chan, I can't die yet right?" He pulled her necklace out from his flak jacket, "I've still got to prove that little curse of your wrong don't I? I'll keep Ero-kyofu out of trouble, don't you worry."

Jiraiya put Naruto in a headlock, "Really you cheeky punk? Don't you worry Tsunade-hime, I'll keep the kid from biting off more than he can chew. We'll be back before you know it, driving you crazy in no time."

Tsunade smiled at both of them, "Very well. Naruto Uzumaki, Jiraiya, do you two accept the S-ranked reconnaissance mission to the village of Amegakure no Sato?"

Jiraiya smirked, "Of course. I was the one that suggested it after all."

Naruto grinned, "You've got it. I'm at your command Baa-chan, you know that."

Tsunade nodded at both of them, "Then proceed with caution. I want both of you coming back from this one, or else I'll drag you two from hell just so I can kill you myself." With that, the two of them left the office through the window as both of them were prone to do. As she watched the two of them walk down the street towards the exit of the village she couldn't help a feeling of foreboding that crept through her person, "Please come back from this."

XxX

(Two Days Later – Kusa no Kuni)

Naruto and Jiraiya were hitching a ride on an ox cart heading through the country towards Kusagakure. Naruto footed the bill due to Jiraiya not carrying any cash on him… ever apparently, but Naruto was of course still loaded from the bounty on Sasori… he hadn't been able to turn Hidan's head in yet. The would have to hop off sooner or later lest they get too close to the village, be forced to answer some rather unsavory questions, and blow their cover before they even got close to getting started.

"So Ero-kyofu." Naruto started, "Why are we heading through Kusa no Kuni instead of just heading right through the country Ame is in? We directly border it so what's with taking the roundabout way?"

Jiraiya smirked at his godson, "Naruto, you should develop a more worldly taste for something other than the women that you care for." He ducked a swing at his head, "Though I have to say I am proud of you on that front, you're almost like me in that regard; making ladies swoon worldwide." He ducked another swing.

"Bite me, I don't make anyone swoon." Naruto growled, "But when I went to Otogakure I didn't take the long way and I got in just fine."

Jiraiya leaned back in the cart, "That's because you didn't know exactly where it was but the country was well documented, you could afford to go straight to it once you had the exact location since you had been briefed on the country in general and could aptly sneak around because you knew for the most part what was there, I know because that's how I found it the first time. We don't have that luxury this time around. Can you tell me why?"

Naruto nodded, "Amegakure's supposed to be in the middle of a civil war. It was like that when I was in Root. Ame was always supposed to be a dead zone. He always told me no matter what I was doing, no matter how safer it seemed than running back to Konoha, I was never supposed to go into that country, ever, I was supposed to go around and stay the fuck away at all costs. He never told me why though. A civil war shouldn't have been any of my business right?" Naruto asked rhetorically, "All I know is that it was the only place Danzo ever told me to stay away from with no exceptions."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto as he spoke, "The old one-eye gave you some damn good advice kid. That place is locked down so tight by the guy that runs it that if you bit off a hangnail while you were anywhere in the vicinity he'd know it and bust you for 'littering'."

"Sanshouo no Hanzo (Hanzo of the Salamander)." Naruto said, "Yeah I know who it is. It's one of the few people Danzo ever cursed verbally for being a 'fucking fool' in his words. Do you know how hard it is to hear Danzo-jiji curse someone out and not laugh your ass off when you're eight?"

Jiraiya blocked a snort at thinking of uptight Danzo cursing at or about anything, "Why does the old mummy have a problem with Hanzo?"

Naruto frowned, "Before I was born I guess, Hanzo must have done something stupid that really pissed Danzo-jiji off because I heard him curse him out every day month for one reason or another... most of the time Danzo wasn't even talking about Hanzo at the time. I called him senile on it like seven different times." Jiraiya started snickering, "I'm glad you think it's was so funny. Because I didn't think it was when he would 'spar' with me after I said it. That old son of a bitch can seriously fight. He's really good enough to be Hokage if for nothing else than the ability to fight."

Jiraiya was skeptical, "He's an old geezer with one eye and one good arm, and you were eight at the oldest."

"Yeah I was just an eight year old." Naruto said cynically, "I was an eight year old good enough to fight all of Orochimaru's elites at the same time and live without the conscious use of my biju, and did I mention the biju? Yeah, because if you didn't know I have a biju." Naruto looked up at the progressively cloudy sky, "Danzo is most certainly not weak, no way in hell. And if you somehow found a way to beat him, in the end his wily old ass would find a way to take you with him… and that's exactly how he taught me to fight."

Naruto raised a fist to the sky that blocked the specs of sunlight peeking through the clouds, "Win if you can, lose if you absolutely must, but failure is not an option, keep your goal in sight. You don't fail. Not in Root. No, you finish what you start, and you don't need to survive to complete a mission if it's important enough."

Jiraiya looked at the sky as they were nearing the point of crossing over into Ame. They would have to get off soon, it was nearly time to get started, 'It's been so long since I was last here…' He looked over at Naruto who was still looking at the sky himself, 'With my first students.' Jiraiya spoke, "Yeah, kid… That's actually some damn good advice."

* * *

Omake 1

Shino had taken to going inside of the Forest of Death every now and then to study the large insect samples that the forest had to offer. The place had interested him when he had first come through in his first Chunin Exam, but not only was it a free-for-all deathmatch section of the examination, his team had flown through it so fast he didn't have time to do anything or look at anything, and without a team to watch over him he didn't feel safe heading back in until now. He was a chunin and had been through it before so he should have been fine.

Shino was currently studying a giant leech that he was very familiar with, as they had been the direct catalyst to his team getting a scroll quickly and easily and getting through the forest so quickly. The forest really wasn't as scary as everyone said it was… he didn't see what the big deal was.

Other than the rustling of nearby animals it was a very peaceful place. There were sounds of far off conflict between the more violent denizens of the forest he assumed, but it didn't bother him. It wasn't his problem.

"Fuck!"

That was the only indication of warning Shino had before a human sized blur flew into his general area and obliterated the trunk of a nearby tree with its body. Shino noticed that the leeches had been disturbed and were swiftly fleeing from something, more than likely whatever had just landed in their vicinity. Perturbed by the disruption of his favorite activity, Shino walked over in that area before the figure stood up.

"Goddamn it, their teamwork is better now, and since when could they spit their poison out at stuff?" Naruto yelled, brandishing his sword wantonly. His body was covered in scuffs and his clothing was splotched with a strange colored blood, "I'm making them evolve just by fighting them! I don't know if I should be nervous or if I should publish a journal!"

"Naruto-san?" Shino asked as he got closer, "What are you doing here?"

Naruto turned to face him and his face paled, "Shino…" He said carefully, "What are you doing here? No one comes this far in here… except me and Anko-chan… and even she's having second thoughts these days."

Shino's hands were placed in his pockets as he looked at Naruto through his sunglasses, his entire body concealed by his clothing, "I am here to study the insect life found inside of the forest. The specimens are very interesting. You can't find anything like them anywhere else in the world."

"Tell me about it." Naruto said with a deadpan face, "But seriously, we need to get the hell out of here. If you're here then I can't leave you by yourself or I might get you killed somehow." He ran over to Shino and started pushing him, "Come on, go, go, go. Things were bad enough with just me, now I need to get you out too."

"Am I aware of the dangers of the forest Naruto-san? Yes, of course I am." Shino dug his heels into the ground, but Naruto was physically stronger than him by a lot, "What exactly is this all about?"

"Oh no you're not. No you're fucking not, I'm saying that right now you are not aware of how messed up this place is. I'll tell you more later, but right now we need to get moving." Naruto said, "They are smart, they are fast, they are agile, and they are _everywhere_."

Shino cocked his eyebrow and looked over his shoulder, "What is everywhere?"

A hissing noise prompted both of them to turn around and see a group of slowly advancing giant spiders, stalking towards them, fangs moving about and dripping venom.

"That's what's everywhere." Naruto said, sword out in front and ready for anything, "So how about it Shino? You ready to get moving or would you like to stay back and use your insects to help me fight these things for a bit?" Naruto turned his head to Shino behind him, "Shino?"

'Shino' didn't respond. Instead he simply turned into a mass of kikaichu and flew away faster than any other time Naruto had seen the bugs move, "Mushi Bunshin no Jutsu (Bug Clone Jutsu)…" Naruto said with a sweatdrop, "That was good, I didn't even feel him do the replacement." The hissing of the spiders brought Naruto back to the brevity of the situation, "You still could have stayed back and helped me asshole!" Was the last thing Naruto said before he once again found himself locked into a life or death struggle with the most devastating denizens of the Forest of Death.

It would be a long time before Shino even thought about venturing back to the Forest of Death again. Was he a coward by nature? Of course he wasn't.

Was he fucking terrified of _normal_ spiders, let alone the fucking massive, steroid-riddled ones Naruto had haphazardly introduced him to that day? Who wouldn't be?

…Especially a guy that used _insects_ to do anything battle oriented.

Omake 2

Naruto sat down on the ground in the middle of the sparring ring in the Hyuuga Clan compound, "Okay Neji… you're way better than you used to be for sure."

Neji himself was taking a long drink of water after their heated spar, "I couldn't let you stay as far ahead of me as you were when we last fought Naruto. But I believe if you weren't afraid of the repercussions of causing property damage you could have won decisively."

Naruto scoffed, "Like I'm really going to pay for destroying half of the buildings surrounding the ring because I wanted to win a spar. You Hyuugas have a sparring area in the middle of the compound because you guys don't have any techniques that could wind up taking out half of the area if it misfired. I'm not that subtle in major fights."

"Yes, I'm painfully aware of that fact." Neji said with a dry look on his face, "But Byakugan and use of the Jyuuken is a very subtle art Naruto. Our eyes allow us to see everything clearly and gives us the ability to strike truer than anyone else without the need for widespread mass destruction."

Naruto nodded and caught the bottle of water that Neji threw to him, "A nice little kekkei genkai I have to say." He took a sip before putting on a thinking expression, "Hey, you guys can see through pretty much anything right?"

Neji nodded, "Yes, it's how I can see your chakra pathways. We can see through most solid objects and control the intensity of the effect."

"Huh…" Naruto stroked his chin, "So that would mean clothes too right?" Neji blushed at Naruto's implication, "Man Ero-sennin probably would have killed for some Hyuuga eyes at one point, those sound tailor-made for him. But that certainly explains something."

Neji put as straight a face on as he could given the nature of the conversation, "What would that be?"

Naruto grinned, "It certainly explains one of the reasons Hinata had a crush on me for so long. She could obviously see what I was packing when I was a kid and was thoroughly impressed."

Silence reigned between the two jounin for the longest time as business as usual carried on for the multiple other Hyuuga Clan members walking around the compound, oblivious to the actual conversation going on between their young genius and the village's jinchuuriki.

"Hakke Kuushou (Eight Trigrams Empty Palm)!"

Neji shot off a vacuum shell type attack at Naruto and sent him flying hard into the wall nearby the sparring ring hard. Naruto slumped to the ground against the wall, rubbing the back of his head, "Damn, why didn't you hit like that during the actual fight?"

"Hakke Hasangeki (Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher)!"

Neji got in Naruto's face and launched a harsh wave of chakra from his palm, obliterating the wall behind him and turning it to rubble. He narrowed his Byakugan activated eyes in anger when he found a smashed up log where Naruto should have been and turned to the side.

"What was that all about Neji?" Naruto said from nearby where Neji was looking, relatively unscathed, "It was a theory. A theory I can't prove… or could I? Hmm." Naruto stroked his chin again before pointing at Neji with a serious look on his face, "Where is your cousin? I can get to the bottom of this right now."

"Die!" Neji shouted as he began chasing after Naruto with murder in his eyes, firing off a Hakke Kuushou every now and then and missing, "Hold still and die Naruto!"

Naruto laughed maniacally as he and Neji dodged the shell-shocked Hyuuga denizens that cleared the way for them as they sprinted through the compound, "Better men than you have tried Neji! And I'm not paying for any of that by the way!"

The two continued the chase until rounding a corner where they stopped abruptly on a dime as if nothing had been happening. The reasoning being that the head of the clan, Hiashi Hyuuga was out for a walk with his two daughters Hinata and Hanabi.

Neji quickly bowed to cover his tracks over the mayhem they had been causing all over the compound, "Good afternoon Hiashi-sama, Hinata-sama, Hanabi-sama."

"Good afternoon Neji." The man replied stoically. Damn, did everyone except Hinata have that same dull tone with everything they said?

"Good afternoon Neji-niisan." Hinata said to him. Ah that was more like it. She did have a rather sweet voice. She blinked once she realized who else was there, "Naruto-kun? What are you doing here?"

Naruto had a straight face as he was simply playing up the tone set by Hiashi and Neji, "Oh I just came here to spar with Neji for a bit. He was seeing me out like a good host." Naruto could feel the low killing intent coming from Neji who obviously still wanted to take a swing at him as he spoke.

"Yes." Neji almost growled out, "We must be on our way now." With that, the two Konoha jounin walked past the clan head and the two heiresses and continued on their way. Naruto looked over his shoulder to see Hinata doing the same, looking at each other. Naruto grinned at her, getting her to turn back around abruptly, possibly to hide a blush. Naruto then took advantage of the moment and let his eyes linger on Hinata a bit longer, "Stop staring at her or I'll stop your heart right here, right now."

Naruto did not do as instructed, "Man I wish I had Byakugan."

Omake 3

Kiba was sitting at the bar laughing loudly as he and the others were having fun, "Naruto get off of Tenten and get over here already! You two have been over there for fifteen minutes!"

Naruto forced Tenten off of his lips and tried speaking as she kissed any part of his face she could get to, "I think Tenten-chan's had enough. Someone should take her home and I don't mean me. If I did it I don't think I'd be able to leave."

"So?" Kiba roared across the bar at the blonde, "Sounds good to me."

Naruto responded as Tenten finally passed out in his lap, "No, I make it a personal bylaw to avoid hooking up with drunk chicks… even ones that are hot and I already know like me." Naruto shakily formed a hand-seal and a Kage Bunshin formed in front of him, "Take Tenten-chan home, and don't drop her." He looked at the Kage Bunshin swaying on its feet, "Great, you're fucking drunk too."

"I may be drunk boss, but you're ugly." The clone said, pointing a swaying finger at Naruto, "And tomorrow I'll be sober… but you'll still be ugly."

The bar started snickering at Naruto and his clone as the original just stared at his creation before dispelling it, "Fucking smartass." He formed another one and gave it an order before it could speak, "Take Tenten, don't drop her, and shut the hell up."

The clone leveled a drunken glare at Naruto before taking Tenten off of his hands and stumbling out the door with the bun-haired chunin in its arms. Naruto walked over to the others and steadied himself on the bar where Tayuya shoved a small shot in his face, "Wuh?"

Tayuya had a heavy drunk blush on her face, "Here Uzumaki-shithead. Drink this, it's called zamuki, zazuki, zensuki…"

The bartender Ren answered for her, "Zambuki."

Tayuya gestured towards him, "Right! Zabunuki! Anyway, drink it."

Naruto shrugged and threw it back, smacking his lips at the taste, "That's spicier than a motherfucker! Give me some more of that Ren." Ren did as instructed and watched Naruto throw them back as soon as he was able to put them down.

"Go Uzumaki!" Tayuya shouted.

The others gathered around and watched Naruto drink sixteen of the shots before he hit the bar with his palm, "That's really good! What's it supposed to be?"

Ren smirked, "A shot of whiskey and pure caffeine."

"Well whatever it is." Naruto said, having completely ignored Ren, "It finished the job." He said, balancing against Tayuya, "I'm fucked up. I'm really fucked up. I think I'm done."

"Take me home Uzumaki-shithead." Tayuya muttered as she draped herself over Naruto's back, "And don't take advantage of me… or do. I don't care as long as you get me home."

Naruto bid one last inebriated goodbye to everyone in the bar before he and Tayuya slogged home.

XxX

(One Hour Later – 2 a.m.)

Tayuya was draped across Naruto's chest, "You know what we haven't done in a long time Uzumaki?" Tayuya said in a husky voice.

Naruto looked extremely wired as his eyes darted around the room and his body was steadily shaking, seemingly unable to stay still, "What Tayuya-chan? What, what, what? What is it? Is it fun? Huh?" He said in a rapid, slurred voice.

"It is. I like it, and you seem to like it too." Tayuya smirked and began kissing Naruto who eagerly kissed back. Tayuya let out a sharp cry of surprise when she felt Naruto spank her but started to moan when she felt Naruto massage where he had struck her.

The kiss carried on for four minutes, until Naruto realized that Tayuya was unconscious. "Fuck." Naruto said to himself as he shifted the redhead to the side of the couch and got up, "What the fuck is wrong with me? I know I'm fucked up but I can't pass out." He ran around the couch a few times, "I know, some exercise should get the rest out of me." Naruto started doing jumping jacks.

XxX

(One Hour Later – 3 a.m.)

"Fuck!" Naruto said to himself, "I've done like a million goddamn jumping jacks and I still feel fine!"

"What a glorious morning for youth!"

Naruto ran to his door and went outside to see Gai on a brisk run around Konoha… on his hand, "Gai what are you doing? Huh? Huh? Huh?" Before Gai could respond, Naruto shrugged and jumped to the ground before standing on his own hands, "Whatever it is, I'm in too!" With that, Naruto started rapidly walking down the street on his hands.

Tears sprang from Gai's eyes, "I've finally found someone youthful enough to partake in my early, early morning exercises! If it's a challenge you want Naruto-kun it's a challenge you'll get! Explode with the power of youth!" Gai yelled before rushing away on his hands to catch up to Naruto.

XxX

(Two Hours Later – 5 a.m.)

Naruto let out a low groan as he limped back into his apartment with scuff marks all over his body and collapsed on the couch next to Tayuya. The girl crawled on top of him and snuggled close to him before both of them broke into a cacophony of snores.

* * *

**Dude… I swear. I'm like a drug dealer that's addicted to what he's selling. I write my ass off on a regular basis in the hopes that someone else will get their shit together and despite the fact that I know that isn't going to happen I just can't stop. I CAN'T STOP! No one is writing and posting so I have to do it myself. Four stories this week have been updated and depending on how busy I am tomorrow then all 5 will have been updated this week.**

**Anyway, I'm tired and burned out for the night. Later. Kenchi out.**


	38. Heavy Forecast

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But it sounds like something I could get into yeah? Me and like 65 million other people apparently.

**Chapter 37: Heavy Forecast**

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Hamako entered the Hokage Tower with her usual serene smile on her face. She had a stack of papers in her arms, letting those around her know this was a business trip, but from the look on her face it was if she were taking a nice morning stroll.

As she neared Tsunade's office she said good morning to the shinobi stationed inside as Tsunade's assistants and the like before making her way to Tsunade's most trusted one, "Hello Shizune-san. I have an appointment with Hokage-sama this morning."

Shizune gave her a smile, "It's nice that you actually make appointments instead of just dropping in like Naruto-kun does. How he never drops in when she's busy I'll never know."

Hamako let out a small giggle, "Naruto-sama is good like that. He doesn't like being formal outside of missions though. May I enter?"

"Yes you can." Shizune said, "Go right ahead."

Hamako bowed to Shizune and headed inside of Tsunade's office. The head of the female kage looked up at her and gave her a smile, "Hello Hamako. How are you today and what can I do for you?"

Hamako bowed to Tsunade and placed the papers she had with her on the desk, "I'm doing well Hokage-sama. I came here today because I want to surprise Naruto-sama when he gets back."

Tsunade looked at her curiously, "Surprise him how? Naruto doesn't really like most surprises seeing as how they try to kill him." She looked at some of the papers Hamako left on her desk, "I assume you just came from the bank this morning."

"Yes I did." Hamako said, "And he will like this surprise. Master has an excess amount of spare money due to his frequent higher level missions, captured bounty of Akasuna no Sasori, and does not have to readily support me due to my work at the Academy. He has a lot of money and as such I suggest a move from his apartment to an actual home. I've been dealing with this on and off for almost a year now."

Looking through more of the papers Hamako carried in, Tsunade got her point, "So I assume you're here because you've decided on something he would like and you're relaying this to me due to him being my shinobi."

A nod from the elder blonde woman came from Hamako, "Yes, it should be something nice for master to come home to after this mission he's currently on. Would you like to visit the one I've chosen after it is made official later today Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade smiled at her, "Certainly. You should come back around six in the evening. I'm sure he'll love it."

XxX

(With Naruto – Amegakure no Sato)

Naruto had a dry look on his cloaked and covered face as he sat quietly on a passenger boat. Other than the man running the boat and the five other passengers aboard, Naruto only had one thought running through his mind, 'I hate the rain, I hate the rain, I hate the rain, I hate-.'

"**Shut up right now or I will start singing again."** Kyuubi growled in his head. Amegakure no Sato was surrounded by water created by the perpetual rainfall that took place in the village. Just outside of the flooded area lay a smattering of outlying villages, where Naruto boarded a boat intended to come into the main hidden village itself. The boat ride had lasted for around an hour with no canopy over top. Thus the only thing keeping Naruto from the elements was the cloak over his head that he was using to obscure his features, and it was bitterly cold outside as well.

'Sorry Kyuubi.' Naruto thought to his demonic inmate, 'But rain is the precipitation I hate the most, and it's cold as hell too, making it worse… Maybe I should have tried taking the other way in. It might be dryer than this. Fucking rain… I hate the rain, I hate the rain, I hate the rain-. Ugh, sorry.'

"**Game face on ningen."** Kyuubi advised, **"Forget about the weather. You'll be living in it until we're done here. You remember what to do once you get in don't you?"**

Naruto rolled his eyes, 'Of course I do. My part of the infiltration was all my plan anyway. It's totally foolproof.'

"**How about two-foolproof?"**

'Fuck you.' Naruto shot back, 'Me and Ero-kyofu are golden. Once I get in he'll find me. I have no idea how he's going to do that, but once we get in I guess we'll just have to wait and see.' The Kyuubi's laughter rang out in Naruto's head, confusing Naruto deeply, 'What's funny? Nothing's funny about this.'

Kyuubi stopped laughing long enough to answer its jinchuuriki, **"You **_**do**_** remember what Danzo told you about basic infiltration in **_**all**_** of the noteworthy villages don't you?"**

'Of course I do.' Naruto thought testily, 'You don't forget stuff like that.'

Kyuubi started laughing again, **"Then you would remember that Amegakure has a policy of security checks and surveillance to all visitors."**

Naruto wasn't getting it, 'So? I can deal with the surveillance, that's rookie stuff, and I don't have any weapons or anything conspicuous on me anyway. Who cares if they have security checks? There's nothing on me that could give me away.'

Kyuubi chuckled a bit more, **"Okay then. I guess you're right. Yeah those series of cavity searches should be no problem for a tough guy like you right?"** Kyuubi could feel Naruto just lock up after that statement was uttered and let out more laughter.

Naruto grit his teeth under his face cover as the sound of raindrops mixed with the laughter of his inner demon, 'I hate you so much.'

XxX

(Elsewhere in Amegakure)

In the tallest tower of Amegakure, a pair of ripple pattern eyes peered through the darkness of the room they were in, "Konan." The voice of Pein called out, "There are intruders of interest in Ame. Please locate and identify one of them for me, he will be around the western quadrant. If he is who I suspect him to be, you know what to do."

A woman with blue hair and a paper flower in her hair, dressed in the Akatsuki robe, Konan walked out onto the ledge outside into the rain, "As you wish Pein-sama." With that, a pair of wings sprouted from her back as she jumped into the sky and took off in flight.

After the presence of his female partner had vanished from view, Pein shut his eyes, "And about this other presence? Another presence, and it feels so familiar. I hope you enjoy your return to Ame sensei, thank you for bringing me the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. And I hope you enjoy being in the presence of God before your death."

XxX

(With Naruto)

He had lived through the demeaning cavity searches that had awaited him after the boat had docked, there had been one right after everyone got off, there had been one once they had gotten inside the dock building, there had been another one right outside at the gate before they could actually get to town itself. After dealing with that he decided to go on walkabout until Jiraiya found him somehow. There wasn't much he could do except start getting information as long as he didn't have any gear on him, not even a lone shuriken rested on his person.

He had never been so unarmed in the field in his entire life and he had to say, it was rather hard keeping his cool around all of the Ame ninja inside of the posts waiting to search him. He had to keep his fingers from twitching towards his bladeless back, or his pouch-less thigh. Despite the out-of-his-comfort-zone feel he had the entire time, once he got out to the streets he felt much more at home in his little espionage mission.

Amegakure was a very industrialized village, more so than Konoha. There were elevators abound, cable cars all over carrying people between the tall buildings, tons of neon signs and the like. Most of the ninja he saw, instead of using kunai and shuriken as their primary long range weapon, took to carrying umbrellas that would sprinkle senbon in a deadly rain of sorts… original. In addition to that, a lot of them wore oxygen tanks and facemasks that would allow them to breathe underwater.

The village itself was huge. The buildings were more narrow than Konoha's, but they were so much taller. Skyscrapers were abundant in the village, but even then there were so many of them. Still, infiltrating this village felt more comfortable than trying to do so in any of Orochimaru's bases. At least he had free reign to fight and run away if he needed to. It was going to be one hell of a challenge for anyone in Ame to corner him if he was discovered and forced to flee. There were tons of canals that were full to the brim with rainwater and he could see younger ninja down in them… a lot of D-ranked missions in Ame probably had to do with how they dealt with all of the excess rain and flooding.

'Ero-kyofu better not be fucking around on the outskirt villages.' Naruto had left Jiraiya to infiltrate Ame on his own as both of them together would be too risky to attempt. Naruto would be heading through the front door so to speak while Jiraiya ensured Naruto that he had his own way of getting in inconspicuously. He left it at that and sent Naruto on his own way to get in saying that if he didn't beat him there he would catch up soon enough. That was just one of the things they had spoken about before beginning their operation in earnest.

_(Flashback – One Day Ago – Just Past Ame's Border)_

_Jiraiya looked at Naruto as they both trudged through the rain, "You're very strong Naruto. I'm very proud of you I want you to know that."_

_Naruto looked over at Jiraiya and returned his attention to walking, "Don't say stuff like that Ero-kyofu. You know it's bad luck to say that crap before we do things like this. Save it until after we leave this country and get somewhere safe."_

_Jiraiya shook his head, "No I'm saying this now. You're one hell of a ninja kid. You're going to be a great Hokage whenever Tsunade-hime decides to cough up the hat to you. Root-trained or not, I know so. And I've said it a million times, but I'm truly sorry about sealing you off when you were younger."_

_Seeing the sincerity in the man's eyes Naruto couldn't just tell him to stifle, "It's alright. I forgave you a long time ago, you know that. What's wrong with you?"_

'_Just thinking back to some old pupils kid.' Jiraiya gave Naruto a wide grin, "I've got something I need to teach you once this mission is over. Something that I'm excited about. We'll talk about it more once we get out of this, alright?"_

_Naruto shrugged off Jiraiya's previous attitude with a grin of his own, "Now that's more like it."_

(End Flashback)

"I saw the angel today." A nearby man said as Naruto took temporary refuge under an awning from the rain, "I still can't believe that someone was able to take down Hanzo, but I guess he is God after all!"

Naruto frowned underneath his facemask, 'This guy killed the guy that the guy who trained me wanted to drain of his lifeblood with a spoon but never had the chance. And they call him God… S-rank superiority complex. I really don't want to meet this guy yet. Now where do I go to wait for Ero-kyofu, the bar? No, that's too obvious. ' Naruto started walking around the village again, just seeming like a harmless tourist of sorts as he thought things out and took in the conversations of the people around him.

All the citizens were talking about were the guy they called 'God' and the person they referred to as his 'angel'. The more he heard, the less he liked and the sooner he wanted to leave. But he had just gotten there, they hadn't even gotten to the crux of the mission yet and he still had to find Jiraiya. Maybe after he had a blade or twenty on him he would feel less skittish over the whole matter, but until then he was cold, wet, hungry, alone, and unarmed, miles away from home, in the dead zone of the Elemental Nations. If anything happened he would have one hell of a breakout ahead of him as if Orochimaru's hidden village was a rat's nest, then this village was a hill of fire ants.

The people believed that this Pein guy kept the village safe, that he was God among men, and there had to be some reason for that. Naruto wasn't buying it in the least, but if the guy ran Akatsuki, could beat a legend that inspired terror like Hanzo, and could get people to call him God he had to have something that backed it up.

It was alright. Just don't get caught. Simple. Be cool, be ice. What did they have on him? Nothing. Tons of people came into Ame looking like him, it was raining and cold as hell. Everyone was bundled up.

When Naruto was sick of wandering around he saw a sight that made him grin widely under his cover. A small building that he knew wasn't a regular part of Ame, no matter how well it looked like it belonged there. A cozy looking tavern with lights on and the prices of cheap drinks out front. What kept Naruto from going in, was that he knew exactly what this was, and seeing as how he was the only person on this particular street it was almost show time.

And he was not disappointed when the building turned into small toad, signifying the presence of the man he was looking for, "Smooth Ero-kyofu." Naruto said, "I'm going to assume you caught someone just now in there."

Jiraiya appeared at Naruto's side, grinning, "You know it gaki. How'd you like the cavity searches?" He asked with an amused look on his face.

Naruto gave him a look with the only thing visible being his piercing blue eyes, "I hate you so much right now. The only thing stopping me from leaping out and you and kicking you in the balls right now is that I still need you."

"Don't give me that look." Jiraiya said before holding up a scroll, "Here, I brought you your goodies." Naruto quickly took it from his grasp, "Felt naked without your stuff did you?"

"You have no idea." Naruto replied, "Alright, go shake down your captures, I'm going to change into something better. It's not like if I do my job right I'm going to be seen again so it doesn't matter."

XxX

(A Few Hours Later)

Naruto waited for Jiraiya to return from interrogating his prisoners. He changed into the same stuff he had on for the Yuki no Kuni mission, only he kept his cloak over top due to the weather. He noticed the look on Jiraiya's face as he returned from getting his information and shared it all with Naruto. How this Pein character killed Hanzo in battle, how he eradicated anyone loyal to or anyone who had a relationship of any sort with Hanzo, "So what'd you do with the guy?" Naruto asked after all of their cards had been lain out on the table.

Jiraiya wiped the rainfall from his face, "I sent him to Konoha. He wouldn't say anything more about Pein than what I told you so hopefully they can work something more out of him."

Naruto nodded, Jiraiya was good, but he wasn't an interrogation specialist. It was better to send him to people that could definitely coax the information from him, "So now what's the plan? Where do you need me Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya pointed up at a skyscraper, "I need you to find me areas of potential interest. Do what you need to do. Find me anywhere that could have anything we need to know Naruto. Send me periodic reports on your progress, don't be afraid to send a toad. With all of this water it should be easy enough for them to stay discreet. I'll be keeping my feet to the pavement for now."

The two Konoha ninja looked at one another before Naruto took on a stone-like face and saluted Jiraiya before vanishing in a shunshin.

Jiraiya watched as the after-trail of his shunshin dispersed, "Good luck gaki." With that he went off on his own to dig up his own dirt.

XxX

Well someone in Amegakure was spoiling for a fight rather soon, or so the stockpiled weapons here and there inside of storehouses all over the village would attest to. No one inside of Ame seemed to be ready for any kind of war, but the kind of surplus that Naruto found was just too much for it to just be superfluous. It had been a few hours since he had left Jiraiya, and he actually had something to arouse some suspicion so he figured then was as good a time as any to check in with his perverted sensei/godfather.

Naruto had taken his place atop a skyscraper as he sat out for a short reprieve. It had been a while since he had to go under the radar like this, he forgot how much energy it expended staying hidden for so long. Good thing it was something you never forget how to do. Before Naruto took to biting his thumb to begin a summoning, he saw a figure in the sky not too much higher than he already was.

As it flew around the area he frowned to himself, "Damn it, this is too soon…" He knew his cover was already blown by whoever this was, but if he could take this person out and go along his way he might have been able to stay hidden. It didn't seem like this person had risen the alarm on his presence yet, that was their mistake.

"The last mistake they'll ever make." Naruto said to himself as his cloaked form stood straight up to address that he knew he was found out. The cold storm wind causing his cloak to flutter about, eventually pushed the hood off of his head to reveal his blonde hair. He pulled the facemask connected to his shirt under his flak jacket down to reveal his whiskered cheeks.

A series of projectiles flew at Naruto from the aerial attacker. Naruto had to say he was jealous of whoever it was, he had mastered his element and he still couldn't fly. But for right then he had to stifle that thought and dodge before he was hit. Naruto moved out of the way of the attacks and as one stuck itself into the roof he was standing on he saw that it was a sheet of paper.

Naruto touched the edge of it to reveal that it was razor sharp. That would have seriously injured him if it had hit him. He turned his attention back to his opponent who had sent out an entire salvo of the paper shuriken for another attack. Naruto drew his sword and sliced through them, 'A long range fighter like Deidara.' He thought as he decided he was going to close the distance in this one even if it killed him. He'd be damned if he was going to let himself get picked apart from a distance this time around, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"

Naruto was joined on top of the skyscraper by ten copies of himself that had immediate orders to cover him while he tried to close in on his airborne enemy. He ran towards the end of the rooftop and jumped into the air at his opponent. "Fuuton: Kaze Wakiokoru (Wind Release: Wind Burst)!" As he started to fall, his jutsu activated and the air bubbles underneath his feet burst, giving him a temporary platform with which he was able to spring at his opponent.

Naruto swung his sword at the enemy, but missed wide and wound up sticking to the side of another building. From his up close attack, he saw that he was fighting a woman, a woman in an Akatsuki robe. Yeah, he was in it now. She flew past him on wings made of paper, she fired paper shuriken at him. She certainly had a strange style of ninjutsu.

His clones had begun to bombard her with weaponry of their own from the rooftop as he watched her navigate her way through the attack with her paper wings. How she was able to use paper in the rain he had no clue. Naruto crouched down standing sideways on the wall and pounced off hard, giving himself enough momentum to carry himself back to the roof with his clones where he immediately began making hand-seals, "Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Release: Lightning Shuriken)!"

The recent amount of weaponry in the air above the female Akatsuki member's head due to his clones missing began raining down lightning around her that she dodged. Naruto kneeled down in front of a wall of his Kage Bunshin, "Draw!" All of them pulled out a fuuma shuriken each, "Aim!" All of them drew their arms back to throw at the woman still dodging the lightning bolts raining down on her, "Fire!" The clones let loose the shuriken that prompted Naruto to begin his own hand-seals, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"

The large, mid-air shuriken multiplied in flight and went right for his enemy in a wall of steel. Naruto watched as the woman was shredded in mid-air with the vicious barrage of weapons before narrowing his eyes as the feeling of his clones that had formed a wall behind him being cut down fluttered through his mind.

Naruto immediately leapt to his right with no time to spare as all of his clones were vanquished with extreme prejudice by more deadly flying paper. He turned with his sword at the ready to see the woman standing in front of him on the same rooftop. Naruto spoke, "You know, I thought for a second that I might have put you down with that last one, but that was just a clone the entire time, wasn't it?"

"You're correct." She replied coolly as she slowly walked forward, "I can assure you that the genuine article will not be as easy to defeat Kyuubi jinchuuriki."

"I have a name lady, and I know you know it." Naruto said as he readied himself for anything from her, "I'm not going to ask you to leave me alone, or even to surrender because I know you won't. All I'm going to say is that you'd better be ready for me."

Her eyes showed nothing but stoicism, "I have a name too Naruto Uzumaki. It is Konan. And I never underestimate my enemies. Doing so to you would make me an utter fool." She extended her hand as a sword of paper seemingly formed out of her sleeve right before she dashed forward.

Naruto quickly blocked it and took a retaliation swing that she dodged by jumping back and sending out a rush of paper shuriken at him. Naruto cut through all the ones that were immediately dangerous to him, leaving the rest to turn his cloak to tatters, exposing him to the elements fully. Naruto ripped off the rest of the cloak and threw it at Konan as a weapon of convenience. The remains of the tattered cloak were reduced to ribbons by Konan's paper, but while it still existed it provided enough of a blindspot for Naruto to get to Konan's left side where he lashed out with a horizontal swing of his sword. He cut through a wall of paper that Konan haphazardly put up to stop him and saw her form a massive paper airplane to take off with.

Naruto sheathed his sword and grabbed on to the back of the plane just as she enabled it to take off from the rooftop, bringing him right along with her in her flight. The added unexpected weight of Naruto immediately caused problems for the flight as they were directed into a nosedive shortly after they left the roof. Konan tried pulling up but it was too heavy to brute force upright. Naruto made a set of one-handed hand-seals, "Fuuton: Reppuushou (Wind Release: Gale Palm)!"

Naruto aimed the directional wind to turn the plane upright well enough that it brought them out of the dive. Naruto pulled himself up onto the plane and his presence was answered with a sword slash aimed at his face that he leaned back to avoid as it almost cleaved off his nose. Naruto responded by letting off a punch at her that when it made contact made her body burst into paper and reform behind him, with an attempt to stab him through the body.

Naruto rolled off the side of the paper airplane and pulled himself back up the other side with a kick at Konan that she blocked with a mass of paper, "I thought you guys _weren't _supposed to kill me."

Konan gave him a hard look, "Don't be foolish. You know that you can survive that with little problems. I won't kill you, but when I'm done you'll wish you were. You will feel pain before your life ends, that I can promise you."

Naruto smirked, "Honey, until you've been tied to a chair at the age of six and 'emotionally conditioned' in Root, you don't know what pain is."

Konan's eyes hardened at the sound of the name 'Root', "But until then, as I said. You'll survive this." After saying that, Konan used the paper that made up the airplane and reformed her wings before flying off, leaving Naruto hurtling high-speed through the air between the skyscrapers with nothing under him.

"Holy shit! You crazy bitch!" Naruto screamed as he continued flying through the air, "If I live through this in one piece I swear to Kami I'm going to fuck you up!" Naruto hurtled through the skyline of Ame until a building finally got in his way, "Fuck! Slow down, slow down, slow down!" Nothing Naruto had in his arsenal could change his trajectory and he was moving too fast for him to use Fuuton: Kaze Wakiokoru to slow himself down or keep himself in the air, so all he could do was soften the impact enough to keep him from doing his best impression of a smashed insect.

"Fuuton: Rasengan (Wind Release: Rasengan)!" Naruto made the two handed, elementally charged Rasengan and brutally punched a hole into the building he was flying at, causing him to crash-land inside of the building.

Konan hovered at the entrance that Naruto had created high up in the building, a motionless Naruto was what she saw strewn out in the rubble in a hallway from his last ditch effort to keep himself in the fight, "You're not defeated yet, don't insult me by trying to play dead. You're probably a Kage Bunshin."

"Boom." The laid out Naruto said lowly before an explosion filled the hallway and came back out through the hole, forcing Konan to fly higher to dodge the fireball made from the explosive note that was attached to the now incinerated Naruto.

Konan was able to elevate a floor, however Naruto crashed through a window from above her, his clothes all beat up from crashing through a building wall, scratches all along his face from it as well, a one-tail chakra cloak covering his body, and a Rasengan in his right hand. The attack hit Konan, took out one of her wings, and propelled them both downward towards the ground.

Konan, luckily for her, hadn't been subjected to the violent jutsu for too long, letting her reform her wings rather quickly. Naruto was still close to her however and used the tail of his chakra cloak to grab her, pull her close, and latch on to her, keeping her from flying correctly.

The direction of her awkward flight pattern led them to a canal where they skimmed the water before the actual impact of them hitting the surface occurred, throwing them apart forcefully.

XxX

(With Jiraiya – Before Naruto and Konan's Battle Began)

It had been hours since Jiraiya had heard anything from Naruto, and he had just come from speaking with his Ame contact, giving him his new orders for the time being. Jiraiya proceeded to go about his own through the shadows of Ame, looking for any sign of the kid as well as waiting for any news from him.

During his search he heard a sound of something crashing and the sounds of people panicking in the streets around him. Jiraiya quickly found the area where the skyscraper was wrecked on what appeared to be the fifteenth floor or higher. Suddenly a massive fireball emerged from the hole and a glowing red figure dropped from a higher floor to hit someone floating in the air. He saw paper flutter from the person's falling body and knew only one person that had a jutsu anywhere near resembling that, 'Konan is that you?'

"The angel is in a fight?"

"Who would be crazy enough to call the wrath of God and his angel after what he did to Hanzo?"

"It doesn't matter, he won't be around long enough for it to matter anyway."

Jiraiya grit his teeth, "Damn it gaki." He muttered before moving towards where he saw them fall. He wasn't doing too badly from the looks of things, but things could change in a hurry. The Akatsuki always operated in twos and while he seemed to be winning against the one, the second member could attack him at any time, "This Akatsuki thing is going to kill either him or me I swear."

Before he could get too far a voice called him, "I would say that your opinion is correct, but you don't need to be told that you're about to die Jiraiya-sensei."

Jiraiya saw a man standing on a pillar nearby staring at him. The man had orange hair tied back in a long ponytail, multiple piercings in his nose and all over his face, a slashed Ame hitae-ate, and an Akatuski cloak. His most relevant trait was a set of eyes with distinct ripple pattern eyes.

Jiraiya stared at the man hard for a long while before finally speaking up, "You've certainly changed a lot, but those eyes. You're Pein, aren't you Nagato?" The man did not respond, "I guess you didn't grow up the way I wished you would. What happened to you?"

Pein narrowed his eyes at Jiraiya, "You don't need to know. After all, you're just an outsider in my village."

Jiraiya shook his head at the man, "You've changed Nagato."

Pein made a few hand-seals, "For the better? Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!" A large crustacean with body piercings of its own appeared in a puff of smoke, "Suiton: Houmatsu Rappa (Water Release: Violent Bubble Wave)!" The crustacean fired a wave of bubbles, much like the jutsu name indicated, that Jiraiya jumped away from against a wall.

"Who do you think you're dealing with?" Jiraiya asked as he made his own hand-seals, "Ranjishigami no Jutsu (Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu)!" His hair extended and wrapped around the summon creature before even more of his hair grew into the shape of a lion's mouth that engulfed the crustacean and kept going towards Pein.

He dodged the initial attack, but wound up getting wrapped up in Jiraiya's elongated hair. Jiraiya looked at the man caught in his grasp sadly, "Nagato there are so many things I want to ask you, like what happened to Yahiko? I know Konan is fighting Naruto right now."

"Yahiko…" Pein said, "I do remember someone by that name. He's been dead for a long time."

Jiraiya almost cringed at his tone, "What happened to you and Konan?"

"Nothing happened. This is just another fight." Pein said calmly, "Too many people have died here, and their pain is what helped me grow up. Even the most ignorant, innocent child will grow up eventually when they learn of true pain. It affects what they say, what they think, and they become real people."

Jiraiya sneered at him, "You think abandoning the love for your friends is the right way to grow up?"

"Sensei." Pein said in the same monotone as before, "You're still just a normal person. But me, living in the center of an infinite universe of pain… have grown into something much more." He closed his eyes, "I have grown from a person into a God. And as God, what I say, what I think, becomes the law of God. But you're still just a regular person sensei, I don't expect you to understand what I'm telling you."

Jiraiya's face twisted into a multitude of emotions, 'I can't believe you're the same child I met all those years ago.'

"Things I couldn't comprehend as a human are crystal clear now that I am God. And now I have also noticed that there are things I can do as a God that I could never dream of as a human." Pein continued as Jiraiya listened.

"What are you trying to do here?" Jiraiya asked.

Pein had a simple answer to that, "I'm going to put an end to this pathetic world and its endless wars. It will be an act of God."

Jiraiya needed to know more. He was in front of what used to be his student, who was now the leader of Akatsuki. He could get the reasoning from the source itself, "What are you after the biju for? Why do you want Naruto?"

Pein quickly decided his reply, "I suppose since you're going to die and since Konan will have the Kyuubi in our possession soon enough I can tell you. Using all of the biju, I will create a new forbidden jutsu. A technique that will eradicate an entire country in less than a second. The ultimate technique. A weapon of unprecedented power and scale."

'Yep, Naruto was right. S-rank power, S-rank ego, S-rank insanity.' Jiraiya thought in response to this plan, "How could you think something like that would stop war? You'll just make them bigger that way! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life!"

Pein shook his head at the toad sage, "When countries quarrel with one another what is the quickest way to end the dispute?"

Jiraiya snapped at him, "Stop avoiding the question. Answer the question, how could you think of something that damned stupid?"

Pein ignored him, "I will give my weapon to the warring nations, people who have weapons will inevitably use them."

Again, Jiraiya figured that this plan was completely asinine. Yes he was right, the weapon would be used eventually, but that would solve nothing. Whenever the weapon was used, whoever was left would immediately begin starting on something bigger, something more powerful, and when that was created they would use it in revenge. This wouldn't lead to a new world order, it would lead to no world period, "Hundreds of millions of people will die from your idiot idea, and the survivors would be terrified-." He was about to say '-and pissed the fuck off' but he was cut off.

"All the people of the world will learn what true pain is!" Pein said determinedly, "My technique will breed fear and be the ultimate deterrent. The wars will cease quickly. Pain will quicken the world's growth as it did mine. Our world is still in its infancy, but the hand of God has come down to guide it down the path to maturity."

Jiraiya felt like laughing, "You want to help the world destroy itself to help it grow up faster… and you think that's your responsibility?"

"I do." Pein admitted, "I am a God of peace after all."

Jiraiya let out a chuckle, "You've turned into quite the comedian Nagato."

Pein Kawarimied out of harm's way after finishing his explanation, "Over here sensei. To me you're an insignificant child whose growth was stunted."

"Another summon?" Jiraiya said as he saw Pein standing atop a massive chameleon, "I have to admit, hearing a kid like you telling me that I and the world need to grow up. If Naruto were here he would be laughing his ass off right now! You say you're God, but I'm no longer a human either." He said as he made hand-seals for his own summoning jutsu. The smoke amassed around him, "Flooded by anger I cry tears of blood! The Lone Hermit of the Legendary Sannin! The Unstoppable Toad Sage of Mt. Myouboku! The great Jiraiya!" He said before falling face first onto the surface he had been standing on.

"You really haven't grown up at all have you?" Pein said disdainfully.

Jiraiya stood up with a roar, "Damn it Gamaken-san , don't be moving all over the place when I'm getting my pose on!"

The massive toad wearing clothing much like Gamabunta except he had a magenta color, horns on his head, black markings going down his face and he held two things, a shield in one hand and a sasumata in the other (Google it… it's a pain in the ass to explain if you don't know what I'm talking about), **"You tripped over your own two feet you clumsy idiot."**

"Whatever." Jiraiya said as Pein and his massive chameleon came charging forward, "I'll have to get serious right from the start here… I'll have to use Sage Mode for this one."

Gamaken looked up at the summoner on his head in shock, **"What? Are you serious? You're going to-?"**

"Yep." Jiraiya said, "I'm summoning the Two Great Sage Toads. I'll need you to buy me some time to set this up Ken-san."

Gamaken nodded, **"You've got it Jiraiya. I'm pretty weak, but I'll give you my best!"**

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, "Again with the 'you're weak' crap. You're not weak and you're going to show this bastard that right now."

XxX

(Naruto vs. Konan)

Naruto pulled himself out of the canal onto some debris that had gotten caught on something, keeping it in place, "'We've got a mission to infiltrate Ame gaki. You should be right in your element. You might even meet a cute young lady you like there with your track record.'" Naruto said, mimicking Jiraiya, his voice still rather gravelly from using the Kyuubi's chakra, "Yeah I met a lady alright. And she's kicking my ass you stupid perverted toad sage!"

Naruto stood straight up to see Konan fly directly out of the water, her paper wings being soaked not hampering her ability in the slightest, "That really hurt."

Naruto growled, "Duh, that's why I did it. You dropped me out of the air from at least 150 feet. _That_ would have hurt."

"Pein-sama knows that Jiraiya-sensei is here." Konan said, "He's probably dealing with him as we speak. You have no hope of him bailing you out and saving you."

"Who says I need Ero-sennin to save me from you?" Naruto questioned with barbs in his voice before the important part of that statement hit him, "Did you just say Jiraiya-_sensei_?"

Konan nodded and tilted her head, Naruto believed that was conveying her amusement at his lack of knowledge on the topic, "Yes. He was our sensei a long time ago. Did he not tell you?"

Naruto stood at the ready but he had questions that he wanted answered, "When? All I know is that he trained Minato Namikaze and that was it before me."

Konan nodded again, "That was after he trained us. We were trained during the Second Great Ninja War, a long time before you were born."

"Wow…" Naruto said, "So that would make you like… 40 or something. You're really hot for being 40." He looked at her wondering what she looked like under that Akatsuki robe, "If we weren't fighting right now I would probably be hitting on you."

"**Age doesn't mean anything to a demon or a ninja ningen." ** Kyuubi said off-handedly.

'Shut the fuck up. I'm fighting here. If you aren't going to tell me to dodge something that's trying to kill me, keep it to yourself until the fight is over.' Naruto thought to Kyuubi as he couldn't see any inclination of emotion on Konan's face, but he could sense the killing intent from him trying to guess her age/hitting on her, "How did he train you? Why?"

Konan's temper died down as she decided to explain, "We were war orphans. Ame was constantly used as a battlefield between the larger nations during their conflicts and our families were taken from us. Jiraiya-sensei taught us ninja arts in order to give us a chance to defend ourselves and survive. Me, Nagato, and Yahiko. We wanted to bring peace to Ame. But Hanzo… and Danzo."

"Wait." Naruto said, "What about Danzo-jiji? What happened?"

Konan's eyes hardened, "Hanzo aligned with him and his Root to destroy our group that wanted to bring peace to Ame. He killed Yahiko… but Naga- Pein killed them all and saved me."

And there it was. That was why Danzo hated Hanzo, that was why he always said to stay out of Ame. Hanzo ended up getting his troops slaughtered by this Pein, but Naruto knew why Danzo decided to ally with him for that purpose. Bringing peace to Ame would take away an important buffer nation that no matter what would have kept enemies at bay who tried passing through it attack Konoha during war times. Danzo could have backed Konan and Pein err… Nagato though. It would have ended better. His Root were killed anyway when he sided with Hanzo, and if he had supported them instead, guerilla-style, he could have kept his men alive and maybe stopped all of this from happening. But hindsight was 20/20. Naruto wasn't Danzo and Kami he didn't want to be, what was done was done and it was his problem now.

Konan continued to speak, "Pein-sama will bring peace to the world, and you are a vital key to that peace, as well as its greatest thorn in its side. You won't be any longer after this Naruto Uzumaki. Shikigami no Mai (Dance of the Shikigami)!" Konan sent out a rush of innumerable papers at Naruto that started to engulf his body. His chakra cloak fought them off at first, but eventually they surrounded him and covered his body entirely, "Now you'll remain there until you pass out from lack of oxygen. It is all over."

"Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere)!" The paper encased Naruto audibly inhaled deeply and exhaled, causing several bullets of air to fly from Naruto's body and cut through Konan's paper, giving him enough room to Kawarimi his way out. Naruto rushed at Konan, now sporting two tails on his cloak, "Thank you Danzo-jiji! The only damn jutsu you have that I can use from your training!"

Konan heard him thank Danzo as rage flittered across her face for the first time, "You would thank that monster?" She said loudly as the launched a seemingly endless stream of her paper at the jinchuuriki. The power of her paper hit him full on and drove him back into the water, moving the water aside as it pushed him towards the depths, "You're Root too… I was told that you feel no emotions, no pain. We'll see about that." She said as she began making hand-seals

"One man's monster is another man's hero! Ask Iwagakure!" Naruto roared as he exploded from the water at Konan, "And I do feel pain and emotion, he never broke me like the rest!" He saw her making hand-seals and noticed that some of the paper that had stuck to his body were explosive tags. He flared his chakra and got them off of his body just in time for them to explode.

Konan watched the fireball and saw Naruto get thrown back into the water coldly, "No matter how strong or fast you are in that form, no one can outrun an explosion."

The water bubbled for a moment before a large red chakra claw reached up out of the water and grabbed Konan. She saw the paper that she coated her body with burning through from the intensity of Naruto's chakra as she saw three tails swirling about when he surfaced again. Naruto whipped her body about violently before throwing her as hard as he could with his chakra claw.

Konan somehow was able to muster even more paper and create more wings for herself to fly herself out of harm's way, 'He's a very powerful ninja. Even without the Kyuubi, but with it his strength is overwhelming. I need to play this right. I won't be able to flat out overpower him or even outlast him as he is. I just have to hold out long enough for my plan to work.'

'I can't hit this bitch Kyuubi! She's too methodical for me! She'll just fly away and try to pick me apart from afar!' Naruto roared to the demon inhabiting his mind.

"**You aren't anywhere near Konoha kit. There is one thing you haven't tried yet. How many tails can you use?"** Kyuubi asked calmly as if it had a plan.

'I can barely reach four, you know that.' Naruto thought to Kyuubi as Konan gained altitude and took off through the village, 'She's handling three pretty well so far and I can't grab her. Once I lose control at four she can keep picking me apart until I raze Ame to the ground. I don't want to do that though!'

"**Four tails eh? The last time you used what I have in mind you only had two at your disposal. You'll be twice as well off now once you activate it."** Kyuubi said with a vulpine grin on its destructive face.

Naruto almost froze as he used his tails to swing himself along the skyscrapers through the village in pursuit of Konan, 'You're telling me to use the trigger aren't you? The last time I did that I cracked every bone in my body when I turned it off! I had it on for too long!'

Kyuubi had an answer to that, **"You're an idiot… Then don't turn it off until you kill the paper-using woman and her partner or at least until you can be protected by Jiraiya. It's that simple. Once you activate it she won't last long. You know this."**

Naruto couldn't respond to that. With two tails the only thing that kept him from slaughtering Kimimaro all those years ago was that he couldn't generate enough force to get past his unbelievably tough Shikotsumyaku kekkei genkai bones to anything vital. He doubted that Konan could take an Imari the way Kimimaro did… that guy was a killing machine. A pity he died really. But the point was, if she was buying time, he would let her. He needed the time too.

With that in mind, Naruto began climbing the skyscraper he was currently attached to, trying to reach the top as fast as he could. From this point forward for him, this fight wasn't about precision any longer. Konan was far more precise in combat than he knew he could be in a head-to-head conflict. The only other option was overwhelming force, and Naruto had yet to meet anyone that could match him when he decided to cut loose, and he doubted he would today.

Naruto reached the top of the skyscraper and saw Konan flying about keeping far out of his range. Naruto simply stood still, tails swinging about, trying to will out his fourth tail, knowing how much it would hurt and how much damage it would do to his body, 'Just keep flying around… I've got nothing but time bitch.' His red eyes rested firmly on her aerial form as he focused on drawing the rest of his power out.

XxX

(Jiraiya vs. Pein)

Pein's chameleon disappeared from sight, alerting Jiraiya and Gamaken, "He's gone… How in the hell did he find this kind of summon?" He put that question elsewhere for the time being, "Since he's disappeared we can only use that barrier jutsu of ours to find him."

Gamaken was sweating, **"Yeah, this won't be an easy battle."**

Pein knew what he was doing as Jiraiya used a jutsu to extend his awareness to sense Pein's presence, 'That jutsu will detect any slight movement of his opponent.' He suddenly summoned a giant three-headed dog and sent it at Jiraiya and Gamaken. The large toad was forced to dodge by jumping up and grabbing onto an elevated position.

Jiraiya looked down to locate their enemy that was now riding a five-headed dog that was still coming at them, "The more they attack the more appear. What are these? Little dogs with high growth rates? Damn they split up!" He shouted as that indeed did happen. They split off from the main dog and launched at Gamaken who used his massive weapon to bat them away. However he missed one that knocked him off of the skyscraper.

While in midair, a giant drill-beaked bird came at Gamaken who lifted his shield to block. It kept him from taking immediate damage, but he ended up slamming into the ground from the air, cracking the ground. Jiraiya stood on his summon's chest, "Whenever I plan to attack he hides himself! This is seriously weird." Jiraiya thought up a strategy as he was currently not going to last long enough as he was, 'He's supposed to have all 6 elements with the Rinnegan, but why is he only using summons to fight?'

A massive ox rushed at him and Gamaken, "Gamaken you can return home now, I'm ready!" Gamaken returned to the mountain of the toads just as the ox plowed Jiraiya into a wall, kicking up a cloud of smoke. However it ended up with the ox being thrown away as if it were nothing.

"**Why do you always summon us in places like this? No wonder Gamabunta is always angry!"** An elderly voice said from Jiraiya's hole in the wall.

"**Aw don't say that Ma, Jiraiya-chan was forced to do this."** Another elderly voice said from inside of the hole.

"Sorry for summoning you both here Fukasaku-sama, Shima-sama." Jiraiya said apologetically.

Shima spoke again, **"But brat, didn't you always say this form of yours chases away girls? That's why you hated using it."**

Jiraiya chuckled, "Heh, there's no choice but for me to just deal with it. I am fighting an opponent with the Rinnegan after all, so let's go..." Jiraiya's form could be seen from the shadows of the hole in the wall with two small toads on both of his shoulders.

* * *

**Chapter over and it's on, but of course you already knew that… Hope the next couple of chapters are awesome for all of you because some effort will be going into it, rest assured. Most of Jiraiya's fight was straight out of the manga admittedly, but as it progresses… well let's just say I've got your backs.**

**Oh, and to this guy:**

From: Kenchi618sucksatwritingomgad ()

you suck so hard at writing you should just stop! its just one cliche after  
another.

and btw what the fuck brings you to add japanese shit (as in language) in  
every other sentence?

HERE IS AN IDEA: JUST WRITE IN JAPANESE?

***To the guy that decided to flame over nothing, and when I say nothing, I mean **_**nothing**_**. I haven't been rightly flamed like that in… I would hazard a guess of 15 chapters, so reading that made me chuckle, especially when you didn't find anything to rightly bitch about or even use an actual account, but of course by now I know that's par the course. I would just like to thank you for padding my review count because it is just over 6 months since I first published this story and I have almost 4000 reviews and guess what? You helped. :) **

**For guys like you I should be able to kill you by pointing at you and saying my review count and the time it took me to get it out loud while making eye contact with you, especially since it's still my rookie year, but whatever. Is my story not as good as your story? Yeah, you've probably got a way better story right? Definitely, clearly your story is a masterpiece compared to my story. **

**Go read some yaoi if you don't like my story, there's plenty of that, and it seems more up your alley anyway. Remember **_**constructive criticism**_** is more than welcome, and it actually has to be criticism.***

**Sorry about that. Insomnia makes you grumpy. Next time you hear from me it'll be back to school for more of that good old book-learnin' for me. Kenchi out.**


	39. Violence Parade in the Downpour

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. My heart tells me that I should, but I am not important, or smart, or capable of drawing my way out of a paper bag, or good at making original storyline… As a matter of fact that's why I don't listen to my heart, my heart's a damn idiot.

**Chapter 38: Violence Parade in the Downpour**

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Fukasaku sighed, **"You really need to learn how to use Sage Mode on your own Jiraiya-chan."**

"Yeah, yeah." Jiraiya said as he emerged from the shadows of the hole in the wall, "You know I wish I could, but I'm still just a tadpole compared to you two." Jiraiya now had a larger, more bulbous nose with warts, he now had a goatee, the lines on his face were far thicker, his eyes were toad-like, and-.

Fukasaku looked around, **"So where's this guy with the Rinnegan now? I don't see nobody."**

Shima shook her head, **"Maybe our sight is failing us in our old age."**

Jiraiya kept his eyes peeled around himself to keep watch for an attack from the still undetectable Pein, "It's not your fault. He's hiding inside of a summon of his that can blend in with the surroundings, more or less making itself invisible."

Shima looked at Jiraiya oddly, **"You mean like a chameleon or something?"**

The human in the odd team spoke, "I've already put up a detection barrier with Gamaken, but-."

Shima cut him off and made a hand-seal, **"That ain't gonna get us nowhere! If you're looking for a living creature we'll find it in no time!"**

"**Don't strain yourself Ma, you'll give yourself more wrinkles."** Fukasaku cracked, getting an angered growl out of the female toad, **"By the way Jiraiya-chan, I realize that you need us because this guy is so tough, but why are you fighting him in the first place?"**

Jiraiya shrugged, "Well… he's a former student of mine."

Fukasaku looked at Jiraiya in shock, **"Well it obviously ain't the Uzumaki boy or you'd be up the wall right now… Which means-."** His eyes widened in realization.

"**He's the destined child?"** Shima asked incredulously, **"Then why are you fighting him?"**

Jiraiya didn't rightly know how to respond to that, "Unfortunately he didn't grow up to be the man I hoped he'd become, plus I'd heard rumors that he died and convinced myself that this 'Pein' couldn't possibly be my student."

Fukasaku shook it off rather quickly, **"Well whatever the case if he ain't turned out right we gotta kill 'em!" **

Shima scoffed, **"That prophecy was just the senile old fart rambling on and on, just like always! Anyways enough of that, let's get 'em!"** Shima stuck her tongue out, at the tip of it appeared to be a face with sharp teeth that seemed to be looking around before pointing in a general direction, **"Found 'em."**

The tongue stretched and shot out before wrapping around what seemed to be air, **"Gotcha!"** The tongue started excreting a corrosive chemical that exposed Pein's chameleon as it slammed it into the ground, **"Pa!"**

Fukasaku's tongue leapt out of his mouth with speed and force and was hard enough to cut through the pipes along the wall, the chameleon itself, and the ground beneath it. The chameleon dispelled in a puff of smoke, **"So that's the Rinnegan… they're definitely the eyes that the legends described. What a wretched sight. So he's the destined child."**

Jiraiya nodded as Pein clapped his hands together, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!" In a puff of smoke, two more men kneeled down on opposite sides of Pein. One of them was large and bulky, with orange hair tied into a short ponytail. The other one was a tall, slender man with long orange hair. They both had multiple piercings all over their faces and wore scratched out Ame hitae-ates along with the Akatsuki cloak.

Shima looked on determinedly, **"This is the one that will cause the destruction of the world…"**

Jiraiya's face reflected the emotion on the faces of the two toads on his shoulders, "…Yes, and it's my duty as his teacher to stop him here."

XxX

(Naruto vs. Konan)

The rain had long since stopped and Naruto simply stared at Konan while sitting on the roof almost like a fox as she continued to fly about the skies. At first she tried minor attacks with paper weaponry, but Naruto's three tailed cloak kept him protected while he gathered power for his fourth tail and the use of the Kitsune Trigger. Eventually he got sick of just sitting and waiting and decided to take some target practice, focusing wind chakra at the ends of his tails and throwing them out at Konan in an attempt to shoot her down and wear her out before he finished gathering power.

'What is he doing?' Konan asked herself as she navigated her way around Naruto's ranged attacks, 'The Kyuubi is supposed to be a being of pure malice and anger. There should be no way that he can bear holding back and keeping from fervently pursuing me while using its chakra. But he's just sitting there waiting. He's playing right into the hands of my plan, but I can't help but feel a sense of foreboding over this.'

"**How do you feel kit?"** Kyuubi asked Naruto as he continued forcing more chakra through Naruto's system gradually so that when the actual fourth tail took form Naruto didn't lose immediate control and blow the entire gameplan to hell.

'Good and pissed. And don't give me that shit about how it's supposed to feel like that, I already know that.' Naruto grumbled to the demon in his mind as he shakily took the soldier pills in his supply pouch and popped them all at once, 'Don't tell me when the tail is going to manifest. If you tell me my control will slip and then instead of the controlled precise force the trigger will give me I'll be all berserk and reckless.'

"**Can do punk." ** Kyuubi said, focusing on steadily generating more and more power, **"Give that bitch hell, I'm not going to have my container be taken down here by some lady that throws paper… I still have to eat you and gain my freedom. I'd rather not get pulled out of your body just to be used for something else."**

Paper rose from all sides of the skyscraper Naruto was currently seated upon, so much that it was easily blocking his sight of Konan. Mixed in with normal papers were clearly a lot of explosive notes. Konan looked at the dome of paper and explosive notes that she had built up around Naruto, "Let's see if you're really as powerful as your biju would make you out to be." She made a hand-seal and had the paper swirl all around Naruto, edging ever closer to the jinchuuriki.

'My ass I'm letting her blow all of those up on me!' Naruto angrily thought to himself before letting out a massive roar that unleashed a shockwave of his chakra in all directions, blowing all of the paper and hidden explosive notes away from himself, scattering them all over the skies.

Konan looked on in shock as the papers flew all about. In addition to floating in the air, many of them stuck to other buildings nearby. She gasped in horror when she realized that she had activated the explosive notes when she sent them at Naruto in the storm to confuse him. In a matter of moments explosions rocked buildings all around, sending flaming debris falling from the upper levels of the village to the city streets below, where the citizens had no idea what had happened and were not prepared for the dangerous repercussions of Naruto and Konan's battle.

Konan looked down in abject horror at what had just happened, and taking her eye off the ball would cost her when Naruto fired another ball of wind chakra from his tail that hit her head on, pulverizing her paper wings and sending her, luckily for her, flying onto the top of another building.

Konan stood up and heard the efforts of the people below attempting to help those injured from the last move of the battle and the attempts of those trying to evacuate the civilians from the area before even more happened that could endanger them. She glared over at the glowing red figure of Naruto and even at the long distance the two stood at she knew he was glaring right back at her with his red eyes.

Konan clinched her fists and shouted across the area at Naruto, "This is what we're trying to prevent. This senseless destruction, can't you see that? Once we take the Kyuubi from you and all of the other biju from their jinchuuriki we can begin to guide the world towards peace by showing them the futility of war."

Naruto stayed silent until he shouted, his gravely, increasingly demonic voice penetrating her ears, "I'm a weapon, plain and simple. No matter why I was placed with the Kyuubi, no matter why the Yondaime Hokage did it, after it was done it was all on me to be Konoha's protector, and to protect myself from people like you that would use the Kyuubi's power in a more destructive way than I would. Since I knew what a shinobi was I knew what my job was, and the knowledge of the Kyuubi only made the point of what I was supposed to be even clearer."

"You're a seed of war." Konan said, "You were born and immediately placed with your demon. You are simply destruction incarnate, you don't understand, you'll never understand."

Naruto bared his sharpened teeth, "You're right I don't understand you stupid bitch! Having a group like Akatsuki pointing weapons of total destruction at everyone and maintaining a peace that way isn't peace at all, it's a proxy truce. It's no different whatsoever than the way things are now! It's not real!"

Konan's face showed no inflection of taking in Naruto's words, "Then we will make them understand that the only peace that will work without doubt is the peace that will be orchestrated by Pein-sama."

Naruto growled and felt himself losing control of the Kyuubi's power. This came right before the feeling of his own skin burning off of his body occurred. It took everything Naruto had to not drop his concentration when his body was engulfed in the intense chakra.

Konan let herself smirk, 'A berserk jinchuuriki is easier to bring down than one attempting to fight like a shinobi. He has fallen right into the first step of my trap.'

Naruto then lifted his head to the heavens and let out a deafening roar that shook everyone within earshot to their core. If they hadn't been brought to their knees by the oppressive aura of the Kyuubi beforehand it was an afterthought at this point. With the last of his free will, Naruto inhaled deeply, drawing in the chakra from his body revealing raw, red skin from the Kyuubi's chakra burning him.

After inhaling all of the chakra, Naruto painfully swallowed it all and fell to the ground writhing in pain at what he had done to himself, "I hate doi**ng this!"** Naruto shouted as more screams of pain followed.

'What is he doing?' Konan asked herself until she remembered Zetsu's report on his battle with Orochimaru's underling Kimimaro Kaguya all those years ago, "No!" She quickly fashioned herself a pair of paper wings and flew at Naruto in an effort to stop him as she saw his body undergoing a transformation. Just before she could reach him with a paper sword in her grip she was thrown back by a flood of chakra erupting from Naruto's body that caved in the roof of the building he had been on.

Konan righted herself in the air as the dust and debris from Naruto's finished transformation billowed from the building he had destroyed the top few floors of upon completing his preparations. Some of the wrecked building shifted around as Naruto stood back up to reveal his form to Konan. Naruto was sizably bigger, he was just as big if not bigger in stature and size than Jiraiya, that was the least noticeable thing about him at the moment. Red fur had grown all over his body, the appearance of his head became that of a fox with glowing red eyes, his hands grew longer claws than usual in his jinchuuriki cloak. His spine pushed down out of his skin and pants and instead of splitting into two tails the way it did the last time it split into four tails that grew skin, muscle, nerves, and fur over them.

Naruto was panting heavily following his transformation before speaking in a deep, warped voice, **"Gaara never had to tear his own body apart to use his best jinchuuriki powers, Yugi-chan never had to do it either, but nothing can ever be simple or straightforward for me can it?"** He said disdainfully before looking at Konan who was staring at him in shock, **"Sorry to keep you waiting, you must have been bored."**

Konan got over Naruto's new appearance rather quickly, "So you have full control over the Kyuubi? That is very impressive. I only know of two other jinchuuriki with that amount of control over their biju."

'She thinks this is full control?' Naruto thought to himself, 'This isn't even close, can't she count the tails? This is just a bastardized excuse of _partial_ control because I can't go past four tails. How much of this form does she know about? Her info must be shoddy.' Well it was shoddy. Zetsu had been watching his fight with Kimimaro right until Naruto fired the Imari when he hightailed it out of dodge to keep from being blown to burnt and crispy bits. Seeing an Imari must have been all he needed to see to be able to report back that Naruto had full control. His defeat of Sasori almost an entire year later must have been enough to keep that mindset amongst Akatsuki.

Naruto let out a snort at Konan's comment and took a few steps back before running forward, picking up speed, and launched himself through the air at Konan. Getting over the shock of seeing a humanoid fox flying through the air at her, she had seen stranger things in her time, Konan took a higher position, letting Naruto miss her with his attack and land feet first on a wall, **"Are you going to actually try anything or are you just going to keep running?"** He asked. Naruto tilted his head to the side in a curious manner when she didn't answer, **"You're waiting for something…"**

Of course she had to be. She wasn't actively engaging him the way she had been before he started drawing on more and more of the Kyuubi's chakra. They _were_ in Amegakure, their home base so there had to be something here that could handle a jinchuuriki like him and that's what she was waiting on. Pein won the civil war. Everyone here in the village was with them. When it really came down to it, Naruto wasn't just fighting Konan, if it was really put out in front of him to see, he was fighting everyone in the village. They had to know something or someone was attacking them after what had been going on.

"So you finally get it." Konan said when she could make out a look of realization on Naruto's face, "I don't know what possessed you to come here, but we knew you were here the second you walked into the rain upon your arrival. You walked right into our hands. Pein-sama controls the ninja of this village. Right now, preparations are being made to restrict your demon's influence and power, they will be complete soon. You cannot defeat an entire village on your own, simply surrender."

Naruto began letting out loud barking laughs that confused Konan, **"You idiots… I'm a jinchuuriki. Has Ame ever even had one from any village attempt anything against them before, let alone the fact that I hold the strongest one of all. Danzo-jiji trained me from the age of four, just for things like this. To infiltrate enemy villages with my stealth and obliterate it from within."** Konan's eyes widened, getting a vulpine smirk from Naruto, **"You don't think I can? You'd better call off your shinobi before I tear this village apart with my power. Oh, wait, that's what you all wanted the biju for in the first place right? How about when you have it happen right here in your own home? Would that make you want to stop fighting? Let's find out!"**

Naruto let his body drop from the side of the skyscraper and fell to the ground below, using his tails to slow his descent. He narrowed his eyes once he neared the ground and found that there were multiple smatterings of Ame ninja preparing to head up multiple skyscrapers in an attempt to overwhelm him. Naruto's body hit the ground with a resounding crash, cracking the earth below him and getting everyone's full attention. He lifted his head and saw all of them with weapons drawn, debating over attacking him or running away until one man cried out.

"Capture the jinchuuriki alive! For Pein-sama's ambition! It is the will of God!"

At hearing those words Naruto couldn't help but chuckle to himself, the Kyuubi had to as well as he was intently watching Naruto's battle. The Amegakure ninja had to take him in alive, and they were apparently fanatical enough to follow Pein's orders to the letter because he was 'God' and they would not ruin their God's plans even at the cost of their own lives, because they were working for something greater than themselves.

Naruto didn't have that kind of restriction.

He let out a massive roar that threw all of the inspired Ame shinobi backwards. Threw them down the streets, threw them through open shops and stands, threw them through window, threw them against the walls themselves, those were the least lucky of them all, the impact of their heads against the sturdy material never stood a chance.

Naruto looked up at Konan who was flying around, low-altitude, and Naruto had a new strategy. Forget the fight.

He gave her an even stare after seeing those that were still alive from his first attack getting back up shakily, **"This is what you wanted the jinchuuriki for, right? Let's see how much of this you can take, and we'll see if your 'God' will save you and these ninja from me."** Naruto looked at his razor-sharp claws and began running through the Ame shinobi that hadn't yet recovered enough to pose a threat to him in battle. The better ninja were able to recover faster while Naruto had been cutting a path through their comrades, but the level of skill in Ame, despite their 'God' of a leader was not up to par when compared to Konoha ninja.

Naruto thought to himself while he grabbed the arm of a man that tried to stab him with his kunai when he got too close and gripped it tightly, hearing the man yell out once he felt Naruto's enhanced strength break the bones. Naruto spun around and used the man to smash into two more shinobi that had come to the man's aid. They must have been genin.

Naruto threw the man at another advancing group of Ame ninja. He had more trouble before when he tried this in one of Orochimaru's bases, and there were more ninja here. He saw Konan attempt to work her paper into the overall battle, but channeling some wind chakra to his tail and whipping them around kicked up a small whirlwind that served a double purpose of knocking her troublesome paper techniques away and disorienting the troops around him.

Konan grit her teeth at the scene, 'His wind element is the natural weakness of my paper… This is not good.'

'Fighting those damned spiders in the Forest of Death may have sucked at the time, but it was amazingly good practice for this!' Naruto thought to himself as he backhand swept an opponent's feet from under him before delivering a crushing side kick that sent the man back first into a post, clearly breaking his back. A torrent of water from an attempted enemy jutsu filled the street and almost crashed headlong into him, but he jumped into the air and entered a building by obliterating a window with his body.

"He's inside! Trap him now!" A man cried out as more than a dozen others ran inside the building Naruto entered to bring him down. The streets around the building were flooded with Ame ninja surrounding the building awaiting any sign of Naruto so that they could complete the capture or cut off his retreat.

Konan hovered in the air around the building, thinking of any possible way to get to Naruto and bring him down. She was not going to fail. This was the most important step in their plan, and she wasn't going to let Naruto stand in the way of the peace they had been working so hard to bring.

XxX

(Jiraiya vs. Pein)

Fukasaku got a good look at the men that Pein had summoned to his side and thought that his old age was really beginning to get to him, **"How can there possibly be three people with the Rinnegan?"** He asked. It was true. All of the men in addition to their attire in battle had in common the distinctly patterned eyes of the legendary kekkei genkai.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, "There has to be some trick to this jutsu." Jiraiya smirked confidently, "Alright time for me to really get started! Prepare for the full-on Sage Mode pre-fight ritual!" Jiraiya stood in a grand gesture with the two toads still atop his shoulders, "Prepare for the force of my almighty ninjutsu, backed with the ultimate senjutsu! Behold the brilliant glow of my angelic halo! The Gallant Jiraiya-!"

Both Shima and Fukasaku punched Jiraiya in the face to get him to stop, **"Stop yelling in my ear damn it!"**

Jiraiya snapped in anger, "Why the hell does someone always have to ruin my poses?" Jiraiya sighed in resignation before rushing forward and throwing a kick that nailed the long haired man in the face and sent him crashing into a wall.

"Very nice sensei." Pein said. The debris generated by Jiraiya kicking the one man into the wall injured his eyes.

"I know." Jiraiya said, "I'm the one that did it after all!" Jiraiya, Shima, and Fukasaku all inhaled deeply before exhaling at the same time to form their attack, "Senpou: Goemon (Sage Art: Bath of Boiling Oil)!" Jiraiya released a massive amount of oil that was ignited by a fire jutsu from Shima. The flames were fanned and heated by a wind jutsu from Fukasaku, sending a burning wave of oil at Pein and the other two.

The large man with Pein jumped in front and absorbed the attack, leaving himself and Pein unharmed by Jiraiya's attempted collaboration jutsu. Jiraiya kicked off his geta revealing his now webbed feet to go with his webbed hands, "Then let's try this…" Jiraiya launched himself at Pein and the man protecting him from harm. In one hand Jiraiya formed a massive Rasengan twice as large as his own body, "Chou Odama Rasengan (Super Great Ball Spiraling Sphere)!"

A barrier formed around the large man's body right before Jiraiya's massive Rasengan made contact and began to shrink as the chakra was drained from it. Jiraiya looked at it in shock, "He can absorb that just like he did with the oil?"

The injured man with long hair attacked Jiraiya from behind, prompting Jiraiya to Kawarimi to safety and position himself behind the attacking man who he launched a punch at. A punch that was caught and blocked, "No way! He can't even see my attacks with his wounds and he still-?"

Fukasaku dropped a smoke bomb, shrouding them in smoke and obscuring the vision of the combatants. Jiraiya appeared behind Pein kneeled down, "Senpou: Kebari Senbon (Sage Art: Hair Needle Barrage)!" Jiraiya fired a massive amount of hair needles at a continuous rate, set on turning Pein into a pincushion.

Pein backed up to get himself some room and quickly summoned a massive panda to block Jiraiya's attack and take all of the damage. Jiraiya had come in from his blindside and still was unable to land a blow, 'How is he doing that? They can form such near perfect defenses without even speaking or making eye contact. That was my fastest and most ranged attack and even then he had it all worked out without even seeing me move.'

Fukasaku spoke up, **"Them guys ain't just regular old clones eh?"**

Shima was next to talk, **"That's what you meant by saying that there was some trick to 'em, eh Jiraiya-chan?"**

"**Did you notice it yet?"** Fukasaku said, getting a puzzled response out of Jiraiya, **"When we got behind that guy earlier we were in his blind spot. The whole time the other guys were watching very carefully. They didn't make a sound, didn't look at each other, didn't look like they gave off any signal at all. Don't you see Jiraiya-chan, it's the eyes. If all three of them are watching the same target…"**

"Then all three see the target from all three different points of view… so that's it." Jiraiya said, finally getting the gist of what the older toad was trying to say, 'If I can't get a surprise attack off with my ninjutsu then at this rate even with Sage Mode these guys will kill me. They're that strong and it's three on one. I need to find Naruto.'

"**Jiraiya-chan we should retreat for now."** Fukasaku said quietly. Jiraiya let out a grunt of understanding before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Pein stood still for a moment before speaking, "He's trying to hide in the pipes."

Jiraiya was beating a hasty escape through the pipeline of Ame, "Damn it even if one of them actually is Nagato there's no way that three different people all have the Rinnegan. What does this all mean? Which one of them is the real Pein? And what is he?"

Fukasaku tried to give Jiraiya a look of reassurance, **"I dunno yet. But give me a little more time and I'll have this all figured out. All three of those boys share the same field of vision, they can see from the same vantage point, that's one of their powers."**

"**So what?"** Shima said, **"What does that even do for 'em anyway?"**

"**Well basically…"** Fukasaku started, **"It's like sittin' in a security booth and watching video from three different cameras. You can see everything the cameras see at once. So if one of them could see the target, the other one could see it as well, even if it ain't directly in their line of sight. That's how they're attacking and defending with perfect timing."** The old toad shook his head, **"That's three times the field of vision of a normal person, and unlike the Byakugan they can cover each other's blind spots without forming seals or using chakra. That's one hell of a combination."**

Jiraiya shrugged, "Well then I guess we have to split them up. I know I can win one on one, maybe I can get Naruto to handle the rest if I can find him. That is, if he was able to beat Konan and is still in fighting shape… But even with help, with those eyes he would be prepared for a counter to a strategy like that, and he is the leader of Akatsuki. He wouldn't have even undertook this venture in the first place if he didn't truly believe he had the power to do battle with the Kyuubi or at least its jinchuuriki." He let out a sigh as he continued to retreat, "Anyway taijutsu is out, and the fat one absorbs ninjutsu."

"**Then all you got left is genjutsu."** Fukasaku commented.

"Meh." Jiraiya said distastefully, "I hate genjutsu as much as Naruto does himself, I've never been much of a user. But on the other hand, you two…"

Fukasaku spoke thoughtfully, **"If he really was your old pupil he would know you don't use genjutsu… that could be a major advantage.**

Shima suddenly yelled abruptly, **"No way! I ain't having none of it!"**

"W-What?" Jiraiya said in confusion.

Fukasaku and Shima bickered while Jiraiya continued to run until he finally had enough of being left out of the loop, "What are you so upset about?"

"**I ain't singing no duet with Pa at my age, it's too embarrassin'!"**

Jiraiya sweatdropped, allowing Fukasaku to elaborate, **"Our most powerful genjutsu is a song that attacks the victim's brain through their sense of hearing. That's why I wanted you to hide, because the sound would give away our position immediately, it also only works when our voices combine into the right melody and that takes time. We'll have to take him down before he can find us."**

Jiraiya's face turned grim, "If this thing turns ugly and gets even more dangerous I want you two to get off of my shoulders and return home immediately."

Fukasaku looked at Jiraiya in shock, **"No way in hell Jiraiya-chan! The outcome of this fight is going to affect the future of the entire world!"**

"Hey…" Jiraiya said in offense, "I have a plan. It's a bit of a gamble though."

XxX

(Naruto vs. Konan)

It had been minutes and no sign of either Naruto or the pursuit force sent into the building after him were in sight. No one had come back outside at all. Was he really that hard to find in there? He was nearly seven feet tall and was a massive humanoid fox. How hard could it be to locate him inside of a building?

Suddenly, Naruto jumped out of a window on the tenth floor, covering an absurd amount of distance with one jump, but there was a victorious look on his face, **"Boom."**

Konan flew away swiftly, "Get away from the building now!"

Every floor, tenth and below, went up in a colossal explosion, a force five times the power of a normal explosive note blew up on every floor below the tenth, catching countless ninja that had been surrounding the building in the destruction… and that was all before the entire building came down.

Naruto watched from a distance, holding on to the side of another building, as the towering structure he had once been inside of fell, **"That was a really bad strategy. They wouldn't have cornered me in there anyway."** A paper shuriken flew at him, forcing him to move his head as it nicked his cheek. He looked over to see Konan looking at him in abject fury, **"What? I'm a 'seed of war' aren't I? This is the only thing I'm good for according to you, you were just the one stupid enough to make an enemy out of me. You had to know it would come to this… trying to use me and the others as active weapons. You're just upset that it's happening here, in your home. Your little master plan isn't so good when it's being practiced on you is it?"**

"It doesn't matter." Konan said, "No matter what you do you won't leave here today. You will be beaten, you will have the Kyuubi extracted from you. Because no matter how much of a monster you may fight like you can't compare to a-."

"**God?"** Naruto finished her statement for her blithely, **"I haven't seen him yet. If this Pein guy is God then he would strike me down wouldn't he? He wouldn't let me do this for very long if he were would he? He would know I was here and tearing Ame apart right? This guy is no more a God than I am."**

Having had enough of the banter, Konan attacked Naruto again with her paper sword. Naruto swatted her in the arm with his tail, revealing her to be a paper clone, but this was largely useless at the moment as the clone transformed completely into paper and began latching onto Naruto, completely covering him again, 'Damn it I can't use Danzo-jiji's wind jutsu in this form, it takes more control than I've got like this!'

Konan wordlessly made a hand-seal, revealing a few of the sheets to be explosive notes that began burning down before exploding on Naruto, sending him falling from the side of the building he was on to the ground, smoke flying off of his body from the explosions, 'Ugh, if she knew fuuinjutsu she would be damn near unbeatable… Thank you Ero-kyofu for neglecting to teach her that much at least because you gave her one hell of a base to work from.' Naruto thought to himself as he picked himself up off of the ground.

As he made his way to his feet he quickly found a water whip wrapped around his neck, choking him, before two more wrapped around both of his arms. Naruto glared at the Ame ninja who had taken advantage of his predicament against Konan to attempt to capture him.

"Hold him for the Angel to finish him off! Don't let him escape!"

Naruto let out a snort and jerked one of his arms harshly, yanking one man off of his feet towards him right at his feet where Naruto delivered a stomp to his back that finished him off. With both hands free, Naruto grabbed on to the whip around his other arm and used it to propel that attacker into the one that had the whip around his neck. Things could have been going far worse all things considered, but things were looking bleak at the moment. He needed to find Jiraiya and get the hell out of Ame before their luck ran out.

Unfortunately at the moment, He was still stuck in the middle of the enemy with an S-rank missing ninja trying to do whatever she could to pester him and capture him. Like in one of Orochimaru's bases, only now it was an entire village and there was nowhere to really hide, not only that, but he wasn't alone. He wasn't leaving Jiraiya behind, and he had no idea what Jiraiya was into, if he was fighting then the old pervert was most definitely in the middle of a battle of his own. Maybe he was being assaulted by multiple opponents like he was, he had to get to him and see what they were to do from this point. He was still the commander of this mission, and Naruto was his underling.

Naruto used his tails to furiously whip away Konan's paper before using them to throw more long range wind chakra balls at Konan, **"I need more ranged attacks…"** He said to himself and Kyuubi before taking off through the streets to search for Jiraiya, Konan hot on his heels and keeping up her ranged attack.

Konan had an almost indiscernible smirk on her face as she continued to attack Naruto… he didn't know it, between the fighting he had to do on the ground and the attacks he had to worry about from the sky, but Konan couldn't bring him down here in the middle of the city, not on her own, not without utterly destroying it. That was never her plan. She never wanted the people of the village to get involved in taking him on, they did that of their own volition. In reality she was corralling him, because with her view from the sky she knew where Pein was. After he was through dealing with Jiraiya he could finish off Naruto too. All she had to do was get him there and Pein could and would handle the rest.

Because as the Rikudou Sennin proved back in his heyday, even a demon was no match for a God.

XxX

(Jiraiya vs. Pein)

Pein and the other men ran through the underbelly of Amegakure, pipes strewn all about and narrow halls and pathways rampant when a strange song began to sound out, "It sounds like frogs… Genjutsu?" He said before getting a direction of the sound, "He's there!" Pein ran through a doorway into a narrow hallway where he saw Jiraiya, but when he attacked he got a rather rude awakening, 'A Kage Bunshin?'

A clone was dispelled before Jiraiya showed himself from behind them once they passed his position with his cheeks puffed out widely, Fukasaku and Shima still on his shoulders croaking, "Katon: Dai Endan (Fire Release: Big Flame Bullet)!" It fired a blast that covered the entire hallway in flames. The large man moved in front of the blast to run interference and block it.

'Yes! I knew that would work, the fat one would absorb the jutsu just like I knew he would! The original one only used summons and the fat one only uses that absorption jutsu. They all have one unique technique, but that one technique is all they can use!' Jiraiya thought excitedly to himself as he was beginning to figure the entire thing out, 'Only one of them can see me right now!' The large one was looking at the attack he was blocking, the long haired one was blinded from earlier, and the pony-tailed one, Pein, was the only one looking at him.

Pein and the long-haired one jumped over the remnants of the fire attack while the fat one worked to absorb it. The long-haired man stuck himself to the ceiling, getting a smirk out of Jiraiya, "Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)!" The ceiling ended up pulling him into it, keeping him stuck there helplessly, "Looks like its one on one again!" Jiraiya said to Pein.

Pein quickly tried to make a move, but Jiraiya was all over him before he could do anything, "Enough! No more summoning for you!" Suddenly all of the enemies found themselves unable to move, getting Jiraiya to explain, "This is a genjutsu that paralyzes your nerves and your mind. All three of your bodies can no longer move an inch."

"Jiraiya-sensei I had no idea you were able to utilize such an incredible genjutsu." Pein said as in his mind he and all of his bodies were surrounded by four toad samurai sealing them all in an illusionary cube of water.

Jiraiya smirked, "Never underestimate your enemy no matter who it is. I taught you that years ago Nagato." He said before taking on a reminiscing look, "Nagato you followed the wrong path. I wanted you to rise above the pain you felt, to conquer it, not use it to lead the world to ruin." He let out a bitter laugh as he remembered words that told him he would teach a student that would save the world or destroy it, "For a while I thought it would be you. *sigh* Goodbye Nagato."

The illusion ended when in the real world Jiraiya drove a massive stone sword through each of their chests, "And now it's finally over." He then noticed Shima and Fukasaku coughing, "Are you two alright?"

Fukasaku nodded, **"That song really dries your throat out."**

Shima rubbed her throat, **"It ain't easy getting the harmony with Pa right. That's why we don't go around using that jutsu at everyone's beck and call. It gives you a sore throat and makes your jaw all slack… not to mention the wrinkles."**

Jiraiya sighed and turned to leave, "Sorry about that. But you'll have plenty of time to rest now. I still have to find Naruto and hope he managed to get himself out of his own mess."

"Didn't you just tell me not to underestimate my enemies Jiraiya-sensei?" A new voice said from behind Jiraiya and the toad elders, but the inflection was familiar.

Jiraiya turned his head to face them down, but ended up getting smashed through the wall and out of the hallway to end up falling onto the surface of the water outside of Ame's limits. Jiraiya grit his teeth in pain as he faced down the area he had just been attacked from.

"K-Kiddo, your arm!" Shima said, looking down from the shoulder she was set on. Jiraiya's left arm had been severed from that one single attack from his assailant.

"**What in the hell just happened?"** Fukasaku asked as he looked at their new attackers, **"Their faces are completely different from the other three… He must have summoned them before we caught 'em in our genjutsu."**

There were now six enemies. In addition to the three he had been fighting somehow having been revived he was now fighting a bald man with no neck and piercings all in his head, a slightly burly man that looked slightly aged with spiky orange hair and piercings all through his face, and a younger man with spiky orange hair and, just like the rest, piercings all in his face… and they all had the Rinnegan.

"It's time…" The youngest looking one with orange spiky hair said, "For you to witness the Six Paths of Pein."

"**S-Six?"** Fukasaku said somewhat startled by the turn of events, "**There are six of them? But we just beat three of them!"**

Shima looked at them all angrily for the wounds inflicted on Jiraiya, **"The new three must have used some technique to heal the old three. But there ain't no jutsu that brings folks back from the dead just like that! Are they even human?"**

The youngest one spoke up, "The name Pein is shared by all six of us."

"How can there be six people with Rinnegan?" He asked loudly before he got a very good look at one of the people, "No… that face… it can't be. Y-Yahiko? But he just said that you were dead! And your eyes!"

'Yahiko' looked down at Jiraiya from his elevated position coldly, "You can still see Yahiko in me? How funny. I suppose only his teacher would recognize what was left of him. But make no mistake sensei, Yahiko is dead. The man standing before you is Pein, no one else."

"I'm sick of your bullshit!" Jiraiya roared at him, "How the hell can all of you have the Rinnegan? You didn't have it when I was training you, that much was definite! So are you Nagato or Yahiko? Who the hell are you?"

"We are Pein." 'Yahiko' said simply, "We are God!" They all shouted in unison before launching to attack.

XxX

(Naruto vs. Konan)

"**Get off of me!" **Naruto shouted as he swiped his claws through another group of Ame ninja trying to take him down. For every one of them he wound up putting down it seemed that another was more than willing to throw themselves at him in an attempt to leave him wide open for Konan. And with the odds of probability on their side she ended up getting more than a few decent shots at him. Using the Kitsune Trigger bolstered his strength, speed, ability to recover from damage, and brought his overall bloodlust to palpably high levels, but he sacrificed the use of the vast majority of his ninjutsu and the protection of the chakra cloak in exchange for the control over the Kyuubi's chakra to give himself a boost of his natural attributes, and despite the fact that his wounds would heal quickly for the most part he still took the damage.

Naruto let out another yell as he felt Konan's paper shuriken rip into his back. She was sniping him, slowly picking him apart from out of his reach as the Ame ninja engaged him and attracted his attention. He was no longer fighting the unified mob he had been running through at the start, the ones that still chose to face him were the most stanch believers in Pein and Konan and were willing to do what they needed to for their God's Angel to take him out.

He jumped at her, missing wide again, but ended up whiffing her with one of his tails as he brushed past her, knocking her from the sky. Naruto turned back around to see her hit the ground and saw his chance, that was until a wall of Ame shinobi took up defensive positions in front of her, setting up walls of water to give her time to recover.

Naruto grit his teeth, picking the paper shuriken out of his back so that the newest of his ever present wounds could heal up. Fine, if they wanted him to fight an army that was okay with him, he was supposed to be an army killer. Naruto opened his hand and formed a sphere of raw demonic chakra before placing it in his mouth and swallowing it, 'I hate this move! Why do I have to do it like this? You never complain about your Imari tasting like crap!' Naruto screamed in his mind at Kyuubi.

"**Because you can't handle my full power and you need this as a shortcut. Just like with the original intent of the Kitsune Trigger, the Imari is a far cry from my true power, but it is a shortcut that allows you to harness it for what you need it for, which should be good enough. You're supposed to more or less throw it back up anyway so quit complaining and fire it already."** Kyuubi said as he rolled his eyes at hearing Naruto bite back his dry heaves.

Konan remembered the description of this attack before from Zetsu's description of Naruto's fight with Kimimaro, 'He's going to use that here in the village!' She shouted to the amassed ninja standing in front of her, "Get away now! You can't block this attack! It will kill you all!"

'Too late. This is what you wanted, the Kyuubi, well take all of the power of the Kyuubi that I can give you!' Naruto thought to himself as he started the process, **"****Imari (Menacing Ball)****!"** Naruto shouted as he fired off a beam fronted by a ball of destructive chakra that immediately obliterated everything in its path in a hell-storm that annihilated the village in front of it on a wide scale.

XxX

Jiraiya sat inside of what appeared to be the stomach of a toad on an island of sorts surrounded by corrosive stomach acid. He had suffered a stab wound through his body from some sort of strange sharpened rod by an injured body of Pein that was there with him. It was the one with the ponytail that he had been fighting at first.

"I can't believe he charged right into the toad gourd barrier." Jiraiya said in an exhausted voice, "I can't believe I got one."

"**Are you sure you're alright kiddo?"** Shima asked him worriedly.

Jiraiya nodded, "I'll manage." He said before a strange sensation flowed through his body, "My chakra's going crazy! I can't control it!" Jiraiya hunched over in pain with the rod sticking out of his body.

Fukasaku looked at it intently and ripped it out, **"It's this thing! It ain't enough that they all look weird and there are six of 'em, they have to use crazy weapons too. These boys ain't people, they're something else."**

Jiraiya looked at the unmoving Pein body in front of him, "I guess this one is the real Nagato after all." He said to himself before the Ame hitae-ate on its head slipped off to reveal a scar on its forehead that gave Jiraiya a flashback to many years ago, "No! I remember now! This isn't Nagato, it can't be!" The toads on his shoulders looked at him in confusion, "I fought this man before a long time ago. Right after I began travelling due to the Great Sage's advice I was attacked by a man from the Fuuma Clan and I wound up giving him that scar on his forehead."

"**So what is he doing here?"** Shima said impatiently.

Fukasaku held his head, **"The more we learn about Pein, the less we understand."**

Jiraiya's face looked grave, "If the prophecy as true then I need to know the truth. I have to fight them again. I can't allow you two to be hurt because of me. Please return home."

Fukasaku would have none of it, **"Are you insane boy? If ya go out there then you're toast! There's even more Rinnegan eyes out there than before and he ain't likely to fall for that barrier trap again. He ain't figured out what's going on yet! We need to run!"**

The entire place began to rock and shake violently as if an earthquake had hit. Jiraiya shook his head determinedly, "You're probably right. If I leave this barrier then there's a high chance I'm not going to walk away from this one, but it's my chance to find out his true identity, and Naruto is still out there. If he can't get me then he'll just go after him! Naruto's still either fighting or trying to find me, he wouldn't just cut and run without me I know it! Without me out there he'll be overwhelmed and captured! I need both of you to take this corpse back to Tsunade with everything that we've learned on this mission."

"**If that's all you want then Ma can handle that herself."** Fukasaku said, still not willing to leave.

Jiraiya was about to dispute him when Shima spoke up, **"Ya'd better not be late for dinner!"**

Fukasaku smirked, **"We won't be. Me and Jiraiya-chan'll be there right after we finish up here."**

XxX

(Right Outside Amegakure)

Pein and all of his bodies looked back at his village, or more accurately a massive trench ripping right through his village. Jiraiya had somehow escaped his attack and had managed to take down one of his bodies, one he hadn't been able to locate yet. If that weren't enough, moments later he and the rest of the bodies had to either dodge or get vaporized when a tiny, scaled down version of a Bijudama (Tailed Beast Ball) blasted through the edge of the village, leaving the aforementioned trench that was 1/8th of a mile wide and had destroyed everything in its path, blowing buildings apart, bringing them down, it was a complete debacle.

"Kyuubi jinchuuriki…" Pein said lowly, as there was only one person or thing that could produce such an attack that was in Ame's vicinity. While he and all of the bodies surveyed the damage caused and waited for Naruto to show himself in some manner, Jiraiya surfaced from the water behind them with Fukasaku on his shoulder, who had summoned a massive shuriken that Jiraiya threw at the bald Pein body.

It knew it was coming due to the sight of another body and dodged accordingly. Jiraiya got a good look at them all and realized something, 'I knew it! They're all shinobi that I've met before! That has to be it! I know your identity now Pein!'

Jiraiya's train of thought was cut off when the bald Pein body attacked him and with pure hand-to-hand skill, the same one that took his arm, smashed Jiraiya in the throat and sent him to the ground, impaling him with their rods, 'Fuck! I need to tell Fukasaku-sama! I need to tell him to find Naruto and get him out of here! But my throat!'

"**Ero-kyofu!"**

A rush of balls of air flew at the Pein bodies surrounding Jiraiya's body forcing them away for Naruto to land and kneel by his side. Naruto was panting heavily due to the toll the battles and the use of the Kitsune Trigger had been taking on him, **"Ero-kyofu it's me, Naruto! Kami, what did they do to you?" ** He asked Jiraiya getting no response from him.

"**Pull those rods out of him boy!"** Fukasaku shouted to Naruto, ignoring his appearance for the time being due to more important happenings going on at the moment.

Naruto quickly acted and pulled them out, **"It's going to be fine, I'm getting you out of here."** Naruto turned to Fukasaku, **"You should leave now. Ero-kyofu can't fight anymore and I don't know how to fight with you."**

Fukasaku shook his head, **"I'm not leaving you or Jiraiya-chan like this. I know you're his pupil as well, just like this Pein fella used to be."**

Naruto's eyes panned upwards at the bodies of Pein looking at him, **"Which one is Pein? I see four different guys over there."**

Doing some quick deductions, Fukasaku shouted to Naruto in warning, **"No! There are supposed to be five! We got rid of one!"**

It came too late for Naruto to react defensively as a blade, the same that had been driven into Jiraiya had been shoved into Naruto's back that pierced through his front by the young, spiky orange haired Pein, "Hello Kyuubi jinchuuriki Naruto Uzumaki. I have to say that it is certainly nice to finally meet you."

Naruto gasped desperately as he felt his chakra disrupted by the weapon sticking out of his body, an image of strange swirl-patterned eyes in his head. His Kitsune Trigger form receded back to normal as his control over the form slipped. He dropped to his knees, clutching at the blade sticking out of his chest when Pein spoke again, "You will survive this wound. It isn't fatal. How fitting it is that all of Jiraiya-sensei's surviving pupils meet here."

Naruto looked up into the eyes of Pein and saw the pattern that was flittering through his mind. All the while his body felt utterly broken. He was completely exhausted and his wounds from the fight with Konan and the Ame ninja force were reopening.

"**The Rinnegan…"** The Kyuubi uttered inside of Naruto's mind, **"I will not allow this pretender to yoke me under his will! I will not be his slave!"** It roared, pushing whatever it could chakra-wise into Naruto's weak frame, **"Do not let him defeat you here! Get up!"**

Naruto slowly pulled the blade out of his chest and threw it back at the single Pein, javelin-style. Pein dodged it effortlessly and began dodging Naruto's sluggish attempts at engaging him in taijutsu.

Naruto's first punch was blocked by Pein who delivered a backhand strike that sent Naruto reeling backwards, but still barely standing. With a roar, Naruto came back in once more only for the young Pein to move and allow the bald one to deliver a bone-shattering punch right to Naruto's body that destroyed his ribs and sent him to the ground in a heap. He grabbed Naruto by his spiky blonde locks and pulled him up to eye level where Naruto spit blood into his eye, getting him to drop him back onto his feet where the Konoha jounin turned to wind up getting socked in the face by the fat Pein.

Fukasaku watched Naruto take his beating, the rest of the Pein's jumping in and ping-ponging him back and forth between each other, while staying by Jiraiya who was still holding on, **'He's just taking it all. He can't even fight back anymore and still he won't go down.'** He looked at Jiraiya who had only one eye open as it all unfolded in front of him, **'He's a lot like you in that respect Jiraiya-chan. He won't give up."**

'What is this?' Naruto thought weakly to himself over the sounds of the Kyuubi yelling at him to fight back, to do something. Naruto stumbled towards the blinded, long haired Pein with his fist weakly cocked back, only to get kicked in the back before taking a fist to the body that doubled him over the arm, 'They beat Ero-kyofu… they beat me… I was never even in the fight against this guy.'

"It is futile." Pein said to the damaged jinchuuriki, "You are the living embodiment of destruction. No human is meant to wield the power you hold, you will never find a way to become stronger than me. On the other hand I can and will use the power inside of you to bring peace to this world. It is my duty as its new God."

Naruto blinked weakly before he pushed himself off of the fist driven into his body towards the seemingly main Pein, collapsing against him. He weakly pulled himself face-to-face with Pein where with one of his eyes swollen shut he glared at him, "You're no God…" He said before doing something that he attributed to a death wish the last time he had done so.

The last time he had done this he had been freshly unsealed and had done it as a legitimate battle plan in order to fight Itachi Uchiha. It was so outlandish and out of left field to attempt in battle that it actually worked and distracted him. There was no strategy here. There was no logical reason for him to want to do this. It would not help him win. It would not inspire him to keep fighting any harder than he was already attempting to. Doing what he did to Pein right then and there had no purpose whatsoever except that Naruto just wanted to spit in 'God's' face. Literally.

Naruto hocked a loogie that was 85% blood that splattered all over Pein's face. So surprised by that course of action as no one had ever done that to him in his entire life. Every single Pein stood in abject shock, letting Naruto push himself back off of him and use the last of his chakra to form a spinning blue orb in one hand, "Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!"

"Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God)!" Pein roared in pure malice as Naruto's body was violently jerked away from attacking by an unseeable force. The force of Pein's angered attack was so intense it not only threw Naruto, it tossed a few of the other bodies of Pein away, it threw the small outcroppings of land amid the water surrounding Ame away and it sent Naruto, Fukasaku, and Jiraiya's bodies flying into the air.

Fukasaku sat atop Jiraiya's body as it lifelessly flew through the air and saw Naruto's doing much the same, **"Naruto!"**

There was no emotion in Naruto's eyes, no life. He was not dead, he wasn't even unconscious, 'I couldn't win. I wasn't strong enough.' His eyes drifted over to Jiraiya who was no better off than he was, and because of Naruto he had to take even more damage. And once they fell from the sky Pein was going to catch him and extract the Kyuubi and leave Jiraiya to drown. He had lost, 'I'm sorry Ero-kyofu… I'm sorry Tsunade-baachan… I'm sorry Danzo-jiji. I'm sorry everyone. I just wasn't good enough when it mattered.' Naruto shut his eyes and never heard the shouts of 'Naruto-senpai' before he lost consciousness.

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato)

Hamako had moved all of Naruto's things into the new house she had purchased for him and was in the middle of setting things up for his return when the correspondence tattoo she had placed on herself and Naruto began to throb numbly.

It wasn't any kind of code as what normally occurred when he would speak to her. It was a steady feeling, not in any kind of pattern nor did it have any legible form. She moved to the window and looked outside at the rain pouring down in the village, 'What happened to you Naruto-sama? And are you alright?'

* * *

**Alright, chapter done, and I sincerely hope that was as good to all of you as it was when it played out in my mind when I wrote it. I've not got anything to say this time around so I just hope your weekends didn't suck and your coming weeks will be good.**

**See you all around soon enough. Kenchi out.**


	40. The Foundation Holds Strong

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… unless by 'Naruto' you mean a certain kind of car that I wound up naming… and by 'own' you mean use under someone else's name. In that case yes I own Naruto, what?

**Chapter 39: The Foundation Holds Strong**

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(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

The rain was still falling heavily in Konoha as the early morning began. It had been for over a week, going on ever since two days after Naruto and Jiraiya left. Tsunade had a horribly uneasy feeling about something, and the only pressing issue on her mind that could have been doing so at the moment was the situation that she had sent Naruto and Jiraiya into in Amegakure. While she hadn't expected any news back soon that still didn't mean she wasn't worried.

As she entered her office, Shizune gave her the basic rundown of the day that she listened to half-heartedly, still getting the gist of what she was meant to do that day. Upon finishing, the dark-haired attendant bowed to her and left the room, allowing Tsunade's mind to drift once again.

Eventually however, she felt the presence of an intruder in the office and stood up to prepare herself to defend against it, only for the intruder to be revealed as a small, elderly female toad. Tsunade calmed down and retook her seat, sighing in relief, "Damn nerves…" She muttered to herself before addressing the toad, "Yes, can I help you?" She asked.

Shima hopped onto Tsunade's desk and looked her in the eyes before uttering what she had come to say, **"Little Jiraiya and his apprentice are missing."** She said somberly.

Tsunade froze for a moment before speaking, "H-How? Why? What happened to them? What do you mean missing?"

Shima shook her head, **"They wound up fightin' with two members of Akatsuki. One of them happened to be the leader. The last thing I remember happenin' before I was sent away to return here to you was Jiraiya-chan losing his left arm. Pa stayed to help him but he hasn't returned to Mt. Myoboku either."**

Tsunade slumped back in her seat and looked up at the ceiling in an attempt to divert her tears from spilling, "Tell me everything you can." The blonde woman said, trying to hide her pain behind a business-like voice.

XxX

(Unknown Location)

Naruto's eyes opened to a dark room that was thoroughly unfamiliar to him. His mind started functioning in overdrive, giving himself a quick systems check. He felt fine for a guy that had been smashed by an invisible wall hard enough to be thrown for over a mile and a half and had been impaled straight through. Why would the Akatsuki heal him? And why wasn't he bound? As a matter of fact why was he even conscious? Did they really think he posed that little of a threat, even after having been defeated? A living Naruto Uzumaki was a dangerous Naruto Uzumaki, and it was time for these fools to realize that.

Let's see, nothing in the room that he could use as a weapon. Well at least they weren't that arrogant if nothing else. Fine, he didn't need a weapon, his hands were his weapons. After all, even if he failed again, they wouldn't kill him, they still needed him. No clothes except for a pair of boxers on his frame, his body was wrapped in bandages. He still couldn't get over the fact that they treated him. Why would they do that?

Naruto quietly made his way to the door of his room and stuck himself to the ceiling right above it and waited patiently for anyone to enter so that he could begin his swift escape. After a decent amount of time waiting, the door slowly opened and shut before someone began taking steps inside of the room. Naruto quickly landed on the ground behind them, ignoring the pain in his torso and wrapped his arms around the person's neck in a chokehold to quietly put them down.

That would have been his course of action had the person he grabbed a hold of not replaced themselves in a Kawarimi with a chair near his bed.

"I'm very glad I prepared that Kawarimi before I entered the room Naruto-senpai or you might have killed me just now."

Hearing a smooth female voice made him believe Konan had been the one in the room, but the added –senpai to his name shook him of that notion. Only Sai ever called him senpai, but Sai sure as hell wasn't a woman. As a matter of fact the only reason Sai called him Naruto-senpai was because he was in… Root.

"Root?" Naruto asked slumping against the closed door.

"That's right Naruto-senpai. We are currently in a Root hideout in Kawa no Kuni (River Country). We headed here after retrieving you and Jiraiya-sama from Amegakure." The female voice said once again informatively, "You really shouldn't be out of bed."

Naruto sent out a question that he needed answered, "You said you retrieved me and Jiraiya. Does that mean he's alive?" He said hopefully.

"Yes." The female said, getting Naruto to slide to the floor against the door in relief, "His wounds were far more appalling than yours however. Your entire skeletal frame was cracked and you had a few ruptured organs to go with the stab wound through your torso."

Naruto looked across the darkened room at the female who had taken a seat on his bed, "And what of Ero-kyofu?"

The girl let out a sigh, "Jiraiya-sama had a stab wound through his torso much like yourself that injured a few organs of his. His left arm was severed from his body at the shoulder, and his throat was crushed in battle. He is currently in a coma. We put him under so that he wouldn't know of our base… I'm sorry if you have a problem with that… orders. I can give you the shot you need to take him out of it when it's time for him to leave."

Naruto ran a hand down his face, "How did you get us out? We should have been finished. There was no way you guys fought off that Pein guy." He looked at her trying to somehow get night-vision to make out her features, "I'm sorry I don't even know your name."

"Sai-senpai has given me my old codename of Maki as he said that you would find it the most familiar. You did spar with me often Naruto-senpai, back before your unfortunate incident in Otogakure." She said.

Naruto's hands felt along the walls until he finally hit the light switch and illuminated the room. His eyes slowly adjusted to the light before making out Maki's appearance. The Maki he remembered he never got to actually see. Her operational clothing was baggy, her hair had always been short, and she always wore her mask around him. He didn't even know she was a girl until Sai told him she was during their trip to Uzushiogakure.

_(Flashback – Naruto: Age 5)_

_Danzo walked with a young Naruto through an underground Root base in Konoha, "Naruto it is important for you to keep up appearances in the village so that it is not outright discovered that you are training with me as you well know." Naruto nodded and kept silent as they walked, "I have and will continue to oversee your training, but an important part of working as a shinobi is teamwork and you will learn to work with others here."_

"_Okay Danzo-jiji." Naruto said resolutely._

_Danzo looked at Naruto, hiding his ire at the jab at his age. He knew it was a form of endearment, but he was wrestling in his head over whether or not he wanted Naruto to see him that way to ensure his loyalty, or if he wanted Naruto to be like the rest of his soldiers. But for now he was just going to have to go with the status quo, "Do you need another conditioning session with Dajimu?"_

"_No Danzo-sama." Naruto said blankly. Danzo could tell that he abhorred adding that particular honorific to anyone's name, but nothing worth forming was built in a day. Naruto would eventually get used to calling him Danzo-sama… or so he thought. _

_Danzo led Naruto into a room that appeared to be a dojo of sorts where there was a person his age sitting in the middle of the room. They had short black hair and a baggy black long sleeve shirt and pants as well as a plain white mask on their face, making Naruto wonder if he should put his on too. Before he could reach for his mask or ask about it Danzo spoke._

"_Begin!" He said sharply._

_Naruto was almost caught off-guard by his equally diminutive counterpart as they came at him from their seated position to attack him before he was even aware of what was occurring. _

_After a short, mildly skilled back and forth of taijutsu between the two children Danzo sharply ordered them to heel, "Enough!" He walked between them, "Naruto, this is Maki. You will be working with Maki. Training, eating, missions. This person will be your partner unless I call for you personally. Do you understand?" Naruto nodded, "Maki do you understand? You will work with Naruto here as your sole partner." Maki nodded and looked at Naruto through the mask's eyeholes, "Very good."_

(End Flashback)

Now it was coming back to him. Maki was the only person he really got to call an acquaintance in Root. He said acquaintance instead of friend because Maki never really spoke to him. He never saw Maki outside of the base unless they were busy and even then Maki only spoke in short, low-syllable comments that quickly conveyed what needed to be said. And he never saw her without that damn mask they were all given. However Danzo didn't reuse codenames for other people, if this girl was really the Maki he more or less grew up with then the name was a definite indication of that.

This Maki was right at his age. She was far smaller than him as she didn't top out over five feet in height to his five foot seven, but she had definitely grown out. She didn't wear baggy clothing anymore either, she wore tight black pants, black sandals, and much like Sai wore, a high-collared tight shirt, one sleeve long to go with the other arm that was sleeveless that came to her stomach and zipped up. It was left unzipped enough to reveal part of her chest and the mesh shirt she wore. Her dark grey eyes were rather hardened, something he expected as it was the same girl he worked with as a child. She still had short black hair, but as it now came down to her neck in order to go with a pair of long braids descending down her back there was no disputing that she was most certainly a girl, she wasn't even wearing a mask, it was attached to her hip.

"Hello Maki." Naruto said, trying to pick himself up off of the ground but was now fully feeling the effect of his wounds, "How have you been?" He asked as the girl helped him up and back over to his bed.

"I have been fine senpai." She responded, setting him down on his bed, "Due to your unfortunate capture and subsequent sealing, Danzo-sama never truly saw it fit for me to go through the final stage of his emotional conditioning."

"And that was?" Naruto asked as he tried to sit up, only to be pushed down by Maki's delicate hand.

Her sharp grey eyes locked with his blue ones, "A fight to the death between me and you." Wait, he seriously would have made Maki fight him back then? 8 year old Naruto back then would have slaughtered an 8 year old Maki. She was good enough to keep up with him in training, but a fight between them would have always ended with his victory. He was a jinchuuriki that was trained by the leader of the cell personally. She was just a little girl, a well trained little girl, but still a little girl, "I was never subjected to that part of the training. As anyone Danzo-sama would have made me fight would not have had that much of a bond with me if there was even one at all. The same thing happened to Sai-senpai when his partner Shin died of a disease before their test could happen."

Naruto nodded, wondering why Maki was keeping him from sitting up when he felt some blood rising from his throat. Maki shook her head and made a few hand-seals before her hands began to glow green, "Shousen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique)… Honestly senpai, you're still as stubborn as a mule."

Naruto lay still on the bed as Maki gave him a touch up to patch his injured organs up, "You never answered my question Maki. How did you get us out of there?"

Maki gave him a smile that seemed strange on her usually stern looking face, "We were there with you the entire time senpai." Naruto's eyes widened in shock, "Sai-senpai and myself along with a platoon of Root ninja. Why do you think the full force of Ame's military wasn't brought down to bear on you? Because we were there keeping the bulk of them away from you when you were discovered. You ended up causing quite a stir when you fought with that Akatsuki member all across the village."

Naruto coughed up a little leftover blood, "Danzo-jiji sent a platoon? He had fifty ninja to spare to get me out of Ame?" Maki shook her head, "Well why did he have them there?"

Maki wiped the blood away from his lip, "We weren't actually there for you. Danzo-sama sent a platoon in to use the Ame civil war as a cover to assassinate Hanzo… but he was already dead, we didn't know the war was over until we got there. Killed by the man that defeated you and Jiraiya-sama, Pein. Before we left, you were discovered and Sai-senpai called an audible of sorts to get you out. It was actually successful all things considered. Even though we didn't do it Hanzo is dead, and we only lost 13 men of the 55 we sent in."

"And you brought us here with you when you retreated from the village." Naruto said, "But there was an elderly toad with Ero-kyofu, what happened to him?"

Maki stood up after depositing the syringe she promised Naruto on his bed by his side, "He's still by Jiraiya-sama's bedside. He said he was waiting for you to wake up, and he isn't the only one, but at the moment you can go see him first." She walked towards the door and pointed towards a stand in the corner, "There are fresh clothes for you over there, yours were absolutely ruined. And…" She stopped and gave Naruto another smile, "It really is good to see you again senpai. I missed you."

Naruto blinked in surprise, "Missed me?" She missed him? How? She barely spoke to him and they weren't that close, at least to him. Hell, he didn't even know she was a girl for the longest time, "So you still have your emotions? You're not a brick wall like Sai is… well, _was_ until I got to him?" It must have been a Root thing. They didn't get much time with people so those that they actually spent time with they wound up bonding with, until Danzo made them fight.

"I never finished emotional conditioning." Maki commented as she slipped her way out of the door and shut it behind her, "Remember, Root is and always has been on your side Naruto-senpai." She said simply as the door clicked shut.

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

Hamako sat in front of the Hokage with a stern look on her face and shook her head resolutely, "Naruto-sama isn't dead Hokage-sama."

Tsunade felt bad for the girl at first due to her seeming inability to accept that Naruto was caught by the Akatsuki, but this was getting ridiculous. Even Shima couldn't tell the girl otherwise, "Hamako you have to accept that Jiraiya and Naruto are missing. I'll be here for you, you can get through this just as I can."

Hamako sighed, "Master isn't dead or missing. I can ask him right now." She pulled part of her kimono down and placed two fingers on the tattoo on her shoulder, channeling chakra through it in bursts, "Yes he wasn't answering for a few days and the feeling I got from our link told me something was wrong, but he answered me after I tried calling him when the throbbing feeling stopped."

Tsunade hopped up from her desk as Shima looked at her in shock, "Where is he? Is Jiraiya okay? What happened?"

"**What about Pa?"** Shima asked, **"Is he alright?"**

Hamako frowned as she tried to sort out how to get that to him in coded format. After doing so she spoke up and informed them, "Well Jiraiya-sama's alive. He believes that this 'Pa' person is too because he was with them the whole time before he went unconscious. He apparently doesn't know where he is, but when he gets his bearings he'll tell me and I'll tell you." Hamako knew where he was, he had told her, but she also knew that Naruto did not desire his ongoing relationship with Root to be known so that he would have to deal with that, "He is safe though. He assured me of that. He can move, and he will tell me more when he gets the chance."

Tsunade and Shima let out sighs of relief, "I'm going to smack that brat and that pervert one when they get back here." She looked at Hamako gratefully, "Thank you for that Hamako. That was all I called you for. If you could bring Shizune in when you leave that would be great, we have work to sort out."

Hamako smiled and stood with a bow before leaving. She was still worried about Naruto and there was only one thing she could do when she was worried; work. He would communicate with her again soon enough.

XxX

(Kawa no Kuni – Hidden Root Base)

Naruto felt somewhat safe again with his gear back on his person. He had no shoes, but he had on a plain long sleeved black shirt and black pants and had his sword slung over his back as normal as he walked the halls of the base without an escort. Unlike Orochimaru's bases, Danzo's weren't uniform. A Root base would either be a small hideaway like the one Naruto used with Yugito in Kaminari no Kuni or something like the one he was in, a full compound used as planning points and overall bases of operation for use in foreign excursions. No two were built the same, and there were no signs or anything to help you find anything… and Naruto had never been to this one.

Fortunately, he was already in what he would label as the medical wing and it didn't take him long to find Jiraiya's room, with Fukasaku standing nearby looking at him, "You wanted to see me?" Naruto asked as he entered the room and shut the door behind him.

Fukasaku looked at Naruto as he walked in and looked down at Jiraiya, **"He's gonna be fine they say. I don't rightly know who 'they' is, but they kept Jiraiya-chan alive, most of them had the Konoha symbol on their hitae-ate, they aren't trying to restrain me, and you don't seem to be nervous in the least here so I suppose I shouldn't be either."**

"How-." Naruto didn't know how to word it as he saw how bad things looked during the fight with Pein, "How is he for sure? Do you know? I told Tsunade-baachan he was alive but I don't know what exactly is wrong with him."

Fukasaku sighed and moved closer to Naruto, **"Well as you could see before we got thrown like ants, he lost his left arm. Ain't nothing no one can do about that. His throat was crushed. It's going to take some time for him to regain speech with proper medical treatment, he had a ton of damage to his internal organs, but I guess getting that beatin' all those years ago from Tsunade was good for one thing, because he'll survive, he's just not gonna be in any kind of fightin' shape for a while if ever again."**

"At least he's not dead…" Naruto said as he dropped to his knees by Jiraiya's bed, feeling the pain in his knees and placed his head on the bed, "At least he'll live to perv another day…" The room settled into a comfortable silence, "How long have we been here?"

"**Five days."** Fukasaku informed him, **"They said you went and cracked every bone in your body. How did you go and manage that?"**

Naruto looked at the elderly toad, "The price you pay to use power you can't truly control… I can't use even four tails without using the Kitsune Trigger, the thing you saw that turned me into the fox-looking thing. I can't use any actual ninjutsu when I do it though, it's all power and speed… and it wasn't enough for that Pein guy. He maimed Ero-kyofu and he beat me so fast…"

"**You didn't know anything about him. Well Jiraiya-chan does and I do too, so does Ma and she's givin' her account to your Hokage now."** Fukasaku reasoned, **"That was the reason ya went to Ame in the first place ain't it? Mission accomplished."**

"I could have beaten Konan if I could have gotten her one-on-one…" Naruto said, "But Pein… I don't think me at full capacity could have beaten him. He was so fast, and there were so many of him. That one bald one was so strong. I never had a chance."

Fukasaku nodded, **"How do you feel now? Are ya angry? Are ya scared?"**

Frowning, Naruto shook his head in the negative, "I'm not mad. You'd think it would be weird… but I'm really not mad. Even after everything that he did to Ero-kyofu. He's alive, and I know he won't let this keep him down. But no matter what I never took it personally. No matter how much of a bastard Pein is he has his own goals, so do we, me and Ero-kyofu… our goals just clashed. That's the reason that ninja exist right? Being mad won't change anything. It won't make me stronger, it won't make him weaker, it won't give Ero-kyofu his arm back, it won't make me feel better about getting my ass handed to me, and it won't help me control more of Kyuubi's power, it'll just make it harder."

"**And the fear?"** Fukasaku said.

"No fear…" Naruto said. He stood up slowly due to his injured skeletal frame, "What is there to be afraid of? I already know he can beat me. So all that there is to do now is find a way to get stronger than him, and I know it's possible, so that I never have to see someone like Ero-kyofu hurt fighting for me again. That's why he did all of this, took these wounds, because he's stronger than me and wanted to protect me. He must have given that bastard hell though."

Fukasaku smiled and chuckled, **"Damn right he did. He took one of the bastard's bodies and got it to your Hokage. It won't take long, and they'll figure out a way to beat 'em kid."** He looked at Jiraiya, **"What do we do now?"**

Naruto started pacing around in thought, "Ugh… I can't go back to Konoha as I am. Not like this. Now that Pein knows I can't beat him and now that he knows he can beat Ero-kyofu he's going to be after me full blast now. He'll attack Konoha directly if I'm there... Especially after all of the damage I did to Ame with one attack. I can't go back with you. I can go with you as far as Hi no Kuni, or take him directly to Suna. Either or, they both work, but I'm not setting foot in Konoha again until I know I'm ready to fight Pein and win."

Fukasaku took a moment to think about the options, **"I have a better idea… you got a message to Tsunade didn't you? Well Ma should be with her. If you can get word to Ma to summon me back to Konoha I can take Jiraiya-chan with me so we can treat him."**

Naruto looked at him in shock, "You can do that? I thought only humans could summon you not the other way around."

Fukasaku chuckled, **"That's right, you've been learning how to work with the toads through 'Bunta's troublesome boy Gamakichi haven't you? Well you need to set up a contract with a toad that you want as your familiar. We toads can summon each other, but only a familiar can summon the human they are set to work with. Nothin' we can do about that for now. Go ahead and chew Gamakichi out about that when you can and get that set up."**

"Damn it 'Kichi…" Naruto mumbled as he started sending out a message to Hamako, "She should get it in a few minutes. Hamako-chan is reliable. Here, this should take him out of the coma by the time Tsunade-baachan gets to him." He ran a hand through his hair, "Tell everyone that I'll be fine. I'll keep in touch through Hamako-chan, but they need to understand that I can't go back there right now. It's how this has to go."

Fukasaku nodded, **"You gonna travel the world like your sensei did?"**

Naruto gave Jiraiya the shot and let out a short laugh, "No I don't think I'll be going quite that far and wide like Ero-kyofu. I have a mission to do. Get strong enough to beat Pein… and keep Konoha safe. Tell Tsunade-baachan not to waste the resources coming after me. I wouldn't do this if I weren't sure I knew what I was doing."

"**Once Gamakichi becomes your legitimate familiar we can summon you to Mt. Myoboku when you want it."** He gave a knowing grin,** "I'm certain Jiraiya-chan will want to show you around the place soon."**

"Can't wait." Naruto said as he walked out of the room, "Make sure he takes care of himself and gets rest. One arm or not I'm sure Konoha is going to need him. Please don't tell her what you saw here, it would cause a bunch of needless trouble. And if Tsunade-baachan gets all bent out of shape about me not coming back, tell her that I'm still in the middle of an ongoing mission that I'm choosing to continue at this time."

Naruto shut the door behind him and let out a sigh. "You'll really head out on your own Naruto-senpai?" Naruto turned to see Sai leaning against the wall right next to the room he had been in moments prior, "Are you certain that would be the wisest course of action?"

Naruto shrugged, "Well put it like this. I could train in Konoha like I've been doing, with a big beacon telling Pein for sure where I am, get attacked by him in his leisure, and have the village be destroyed in the fight, or I can leave without anyone knowing where I intend to go and do the same thing. I have a few places where I can go Sai, trust me." He looked at the pale teen questioningly, "So how did you save us back there? We were flying through the air."

"I _can_ draw birds large enough to carry multiple people. Or did you forget?" Sai gave him his strange smile, "Well be that as it may, Danzo-sama would like to speak to you now that you have recovered."

Naruto stopped and turned to Sai, "Danzo-jiji is here?" Sai nodded, "For how long? He never leaves Konoha, he works right from there."

"I told him you were here after I flew you from Ame to our base." Sai led Naruto through the halls, "He came here shortly after I sent it while you were still unconscious. Whatever happened to you almost killed you, Maki-san almost couldn't fix you, even with the Kyuubi."

"I can feel it." Naruto said, "I feel totally brittle if you know what I'm saying. I don't think I could take a single punch without reinjuring something right now." Eventually, Sai led Naruto to a rather plain door with the Root kanji on it, "Man this feels like déjà vu."

Sai knocked on the door and got a stern enter that he followed, bringing Naruto inside with him. Danzo sat inside of the rather Spartan setup of what was his office at this base calmly, looking over Naruto with almost piercingly stern expression that Naruto remembered from his youth. He hadn't seen that look up close and in person in seven years, it was just like he was eight again… It was actually good to know that despite everything that had happened, some things didn't change.

Danzo was surrounded on both sides of his desk by members of Root. One was a black-haired man with a mask covering his face except for the lower half that had glasses built into the eyes He wore the usual Root long sleeved midriff cut shirt only he wore a red sash around his waist and an apron over his pants, 'Torune…'

The other was a man with auburn colored hair in a high ponytail that wore a red kimono shirt over his usual Root gear, 'Fuu…' Apparently in his absence they rose to a high enough point to be Danzo's bodyguards.

Also inside of the room was Maki, standing at attention, who did not show any emotion on her face to his presence, but when he looked at her Naruto could see in her eyes that she was happy to see him.

"Naruto." Danzo said, immediately getting Naruto's attention, "It is good to see you alive and in one piece. How goes your final mission for me?" He asked. Naruto wanted to roll his eyes, as if he didn't know… of course he knew. He was Danzo.

"Well Danzo-jiji." Naruto said, getting a glare out of Torune and Fuu, still finding it hilarious to see the diehards desire to admonish him for a lack of formality, but despite them being five years older he was still technically their superior when he was there. Despite their reaction he didn't get any kind of reaction out of Danzo… strange. Danzo must have actually missed being called that or something, "I'm a jounin now. I know Tsunade-baachan personally as she is technically related to me, and I'm the son of the Yondaime Hokage, so I have a direct relation or relationship of some sort with four of the five Kage that have existed in Konoha's history."

"And now you have me, a man who worked side-by-side with the Nidaime Hokage and the man who almost became the Sandaime Hokage." Danzo said with a smirk, "Naruto-kun what would you say if I told you that I had this planned for you all along. To go for Hokage in my stead."

Naruto blinked before speaking, "I want to say that you're completely bluffing, but I'm not surprised honestly if that was the truth."

Danzo's smirk dropped, "No it's true. I knew of your relation to the Yondaime. Most jinchuuriki are related to the village leader somehow and you look just like him, the evidence was always there for anyone with the knowledge of what to look for. I always had you as my backup plan in case I was never able to secure the place… and I decided after it was deemed that Tsunade would become Hokage that it was time to let you know of my plans." He paused for a moment and made sure-fire eye contact with Naruto, "Do you know how old I am Naruto-kun?"

Naruto did quick math in his head, "The Sandaime was 69 when he died and you're his age so I would say you're at least 72."

Danzo nodded, "Even if I had taken the seat, how long would that have lasted? Any plan I put into motion at that point would have never seen completion before I finally died, leaving Konoha in a state of chaos due to whomever my successor would be not being knowledgeable on my politics. Everything I have done since I realized that I would never be able to condition you had been to prepare you. And when you were captured after your mission to Otogakure I felt that my plans were all for nothing, but then you broke the seals placed on you just like you always broke mine. And the results ended with you being in a far better position for you to become Hokage then working your way from within our group, after all, starting from ground level is far more desirable than starting from among the roots."

Naruto nodded as Danzo continued, "You will have the support of Root no matter what throughout your endeavor for me. Sai is to replace me as you know, and Maki… well I hadn't had plans for her, but she is very skilled at medical jutsu, as you already know due to her healing you, as well as a very skilled combatant." Maki bowed to Danzo after he finished complementing her, "You know Maki from your initial training. She was meant for something more than your emotional conditioning however, just so you know, but it doesn't matter now. I was never going to have you two fight one another to the death."

That got looks of shock from both Naruto and Maki, more so from Maki, as she had known of the final test for years and expected that to have been his and her fate had Naruto remained in Root.

"I am aware of all of your victories in your career… as well as your defeats." Danzo said, "Do not feel discouraged, that is a sign of weakness. This Pein person was enough of a force even before your birth to take out an entire platoon of my shinobi as well as those of Hanzo. He has clearly only grown in strength since then. However unlike my soldiers you survived and you can learn from your defeat." He gestured at Sai and Maki, "I offer the aid of Sai and Maki to travel with you during your expedition from Konoha. It would be far too dangerous for you to do this alone."

Naruto frowned and turned to Sai, "Were you aware of this?" Sai nodded, "And you're okay with coming with me?" Once again Sai nodded, prompting Naruto to turn to Maki, "Did you know of this too?" Maki also nodded, "Maki you barely know me, are you sure it's best for you to come with me?"

Maki once again nodded, "It is my mission Naruto-senpai. And I believe it would be good to work with you again… that is if you will allow me to." Naruto sighed in resignation before nodding his agreement, "Then it is best if I come with you."

Naruto looked at all of the current operatives in the room looking at him and finally let off a sweatdrop, "If I say no you're just going to send them anyway and have them shadow me aren't you?"

Danzo didn't even try denying it, "That is correct. As I've said and as you should be well aware of; you are far too valuable to the village to be left unguarded." Danzo sighed, "Everyone except Naruto please leave the room." All of the other operatives bowed to Danzo before making themselves scarce, leaving Naruto alone in the room with the man himself. The two spent a long time looking at each other before the old man spoke, "I have never told you this personally as I am not one for complements and I have never had a chance to speak to you face to face since your incident… but I have to say, Naruto-kun you are my greatest success as the leader of Root."

Naruto looked around to make sure everyone was out of the room before he responded to that, "Danzo-jiji… are you dying? Because you never told me that, ever, even when I was actually working and running missions for you."

Danzo did something that Naruto would have sworn was the precursor to the apocalypse right at that moment. He laughed. He honestly laughed. It wasn't for very long, but it was too long to be deemed anything else. Not a chuckle or any other synonym that implied a slight amount of humor, but actual laughter. Naruto had to silently make a hand-seal to dispel a genjutsu to make sure he hadn't been caught by Akatsuki and placed under a genjutsu to keep him docile.

"I am not dying Naruto-kun, I can assure you of that. If the Tsuchikage is still around these days then I most certainly have plenty of time left." Danzo said, allowing his amusement to die down, "It is true however. You took to my training earnestly and kept your ability to fit into everyday situations outside of combat." He looked at the fifteen year old jounin, "My original intent was to enter you in the Academy once you returned from your mission to Otogakure, but fate had other plans. Still, you have turned out just as well as I could have ever imagined, even with the four years lost to you."

Naruto didn't know what to say. This was the man that was responsible for his life being the way it was now, the original catalyst for everything that shaped his outlook as a ninja. His first actual role model. Naruto dropped to one knee and did something he had never done outside of business, "Thank you Danzo-sama…" He said earnestly while in a bow. He had never bowed to anyone else in his entire life… he even hated doing it for Danzo before this, but no matter what, without Danzo he really had no idea as to where he would have ended up as a ninja.

Naruto did not lift his head until Danzo stood in front of him, one hand on his cane and one on the blonde's head, "Times are changing and becoming more and more tumultuous Naruto-kun, you know this as well. Take care and prepare well. Sai and Maki will keep watch over you until you deem yourself fit to return. I have always been on your side."

XxX

(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)

Pein and all of his remaining bodies overlooked the remnants of Ame following the collective battles with Jiraiya and the one that caused more widespread destruction, Naruto, "You will not escape for long Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Enjoy your freedom for as long as you can. Our business is far from done."

Konan stood by the side of the body of Yahiko, looking at the village as well. The massive trench that was ripped through the greater part of the village from Naruto's Imari was seared into her memory. A Kawarimi with a paper clone and a shunshin away from Naruto's attack as fast as she could muster almost wasn't enough to escape it, as the shockwave of the attack's path blew her weightless paper body miles away from Ame.

"_-You had to know it would come to this… trying to use me and the others as active weapons."_

Konan had never seen a jinchuuriki actually cause damage at this scale in public whenever attempts to capture them were made. The Ichibi jinchuuriki was never involved in a full-scale battle with any Akatsuki force. The Nibi caused quite a bit of damage, but nothing on the scale that Naruto did. The Nanabi jinchuuriki barely fought back at all, as if she didn't care one way or the other. The Gobi jinchuuriki barely used his biju's power except for his steam-based ninjutsu, and that fight took place in the mountainous range landscape of Tsuchi no Kuni. The Yonbi jinchuuriki was a very skilled, experienced shinobi that had managed to gain enough control over his respective biju to use lava release, but again, this person was nowhere near any populated areas when they were captured, nor did they directly activate a demonic form during the battle. The Rokubi was ambushed and quickly taken down with little trouble. And the Sanbi was captured on the water, away from land.

The point was; even though jinchuuriki were used as secret weapons in wars for years, even though it was the goal of Akatsuki to capture the biju, even though they knew of each jinchuuriki that were still in existence with their biju; Naruto Uzumaki, Sabaku no Gaara, Yugito Nii, and Kirabi of Kumogakure, they had never faced one that was willing to actually use a wide-scale attack in the middle of any city before. She had never seen the actual destruction a motivated jinchuuriki could cause.

"_Your little master plan isn't so good when it's being practiced on you is it?"_

'This is what the end result was supposed to be.' Konan thought to herself, 'No. The real thing is supposed to be far worse than this… And the thought of that is chilling.' Konan's original goal alongside Yahiko and Nagato was to bring peace to Ame. And they had actually done it. It took years, it cost Yahiko his life, but eventually it was done. When did it stretch to doing so with the world? When did the end result of the master plan turn to be so destructive?

It occurred the day Yahiko died. The day Nagato changed his name. The day Pein was born.

"Konan." Pein's voice got her attention, "We will remain here until I have prepared the new body for my Animal Path. Then we will begin the hunt for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki in earnest. Until then send word to the remaining members to keep their eyes open for him and do not hesitate to engage him."

"As you wish Nagato." Konan said, walking deeper into the tower as the bodies of Pein continued looking out at Ame, 'Can peace be achieved this way? And if so how many lives will be lost like this in the process? With the weapons in the hands of every nation how many times will it be used? Will there be anyone left to actually exist peacefully with?'

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Konoha Hospital)

"Is that brat insane?" Was the roar that echoed through the building out onto the streets from the one woman everyone in the village had heard yell at least once, Tsunade, "He expects me to just leave him alone by himself with Akatsuki out there?" Tsunade expressed nothing but relief when Jiraiya was found to be alive and quickly rushed him to the hospital where he was swiftly admitted and treated, and then she actually listened to what Fukasaku had reported to her from Naruto. Needless to say she was not very pleased, "Instead of staying here where we can protect him he's staying out there where he's in jeopardy!"

Fukasaku didn't respond to the slug princess's anger over the matter, he simply conveyed Naruto's message back to her, **"He thinks it's the right thing to do all things considered, he doesn't want Pein lookin' here for him before he's ready to handle the man himself, and I think it's between you and him. But the youngin' said to tell you when you got all twisted up about this that he was continuing an ongoing mission that ya gave him and he never finished."**

Tsunade looked at the toad strangely until realization hit her, "Oh that sneaky little…" He was talking about the mission with Jiraiya to see if Kumo would assist them against the threat of the Akatsuki. The original intention was to venture to all of the Five Great Nations, or any place that would be willing to assist. It was something for Jiraiya to get Naruto out of the village with for about a month, but the attack from Hidan and Kakuzu put a wrench in that plan and cut it short. However Tsunade had never officially closed the mission. It was still open, Naruto knew it, and as far as it went with him he might as well have been on something akin to Jiraiya's long-term information gathering mission with the freedom the parameters of that mission granted him.

Damn that was good.

She looked at Fukasaku with half-lidded eyes, "I don't suppose he told you where he was going so that I could send a team to intercept or at least assist him."

Fukasaku grinned at Tsunade. There was something about that kid Naruto that he was sincerely starting to like, **"Nope. I don't even rightly know where you got Ma to summon me from to tell ya the truth so I'm no help there either."** As the tick marks formed on Tsunade's head he realized what it was, **'That little tadpole is just as gutsy as Jiraiya-chan. Half as crazy too.'**

A series of weak, strained laughs came from Jiraiya's bed. Tsunade turned to the injured man who even hooked up to so many machines was still smirking at her for Naruto getting one over on her, "Oh shut up you pervert. Keep laughing and I'm going to get you better just so I can beat you up and put you back in here."

Due to his inability to speak, Jiraiya weakly lifted his one arm, pointed at Tsunade, drew a heart in the air with his hand, and pointed back at himself.

Tsunade gave him a small smile, "Doesn't mean I still don't want to kick your ass for worrying me…"

Fukasaku cut in between the two old teammates, **"I should let Jiraiya-chan get his rest, but the second he's able I want him to summon me. We have a lot to go over, about Pein, about his student, and about how we're going to get his student ready."** Jiraiya nodded slightly, but firmly, **"I think you should let the boy be for now Tsunade. He's no fool. This is something he feels he has to do."**

XxX

(Kawa no Kuni – Hidden Root Base)

Naruto walked to the exit of the Root base, flanked by Sai and Maki as he was outfitted in Root gear similar to theirs. He wore the high-collared zip-up Root shirt that cut off at his midriff with no sleeves and a pair of black gloves on his hands. He had his left arm taped up to the shoulder, and his right arm exposing his correspondence tattoo with Hamako. He had on black pants that once they reached his shins bunched up into a pair of white greaves that guarded that part of his legs above his black shinobi sandals. His sword was still on his back and his hitae-ate was still prominent on his forehead, but he also had a plain white mask attached to his hip.

He looked at the members of Root that stopped in the middle of their own activities as they passed him in the hall and bowed to him, "Why are they bowing to me? A lot of them shouldn't even know who I am."

Maki looked at him with no discernable expression, "Why should they not bow to the man that is to become Hokage? Especially when he is one of us."

Naruto gave her a deadpan look but refrained from speaking as they exited the base that Naruto found to be set in a groove in the wall of a river canyon. The three shinobi made their way out of the canyon and stopped in the middle of the surrounding forest, Sai looking to Naruto expectantly, Maki doing the same, "Where are we going Naruto-senpai?" He asked.

Naruto sighed, "Until Ero-kyofu is well enough to find me and help me with my strategy against Pein I can't sit on my hands and wait for him to come to me. I need to find out how to better control the Kyuubi's chakra. I never had a chance to speak on it with other jinchuuriki before, so we're going to do that. First to Suna, then to Kiri, then to Kumo. Those places should have the information I need to figure this out."

Sai nodded and pulled out his drawing scroll when Naruto stayed his hand, confusing him, "What's wrong?"

Naruto explained his reaction, "We shouldn't travel conspicuously. We're trying to divert attention away from us so we can move freely. Flying would be faster, but we'd be easy prey."

Maki moved to speak, "Naruto-senpai you're still hurt. If Sai-senpai creates an ink bird for us to travel with you can rest and recover faster."

Naruto shook his head, "Maki that would put too much attention on us. Suna is a day's trip from here on foot if we move the way we should." Seeing that neither of them were giving off any sort of reaction to what he was saying he rolled his eyes, "If you see me slowing down because of my injuries you have permission to stop me and do things your way until we get to Suna, okay?"

"Yes senpai." Was the unilateral response from both Sai and Maki.

Naruto looked at them both before shaking his head and walking along, motioning for them to follow, "I am going to work some personality into you both before I go back to Konoha I swear. Let's get moving."

Maki's eyes narrowed on Naruto's back, taking offense to his comment on her personality, as she and Sai followed, "I have personality Naruto-senpai."

Naruto let out a short laugh, "Yeah I guess since I've seen you again you've said more to me than you did in almost three years when we were kids, but your personality is only mildly better than Sai-kouhai's." He turned around and looked at Sai's dull expression before turning to Maki who had one that was much the same, but there was a spark of annoyance in her eyes that she couldn't hide, "It's a work in progress. Now come on! Let's get to Suna before my luck runs out again!" With that, they all took off into the trees, heading west towards Sunagakure.

XxX

(Unknown Location – Otogakure Base)

Sasuke sat alone in the middle of a training room. The defeated bodies of multiple Oto shinobi laying around, "I know how to find you Itachi." He said to himself, breathing in mild exhaustion as he caught his breath from his most recent training session, "I know that you're looking for the jinchuuriki of the world for your own goals. All I have to do is capture them myself and wait for you to come to me…"

Sasuke clinched his fist as lightning chakra circulated through it, "Orochimaru can't stop me. You won't stop me. Nothing will stop me. You can't hide from me forever. It's almost time for me to find you and take my revenge… just wait a little while longer Itachi." The cursed seal spread across his face and entire body, "Just wait a little while longer and I promise you, your life will be mine."

* * *

**Well that's the end of this arc if it wasn't evident by what you had been reading. As always thanks for the support and attention you guys give, I appreciate it greatly. Any questions or thoughts, feel free to drop 'em by. I read every review and take them into account as you probably knew by now. **

**One week after tomorrow I will have been writing on this site for one full year and it's been a blast with no foreseeable end to my writing in sight. When this ends and all of my current stories end I'll continue putting stuff out as long as you guys enjoy them. This is a rather relaxing hobby, a sharp contrast to the usual fighting-related stuff or television broadcasting stuff I do otherwise, and I'm glad I found this site. It's why I write so much, I legitimately enjoy thinking of this stuff and writing it out, and would be doing it anyway even if I never found this site, it just gave me an outlet.  
**

**Anyway, running long on this AN, so later. Kenchi out.**


	41. The Seeds of the Root

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Bet you wish I did though huh? If you can't tell this has been a good day thus far and my wildly fluctuating arrogance and self-esteem is reaching an all time high at the moment.

**Chapter 40: The Seeds of the Root**

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(Kaze no Kuni – Team Naruto)

A group of three lightly cloaked figures wandered through the desert heading towards the hidden village in the unforgiving terrain. A bastion of relief for the travelers that they moved towards quickly to get out of the sun.

"Why are we wearing this extra equipment if we're running Naruto-senpai?" Sai asked curiously as he and Maki followed behind the blonde leader, keeping pace with him.

"Because Sai-kouhai." Naruto began to explain, "While I don't really need it, you most definitely do. Have you looked in a mirror lately? You're as white as the paper you draw on. If you're out in this sun for even an hour you're going to be lobster red, and I don't need you losing any fights we get into because of your nasty sunburn."

Maki looked over at her two superiors before speaking her own mind, "What about me Naruto-senpai? I'm not as pale as Sai-senpai is and I'm still wearing a cloak too."

Naruto grinned at her, "Well there's no way I'm letting the female member of our little group chance getting sunburned. You're too pretty to get that complexion all beat up by the sun Maki." His grin dropped as he saw the dome structure of Sunagakure coming into sight, "Okay be cool. You guys are both registered right? I know Sai is, but how about you Maki?"

Maki nodded, "Yes senpai I'm a registered Konoha ninja, number 920018. Should I put on my hitae-ate now?"

"Yes that would be best at least for now." Naruto said as he saw Maki retrieve the accessory and tie it around her neck, "Gaara may trust me, but we're still foreign ninja and you all need to be identified as Konoha ninja lest we look way more suspicious than we already do. The only bad thing is if this gets back to Tsunade-baachan. She's going to wonder where I got you two from."

Sai gave him his smile, "No she shouldn't look too much into it senpai. Danzo-sama has worked out a deal that places me as your usual teammate in order to protect you. I am sure he has or will explain Maki the same way."

Naruto returned the smile with one of his own as he looked at his two subordinates, "We're golden then. Alright, get ready for some scrutinizing looks. Don't attract a ruckus, and remember to get some rest and get your materials together quickly for in case of Akatsuki attack or if we have to leave suddenly."

The smile he shot back at them actually put a small one on Maki's face, "Don't cause a ruckus Naruto-senpai? That doesn't sound like you. I remember during that mission we had to that noble's mansion in Kuminari no Kuni when you-."

"Okay Maki." Naruto replied rather disgruntled at the turn of the conversation as he turned forward with narrowed eyes, "I don't need you reminding me of how I got out of there. I remember. I was there. And you didn't help me either, so you don't get to judge my robbery plan when you didn't even have a part in it."

"As you wish senpai." Maki replied automatically to stanch his ire, but looking at her face he could see the mirth in her eyes. She really did miss having him back. But that also meant that she was going to take to razzing him every now and then. Putting the thought out of his mind, Naruto focused on the mission, she could do what she wanted as long as she knew how to work.

Besides, talking to someone that would answer back with some bite every now and then was way better than getting Sai's monotonic responses. He might be able to take the edge off and have some fun verbally sparring with her.

It didn't really hurt that she was rather cute too. Kami, how did he not notice she was a girl? He must have missed a few remedial detail-noticing lectures back in the day.

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Konoha Hospital)

Tsunade had been periodically checking on Jiraiya ever since he had been admitted to the hospital. He was out of critical condition, but he had still suffered grievous wounds that required him to remain in the hospital. Breathing on his own was still a horrible chore due to the injuries to the throat that he had suffered at the hands of Pein, forcing him to remain hooked up to a machine to assist him with the necessary process as well as an apparatus to provide him with nutrition due to his inability to even properly swallow food. That wasn't even mentioning his most glaring injury that would hinder him forever, his missing left arm that had been severed at the shoulder.

She walked through her teammate's room, engaging him in conversation during some down time in her daily schedule, "So you have no idea where the brat is going either?" She asked Jiraiya while adjusting his blinds for him. She turned to face him and saw him shake his head in the negative, "Both of you weren't enough to take down this Pein person?"

Jiraiya shook his head and looked at her as if he wanted to say more, prompting a frown to grace the Godaime Hokage's features, "I need to get you something to write with until you can speak again." She looked outside of the window, "It's been three days since you were brought back. Do you even have any idea what he's out there to do?"

Jiraiya again shook his head, wishing he could speak to Tsunade, but in his current condition that was impossible. His apprentice had taken it upon himself to stay away from Konoha for the time being and leave himself surrounded by the wolves of the Akatsuki. He needed to be able to somehow tell Tsunade all that he had seen, and what he had learned about Pein. He needed to find Naruto and start getting him ready for an inevitable second encounter with Pein.

He needed to do all of these things but he simply couldn't because he was stuck in this damned hospital bed for the time being.

Tsunade let out a sigh, "Well if anything comes up we can still speak with him through Hamako if the need arises. We're going to have you up and at 'em in no time you old goat." She said with a smile, "I still need you around here, you aren't getting off that easily."

"So Naruto isn't coming back." A voice said with a sigh from the entrance of the room. Eyes turned there to see Kakashi leaning against the door frame, "Do you want to send someone after him? If so I'm volunteering."

Tsunade shook her head, "No, the brat isn't deserting, he's just taking advantage of a loophole." She let out a small laugh, "I guess he did deserve a real vacation after all anyway. But no, I'm not going to send anyone after him. He'll come back when he finds what he wants. I'll be sending out the pervert to go find him when he's all healed up anyway."

Kakashi gave her an eye-smile, "Well in that case, I volunteer to escort Jiraiya-sama when he goes looking for him." Tsunade nodded to him, getting Kakashi to give a thumbs-up, "Great! When it's time to go give me a call and I'll be right there."

Jiraiya let out a muffled laugh as Tsunade rolled her eyes, "You'll be there three hours late like always." She put her hands on her hips, "I'll inform you on when Jiraiya will be ready to leave."

"Alright then." Kakashi said, pulling out his Icha-Icha book and turning to leave, "In the meantime I have to lay low and duck the inevitable stream of questions that will follow everyone learning that the kid isn't dead and keep the fact that I'll be looking for him soon to myself. Until then." He gave a wave and disappeared from the doorway in a puff of smoke.

XxX

(Sunagakure no Sato – Village Streets)

Naruto led his two companions through Suna's streets when Sai tapped him discreetly, "We're being watched senpai." He said quietly.

"We're foreign and we didn't sneak in Sai." Naruto responded back to him, "Of course they're going to watch us. Does it matter? Are you supposed to be doing anything illegal while you're here?"

Sai shook his head, "Our only objectives are to keep you safe Naruto-senpai. Other than that we have no other mission parameters to adhere to. Danzo-sama was very lenient with the orders upon handing us this mission."

Naruto nodded and looked at the female member of the team, "Maki, remind me to fight you later to get a picture of what you can do. I know you're a good medic, which is good because I think we're going to need you sooner or later." Maki nodded to him and looked around, "What's the matter?"

"We may be allies, but this village tried to destroy Konoha three years ago senpai." Maki said softly so as not to alert any of the shinobi or villagers around them, "The current Kazekage tried to kill you. How do you trust him?"

Naruto smiled at Maki, "I beat him and showed him that simply existing to kill everyone wasn't the way to be strong. I told him that I fought for Konoha… well he must have taken that to heart." He looked towards the Kazekage Tower and continued to lead his group, "Let's see if Gaara can help me out with this. I need more knockout power if I'm going to fight Pein."

Maki followed the leader of the hastily assembled team dutifully, "This Pein, what is he like? Do you know what he can do in battle?"

Naruto shook his head, "I don't know. There were six of him and they beat the piss out of me… and those eyes. Kyuubi called them Rinnegan and it seemed really freaked out by them. I need to have a little chat with it when I get the chance."

"Well there you are." Naruto and company looked up on a nearby roof to see Kankuro grinning down at him, "Gaara heard you were in the village and sent me to escort you the rest of the way to his office. What, you don't know how to let someone know you're coming?"

Naruto shook his head, "It was kind of a spur of the moment thing." Kankuro jumped down to the ground and shook hands with Naruto, "It's good to see you again. How's your family?" He asked as Kankuro began leading them through the streets to the tower.

Kankuro let out a chuckle, "Well Gaara's… well, he's Gaara. I don't really know how to specify any better than that. Temari just got back from Konoha on another diplomatic mission and she's pissed at you again."

"I had a mission…" Naruto said, sweatdropping at knowing how much Temari disliked looking for him and not finding him, "How can she be mad at me for that?"

Kankuro's laughter grew more pronounced, "No she's not pissed at you for that. She's pissed because she heard that you had gotten killed and then heard that you had just disappeared and weren't coming back to Konoha. As a matter of fact she didn't get here that much sooner than you did, so you have…" Kankuro looked at the position of the sun, "You have 4 hours until she wakes up from her nap after getting back to come up with a good defense."

Naruto's face had a downcast look, "Believe me, I had a very good reason as to why those things happened, I need to talk to Gaara about it though. You can listen up when you get us there because you should know too."

Kankuro noticed the serious tone and look on Naruto's face and realized whatever he had to talk to Gaara about had to be something of a big deal, "So who are these guys with you?" He said, looking at Naruto's cloaked escorts.

Naruto looked back at them and gestured for them to put their hoods down, "The guy is named Sai, the girl's name is Maki. They're my team while I'm on this little mission of mine." He said, settling into a comfortable silence that left him alone with his thoughts, 'I need more control over Kyuubi's power, and not just with the use of the trigger. It's a shortcut that does more harm than good in the long run.'

He heard the Kyuubi cackle inside of his mind, **"You call the trigger a shortcut that does more harm than good but you should know that you're the only jinchuuriki that has ever used my chakra to this extent. Feel proud to have made it this far. The last two before you were unwilling to use my power the way you have."**

'Bullshit.' Naruto said in his head as the entrance to Gaara's daily place of work came into sight, 'You've told me that you had other containers before. You're saying that I'm the only one that's used you?'

"**No. Others have tried."** Kyuubi corrected him,** "My first jinchuuriki used the bare minimum of my chakra, barely enough to use a single tail. The second one was much the same. She couldn't go past four tails either without losing control. No one else ever tried figuring out a way to fully control me."**

'Maybe I need more access to the chakra.' Naruto thought to himself, 'It got easier to access when Ero-kyofu loosened the seal and I eventually got control over it. Maybe if I can do it again I can get access to more and learn how to control it.' Naruto decided to run this thought by someone else when he channeled chakra to his correspondence tattoo with Hamako.

His answer came quickly and angrily if the pulsing intensity from his arm was any indication, _"So stupid! Even if you were advanced enough to deal with the workings of the seal, opening it would be bad. Unless you think you can fight and beat the demon right now."_

Naruto frowned at the response, but figured she had to know what she was talking about. For a over a year her favorite thing to do was ask him questions about, and study the seal on his belly, _"I can't even loosen it to access more?"_

"_It's not supposed to be loosened, only tightened in case it ever started influencing you. When Jiraiya-sama did that to allow you more access he just made it easier for the demon to control you."_ Hamako returned to him, _"It doesn't matter. You can't do it on your own even with me instructing you on what to do. You need a certain key to the seal that I can't duplicate. Your father was brilliant Naruto-sama."_

Naruto decided to break conversation as they entered Gaara's office, _"Okay, thank you Hamako-chan. I'll talk to you soon okay?"_

"_I am at your service Naruto-sama, I'll see if Jiraiya-sama knows anything more of your seal when I get the chance. Be safe."_ With that, their connection was broken just as Naruto stood face to face with Gaara, wearing his Kazekage robes.

"Naruto it is good to see you." Gaara said in his usual monotone, "You had many people in Konoha and even here fearing for your safety, including myself." He crossed his hands over one another and set them on his desk in a business-like manner, "How have things been?"

Placing his hands in his pockets, Naruto began to speak to the red-haired fellow jinchuuriki, "I wish I could say that things are good, but I'd be lying to you and we don't need that. I just got a serious wake-up call and I need your help Gaara."

Gaara didn't let the surprise show on his face, but hearing Naruto ask for his help caught him off guard. Even though they were friends, hidden villages rarely asked for help from one another, however Gaara didn't believe that this was an official order. Something more of a personal request, and as long as it didn't put his village in jeopardy he would gladly help Naruto out, "What is it that you need?"

Naruto decided to get straight to the heart of the matter, no need beating around the bush, "I'll just say it. Three years ago you were more or less insane… no offense."

"None taken." Gaara replied, "I am not very proud of that chapter of my life, but it did happen and I cannot simply pretend it didn't exist."

Nodding at Gaara's point, Naruto continued, "I didn't bring that up to just talk about it, it's just to make a point. You used to be the worst case scenario for a jinchuuriki and now you're the Kazekage. To do that you needed the trust of a vast majority of your village and to do that you had to prove that you were no longer under the will of the Ichibi." He took a deep breath and finished verbalizing his thought, "I want to know how you got full control of Ichibi no Shukaku."

Kankuro looked from Naruto to his brother as Gaara simply stared at the foreign blonde before giving him his answer, "I can't do that Naruto."

Naruto let out a sigh, "Village secret? Fine, that's alright. It was worth a shot. Thanks anyway for at least hearing me out."

"No Naruto he really can't." Kankuro said, stopping him, "He's not saying that because it's some huge advantage for Suna, he really can't."

The raised eyebrow of Naruto pressed Gaara to address his confusion, "I do not have full control of Shukaku. Though I can suppress it once I begin, if I use either of the forms I used against you during the invasion of Konoha, Shukaku's will becomes more dominant and the chance of me causing damage to innocents and those that I intend to keep safe. Now I can use parts of Shukaku's limbs to attack, but I do not have _control_ of my demon."

"I'd call that control." Naruto replied glumly, "And you can go all out with it if you have to, I can't. How did you do it?"

Gaara thought about it for a moment, "The seal that keeps the demon inside of me is more closely knit to my own person than yours is I would wager. After all, the demon was sealed within me months before I was even born, you told me it was put in you afterwards. It is still a rather foreign entity within you as opposed to me, as it truly always has been there."

Naruto nodded in understanding, "So how did you beat the Ichibi for control?"

Gaara closed his eyes thoughtfully, "I often had to battle the Ichibi to force it from my psyche, to keep it from constantly trying to influence my thoughts."

A deadpan look came over Naruto's face, "You're talking about hypothetically fighting it aren't you? Like willing it out of your mind?" Gaara blinked in confusion but nodded nonetheless, "Damn, I was talking about literally fighting it. I'm going to have to open the seal and fight the Kyuubi to get full control."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room until Kankuro voiced the thoughts of both him and his brother… and even Naruto's Root comrades at the moment, "Well that sucks."

Gaara picked up where his brother had so eloquently left off, "I am sorry I cannot be of more help to you Naruto. Why did you even decide to seek me out anyway?"

Naruto sighed and put his arms up behind his head, "For three reasons. One, I can't go home, not as I am, that would be a requiem for an asskicking after what I just got through doing. Two, All of the other major hidden villages have their own jinchuuriki. I figured that Suna would be one of the ones that had a good handle on how to train theirs. Clearly I was wrong because you did it all on your own. The third reason was to warn you."

"Warn me?" Gaara said, "Warn me of what?"

Naruto gave him a serious look, "Warn you about the man that beat me and Jiraiya at the very same time. Not just beat us, he destroyed us. It was as if he was barely trying. The leader of Akatsuki, Pein." He saw the looks of shock on Gaara and Kankuro's faces at hearing that Jiraiya had been destroyed, destroyed while Naruto had been there to assist, "He has six bodies, all of them strong. I don't know too much more, but I swear, when I do you're going to be the first to know Gaara. You're still just as much a target as me, be prepared."

Gaara nodded, "I will be Naruto. I am not the Kazekage for nothing and I will begin training in preparation for an attack from the Akatsuki. You are free to stay here before leaving. Where are you going next?"

"East." Naruto replied, "Far east, back through Hi no Kuni. We'll stay the night and leave tomorrow morning. Thank you Gaara."

XxX

After that point, Kankuro led Naruto and company through his own family's lodgings to give them a place to shack up in for the night. Sai moved closer to the blonde leader and spoke, "We're going to be heading back through Hi no Kuni Naruto-senpai? Is that a good idea?"

Naruto shrugged, "Why not? We have to if we're going to get to either Mizu no Kuni or Kaminari no Kuni. We'll keep to the south to stay far away from Konoha and out of their view. You guys can get through a country unnoticed, can't you?"

The path taken through the house of the powerful siblings began seeming familiar to Naruto when Kankuro suddenly called out, "Temari! Hey sis, I'm back." He turned with a grin on his face once he saw the wheels in Naruto's head begin to turn, "Come on, you've got to be awake by now."

"I'm up Kankuro." Temari replied from behind the door, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter." He said cryptically, "I just thought there would be someone out here that you would want to see." He saw Naruto turn around on his heel to run and with a quick movement of his fingertips, tripped Naruto with a chakra string, 'Ah, déjà vu. The day we met.' The puppeteer thought fondly.

"Kankuro don't do this." Naruto said swiftly pulling himself to his feet, "I gave you Sasori's extra bodies." That gave the puppeteer some pause, but before he could say anything the door cracked open to reveal the curious face of Temari who looked out at the hall before settling on Naruto, "Uh, hey Temari-chan. How have you been the last few months?"

Temari's door slowly opened wider, putting the young woman completely in the doorway where she then put her hands on her hips and waited expectantly, "You need to have a damn good excuse as to why you didn't go back to Konoha after what I heard happened to you and Jiraiya-sama."

Naruto looked at his team, "Go with Kankuro to the room, I'll catch up with you in a minute." He looked at Temari, "Yes, as a matter of fact I do. Can I come in? I've wanted to talk to you for a while anyway." He said She smiled at him and moved aside, allowing him to enter her room and close the door.

Kankuro shook his head with a smirk and continued leading the two Root ninja through his house, "I should be pissed about what my sister is going to do to that guy, but I just can't bring myself to hate him. He's just too good of a guy for as long as I've known him."

Sai looked at Kankuro, "Naruto-senpai and Temari-san are in a relationship?"

Kankuro stroked his chin in thought, "Well, no I wouldn't say that. I will say that aside from the climate, the guy is half the reason she likes going to Konoha so much though. One time she came back with the biggest smile on her face that travelling all that way shouldn't have given her and asking about the kid got a bigger one out of her."

Sai's face never changed expressions even when he comprehended what he was being told, "So senpai and Temari-san are going to-?"

"Probably." Kankuro said with a distasteful expression, "Could we just not talk about it? Even though I'm okay with it she's still my sister. It's gross." He looked at both Sai and Maki, "Like how would you like it if I started talking about how hot your little sister here is? Come on dude, it's just not appropriate."

Sai looked at Maki and then back to Kankuro, "I don't see what relation has to do with the attractiveness of one's sibling. Besides, Maki is not my sister, she's my teammate on this mission, same as Naruto-senpai."

Kankuro looked at Maki for a moment and turned back forward, shaking his head, "No… No she's not. That girl isn't anything close to being similar to Naruto."

Sai gave Kankuro a pleasant smile, "Whatever you say Make-up Boy."

As Kankuro fumed at the fact that Naruto's teammate had a smart-ass attitude, Maki frowned at the thought of Naruto having relations of a physical nature with a foreign kunoichi, 'What if she's been able to seduce secrets out of senpai? She apparently does this every so often so why else would she? I need to have a talk with him later about this.' She thought determinedly to herself.

XxX

(The Next Day – Gates of Sunagakure)

Naruto and his two teammates stood at the outskirts of the village as Kankuro and Temari stood with them to bid them farewell. Temari frowned and gave Naruto a hug, "I wish you could stay for longer this time, but with what you told me last night you're right, you need to keep moving."

"Yes, I'm sure you wish he could stay…" Kankuro said, grinning until Temari took her fan off of her back and brandished it threateningly, getting her brother to back off holding his hands up defensively. When she turned away to leave him alone he gave thumbs up to Naruto, "You see? Every time she's around you she calms down. You should move to Suna." He didn't escape Temari's wrath twice as this time she caught him right on top of the head with her makeshift club.

Temari sneered down at her pleasantly unconscious brother before looking up at Naruto and crew, "It was good to have you here again Naruto-kun-."

"I'll bet it was!"

Another stomp to her smart-aleck brother silenced him and let her continue speaking, "You really should be at home in Konoha more often. I don't think any ninja cuts the pace that you do with work."

Naruto shifted the sword around on his back, "There's a lot for me to do Temari-chan. I've got to find a way to put this Pein guy down and I can't do it training in Konoha. Even the new jutsu you helped me finish the last time we were together wouldn't have done a thing."

"Did you use that?" She asked him dangerously, getting Naruto to frantically shake his head no, "Good, because you know it tears your arm apart. Just be careful out there." She gave him a small smile, "I don't think I can convince you to let me go ask Gaara to send you off with an escort could I?"

"Sai and Maki are more than enough Temari-chan." Naruto said, putting a hand on her cheek, "It's going to be fine, just worry about keeping Gaara and your tactless brother in line, okay?" He gave her a kiss and turned, motioning to the others to follow him.

As his figure grew smaller and smaller on the horizon before finally disappearing in the hazy lines of the desert, Temari let out a sigh that the now standing Kankuro rolled his eyes at, "And here we go again with your hang-dog look as you watch him leave. For the love of Kami, why don't you just tell the guy that you're in love with him already? You've had sex like three ti-."

Once again he was cut off with a shot from Temari's fan who didn't have her heart in it from the frown on her face, "Shut up Kankuro."

XxX

(3 Days Later – Undisclosed Location – Orochimaru's Base)

Sasuke walked into the lab of the base and looked around. Noting that no one was there he walked over to a massive vat of water that he immediately slashed open with the sword on his person, letting it spill out onto the ground. The water quickly began to take a human form, the form of a teen boy with white hair, purple eyes, and shark-like teeth, "Ugh, not that I'm not happy to be out of that vat, but what do you want Sasuke?"

"I'm taking out Orochimaru and you're coming with me." Sasuke said plainly, "Of course you could always turn me down and I'll put you back in that tank to be experimented on. The choice is your Suigetsu."

Suigetsu stroked his chin in thought, "Hmm… Go with you and get back at the asshole that put me here in the first place as well as get the chance to actually start looking for the swords or stay here and let Orochimaru's favorite ass-slave keep poking and prodding at me?" He gave Sasuke a toothy grin, "Get me some clothes and you've got yourself a running mate for the time being."

Sasuke threw him some clothes and began walking away, "Hurry up and get dressed. We're doing this now." Suigetsu looked at back of the retreating Uchiha and shrugged before beginning to get dressed, "And if you see Kabuto wandering about any time before we get to Orochimaru feel free to show him how much you appreciated all of the 'hospitality'."

Suigetsu let a feral smirk cross his features, "I have a feeling that this is going to work out just fine."

XxX

(With Naruto and Company – Somewhere in Hi no Kuni)

In the middle of a forest, Naruto stood waiting in place while Sai sat on a tree branch above, using his free time to draw for a little while as long as he had the time to take a break. Naruto had his eyes scanning the trees around him, trying to find any sign of their third squad member, 'She's rather good at keeping herself out of view. That's a good trait for a medic-nin to have. Alright Maki, now let's see how you fight.'

The sound of a beautiful voice singing filled the area and quickly reached the ears of Naruto and Sai who somehow found their eyes starting to grow heavier. Sai quickly noted what was happening and was able to categorize it, 'Keikoku no Uta (Song of the Siren). Let's see how Naruto-senpai is able to deal with this.'

Naruto grit his teeth as he began feeling drowsy. This was the kind of genjutsu that the Kyuubi had trouble dispelling for him the most, ones that had to do with his hearing. Did she know that about him? No one knew that about him. Naruto pulled out his sword and a kunai and began grinding the two blades against one another to produce a horrible noise that broke Maki's control over him.

A flurry of shuriken flew from a hidden position and forced Naruto to throw his kunai at them to block as well as use his sword to deflect them. Even so, one still managed to nick his shoulder, 'Son of a bitch. She can do Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Shuriken Jutsu)? Sneaky wench.'

A kunai flew from the woods coming straight for his head that he batted from the sky, however when he moved to swing at it, a glare from the weapon caught him right in the eyes. It didn't initially stun Naruto, but once a figure that he had designated as Maki flew from the underbrush at him he couldn't focus his eyes on her directly, lest his vision be filled with an intense light that kept him from keeping his eyes on her.

Hearing her draw her tanto from the scabbard gave him all of the warning he needed to get his ninjato from his sheath on his back and block before directing a retaliatory swipe at the girl he couldn't look right at, 'Her genjutsu skills are centered around the parts that I'm not good at dispelling. They aren't so much along the lines of being physical as they're more perceptive. They don't alter reality, they alter my own perspective. Kyuubi can't help me with these.'

"I know how to fight you Naruto-senpai."

'That's right, keep talking sweetie.' Naruto thought to himself as he blocked another attack from her sword and shoved her off, 'Give me an idea of where you are and I'll only need one shot to finish you.'

"I watched you train and work for years. My own style of combat is meant to support your weaknesses." Maki said as she bypassed Naruto's guard after he blocked her slash and punched him in the face, "You are more of a juggernaut, meant to destroy your opponents in one shot. I am more subtle." Before she could move in with another slash attempt, she wound up getting kicked right in the body and sent flying by his one-hit power she had been referencing.

"That's enough Maki." Naruto said as he walked over to her with his eyes closed, "I know what you can do now. And I hope that the you talking to me thing was just because this was a spar and not a real fight."

Maki picked herself up and muttered 'kai' to return Naruto's vision to him, "Yes Naruto-senpai, but it was mostly because I know you. Still, habits like that translate over into combat as well. I will work on that." She rubbed the place where Naruto kicked her and winced slightly, "It really is good to see you fight more accurately towards the way you used to again. There was a time where I wanted to beat the old Naruto-senpai out of you."

Naruto gave her a puzzled look, "What? Beat the old me out of me? But you've only seen me like this or when I was in Root."

Maki shook her head and activated Shousen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Jutsu) to heal the small injury that Naruto inflicted on her while she kept talking, "Actually I've been there all along. When you were sealed Danzo-sama had me keep watch over you in the Academy. He put me in the same time as you and I even graduated with you."

Naruto looked intently at Maki as she smiled up at him after she finished healing herself. Naruto walked around her a few times, "I don't remember. Why don't I remember?"

"Because I'm good at my job senpai." She said winking at him, "I honestly tried to talk to you a few times, but you were obsessed with that Sakura girl all through school and kept getting held back after class… and that's when you weren't skipping." She said with a pronounced scowl on her face, "Then Danzo-sama instructed me not to interact with you, he said that you wouldn't remember us anyway and would talk about it, maybe even to the Hokage. He really started paying attention to you once you were sealed."

He put a hand on Maki's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "Well now I'm here. You can talk to me all you want, okay?" Maki gave him a bright smile in response.

"Naruto-senpai." Sai said as he stood up, "We have company." The pale ninja drew his tanto from his back in preparation.

"Akatsuki?" Maki asked, keeping her own tanto at the ready as she went back to back against Naruto who had his own sword still out, "Which one is it?"

An influx of information from Kage Bunshin sentries entered Naruto's head, "Not Akatsuki." He said, answering her previous query, "But there are around 9… 10… wow, really? There are like 21 of these guys."

Sai jumped down and formed a tight triangle formation with the others, "Who is it attacking us? If it isn't an agent of Akatsuki could it be someone from Otogakure? You have a lot of enemies Naruto-senpai."

Naruto shook his head, "Nope, not them either." An explosion echoed into the distance, "And now it's not 21 anymore, it's just 17 now." Sai and Maki looked at him for clarification, "Kekkai Houjin (Barrier Encampment Method)." The sounds of people rushing through the forest around them got closer and closer, "Get ready for a fight."

A bunch of shinobi wearing demon masks, fully armed to the teeth and holding large kunai like swords emerged all around Naruto, Sai, and Maki.

Sai looked around, trying to gauge the current threat level, "Who are these people?" He asked hypothetically, not expecting to get an answer, especially not from both of his teammates at the same time.

"Prajna Group." Naruto and Maki both said before looking at each other and nodding in agreement. Naruto decided to take the moment to explain to his hapless third colleague, "Yeah me and Maki were among the Root agents that Danzo-jiji dispatched to take out a whole regiment of these guys back in the day." Naruto blinked and looked at the female of the team, "Damn it, that means we failed that mission doesn't it?"

"That depends." Maki said thoughtfully, "It depends on whether or not these are the last of them or not. If it is then we can finish the mission right now."

Sai understood, "So they're here for revenge. To simply kill us or use us to locate Danzo-sama." He shook his head, "It wouldn't matter anyway. He never comes out into the open, so unless they're willing to infiltrate Konoha to look for him they'll never find him."

Naruto cracked his neck, "Yeah, well tell them that _after_ they're done trying to kill us, and hurry up. I'd like to finish this up and get moving again… and no explosions please."

"You just used explosives about two minutes ago Naruto-senpai." Maki supplied with a smirk.

Naruto looked at the ninja surrounding them with a twitching eye, "Maki I missed you and I love you so I'm not going to take out my aggression from that unnecessarily snide comment on you. That's what these guys are for."

XxX

(Undisclosed Location – Orochimaru's Base)

Sasuke and Suigetsu had made their way through Orochimaru's base with no so much as a peep from any of Orochimaru's men, mostly because it was Sasuke, and no one was to touch Sasuke. It was maddening. He wondered how he would have ever gotten stronger if he hadn't been able to force Orochimaru to give him actual missions to test himself with.

Suigetsu looked over at the raven-haired avenger, "So are you sure you can win? I mean I don't care either way because if this doesn't work you're going to be a Sasuke trench-coat for Orochimaru and I'm going to be either dead or back in that vat, but you seem confident."

Sasuke scoffed, "He can't beat me. He's hiding it but you can see that his body is breaking down. As he is the dobe could take him out… that's probably why he didn't attack him and the Kazekage when we had the chance in Suna." They reached a set of large doors, "Stay out here. No one comes in until one of us comes out."

Suigetsu looked at him in surprise, "Are you sure? I mean if we were both in there we could have a better shot at putting him down with less of a fight."

Sasuke put his hand up in front of the door and looked at Suigetsu coldly, "No one comes in until one of us comes out. If I can't beat him then all of this is meaningless and I'll never beat Itachi." Sasuke formed a beam of lightning in his hand and pointed it at the door, extending it and piercing through it. He then pulled out his sword and cut through the rest of the door before stepping inside where he found Orochimaru in his bed, blocking the attack from Sasuke from hitting his vital spots.

Orochimaru glared at Sasuke, "I knew it would come to this."

Sasuke simply looked at Orochimaru impassively, "I don't have anything else to learn from you. And you won't be seeing any mercy from me, even if you beg for it." His cursed seal began to spread over his body.

* * *

Jutsu List

Keikoku no Uta (Song of the Siren). B-rank genjutsu. Offensive, supplementary. The user will use chakra to project their voice and scatter it along the surroundings to an opponent's ears. Once caught in the genjutsu an opponent will quickly be lulled to sleep if the genjutsu is not quickly identified and dispelled. For the genjutsu to work the user must have a pleasant voice or else no effect will occur.

Kashoku no Sousaku (Bright Light Creation). B-rank genjutsu. Supplementary. The user will activate the jutsu using a natural source of sudden light that will hit the opponent in the eyes. After the initial flash, any time that the enemy locks eyes onto the user the victim will see nothing but a bright blinding light emitting from the user of the jutsu, keeping them from being able to look directly at the user.

Kekkai Houjin (Barrier Encampment Method). B-rank ninjutsu, Kekkai Ninjutsu. Offensive. An array of four exploding tags are jointly placed around the boundary of an area. If anyone or anything happens to walk through the boundary, the seals will instantly activate and explode, killing the imprisoned target.

* * *

**And chapter. By my own personal standards it's short, that being said it was a necessary bridging chapter to set off events in the next arc so… yeah. Got a problem and want to fight about it? Come on and bring it! I'm fucking pumped, I've been drinking Mountain Dew Code Red all damn day! God, I go to church every goddamn Sunday! You gon' bring out the demons in me!**

**I started a new story, that's why others have slowed down. I want to put a backbone behind it and start getting to real parts you know? However since this is the one that more or less made me famous (yeah right. Famous my ass-crack), I had to update it before getting back to the other one so that I could get it into rotation.**

**Alright, I have shit to do tomorrow that will require focus and my utmost intense attention. Kenchi out.**


	42. Where There is Shadow There is Light

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I'm going to start a fundraiser to fix this. 10 dollars per hit on this story and you can change the world. Donate now.

**Chapter 41: Where There is Shadow There is Light**

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Sasuke stared at Orochimaru impassively as he held his jutsu puncturing the man's arms that he had placed up as a defense, "Orochimaru you're weaker than me. There's no point in sacrificing my body to you anymore."

"Big words from the leftover Uchiha." Orochimaru taunted as he glared dangerously at Sasuke, his own blood staining his face.

Sasuke smirked, "Hm. If I hadn't been so weak I never would have come to you in the first place now would I? The only reason you wanted me was because you couldn't take Itachi, right Mister Sannin? The world might have considered you a genius, but you're nowhere near the level of an Uchiha. Before us, the greatest genius in the universe barely comes off as average."

Orochimaru laughed maliciously, "The only thing you're good for are your eyes boy. If you truly believe that you're my equal then go back and fight Naruto-kun again and prove your skill. Oh that's right, you lost to him once and ran away from him without even fighting the second time."

"My eyes huh?" Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes at Orochimaru's jab at him, "As someone that carries the famous name Uchiha, from my point of view your attempts to obtain our power are so disgusting they're almost funny. The way you keep saturating yourself with drugs and switching bodies… your methods are pointless. Do you even have a true goal anymore? You claim to seek the reason behind existence and yet all you do is make petty attempts to play God with people's lives." He drew his sword, "You sicken me." He moved in at the disabled Orochimaru to finish him off with his blade.

However when he got close, the snake-summoning shinobi opened his mouth as a long white figure burst from his body that turned out to be a massive white snake comprised of smaller white snakes.

Sasuke turned around and faced off with the grotesque figure, "So your true form is a scaly white serpent. You experimented on your own body because you wanted to take over others so badly… and now you're a pathetic shell of your former self."

"**Sasuke-kun…"** Orochimaru hissed threateningly, **"Give me your body!"** He dove at Sasuke as the young Uchiha jumped over his first attack, allowing the bed Orochimaru had been in to be rendered to splinters. Some of the smaller snakes lunged at the airborne Sasuke, however he cut through them and slid along the ground upon landing, his back against a wall. Orochimaru turned on him with a hiss and sent an entire wave of snakes at Sasuke as an attack.

Sasuke immediately pulled the top of his shirt back, freeing his upper body and activated the level two transformation of his cursed seal, "Though the snake dreams of soaring through the sky, it is forever doomed to crawl on its belly." Sasuke was surrounded and engulfed by the attack as his skin color turned dark brown and the star marking appeared on his face. But immediately upon being overwhelmed, the snakes exploded in blood revealing the fully transformed Sasuke, complete with his wing-like hands fully grown from his back, **"You'll have your chance to fly snake… In the talons of a hawk."**

Orochimaru simply lunged at his young quarry once more, **"Sasuke!"**

XxX

(With Naruto and Company)

Naruto, Maki, and Sai stood back to back as all of the shinobi of the Prajna Group were radiating killing intent. "So…" Naruto said, directing his eyes at Maki, "If me and Sai were to break out of this and get some space away from these guys could you keep up with us?"

"Don't patronize me senpai." Maki said with some aggravation in her voice, "If you're going to go then go. I wouldn't be here if I couldn't keep up."

With that, all three teens utilized their own Shunshin to escape being boxed in by the enemy. Naruto in a gusty cyclone, Sai in a swirl of ink, and Maki in a burst of light. The Prajna Group shinobi all turned to pursue the split up force of 3 Root ninja, however a trio of kunai corralled four of them, separating them from their comrades who ran off into the forest to chase the younger opponents who threw the weapons.

"Raiton: Denkai (Lightning Release: Electric Field)!" A dome of electricity formed around the grounded kunai that trapped the four separated Prajna ninja, "Checkmate, Raiton: Denki Hokai (Lightning Release: Electric Implosion)!" The electric prison brightened and began crackling loudly before the entire dome receded, revealing the burned, blackened remains of the four men. Naruto appeared from a hiding place and confirmed his kills, "You all shouldn't have made that so personal. Missions with more destruction are carried out all the time for stupider reasons. You shouldn't have allowed it to consume you. With as many of you as there were left you all should have tried to simply live instead of trying to take revenge against us." He stood up shaking his head, "Killing us wouldn't have done anything anyway. So long as there is light, erasing shadows will do no good. Four more down, thirteen to go." He took off back into the woods to assist the rest of his team.

XxX

(With Sai)

The seven Prajna Group ninja bearing down on Sai turned their long kunai downwards and leapt through the air, three landing in front of him to cut him off, four landing behind him, and all impaled him with their kunai. The twisted look of pain on Sai's face began to melt as he turned to ink, revealing himself to be an ink clone.

"Sumi Nagashi (Ink Flush)."

From the ground, ink snakes formed and caught the men around their legs and arms, trapping them from using their kunai to escape, "Now then, Choujuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)." A roar from an area of surrounding trees preceded a group of three ink lions coming from the woods intent on attacking the trapped men. Two of them were able to get loose, freeing their arms enough to cut themselves loose, however their comrades were not so lucky, as they wound up being caught and brutally mauled by the lions.

Two men were killed as the lions went right for their throats and ended it there while the third lion began clawing and biting at the other trapped men, wounding them too heavily to allow them to keep fighting. One of the wounded had the bone of their arm around the elbow exposed from the attack.

The two able-bodied Prajna Group members took advantage of their partners distracting the lions with their own bodies to cut them down, however this allowed Sai to move from the shadows and cut one of them down with his tanto.

The other man angrily attacked Sai with his elongated kunai that was blocked by the pale teen, "Die you Root scum! For all of my comrades!" He attempted to poke Sai in his vulnerable eyes while they were up close and wound up getting his two fingers blocked down the middle by the back knife edge of Sai's hand, "You probably don't even feel anything!"

"That's not true." Sai stressed plainly, moving his own hand so that he could grasp a hold of the man's extended fingers and quickly break them, allowing him to power through the man's weaponized attack and cut into the side of the masked man's neck, killing him and dropping him to the ground in a heap, "I feel annoyance for having my team be sidetracked by you." With that, he looked back at the men that were still wounded and let out a sigh.

They weren't going to be able to get anyone to treat their wounds. One of them had their guts falling out a belly wound for Kami's sake. Sai walked over to them with his tanto still brandished, "I am sorry for your misfortune. I would not have killed you had you not attacked my team, but my mission is to protect Naruto-senpai from all threats, and you are threats." He lifted his tanto overhead and began finishing them off.

XxX

(With Maki)

Maki was actually very fast, faster than Sai on foot truthfully. The trouble they had in catching up to her forced the six attacking Prajna Group members to split up, half to continue the pursuit, the other half to find a way to cut her off.

Eventually this plan seemed to work as they found themselves gaining on the girl who looked back over her shoulder at them as she continued to run away through the elevated branches of the woods. A sun glare through the treetops hit them in the face and almost immediately it appeared that Maki had been rejoined by Naruto and Sai as they were all running side by side in the same direction in front of them.

Seeing all three in one place inspired the pursuit team of three to push harder and catch the seemingly slower group all at once, which they did. Attempting to finish them off from behind, all three turned in the air and blocked the strikes before they all fell to the ground and rolled, breaking away to a standoff against each other, three-on-three with blades all drawn, staring at each other, although for some reason the Root kids had looks of fear and confusion on their faces.

"What the hell are you doing?" Naruto yelled at them, "What's your problem?"

"Our problem is you three brats!" One of the Prajna Group yelled, "Everything that we've been through is your fault and now you're all going to die out here!" With that, the two groups began fighting one another, though one side seemed rather reluctant to do so.

XxX

Maki moved back through the foliage as she heard the sounds of the fighting ringing out, "Watashi no Yuujin no Teki (Enemy of My Friend)." Her genjutsu was used to fool the lagging pursuit force into thinking that their faster allies that had broken off and tried chasing her from the side was herself, Naruto, and Sai, allowing her to escape undetected. If everything worked out properly they would kill each other and she wouldn't even need to draw her sword. Maybe she could use this as an opportunity to find Sai and Naruto-.

"Raiton: Kaksen no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Livewire Jutsu)!"

Visible lines of electricity flew over the ground towards the clashing Prajna Group fighters, catching the enchanted members of the group off-guard, something that was also fatal for their other partners as they were in direct contact with them.

The jutsu hit them and electrocuted them all, finishing them off as Naruto and Sai landed nearby, "And that's seventeen of seventeen. Maki!" He called out, "That's all of them, you can come out."

Maki did as instructed and looked over at the corpses of the deceased assailants, "You could have been more subtle about it Naruto-senpai." She said, almost pouting at how he finished things off, "I put all of that effort into constructing that genjutsu for them to do damage to themselves and you just swoop in and take them out while they're not looking." She crossed her arms over her chest, "No respect for the more restrained shinobi arts. Same as always." A small smile came to her lips.

Naruto shook his head as he confirmed the kills, "Only a Root ninja would be able to smile at me after we just got through doing something like this…" He said, though a smile of his own started peeking through, "Actually not really, because he's not smiling about anything." He finished, pointing at Sai.

"Should we begin travelling faster now Naruto-senpai?" Sai asked, prepared to draw a bird or two to fly them away, "Or would you like to risk being attacked again by random enemies?"

Naruto gave Sai a dry look, "Again, we're going all over the Hi no Kuni countryside to get to the east coast. The entire point of this is to _not_ get caught moving around by anyone so that no one knows where we are. You can fly when we get to the coast… maybe." He looked between Sai and Maki, "Is anyone hurt? Tired? Anything?" Both shook their heads in the negative, "Well then let's get moving again."

The team took off through the woods following behind Naruto as Maki eventually decided to ask a question, "So Naruto-senpai, where is it that you want us to head to? Any destination on the coast in particular?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, we're going to Nami no Kuni since Sai doesn't have the chakra to have his creatures take us all the way across the ocean straight out from here." He furrowed his brow at that point, "Maybe I should call Hamako-chan too. While we're there in Nami no Kuni, there might be something in Uzushiogakure that we missed in our combination of bad to worse situations or something that she wants."

Sai almost felt like cringing at the memory of the incident, "Are we going to have to fall off of a building into a whirlpool or fight another giant statue and Akatsuki members?" He asked.

"Kami I hope not…" Naruto said in response, "Don't even make jokes like that Sai-kouhai, it's hard to tell if you're serious or not and I don't need you jinxing us."

Maki raised a delicate eyebrow in interest, "I'm going to see your ancestral home? You're actually going to show it to me?"

Naruto nodded and grinned back at her, "Well you were going to see it eventually if I remained in Root, so why not show you now? My life is in your hands and yours is in mine. We should be able to trust each other." He turned back ahead, and continued to lead, "And I trust you Maki, I always did."

Grey eyes looked at Naruto's back before a smile came to Maki's face. Before she could say anything to Naruto, Sai abruptly spoke, "I trust you as well Maki-san."

Maki blinked in confusion before responding, "Um… thank you Sai-senpai?"

XxX

(Sasuke vs. Orochimaru)

Sasuke stood over the bloody, segmented body of Orochimaru's serpent form as he allowed his cursed seal level two form to recede, "That was too easy." He said to no one in particular, "I guess it's time to go get Suigetsu now…" As he turned to leave, he doubled over as a sudden foreign feeling entered his system.

"**Finally feeling the effects are we?"** Orochimaru said as his body reformed and he rose back up, **"The fumes of these white snakes can even taint the air with their paralyzing venom."** Sasuke took note of the horrid stench that came from the blood staining the floor, **"I am undying, and you're just a whelp with jutsu too weak to kill me… and now you're mine!"** He dove at Sasuke and swallowed him whole just as he activated his Sharingan.

Instead of finding himself in Orochimaru's stomach he found himself in some wide area with walls that seemed an eternity away and a fleshy floor, "What is this place?"

"An alternate dimension inside of me." Orochimaru said as his form emerged from the flesh covered floor, "And the place where I carry out my soul transfer ritual. It has already begun."

Snakes began emerging from the ground and began immersing Sasuke among them. He looked around and saw the bodies of others. Orochimaru grinned victoriously as Sasuke became less and less visible within the fleshy cocoon that his ritual was creating. Sasuke however, was still as calm as ever, his Sharingan active and seemingly staring a hole right though him. He could feel himself caught in a paralysis genjutsu.

'It's happening again. Just like before.' He thought, getting more and more excited at the prospect of taking Sasuke's body to the point of laughing maniacally, "Those eyes… Those eyes will be mine!" He moved towards Sasuke and began merging bodies until Sasuke effortlessly broke free of his bonds, still with an impassive look on his face, "This can't be happening! I created this dimension, there's no way! This can't be, this is my-!"

Sasuke cut him off coldly, "Orochimaru against my eyes, none of your jutsu…" He stopped and let out a short laugh, "Actually you know the rest. After all, you've heard it before." The entire dimension began to collapse around them both, even Orochimaru himself found himself being eaten away at.

"I refuse to let this happen! I will not die here! I am Orochimaru! I am immortal! Destined to discover the true meaning behind everything, to take control of everything in the world!" He roared at Sasuke as the entire dimension went dark.

XxX

The sounds of combat from Orochimaru's room stopped. After a few moments of no sound whatsoever, Suigetsu peeked his head into the room and saw Sasuke standing over the dead corpse of Orochimaru's serpent form, "Uh yo… Is it over?" Sasuke didn't answer and after getting fed up with the silence he walked into the room, not really caring one way or the other, "Yeah, it's over. It looks over." He said, stepping over Orochimaru's dead body.

Kabuto appeared at the doorway and looking into the room, stunned into silence before Sasuke and Suigetsu left, Suigetsu taking the stunned look on Kabuto's face with much humor. As they began walking away down the hall he had to ask the question he had running through his head, "Which one are you?"

Sasuke and Suigetsu stopped, both turning around with smirks on their faces as Sasuke spoke, "Which one do you think?" Sasuke used his Sharingan to place Kabuto in a genjutsu and replay the scenes of the conflict.

Kabuto stepped back in abject horror, "Orochimaru-sama is dead." He then looked intently at Sasuke, "No, it's more like-."

"I've taken over." Sasuke finished for him as he continued to walk away alongside Suigetsu.

Suigetsu had thought about killing Kabuto for keeping him trapped in that tank for so long, but figured that he would be nothing more than a simpering mark on his own. Without Orochimaru he would be swallowed up by the multiple enemies he had made since becoming Orochimaru's right-hand man. With that in mind he spoke to Sasuke, "So what's next? Where are we going now?"

"We need to get two more people." Sasuke answered him, "Juugo in the north and Karin in the south."

"Meh…" Suigetsu mumbled in complaint, "Do we have to? I kind of can't stand those two, I don't think we'll ever get along."

Sasuke scoffed and narrowed his eyes, "I just need the three of you to cooperate. I don't need you to like each other."

Suigetsu rolled his eyes, "Well you did save me, so I guess if that's what you want I'll go along with it. But why them? What do you think of them?"

"They need to learn how to shut up." Sasuke said plainly, "Just like someone else I'm speaking to at the moment."

Suigetsu laughed slightly before suddenly appearing behind Sasuke with a finger to the side of his head, "Alright leader-boy, let's get a few things straight. You're not in charge because you took Orochimaru down. Everyone was after him and the way that they kept moving me when that squad of Konoha ANBU kept finding us told me that he didn't have that much time left anyway. You taking him down is just a result of you having damn near unlimited free swings at him, you could pick your shot at any time."

"What's your point?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

Suigetsu stared at Sasuke who seemed to not be able to care any less about his predicament, "Ha, I'm just kidding. Man, your heart rate didn't even change. That's enough for me, that win was no fluke." He stepped away from Sasuke, "I've always heard rumors about how strong you were, your squad beat my old sempai Zabuza didn't they? But can I make a quick detour? There's somewhere I want to go before we get the others."

XxX

(Two Days Later – Konohagakure no Sato)

Jiraiya sat comfortably in the living room of Naruto's new home that he had yet to see yet. He had to say, Hamako had actually done a fantastic job in picking it out, and furbishing it as well. It was a very comfortable atmosphere to say the least. Of course that was probably because the perpetual ball of energy and kinetic motion Naruto was currently out. A semi-circle of large couches sat in a pit-like living room that was well lit. There would probably have been way more things than the few knickknacks and things that came from the old apartment, but she was probably waiting on him to get back before filling the place up.

Oh he would have loved the place. It was built on the side of the Hokage Monument mountain with a groove cut out by earth ninjutsu specialists. The entrance to the place was on the top of the mountain and descended to the actual building. He was sure that the vast majority of his bounty check and a few of his A-rank mission payments that he never spent went into the place, but it was worth it to the old toad sage. Maybe when the kid came back he could convince him to let him get a room. Yes, that would work. The kid would have to let his poor old handicapped sensei stay with him wouldn't he?

"I hope that the tea is not too strong or hot for your throat Jiraiya-sama." Hamako called out as she entered the room and set down a tray of tea with two cups on the coffee table in front of the couch, "How are your injuries?"

Jiraiya smiled gratefully as the girl poured him a drink. He spoke in a raspy, soft voice, "It should be fine. And I'm not dead, so I can't really complain about my wounds, they'll heal… I'll miss the arm though." He fake sniffled, "I miss that sweet arm of mine."

Hamako giggled and handed him his tea, "Well it's nice to hear that Naruto-sama's sensei is alright. I have asked you here for another reason though." She said as she took a seat nearby, "He's worried about fighting the person that defeated both of you. He says that the four tails of the Kyuubi's chakra he can draw on won't be enough to beat this Pein. I'm supposed to ask you about any way he can find to access more, because he cannot control anymore than he currently has been using." She took a sip and narrowed her eyes at him, "Also know that loosening his seal is not an answer, that was a terrible idea Jiraiya-sama."

Jiraiya gave a deadpan look at Hamako, "Hindsight is 20-20… I knew that roughly a day after I did it but I couldn't tighten it back up, even with the key."

"The key…" Hamako said in thought as she took another sip, "What exactly is the key Jiraiya-sama? I know that there is one but I don't know anything more than that." She frowned cutely, "It's puzzling, that I do not know about this 'key' when Naruto-sama's seal itself is so heavily based off of Uzushiogakure sealing styles. I cannot duplicate it even if I thought it would be a good idea to do so."

Jiraiya chuckled hoarsely with his injured throat and took a sip of his own tea before speaking, "Well I didn't design it as I'm sure you know. Do you know of Naruto's lineage?" Hamako nodded, "Of course you do. There's no way he would have failed to mention that to you. Well Minato was actually better than me at fuuinjutsu, he was closer to your level, beyond you I would say."

Hamako simply smiled at him, "Are you admitting I'm better than you?" She let out a short laugh when Jiraiya glowered at her, "I'm not surprised that Yondaime-sama was better than me. Master's seal is incredible. It used to be my favorite thing to do to just examine it until I learned all that I could from it." She noticed Jiraiya writing something down in a notebook that suddenly appeared on his lap, "Really? You're recording this?"

Jiraiya nodded with a lecherous grin on his face, "The gaki has been a treasure trove of potential research since the day I've met him. That 'examining his seal' thing has tons of potential in my next book."

Hamako's eye twitched, but she had to be a good host to her master's master, "Uh huh… well what do you surmise we should do? Master's coded description of the small conflict with Pein and what you've told me has me somewhat concerned."

Jiraiya's expression turned serious, "After I've fully recovered I'm going to find Naruto and have him proceed with the final thing I have to truly teach him. After this he truly will not need me anymore, for anything. We have the information necessary to beat Pein. I learned his secret during the fight and gave it to Tsunade. The body I brought has also been analyzed. All there is to do now is to tell Naruto himself and get him ready. He won't lose again." His eyes widened when he saw Hamako pull down the shoulder of one side of her kimono.

She ran her fingers over the tattoo she used to communicate with Naruto and looked up at Jiraiya, "I can give Naruto-sama this information now if you'll relay it through me." She narrowed her eyes when she noticed Jiraiya leering at her more exposed cleavage, "Jiraiya-sama!"

"Huh?" He replied intelligently before realizing that he had been caught staring. He regained his composure before speaking, "You know dear… technically you're closer to my age than the gaki's. Why not spend some time with me and we can reminisce over the good old days?" He finished, wagging his eyebrows at her.

She gave him a dry look that lasted over a minute before speaking, "There are so many reasons why I'm upset with what you just said, but there's really not much that I can do to you even with you missing an arm, so I'm telling Naruto-sama you said that and he can deal with you when he gets home." As she began to channel chakra to her seal she smirked when she saw Jiraiya's face pale.

XxX

(Nami no Kuni – Great Naruto Bridge)

Sasuke and Suigetsu stood on the mainland just before getting onto the bridge. It would have been a rush of nostalgia for Sasuke had he not seen what the bridge was called. Actually seeing it made him want to laugh a bit. Suigetsu noticed the young Uchiha staring intently at the name of the bridge and spoke after taking a sip from a bottle of water, "So what do you think Sasuke?"

Sasuke smirked and walked along the bridge, "I don't _think_ I care. Now let's get moving."

XxX

(Zabuza and Haku's Grave Site)

Two simple unmarked graves were the only indicators of any importance to the area of the hill overlooking the Great Naruto Bridge. One of the graves had a massive cleaver behind it with a circle and a semi-circle cut into it, "I never thought it would be all the way out here." Suigetsu said as he walked over to the sword and grabbed a hold of it, "I'll be taking that Zabuza-senpai." He freed it from the ground and held it in a battle stance, "The blade once wielded by 'The Demon of the Mist' Zabuza Momochi… man it's heavy."

Sasuke watched as Suigetsu set it back into the ground and fixed a strap around it and unscrewed the long handle of the sword, "And you? Can you actually use that thing?"

Suigetsu smirked, "The swords used by the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist are passed down from one generation to the next. I trained my ass off to be able to stand among them. With a weapon like this I could probably beat even you." He shrugged and threw it over his back, "Well since Juugo's going to be joining us I figured I might need it." Sasuke had an amused look on his face, "Well let's go. I've got what I came for. We're still going south right?"

"Yep." Sasuke said as he turned to leave the gravesite, "Come on. We've still got a lot of ground to cover.

XxX

(Nami no Kuni – With Naruto, Sai, and Maki)

Naruto hadn't stopped in to see Inari, Tazuna, and Tsunami this time around in this country because it was really better that less people knew where he was and how to find him. Thus, Naruto and his fellow Root teens simply took to walking their way through the countryside with Naruto leading them. A quick runthrough of Uzushiogakure on the north side of the nation led to them finding nothing and wasting a day, which prompted Naruto to have them hustle to the eastern port, the closest one in the direction of Mizu no Kuni, so that Sai could fly them there.

Of course the most famous port was the once little town near the home of Tazuna and this led to Maki having many questions for him, "So you beat Zabuza Momochi as a genin? Even as your stupid self?"

"Hey…" Naruto said defensively as he and his team walked through the village heading to the port, "And Kakashi-sensei beat Zabuza, I beat Haku. For having all of my skills locked up I was still better than most genin."

"Not me." Maki replied cheerfully, "I would have been in that chunin exam that year with you too, but my team wasn't that good." She lifted her arm and made a fist at him, "If I had been in that chunin exam I would have gone right after you because I would have been allowed to legally beat you up. I really disliked the sealed version of you. It made me so angry to see you like that." She shook her head pitifully, "I've said it before, you have no idea how much I missed you senpai."

Naruto grinned at her, "Sorry for almost dying Maki-chan. I got sealed, but wouldn't you have been more upset if I had died?"

She crossed her arms across her chest and looked down, "I should have been there, I could have helped you.

"You would have been killed." Naruto asserted firmly, "We were the same age but we were not built the same. You would have died if we had been caught. That run to the border is still the single most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life. You wouldn't have made it, you didn't have the stamina."

"I was your support senpai." Maki said sadly, "I was the one that was supposed to be your assistance. I was the only ally you had in the middle of the most terrible conditions a ninja could be sent into and I was sitting at home while you were running for your life and losing your personality."

Sai hadn't said anything, but he knew that if anyone was going to cheer her up and bring some bright surroundings to his team it was going to be him… because Sai sure as hell wasn't going to do it, even if he had been making a concerted effort in Konoha to get along with Naruto's graduating class and friends.

Naruto put a hand on her shoulder, "I told you already not to worry about that. If me leaving you alone like that was really so lonely for you I'm sorry Maki-chan. But you can get to know me now. We can get to be friends now, the way we could have been when we were kids if you would have said more than five words at a time to me."

Maki turned away from her team leader with a rather sheepish look on her face, "I didn't know what to say to you. I was just a little girl, what did we have to talk about? All we did was train and fight and do missions."

Naruto laughed at the expression on her face, getting her to blush, "Aw… someone missed a few emotional conditioning classes didn't she?" Naruto tried to ruffle her hair, prompting her to take a swing at him, "Well I'm helping Sai get a life and I think that it's going to be way easier to help you get one. You're sweet and actually have a sense of humor that doesn't make me think I'm talking to a brick wall, _Sai_…" He turned towards the teen in question who didn't seem to even care about the conversation.

Sai turned towards Naruto with his forced looking smile, "I'm sorry senpai, did you say something?"

Naruto gave him a deadpan look and pointed at him, "You… Do not take personality pointers from Kakashi-sensei. That only works if you have boatloads of charisma to back it up with. You obviously don't." He then let off a sigh, "It's a shame that you don't respect your senpai Sai."

"I do respect you." Sai said admittedly, "Do you want me to go to the mission procedure way of addressing you?"

Naruto was quick to turn that option down, "No. Hell no. Speak the way you want to, this is fine, I was just messing with you Sai."

Sai actually gave him a real smile this time, "I was messing with you too Naruto-senpai."

Maki actually laughed a little at the stunned expression on Naruto's face as it morphed into a grin, "Did Sai just make a joke? A non-sarcastic, non-biting joke? I'm so proud of my kouhai! You're actually starting to come along a little bit." He placed an arm over his shoulder and whispered into his ear, "Now the next step is to attempt to actively hook you up with a woman." Sai simply blinked blankly in confusion.

XxX

(With Sasuke and Suigetsu – Seas South of Nami no Kuni)

Sasuke and Suigetsu were walking on the surface of the water at a rather leisurely pace for being in the middle of the ocean, "Mind if I ask you something?" Suigetsu said to Sasuke, a curious tint in his voice.

Sasuke shrugged, "Go for it."

Taking that as his cue, Suigetsu threw his question out there, "Why are you rounding all of us up anyway?"

Sasuke didn't really see the harm in letting him know what he needed him and the others for so he answered him, "I've got a certain plan I want to carry out. It would be way smoother if I had a full platoon because the targets are notoriously powerful."

"So why me?" Suigetsu wondered.

"I've been planning this for a long time." Sasuke admitted to his sword-wielding ally, "I had you all picked out a long time ago. You all have traits that can help me deal with the most irksome of the opponents I plan on going after."

"Heh. I got you." Suigetsu said as he took one of the multiple water bottles strapped to himself off for a sip, "So why Karin? She's totally devoted to Orochimaru unlike the rest of us. She's the last person I'd try convincing to go along if I were you. We were both experimented on a lot… and plus she's got a shitty attitude."

Sasuke looked over at his teammate for the time being, "I'll admit that there are plenty of strong shinobi that I could have recruited easily, but she's got unique abilities and I need her help."

Suigetsu chuckled as an island came into sight for them both, "Well she's unique, I'll give her that."

XxX

(With Naruto, Sai, and Maki – Seas Heading Towards Mizu no Kuni)

"Why are we coming to this country Naruto-senpai?" Maki asked as she held on to Naruto's torso. She and Naruto were riding atop a single of Sai's birds as the artistic ninja himself led the way on his own ride, "Do you really think that coming here will help you learn anything about your biju?"

Naruto frowned, "It might and it might not. It serves two purposes, I need to keep moving and make it difficult to find me and track me down, and I need to find out what I can about controlling the Kyuubi." He looked back at the girl clinging to him tightly, "You know that the Yondaime Mizukage was Yagura, the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi no Kyodaigame (Three-Tailed Giant Turtle). Well he's dead, so now I'm going to try and speak to the Godaime Mizukage under the guise of my mission of diplomacy."

Sai turned around as he continued steering his bird, "So this is basically espionage?"

Naruto shook his head, "Hell no, we're not risking that here. We're miles away from home on a damn island, isolated from any potential safe haven by an entire ocean, what's wrong with you?" He asked indignantly to Sai who shrugged and turned back around, "We're just going to try to convince them to help us out and maybe even join the alliance against Akatsuki. No spying or any kind of underhanded activities. Sometimes being straightforward is the best way to get something."

Apparently Kirigakure had been extremely receptive when Konoha had reached out to them years ago. Naruto himself had never been to the village as that had been when he had diverted his own destination towards Uzushiogakure and had fought Deidara and Sasori. But the point was, the ground work had been laid down already for Naruto to attempt to finish building the relationship between the two villages.

He was very young, but as the recently revealed jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, the student of Jiraiya, and a jounin level shinobi, he should have had enough prestige to his name to warrant a meeting with the Mizukage. And if he didn't then he could always reveal that last little secret of himself that he had yet to expose, but he still couldn't care any less about it.

Maybe being the Yondaime Hokage's son would grease the wheels enough to get his foot in the door. He hadn't used his old man's fame since he found out about it and the people that actually knew about it could be counted on two hands, and they weren't exactly going to shout it from the rooftops themselves. No one in the Elemental Nations was aware of this yet. Maybe it was time for a little nepotism based from his lineage for once. Politics were a bitch… why did he want to be Hokage again?

Oh yeah, because Danzo entrusted it to him… damn it. He was a fighter not a politician. Tell him to storm a fortress, fine. Tell him to coerce information that could be construed as tightly kept with nothing more than his words and personality, he was going to have a little bit of a harder time with that one.

Oh well, at least during his stay he might be able to finish the next thing he was training on. Had he mastered it before his battle against Konan he might have been able to finish her off and get to Jiraiya faster, then none of this would have been necessary. If he had to abruptly leave this place then he knew he could hunker down in Kumogakure for a while since the entire village owed him some serious gratitude for how he saved Yugito and beat two invading Akatsuki members in the process.

Sai spoke up after hearing Naruto's plan of action, "Right, or we can grab a high ranking Kiri ninja, get the information from him, get Maki-san to make him think the entire interrogation was a dream, put him back where we got him and leave."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "There are about seven different problems that could start because of that, the least pressing of which being that we die and the shot of an alliance is screwed forever. Stop thinking like a black-op specialist and start thinking like Danzo-jiji. If I could get over to your bird without falling into the ocean I would slap you."

"What do you mean, 'think like Danzo-sama' Naruto-senpai?" Maki asked him.

Naruto smiled, "Just because you _can _do something doesn't mean you should. We're not going to do that, that's stupid when we could just talk to someone and get the same information that way, minus the torture and prolonged chase across the entire country. Maybe I can sweeten the deal for them too, give them an incentive to help us, a service for another. Danzo-jiji style diplomacy." The wheels in Naruto's brain were turning trying to come up with an argument to allow Kiri to assist them.

XxX

(With Sasuke and Suigetsu – Orochimaru's Southern Island Base)

The two young shinobi walked through the halls of the base, a prison where many of Orochimaru's more prominent prospects for experimentation were kept. As they walked, some of the prisoners took note of the clan crest on the back of Sasuke's clothing, "That's Sasuke Uchiha, what's he doing here without Orochimaru?"

"The rumor must be true!" Another prisoner said excitedly, "Yeah! He beat Orochimaru and came to free us!"

A more cynical prisoner shot the man's hopes down, "Get real you idiot. There's no way Orochimaru is dead."

Eventually the two were stopped by a girl their age with red eyes and red hair, one side rather short, pointy and unkempt, the other side long, straight, and combed. She had glasses, a zip-up lavender top with the bottom unzipped to reveal her belly button and short black shorts. She also wore long black thigh-level stockings and sandals, "I knew it." She said, "You're alone Sasuke, so it's true."

Suigetsu looked between Sasuke and the girl with an annoyed expression, "Oh so I guess _I'm_ not here now or something. Anyway, Sasuke's got a proposition for you. Can we sit somewhere and talk? Walking all this way after so long stuck in a tank is murder on the legs and I don't feel like standing around while you two talk."

After she led them to her office and the two travelers were able to take a seat, Sasuke got right to the point, "Come with me Karin, I need you."

"What?" She said in shock, "Why do I need to go anywhere? I'm in charge of this place!"

Sasuke leaned back in his seat, "Orochimaru is out of the picture now. Who would you be keeping watch of this place for?"

Karin frowned, "Well what's going to happen to all of the prisoners?"

Sasuke gestured his head towards Suigetsu, "Suigetsu, go free all of the prisoners." He ignored the look on Karin's face.

Suigetsu stood up and walked out of the room, "Still acting like the boss eh?"

"Don't you dare!" Karin shouted at Suigetsu who was at the door, however he was ignoring her all the way.

"What possible reason would you have to keep them around?" Sasuke asked her, "There's no reason to keep them around."

"I still refuse!" Karin said vehemently, no willing to budge on the matter at all, "Besides, it's not like I'm under any obligation to follow you around. Why would I even go?"

Sasuke let out a sigh, "Fine, if you feel that strongly then I'll go get someone else."

Before he could get up to leave, Karin moved to shut the door as Suigetsu had since left the room, "I'll come." She said, her attitude doing a complete 180 from before. She took off her glasses in front of a confused, but still rather uncaring Sasuke and sat next to him, her face not too far from his, "If you really need my help, I'll go with you."

Sasuke turned towards her, "And this was brought on how? You changed your mind pretty quickly."

"I'm tired of standing guard over this place." She said rather breathily as the sounds of someone turning a locked doorknob let her know that Suigetsu was back. Knowing this she decided to go for the kill as she leaned her body against Sasuke.

"Will you back off damn it?" Sasuke said as he placed an arm between them.

Karin kept trying to scoot closer, "Come on, we don't have to take stupid Suigetsu either. All we need is each other."

Suddenly the door was slashed open, revealing Suigetsu with Kubikiribouchou, "Come on Sasuke let's go. Karin clearly doesn't want to go with us."

"Actually, she changed her mind." Sasuke informed him.

"I-I did not!" She frantically backpedaled, ""I just uh… I just need to go in the same direction you two are going. It's purely coincidental." Once again her change in demeanor forced Sasuke to raise an eyebrow in wonder.

"Lucky us then." Suigetsu quipped as he placed the large sword of his back onto his back, "I guess you'll be with us for a little while then. So that means that Juugo is the last one we need to get."

"Juugo?" Karin repeated in surprise, "You're taking him along too? He's in the north hideout."

"I know where he is." Sasuke said as he finally stood up, "It's time to go get him."

Karin shook her head, "You know that if that's where we're going we're going to be dead the second we walk in."

"I've only seen it on one of Orochimaru's maps." Suigetsu said as they both began following Sasuke outside, "Is it really that dangerous?"

Karin placed a hand on her hip, "The north hideout is no ordinary place. It was the main area for Orochimaru's experimentation, it's nothing more than a nest of horrible, unnatural monsters."

Suigetsu smirked and took one of his water bottles off, "Sounds like a blast to me." He said before taking a drink, "It doesn't matter what we think about it anyway. Sasuke here's already decided on who he wants and how he's going to get them. We're here aren't we?"

Karin shook her head again, "I really don't like this. Juugo is not a normal person."

"None of us are normal." Sasuke commented absently, "I don't care how off-balanced the guy is as long as he can do his job, and I can assure you he can do his job just fine."

XxX

(Kirigakure no Sato – Mizukage's Office)

A robed figure sat at the desk in the room as a Kiri ninja knocked and entered, "Mizukage-sama, there are guests waiting at the main gate. A group of ninja from Konohagakure are here for what the leader called a diplomatic meeting with you of great importance. What are your orders?"

"A diplomatic group from Konoha?" A female's voice said from underneath the robes and hat as a smirk came to a pair of lips covered with dark blue lipstick, "And we never even received a message from them this time, how rude." The Mizukage let out a small laugh, "It doesn't matter. I'll allow them in to see me, just send Ao and Choujuurou in just in case."

The Kiri ninja bowed to her before leaving the room swiftly, shutting the door behind him and leaving her alone, "I wonder what this could be all about?" She said to herself as she prepared for a meeting with the foreign shinobi.

* * *

Jutsu List

Watashi no Yuujin no Teki (Enemy of My Friend). B-rank genjutsu, supplementary. Using a diversion to activate the jutsu, the user will project an image to trick a shinobi into believing that another person has taken their form right down to the appearance, voice, even the weaponry if the scapegoat is carrying anything can be used as a template to work against the victim of the genjutsu.

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**Far be it from me to let you all go on without something to read while I have cans of whoopass to open on sparring friends of mine to entertain myself, so here you go. Hopefully reading this made the ten-fifteen minutes it lasted a little less bleak and dreary.**

**Later people. I'm going to grab lunch, go to class, take a nap, and wake up fresh and relaxed and ready to kick some ass. You all should too.**

**Kenchi out.**


	43. Diplomatic Vulnerability

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. So sorry for that fact, but some things are just out of my reach at the moment. It's a glass ceiling that I have yet to break.

**Chapter 42: Diplomatic Vulnerability**

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Naruto and his support, Maki and Sai, sat in a waiting room inside of what Naruto deemed as the building that the office of the Mizukage was situated. While they were all being watched like hawks by a squad of Kiri ninja, he couldn't be bothered to be offended or unnerved by that fact. They were strange foreigners who were all shinobi and one of them was a known jinchuuriki. It would be suspicious if they weren't watched at all.

Sai was simply drawing to pass the time and Maki was simply sitting patiently with her cheeks in her hands. Maki turned her grey eyes to Naruto and decided to try and engage her captain in a conversation, "So Naruto-senpai, what was it like? Having all of your skills sealed away. I couldn't imagine it." She said miserably as she thought about it, "You were nothing like the senpai that worked with me after it happened."

Naruto looked at his hands and flexed his fists, "In the Academy I was never able to focus… because I had already learned all of that stuff. My brain knew that I knew all of that stuff already, it just wasn't able to access that knowledge properly and it tuned it out. That's why it was so hard for me to learn the basic ninjutsu in the Academy. Well there was also the fact that I had too much chakra for the Bunshin." He noticed her raptly listening to his every word, "It isn't really a big deal Maki-chan… did you really miss me that much?"

A frown crossed her face as she turned away from him, "You were the only constant I had in my life when I was a little girl, period. Even though you don't think so I felt really close to you. I knew you better than anyone even though you don't think you knew me. And then you were gone, and then you come back, only I can't see you, let you know who I am… It felt terrible. You were the only person I knew."

"You didn't need me anyway." Naruto said confidently as he put a hand on her shoulder, "Look at you. You turned out to be a great ninja. Even without me there you still became awesome."

"It was still all you…" She said bitterly, "I kept training and got stronger so that by the time we became genin I could destroy you in the chunin exams and see if I could bring the old senpai back. After the exams that led to the invasion when you unsealed yourself I kept training so that I could work with you one day after finding out how strong you were and how far ahead of me you still were, but you never came back to Root, and then I learned that you couldn't return."

Sai took this moment to cut in, "Naruto-senpai's mission and responsibilities kept him from returning Maki-san. If he had returned, chances are he would have returned to being your partner, but you didn't get promoted to chunin until senpai began taking the mission to sack Orochimaru's bases. I had to meet with him in secret until recently."

The door to the office opened up to reveal a man with blue hair and an eye-patch over his right eye. He had earrings of talismans in each ear and wore striped brown pants and shirt with a long green robe over them. He looked over at the three teens from Konoha and motioned them over, "The Mizukage is ready to see you now. Please follow me."

The three young Root ninja all stood and followed him inside of the office where the doors shut behind them. The man that had allowed them entrance took his place on one side of the fully robed Mizukage. On the other side of the fully concealed figure stood a boy that seemed around the age of the Konoha ninja in attendance. He had short blue hair, glasses, and headphone looking appendages on his ears. He wore a blue striped shirt and white and black camouflaged pants with a holster across his chest holding a bandaged sword on his back.

Naruto and his entourage bowed to the Mizukage until a feminine voice spoke, "Please rise Konoha ninja. I'm honestly curious as to why you came all this way unannounced like this, and to be a well-known jinchuuriki. It's quite a surprise to see Naruto Uzumaki here." The Mizukage removed the hat, actually getting the two visiting males Naruto and Sai to blink. While most people wouldn't have figured their single blinks for much, to Maki that was the equivalent of both of their jaws hitting the floor, "I am Mei Terumi, the Godaime Mizukage."

'She's hot…' Naruto thought to himself, keeping his game face on and keeping his eyes from wandering lest he start an international incident before he even got to say anything, 'She's _really_ hot. And she isn't pulling the Tsunade-baachan Henge either.' Naruto stepped forward and bowed to her once again, "It's an honor to meet you Mizukage-sama. I have to say, it's kind of strange for people to know who am I before I ever meet them, I don't know if I really like it yet."

The Mizukage gave him a pleasant smile, "Well you'll have to get used to it. The stronger you get, the more famous you get. It seems as if Konoha is always producing high-caliber quality shinobi, no matter what age it is, one of peace or strife."

The man that had led them into the office scoffed at that, "And they send up three babyfaced brats for a diplomatic mission… I have to wonder if you three even have what it takes to follow through with any arrangement you get into with Mizukage-sama. Kami knows how flighty you kids are about things like this, don't waste her time with some spontaneous engagement."

"Ao…" Mei said, turning to him with a pleasant smile on her face, "Shut up or I'll kill you." The man went slack-jawed and began to stammer before going silent.

'Okay…' Naruto thought to himself, 'I'll believe that this is the Mizukage. I could feel that she was actually serious about that one.'

Turning back to the three Konoha ninja standing in front of her desk, Mei got back on topic, "I'm certain that these three wouldn't be here if they weren't able to carry out whatever purpose they came here with. Now, I was told that you requested an audience with me. What can I do for you?"

Naruto cleared his throat before finally getting down to the crux of the reason they were there, "Well Mizukage-sama, I'll just get right to the point. You know that I'm the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Every hidden village should know by now." He got a nod from her, "What do you know about the group called Akatsuki?"

The boy at her side spoke up, "That Kisame-senpai is one of the members… just that fact alone makes them dangerous."

"Choujuurou is right." Mei said, "And then there is the rumor that Akatsuki was created in Kirigakure as well… And I am well aware of their goal of obtaining biju for some reason. They have taken the Sanbi and the Rokubi from our nation already."

Naruto nodded grimly, "So they definitely have the Sanbi, the Rokubi, the Nanabi, the Gobi, and the Yonbi… only four of us left now." He said as he mentally broke down the scenario before returning to the conversation, "Recently I fought the leader of Akatsuki. A man named Pein."

Mei was listening with immersed interest, "You fought the leader of the group?" This also got the attention of the two men in the room slated to protect her, "What happened? What can you tell me?"

Heaving a deep sigh as he remembered his most crushing defeat, Naruto ran a hand through his hair, "He destroyed me. He absolutely took me apart and wounded Jiraiya of the Sannin in the process. He beat us both. And I know what they want all of the biju for." He looked the Mizukage in the eye as he recited the next part, "The biju are to be used as a massive kinjutsu that will be given, sold, or whatever to a village who will use it to attack another. This will go back and forth… people who suffered the attack will fear the power that was used against them for years until the same power becomes available to them, which they'll use in retaliation due to their hatred against the ones that attacked them. And this is how the world will be forever. I don't think I have to tell you what a stupid idea that is."

Mei frowned thoughtfully. It was a terrible idea. She knew firsthand due to Kiri's history that fear of power only makes people retaliate violently against the prospect of it being used. That kind of fear is what fanned the flames of the bloodline extermination times, "Do you know where this person 'Pein' is?"

Naruto nodded, "Amegakure no Sato. But I'm not strong enough to fight him myself. Jiraiya wasn't strong enough to fight him himself. He has a strange technique and nothing but raw power and skill. I've never come face to face with anyone like him ever. I don't know of anyone that can stand against him… and the shinobi under his command are fanatical. Fighting him in Ame is the same thing as fighting pretty much the whole village, and the village is a deathtrap. I wouldn't fight there again if I could help it, it's not suitable terrain that most of us would be used to."

As she mulled over everything that Naruto had just told her she leveled her gaze on the blonde scar-faced shinobi, "So would I be right to assume that you're lobbying for an alliance of sorts to invade Amegakure no Sato and end the Akatsuki threat Uzumaki-kun?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, we don't have any plans to go to war directly with Amegakure, we just have the issue with Akatsuki. If we can cut off the head so to speak then the organization will fall. Unless you actually want to help I'm not going to suggest that, but we already have a loose alliance against them with Suna and Kumo."

"And Iwa?" She asked, "Do you have any arrangement with them yet?"

"No." Naruto said, frowning as he remembered the old man that had turned it down, "He shot it down as soon as we brought it up after they attacked during the latest chunin exams held in Suna. He said something like, 'These affairs need to be handled domestically.' He wasn't open to any kind of communication past what we already had, and then we don't have any reason really as to why you'd join us either. You already lost yours, so unless you want revenge or anything I don't think you'd want to get into this as well."

Mei smiled at Naruto apologetically, "I want to thank you for the information you gave us on Akatsuki and their leader, but you're right. A war or an alliance of this sort right now for no real gain or purpose wouldn't be in Kirigakure's best interest. I'm sorry."

Naruto returned her smile with one of his own, "That's okay. I didn't really expect you guys to just be willing to step into this like that, but maybe there's another way you can help me. If I'm going to be fighting Pein again when he finally decides to come for me himself I'm going to need to be better than I am. Is there any way that you could point me towards the method that your jinchuuriki used towards getting better control?"

Ao sighed, "That would be impossible kid. Utakata, the last jinchuuriki of the Rokubi, fled from the village and took the secrets of how to control his biju with him. We never found him and apparently he's been captured because the trail had never been as cold as it currently is."

"A total loss on all fronts then…" Naruto said mostly to himself, "You guys don't have anything to help?"

Mei answered him, "The only person that could possibly train a jinchuuriki in how to harness their power is another jinchuuriki. Each biju is also different. I don't believe any kind of process we had would have been useful for you Uzumaki-kun. Your biju is by far the most dangerous and powerful. Compared to the Kyuubi, the Sanbi and the Rokubi are remarkably docile in nature. I can only imagine what you feel when you begin to use its power."

Apparently what she was saying was that each village had their own way to train their own jinchuuriki. Understandable, except for the part where he was never given any damn set way to train his control with the Kyuubi. The only way he had managed to enact and gain more control was to meditate and gain a rapport of sorts with the creature stuck inside of his body. Through years of hard-nosed physical training and mental conditioning Naruto had tempered his body and spirit to withstand the harmful effects of the Kyuubi's caustic chakra cloak up to a 4-tailed level, but this was apparently his glass ceiling of sorts since he could go no further after two years of hard work, and nothing seemed to be able to give him the answer… except for _that_ way. The way Jiraiya told him he would have to use to get complete control.

'So I really am going to have to fight the Kyuubi to get full control.' He thought to himself grimly, 'I guess there's no workaround this time.' Naruto shook off his bitter thoughts of how nothing he did could ever be easy and bowed to the Mizukage, "Well thank you for allowing us to speak with you Mizukage-sama. Sorry that in the end we weren't able to get anything done… we'll be on our way at first notice."

"Wait a moment…" Mei said as Naruto looked up from his bow, "There could be something you could do that would allow us to broker an alliance with Konoha, to prove that you all are trustworthy if nothing else. I'll be sending to your village and informing them of this if you choose to accept." Naruto looked at his team and got a pair of nods from them both, "I assume you all accept."

If it could get them another ally against the Akatsuki then Naruto would at the very least have to listen. A single request could ensure a powerful bond for years to come against a powerful enemy, "If it's something we can do then we'll hear you out before we decide."

"Wonderful." Mei said, "As you are aware, out village is famous for housing the seven most powerful swordsmen in the world. Well the only sword we have in our possession today is the one held by Choujuurou here, Hiramekarei. I'm well aware of your Team 7 taking on and defeating Zabuza Momochi years ago, surely you know of what happened to his sword Kubikiribouchou."

Naruto nodded, "It should still be where we left it. We placed it to mark his gravesite. No one else but one of our team should know where it is. Do you want me to get it for you?" That seemed like a simple enough task for them to do. It belonged to them anyway, and Naruto had already beaten the guy that used it once, it would take training for anyone else to use that weapon… besides, it was to make an ally out of an entire hidden village.

The brightly smiling Mizukage motioned for the boy standing next to her to come forward, "That would be wonderful, and if you could take Choujuurou with you to verify the weapon's authenticity." She looked up at Choujuurou, "Can you do that for me please?"

The boy blushed brightly at her and stammered out a reply, "Uh y-yeah, of course Mizukage-sama you can count on me."

"Alright then we have a deal." Naruto said, looking at his team, "We're going back to Nami no Kuni to grab Zabuza's sword for the Mizukage as a good faith gesture." He turned back towards her and extended his hand, "It was nice speaking with you Mizukage-sama, I hope this begins something great between our villages." He then lowered his hand and bowed, "Oh, I'm sorry… trying to shake your hand like I'm a kage."

Mei giggled and stood up, pushing Naruto's head up with her finger, "That's okay Uzumaki-kun. It's nice to see a shinobi like you that has no problem with foreign ninja. And you didn't even bring up this village's dark past like other diplomats have. I thank you for that."

"It's no problem." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Now if it'll get our villages in a better relationship I'll get you Zabuza's old sword back. That's a promise."

XxX

(Elsewhere – Orochimaru's Northern Hidden Base)

"Just forget it!" A man shouted inside of a prison behind a great iron door, "I'm not going with you. The only person that could keep me under control when I had the urge to kill was Kimimaro. I'm not going anywhere without him!"

Sasuke, Suigetsu and Karin stood outside of the door as the figure from within that was speaking had run inside and shut the door behind himself. Suigetsu spoke up, "Kimimaro was from the Kaguya Clan right?"

Karin nodded, "Yeah, he and Juugo were Orochimaru's favorite subjects. They stayed here as subjects for human experimentation from the day this place was built. Kimimaro was the only subject I had ever dealt with that I could work on without fear of resistance or violence. And he was so strong, I heard he was the only one that could stop Juugo's rampages without getting hurt."

"Yeah…" Suigetsu said before looking over at Sasuke, "But isn't he-?"

"Juugo…" Sasuke said to the man behind the door, "Kimimaro is dead. He died fighting for my sake three years ago, so that I could escape from a powerful shinobi and continue on my own path."

"Then that means…" There was silence from Juugo before the iron door slowly opened and he saw Sasuke standing there staring at him, "You're Sasuke Uchiha." He stood for a moment before walking outside of the cell. Juugo was a young man that towered over everyone standing there. He had spiky orange hair and wore the prison garb of the others; a plain grey shirt and pants. "You said that Kimimaro died fighting against someone for you, who was this person?"

XxX

Outside of the base, Sasuke had the three people he had amassed systematically standing in a line in front of him, "Getting all three of you here completes the first part of my plan. It's time I actually explained what I've gathered you all for. I'm going to kill Itachi Uchiha of Akatsuki and I want you all to help."

Suigetsu raised his hand, "I don't want to stop you while you're on a roll, but I totally knew it."

Ignoring her, Sasuke turned to the female of the group, "Karin, you said that you had other business to attend to. So what are you going to do?"

"W-Well now that you mention it, it's nothing urgent." Karin said, pushing her fingers together shyly, "I can deal with it at any time."

"Ugh… cut the bullshit and be honest for once." Suigetsu said before smirking at her, "Say something more along the lines of, 'I want to be at Sasuke's side forever and ever.' Something like that."

Karin defensively snapped at him while adjusting her glasses, "That's not it at all! Why would you even suggest something like that?"

"Because I'm right." The young swordsman said, continuing to tease the girl, "Look at you, you're so flustered you just want to rip my mouth off to keep me from talking right now don't you? I know the truth anyway. A long time ago you did something to Sasuke-." He was cut off when a punch from Karin destroyed his head.

Sasuke shook his head, "Suigetsu stop messing with Karin. I told you cooperate with everyone."

Suigetsu chuckled as his head reformed from its watery state to normal, "My bad. Sorry Karin, but for the record I plan on sticking close to Sasuke here. One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Kisame Hoshigaki, is with Itachi and I plan on taking his sword for myself too."

The red-haired girl shook her head, "All you're doing is gathering swords? That's so lame."

Suigetsu glared over at her, but held his tongue before turning to the largest member of the team, "So Juugo, now that you're free what are you going to do now?"

Juugo reflected for a moment before talking, "Kimimaro said Sasuke's existence was like his own being reborn. Kimimaro sacrificed his life in battle to protect him. I need to see for myself how strong of a shinobi he is for myself… and I need to confront the person strong enough to take Kimimaro down."

"Well then it's settled." Sasuke said, getting things all centered together, "From now on we all move as one, and from now on our group will be known as 'Hebi'. This team only has one purpose, we're to search for Itachi Uchiha, and we will find him by any means neccesary."

XxX

(Nami no Kuni – Zabuza's Gravesite)

Naruto stood still as a statue with his squad and Choujuuruu with him, staring at the groove in the ground that used to house Zabuza's blade, "I know exactly where it is…" He said coldly. Only three other people besides him knew of this place without a shadow of a doubt, and two of them were in Konoha, neither of them would come all the way out there to take the sword even if they were able to leave.

"Where?" Choujuurou asked him. He had followed them all this way, and Naruto seemed to believe that they would just grab it here and he could return it to the Mizukage, no sweat. From the way Naruto just spoke it was clear that this wasn't what he had expected and he wasn't happy about the surprise whatsoever.

Naruto touched the tattoo on his arm, "I got some news from my dear sweet helper Hamako the other day while we were on the ship coming here. Orochimaru is dead." That got a gasp from Maki and a look of surprise from Sai, "Apparently Sasuke killed him and freed some prisoners on an island not far from here. That's what Ero-sennin's spies told him and he told Hamako-chan. He was here and he took the sword."

Sai moved forward and took a good look at the pair of graves, "So what do we do now Naruto-senpai?"

Naruto frowned, "I made a promise… and I can't just leave the Mizukage waiting like this. That's bad politics to set a treaty and an alliance to." Naruto shook his head, "Okay, we're making a detour. I know exactly what he's going to do and I'm going to go kick his ass and get the sword back."

Sai raised an eyebrow at his leader's seemingly gung-ho attitude towards getting this done. He could see his point though, he had made a promise to deliver something to the leader of a powerful nation. This was actually a very precarious situation. Sai now had to start respecting Danzo's ability to make politics seem so effortless now. Naruto hadn't done a bad job at all, it was just that now he was backed into a corner because of a circumstance beyond his control, and that was why he was angry. This was supposed to be simple.

"Sasuke Uchiha beat Orochimaru by himself…" Maki said to herself as if she was trying to comprehend the information, "Senpai you're going to go after him after knowing that he could defeat a powerful shinobi like Orochimaru alone?"

Naruto looked at Maki and smiled at her. It wasn't that she didn't believe in him. It was common knowledge that Orochimaru was a bad, bad man. Jiraiya even believed to the day of his injury that if he and Orochimaru fought the end result could only have been them killing one another at best for him.

But due to the hellish mission that left him sealed seven years ago, Naruto knew more about Orochimaru's weaknesses than any man alive, a weakness he had shared in the past with those he felt needed to know; Anko, Tenzo when he was on the mission to attack Orochimaru's bases, Jiraiya, and Tayuya… so that she could get a laugh out of it, "He didn't beat the Orochimaru that got famous throughout years of war and beating the greatest shinobi of his era Maki-chan. Sasuke beat Orochimaru when he was sick and dying. He needed to switch bodies or he would have been dead very soon, and apparently he was weak enough that Sasuke could put him down without much effort. I could have beaten Orochimaru like that just as easily, and he couldn't take _my _body either, the Kyuubi would have happily seen to that."

A look of understanding came across the raven-haired female's face, "So the Uchiha isn't overwhelmingly strong… he's just lucky or he's very good at picking his spots."

"Either or." Naruto said, "But he has to be strong too even to pull that much off since he was able to just waltz on out of there afterwards." He looked towards Choujuurou, "I know it's a pain, but if you could return to the Mizukage and tell her we don't have the sword, but we're going to get it very soon. I promised I'd bring her back one of your village's swords and I plan on doing that."

Choujuurou gave Naruto a reassuring smile, "I will. And I'm sure she'll understand, the Mizukage is a very kind person. The swords are national treasures of Kirigakure. If you can return even one I'm sure she'll be ecstatic to set a treaty with Konoha."

Naruto nodded, "Tell her to send a message to my Hokage to tell her what's going on and I'll send a message to my helper to do the same. I don't need to keep moving under the radar anymore, as a matter of fact, if Akatsuki can find me that would be all the better now, it would keep me from having to look."

"Look for what?" Sai asked.

"The person Sasuke's looking for." Naruto said as he started walking away from the gravesite, "Sasuke's real target is coincidentally someone that's going to be looking for me once he realizes I'm out and away from Konoha with no real guard since the knowledge of you two is sparse. Itachi Uchiha and his partner Kisame Hoshigaki."

Choujuurou looked at Naruto with slight fear in his eyes, "You're going to intentionally look for Kisame-senpai? You do know how strong he is don't you?"

"Yeah." Naruto said, before he tried to calm the Kiri ninja down, "But we're not looking to pick a fight with them, we're going to wait until Sasuke finds them and then I'm going to take Kubikiribouchou, and maybe Kisame's sword too afterwards. Besides, you know how important the Sharingan is. We can't just leave Sasuke to roam, Itachi either. If it comes down to it we'll have to take them both out."

Sai and Maki nodded before locking eyes and agreeing on the same thought, 'We need to send a message to Danzo-sama as well about this.'

Naruto sighed and shifted the sword on his back as he looked over the two ninja on his team, "Are you two ready for this? Sorry, I didn't really want to drag you into any Akatsuki business like this."

Sai gave Naruto a smile that actually seemed genuine, "Naruto-senpai anything involving you until you feel you can return to Konoha is our business. Anything that you feel is appropriate is our job to assist you with."

Naruto's eyes locked with Maki who blushed lightly at being looked at so intently by her senior, "What Sai-senpai said. Anything that you think we should do, we'll be with you all the way… I won't back down on supporting you so soon after finding you again." She said with the utmost sincerity, "I've been working all this time so that you don't have to carry me the way you did when we were kids, I'm not going to let you down." She blinked when she found Naruto's hand atop her head.

"Good." Naruto said to the most junior member of the team, "I know you won't. Now let's get go work this out. One Uchiha or another… we're going to have to find and fight one of them."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

"He's going to what?" The yell that echoed through the Hokage Tower was shared by both Tsunade and Sakura who had been there working in the office with her sensei that day. Tsunade slammed her hands on the desk, "Ugh… damn it brat. I think now would be the appropriate time to send Jiraiya out to get him, if he wasn't still working through his injuries." If Jiraiya found himself catching up to Naruto while the boy had actually found Itachi Uchiha or Sasuke and his team, Jiraiya would be hard-pressed to defend himself against them at the moment. He was still getting one-handed seals down for his jutsu.

Sakura had a rather hopeful look on her face after hearing the news from Hamako, "Naruto's going to look for Sasuke-kun?"

Hamako nodded, "Sasuke or Itachi. Whichever one he believes it will be easier to locate. He says that it doesn't matter if anyone can find him now, but he said that if anyone plans on searching for him make sure that they can take care of themselves. He said he doesn't feel like being a hero and getting himself killed over someone meant to 'protect him'."

Sakura looked over from the girl that had deemed herself as Naruto's servant to Tsunade, "Tsunade-shishou I have to go. If Naruto can find Sasuke-kun then this is a chance to bring him back isn't it?"

Tsunade didn't answer, she just looked over at Hamako who was using her tattoo to speak with Naruto through their code, "He says he's very, very confident that he can find either one of them. And if he can get Itachi it would only be a matter of time before Sasuke came for his brother if he didn't get Sasuke first."

"And he's doing this because?" Tsunade asked the white-haired girl, "Is this an opportunity that he sees, or is it because of something else."

Hamako smiled wryly at the Hokage, "Honestly, it's more of a three-birds-with-one-stone kind of thing… four if he plays his cards right." She walked over to the Hokage's side, "Naruto-sama is an opportunist. He's an opportunist that takes advantage of the tiniest opening that the world gives him and he attacks it with enough crushing force to make it work for him."

Sakura frowned as she tried to put together what Hamako was talking about, "I'm not sure I follow you."

A small laugh came from Hamako as she thought of a way to explain things, "Okay, Naruto-sama can't come back to Konoha because he believes that if he is here the village will be attacked sooner or later. While he's been gone he's been trying to find a way to get better control of the Kyuubi, he's been trying to strengthen and set up new alliances for Konoha, and now he's going after two of the most important nuke-nin in Konoha as well as attempting to obtain one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist's swords to solidify a relationship with Kiri. And you know he's been training too."

Tsunade's eyes widened as she remembered hearing reports about how Naruto had taken to training, and she had also experienced how he trained firsthand in Suna. A smirk came to her face, "So tell me if there's been any significant improvement since the last time we've heard from him."

Hamako began to walk out of the room and stopped at the door, "He says that it's done. It's been done since before he fought Pein, it just damages his arm too much to use. I need to tell this to Jiraiya-sama as well now. Goodbye Hokage-sama, Sakura-san. And Naruto-sama says, 'Hello Tsunade-baachan!'" She said with a giggle as she saw Tsunade.

As Hamako then left the office in a poised and elegant fashion, Sakura turned to Tsunade, "So what do we do now Tsunade-shishou? Are we going to go find Naruto now?"

Tsunade thought about it for a moment before coming to a decision on the matter. She had been uneasy about allowing Naruto to roam from the start, but now that he was about to stir up a hornet's nest of attention it was best that there were allies somewhere around him when it all started going down, "Get me Kakashi. He's not going with Jiraiya, but tell him he's going to need to get a team together that should be ready to move quickly once he gives Hamako his general location, and tell him what it's for. And make sure to _assert_ the fact that you're going with him no matter what Sakura." She said with a smile, "Kakashi won't be that hard to convince if you're adamant about it."

Sakura returned the smile to the female Hokage, "Yes shishou." She said before eagerly setting out to find the old sensei of the now fractured Team 7.

XxX

(Undisclosed Location)

Inside of a cave, Deidara stood up shaking himself out after the sealing of yet another biju that had been captured by Akatsuki, "So let's see. What's next? Should I go after that Kyuubi jinchuuriki brat that I owe a receipt to, or should I go after that Sasuke Uchiha kid for taking away my shot at Orochimaru?"

A man wearing an Akatsuki cloak and an orange spiral mask stood up and chimed in at that point, "Why would you want to go after the guy that beat you down so bad last time and killed my predecessor Deidara-senpai? He seems like he would be scary strong."

"He didn't beat me down badly Tobi." Deidara said with a slight growl in his voice, "And it's because he beat Sasori no Danna that I want to fight him, him and the guy that was with him… the artist. He shouldn't be too difficult to find. After his failed little mission against Leader-sama we know a few places where he isn't."

XxX

(Southern Area of Hi no Kuni)

After being flown from Nami no Kuni by Sai and departing from Choujuurou to allow the young man to send word to the Mizukage about the current plan of action, Naruto, Sai, and Maki found themselves in a small safehouse hidden in a deeply forested area of a rather remote part of the country in the dark of night.

"So…" Maki started as the small fire in the single room in the center of the house kept the trio warm and moderately comfortable, "Do you think we'll be able to find one group or the other easily enough?"

Sai nodded, "Yes. When we were in Nami no Kuni we were able to get news that Sasuke Uchiha and a companion were sighted heading south towards the coast. Then we heard from some prisoners that had been freed from Orochimaru's southern island base that he had gone north. We need to start heading towards the center of the country."

Naruto looked over at the deeply pale-skinned Root operative across the fire, "Why do you say that Sai?" Naruto asked, honestly wanting to know why Sai felt this way, "Wouldn't he want to go further away from the village he left than hang around it?"

Sai smiled and wagged his finger at the commander of the squad, "It may not be my specific specialty but I'm better at tracking than both of you, and the thing about tracking is to know your target. Itachi Uchiha was slated to be the one sent after you for the same reason that Sasuke will stay around this country for the time being. Especially if he's looking for Itachi. The Uchiha Clan had a number of hideouts and strongholds in Hi no Kuni."

A smirk came to Naruto's face, "So he'll stay here since there are so many places for him to base his search off of."

Maki looked between the two who seemed to be on the same page, "Naruto-senpai what do you know about Sasuke Uchiha. I only know what everyone knows from when he was in the Academy, which is nothing relevant."

Naruto took on a thoughtful pose as he tried to explain his view on who Sasuke was, "Well… He's angry, I don't really blame him after what happened to his clan. But he's got a lot of darkness in him, more than all of us I would say. As of now I'd say he still has morals and he _is_ still redeemable, that's why I didn't shoot down Sakura's dreams of bringing him back after he left, but his mind isn't right, and the second that things break down around him he'll go off the deep end." Naruto then muttered lowly with an angry look on his face, "And he'll take a good chunk of the world with him. At first I wanted to kill him, because if Orochimaru got his body we would all be screwed, but now I might be able to drag him home alive. I will still kill him though if I have to, those eyes of his are too dangerous to be left to roam."

Maki and Sai nodded in agreement. The Sharingan was the single most dangerous eye-based kekkei genkai in all of the ninja world. Everyone knew it, there was no need to deny it, everyone was aware of the simple fact that the Sharingan could turn a mediocre shinobi into a high-level force. Danzo had drilled them endlessly on the Sharingan after Itachi Uchiha went rogue. It was required learning for all of Root.

Raising her hand, Maki spoke softly to the others, "Well then I think I'll be next to useless against either Sasuke or Itachi. My strongest suit is genjutsu, and nothing I have is really that good to go up against the Sharingan, especially Itachi's Tsukuyomi."

"That's okay." Naruto said, "I'll be fighting whichever Uchiha we come up against myself. I need you two to be able to neutralize either Itachi or Sasuke's escort." He then heaved a deep sigh, "I am going to hate fighting either of them, but I can't make you two do it…"

Maki moved over to Naruto with a worried look on her face, "Senpai you aren't the best at genjutsu, and the Sharingan is kind of going to be you coming face to face with your Achilles heel so to speak."

"Yeah…" Naruto said with a humorless smile, "I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to work that one out yet. But I know I can beat Sasuke or Itachi. I've beaten Sasuke before and I've only gotten stronger, and I'm not nearly as weak as I was when I last met Itachi. Don't you worry about me Maki-chan. I've got a few new aces for them… even though we've been moving all over I never stopped training."

"**Don't you underestimate the power of those wicked eyes boy."** The Kyuubi warned Naruto suddenly, **"If you're going to fight the older brother, even the younger one, you do not activate my power, do you understand?"**

'You're going to be stingy at a time like this?' Naruto questioned his demonic tenant, 'I know you're pissed about the fight with Pein in Ame, but I'm about to possibly go toe-to-toe with one of the stories that Danzo told me when I was a kid to try to scare me shitless, Itachi Uchiha, and you're telling me that you're not going to help-?'

"**Shut up boy!"** The Kyuubi snapped back in return, getting Naruto to visibly cringe, alarming his teammates, **"You **_**will**_** shut up, and you **_**will**_** listen to me. If you fight the elder Uchiha and use my chakra you will be more susceptible to falling under their influence. I have been remiss to tell you this in the past, but I have been under the control of those with that wretched eye before… Madara Uchiha, the patriarch of the clan in your village."**

Naruto listened to the short explanation of Kyuubi's past with Madara Uchiha and his battle against the Shodaime Hokage, which led to his sealing inside of Naruto's ancestor Mito Uzumaki. He finally addressed his team after hearing everything and the Kyuubi went silent, "Apparently, I'm screwed against Sharingan-based genjutsu because of the Kyuubi. I can't use its chakra and make eye contact or I'm as good as done… even against Sasuke. It looks like I need to find a workaround…"

"And until then?" Sai asked, "We can't just stay here for too long. If we're to hunt after the Uchiha then we need to move soon."

"Nothing's changed you guys." Naruto said, assuaging Sai's fears to losing a trail, "We're still going after them. We still have to. I just have to come up with something on the fly to fight them. And I can't use the Kyuubi, but then I wasn't really planning on that anyway." He then narrowed his eyes, "…And now my crack team of Kage Bunshin sentries have an intruder." All drawing their respective swords, the team left the house to engage whoever it was that was trespassing.

Once they were outside they kept their eyes on the darkened wilderness as Sai tried to get some more information, "Who is it senpai?"

"I don't know." Naruto responded, "Whoever it is, they're taking my Kage Bunshin down before they can be identified, but the trail they're moving in is coming this way." Naruto stepped forward, his heirloom sword at the ready to fight, "Whoever you are you can either leave now or we'll just put you down here."

"Naruto-kun is that any way to greet someone you haven't seen in so long?" A hooded Kabuto emerged from the shadows, moving towards Naruto and his group, "I thought we were friends."

"Kabuto Yakushi." Naruto said, not relinquishing his stance in case of aggression, "I should probably kill you to mop up any last dregs of leadership to Orochimaru's forces here and now… it would save me the trouble of hunting you later, or having Anko do it, but you're here for a reason. What do you want?"

Kabuto smirked at Naruto through his hood, "To help you out. You're searching for Sasuke Uchiha, I want Sasuke Uchiha dead. He destroyed Orochimaru-sama, the only person that I've ever respected completely in this world of ours-."

"-And I should shake his hand for that reason." Naruto said, interrupting Kabuto, "You're really not convincing me to stay my blade Kabuto… get to the reason you're here already."

"You can't beat Sasuke-kun…" Kabuto said, laughing slightly, getting Maki to bristle at how he was trying to belittle Naruto like this, "No matter how good you are, Sasuke-kun can match anything you're capable of, and of course he has the Sharingan. You know you can't beat him, and yet I hear you're going after him _and_ Itachi. Death wish maybe?"

"That should be what I'm asking you." Naruto said carefully, "You know that I'm here and you came here anyway. I don't know how you found me, I don't know how you found out what I'm after, and I don't know how you think insulting me and trying to get into my head is going to end well for you, but if this is the only reason you're here I might as well make your trip worth _someone's_ while and kill you."

"I didn't come to fight you Naruto-kun…" Kabuto said, as he slowly walked forward, "I came here to offer you the same thing that Orochimaru offered your first benefactor so many years ago. Danzo Shimura's greatest treasure and power… of course this was before he attempted to betray us by sending you into our base afterwards. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

'Not really surprising…' Naruto thought to himself as he kept his eyes firmly on Kabuto, 'Danzo-jiji always was a pretty underhanded dealer and had reputations over his backdoor agreements with others… and Orochimaru was our enemy, of course he sent me in after getting whatever he wanted from him. I probably destroyed whatever he got when I ran away from Oto.' He then spoke up, "Not really, but why make a deal with me when you know I can just kill you here. Do you really think that anything you have can keep me from wanting to extract my pound of flesh from you spy? You don't have enough leverage in the world to get me to grant you any kind of amnesty."

Kabuto chuckled slightly, "I know that. You know everything about Akatsuki I know, and everything about Otogakure's forces have been splintered and fractured upon Orochimaru-sama's death, all you have to do about them is cut off the loose ends. I'm not going back to them however, there's no more reason. I've simply come to give you something, something I've kept since Orochimaru's run-in with Danzo eight years ago… and probably the real reason he sent you in to infiltrate." Kabuto reached into his cloak and pulled something out.

The shock and surprise on the faces of all three Root teens couldn't have been covered up, "How?" Naruto said in disbelief, "How could you-? Why did you-? If Orochimaru had this then why did he-?" In Kabuto's hand was a jar containing a preserved Sharingan eye.

Kabuto set the jar on the ground, "Surprised I see. This is something left over from the surgery I did on Danzo years ago. I never showed this to Orochimaru-sama, if he had known of this he would have tried to implant it into his body. The risks were too great for me to do so… but he wouldn't have cared, which is why I kept it from him and why he pursued Sasuke-kun so intently, but that risk wouldn't have as great of an effect on you Naruto, if it would affect you at all."

Naruto's eyes widened as he remembered someone else rather close to him with a Sharingan eye and realized what Kabuto was talking about, "Are you telling me that you want me to-?"

"I didn't tell you anything Naruto-kun." Kabuto said as if he had won a game of wits or something of the sort, "I merely made a suggestion to you. It's up to you what you do with this. I'm simply providing the goods, I can't tell the recipient what to do once the goods are in their possession. Just make sure that Sasuke-kun suffers if you see him… and thank you."

Naruto found a reason to look up from the Sharingan eye on the ground as he watched Kabuto slink away into the shadow of the trees, "You're thanking me? For what?"

Kabuto's voice was still clear as day as he stopped just short of completely shrouding his body in the dark, "Because watching the way you've found your own place in the world has inspired me Naruto-kun. The jinchuuriki… the former pawn of Root… the former dead-last idiot. And here you are now, in control of your own destiny and on the fast-track to the top of the shinobi world. You and me aren't so different, we both just wanted to know who we were, what we were meant to do in this life, and I've finally found out what I'm to do." He pulled his hood down, "I'm going to surpass Orochimaru-sama, and I'm starting by integrating his remains into my body."

Maki flinched as she saw the left side of Kabuto's face and his left arm. The arm was white and scaly and his left eye resembled Orochimaru's, "How? Why would you do something like that to yourself? I couldn't imagine…"

Kabuto laughed at her question, "Orochimaru-sama was a living symbol of reincarnation, and now he lives on inside of me, as a reminder of who I must surpass." Another laugh came from him as he looked at his own new features, "Still, I can feel the remains trying to take over my body even as we speak." He then slipped back into the darkness, "I'm counting on you Naruto-kun. Consider this a gesture of good faith between two representatives of the future."

In a matter of seconds, Kabuto's presence was gone and the attention of all three remaining ninja went back to the jar on the ground. Naruto walked forward and picked it up, "Danzo-jiji and I need to have another talk about a lot of things. _A lot_ of things." He pulled out a sealing scroll and opened it, setting it on the open scroll to seal it up for storage and safety, "Until then-."

"Naruto-senpai…" Maki said, keeping him from putting the Sharingan eye away, "I can examine the eye for you to see if anything is wrong with it. I'm very skilled medically. In fact…" She started sounding nervous as she continued to talk, "If you want me to I can… implant the eye for you." She said lowly, "You should think about it if nothing else. It could give you just what you need as an edge against either of the Uchiha brothers, and with the sheer amount of raw chakra that you have there wouldn't be any non-Uchiha blooded user that could do the things you could with training. Even without training."

'Is she right?' Naruto thought to himself, 'A Sharingan… Danzo-jiji has one apparently. The Kyuubi said that the Sharingan was able to enact control over it. There are so many reason why I should do it. Plus the fact that I actually can get away with it… no one in Konoha has seen my injuries from fighting Pein. I'll keep it covered just like Kakashi-sensei does. But is it the right thing to do?'

Sai moved towards Naruto who had been as still as a statue since Maki spoke to him about implanting the eye and put a hand on his shoulder, getting Naruto to look at him instead of down at the eye on the sealing scroll, "Naruto-senpai are you okay?"

Naruto's eyes panned from Sai to down at the Sharingan eye as he finally sealed it in the scroll, rolled it up, and placed it in his pocket, "Everyone get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very, very busy day. It's time to get moving soon." He said as he went back inside of the house, only stopping to make more Kage Bunshin to replace the sentries that had been dispelled prior to meeting Kabuto.

Sai watched his back as he retreated inside. Maki did as well with a worried look on her face. She turned towards Sai, "Did I say something wrong? Is he angry at me Sai-senpai? I just thought that it would help. If he had the Sharingan he would be so powerful, he knows that too."

"Yes he does." Sai nodded as he walked towards the door, "And he's not mad at you. He knows how good he would be with the Sharingan, but there are moral reasons along with all kinds of other reasons as to why he's hesitant. Maki-san. Just give him some time. The ideas in his head are swimming right now, along with everything else he's dealing with at the moment. Eventually too much is too much, for anyone. He needs time to rest and think."

The two underling Root shinobi went inside and saw Naruto sitting against the far wall just staring into space. Sai went off to prepare his sleeping arrangements for the night and Maki walked over to Naruto, plopping down next to him closely. She just sat quietly next to him as he kept looking off away at nothing. Maki eventually turned towards him and began to speak, "You know you were my hero when I just started in Root. I was an orphan like you, and you were so strong… I could never match anything you did, you were the best of our age, even a ton of the adults were wary of you. At first I didn't understand why Danzo-sama made me your partner and I kind of resented you for it. And when you would try to talk to me I thought you were trying to be condescending, that's why I never said anything more than I had to."

Naruto snorted in amusement but kept quiet as he still remained with his eyes staring ahead at nothing in particular. Maki took his silence as a sign to continue, "But I did wind up caring for you. How could I not? You ended up saving me and getting hurt so many times because I couldn't fight. When we went with all of the others and took out the Prajna Group you got so hurt." She put a hand on his arm, "I looked at the scars on your body when I patched you up after we got you out of Ame, most of them are because of me, because I was weak. But the point is, you were always right, and everything you ever told me to do as my senpai and as a ninja ended up being for the best, and the right thing to do."

Naruto turned his head towards her, "This is kind of different Maki-chan. I'm thinking of taking out my own eye and replacing it with the eye of a dead man from a near extinct clan, solely for the ability to win one fight. This is pretty huge, and there's no right answer here. Either way bad things are going to happen and I'm trying to think of whether or not it's worth it."

"The point is; I know that whatever you decide to do is going to be the right thing, for you, us, and everyone in Konoha." She smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "You're Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato."

Naruto let off a small laugh, "And just what did I do to make you believe in me so much Maki-chan?"

Maki pulled her knees to her chest, "You don't have the time to hear all of my reasons senpai."

Naruto gestured for her to continue speaking, "Well go ahead and try me. We've got all night, I'm not going to sleep with all of this stuff on my brain. Maybe you can calm me down? Come on…" He said to her considerately, "I'm pretty sure I could use the company right now."

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**Chapter done… I've not much to say, this is all gearing up to the main conflict of this arc and the main issues of this and the next one which will be occurring very, very soon. However in the meantime I am doing this with a busted right hand… consider typing this stuff my working rehab of sorts.**

**Kenchi out. Enjoy the rest of your weeks and I'll catch you all later.**


	44. The Man Who Would Be King

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I need to become a drug dealer and deal exclusively to Masashi Kishimoto in the hopes that he'll become a deadbeat and sign over the rights to me for his next hit of whatever I'm selling. Hey… it's better than _your_ idea.

**Chapter 43: The Man Who Would Be King**

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_(Naruto – Age 7)_

_In the rather dark underground bunker of the Konoha-based Root hideout, the training of a young operative could be seen taking place. Though it was a very subtle practice it was still clear from the sweat dripping down the boy's face that he was hard at work._

'_Come on.' Naruto thought to himself as he stared intensely at the leaf in his hand, 'Just split the leaf. It can't be as hard as Danzo-jiji made it sound. He isn't going to teach you anymore wind jutsu until you can do this.' Naruto kept focusing on the leaf as hard as he possibly could, 'Thinner, sharper… separate your chakra into two and grind them together.' He then felt eyes on his from across the room and noticed that his masked partner Maki had stopped training with hand-seal speed to stare at him working on his elemental training._

"_**Focus kit."**__ Kyuubi rumbled in his mind. It had been around a year since Naruto had first met with the Kyuubi, and while the fox was rather ornery and ill-tempered more often than not, he surmised that things could have been worse. Danzo wanted him to establish a rapport of sorts with the demon before he could actively begin trying to train with the chakra, and in order to establish a relationship of sorts Naruto went ahead and came to a series of compromises with the massive being. One was that it would be aware of Naruto's surroundings and could actively communicate with him, which it did from time to time, __**"So your partner wants to watch you train, who cares? You **_**are **_**working on a rather high-level task at the moment. It must seem rather impressive."**_

'_Yeah right…' Naruto said mentally as he tried to get back to cutting the leaf in his hand with his chakra, 'I would agree with you _if_ Maki ever said more than one sentence to me a day. Does the guy really hate me that much?'_

"_**I hate you that much."**__ Kyuubi said to him in a helpful tone._

'_You hate everyone that much.' Naruto replied dryly, 'If I have to hear how you would eat Minato Namikaze and shove those Hiraishin kunai of his up his ass again I swear I'm going to mute you. I'm busy.'_

"_**I suppose you have a point."**__ Kyuubi replied with a heavy sigh, __**"After all, I don't want my container to be so weak that taking over his body would be child's play… no pun intended."**__ The Kyuubi whipped its tails around inside of its destroyed Konoha mindscape, __**"I expect a challenge out of you when the time comes."**_

'_Whatever.' Naruto thought to the beast inside of him, 'Danzo-jiji gave me this exercise to complete. It's been three months since he told me to do it. I_ will_ finish it even if I blackout trying.' He then returned his focus to his work at hand, 'Come on, grind the chakra together, sharper, thinner…' _

"_*gasp*" _

_Naruto turned around when he heard Maki gasp, looking back at his leaf he saw what had prompted that uncharacteristic outburst. He had actually cut it the way he had been trying to for months prior to this. A smile came to the boy's face that he quickly rid himself of as he picked up another leaf and proved that it wasn't a fluke by cutting that one as well, and again, and again, each time faster than the last._

_After repeating the process twelve times he finally turned to Maki who turned away from him and continued working on hand-seals, "Maki." Naruto said, not getting a response at first, "Maki." He said louder this time, finally getting the plain masked shinobi to turn around, "I'm going to go tell Danzo-jiji that I finished the exercise he gave me. Do you want to spar with swords when we get back? You need to get more melee training anyway."_

_Maki simply stared at him from behind the white mask before looking away slightly and nodding. Naruto rolled his eyes, "I wish you weren't so weird that you won't talk to me Maki. It gets boring in here with no one to talk to. We're too old for emotional conditioning anyway so they can't do anything to us anyway." He moved closer and tried to look through Maki's mask's eyeholes, "They didn't break you like everybody else did they?" Maki didn't give him a reply, "Fine…" He said in defeat as he left the room, "Time to get back to work. I'll be back in a minute and then we can fight."_

_Maki simply watched his back as he left before turning to the pile of leaves he had been working with. Picking one up, Maki tried to recreate what Naruto did, only succeeding in pushing plain chakra through it, "Why are you so strong senpai? You make the rest of us look so weak."_

(End Flashback)

Naruto, still sitting against the wall of their safehouse with Maki, looked at her strangely, "That's it? That's why you believe in me so much, because I split a leaf when I was 7?"

"No Naruto-senpai." Maki said rather irritably before settling down, "It's because you were always the best, you were always ten steps ahead of every single one of us, and it never seemed like you could fail at anything. And even when you did you always got up and did it anyway, as if you were trying to stick it to the world or something."

Naruto looked at Maki before sighing, "I felt that way because of how people treated me Maki-chan." Maki tilted her head in confusion, "I lived outside of the hideouts and bases Maki. I had to keep up appearances around Konoha so that the Sandaime wouldn't know what I was doing. Well I had to interact with people too, and I learned really quickly that no one believed in me." He looked at his hands before clinching them into fists, "I could beat the shit out of a genin when I was six, I was going on missions that they wouldn't see for a year at least when I was six, but no one thought anything of me. To them I was a nuisance, a waste of space. They thought I was a nobody, and I couldn't show them that I wasn't."

"So why did you work so hard?" Maki wondered. She had been asking herself that for years.

"Because there was one person who believed in me." Naruto said, "Danzo-jiji believed in me. And I know that I was just a pawn to him, just a piece in the overall game that was keeping Konoha safe and strong, but he never sugar-coated it and tried to manipulate me. All I wanted was for someone to know that I was a good ninja, and he knew that I was by the time that I was sealed. That was why I fought Maki-chan, because he believed in me enough to train me, enough to give me the ninjutsu that I still use today, enough to put me in charge of you even though we were both just kids."

"I understand…" Maki said, grabbing a hold of his hand, "That's kind of why I worked so hard too." She said with a smile, "I wanted you to believe in me the way I believed in you. I wanted to be of use to you. You were the only person I knew senpai. And I didn't want to be as much of a burden as I was when I was assigned to be your partner. I almost got you killed so many times."

"You were six years old and my trainee." He reasoned to her while thinking to himself about something he had never questioned back when it happened, 'Why the hell did Danzo give me a damn trainee that was my age when we were both kids? Were his forces that depleted?'

"You were seven, and the most dangerous of our generation by far. No one else even came close at the time." She replied, "I couldn't even beat a regular genin when I was six, but when you left for that year I had never trained so hard before in my life. I was going to challenge you to a spar when you came back and surprise you, and then we could have been friends the way I always wanted to be once I knew that I was close to your level." She let out a small laugh, "Honestly, you scared me when we were kids senpai."

"How the fuck did I scare you?" Naruto asked her incredulously, "I didn't scare anybody, not even the people I was meant to kill."

"Yeah…" Maki said, "And then you killed them… and it didn't matter what they thought of you anymore. Do I need to bring up the textbook clusterfuck that we both know as simply 'Kuminari no Kuni' again as reference?" She said as she started to explain, "A lone noble's manor on the top of an isolated mountain. You go in alone to retrieve a Kumo hijutsu scroll and reparations that were part of an ongoing operation to take monetary compensation that Konoha wasn't given for the Hyuuga Incident. You get caught by the lord of the manor himself and you fight your way out through over fifty armed samurai and leave not a single one of them alive." She gave him a deadpan look with her cloudy grey eyes, "I watched you do it firsthand through binoculars, but I still saw it all. It was scary. You were a very scary person Naruto-senpai."

"Were?" Naruto asked, raising his scarred eyebrow.

"When you left I missed you more than I was scared of you." Maki said softly before narrowing her eyes, "And then when I first saw you again I don't think I was ever so angry in my entire life. I saw red. All I wanted to do was beat the hell out of you. The only reason I didn't was because I was enrolled in the Academy under Danzo-sama's influence and backing, and if I had gotten in trouble it would have reflected on him and I would have been punished."

_(Flashback – Naruto – Age 8)_

_Iruka stood at the front of the classroom going over a lecture on the board, "-And that's the principle behind the ranking system in the hidden villages. Some villages may have special squads and whatnot, but every ninja is labeled with these rankings." He looked around to find that everyone in the class was paying rapt attention and writing down notes on what he had written and had been saying with the exception of one sleeping little blonde boy. With a tick mark formed on his head, Iruka broke off a small piece of chalk in his hand._

_Maki, sitting not far at all from Naruto, one row back and four seats down, clinched her fists under the desk as she watched Iruka toss the chalk up and down in his hand, 'You aren't going to let him do this are you senpai? Wake up. Catch it. Let him know you're not really sleeping. For Kami's sake throw something at him when he throws it at you, do _something_!'_

"_Wake up Naruto!" Iruka yelled as he let fly with the chalk, bouncing it off of the forehead of the sleeping whiskered boy. Naruto's head snapped up as he looked around in a confused manner, "Welcome back, glad you could join us. Now could you please tell me what you'll be ranked in the ninja system after you graduate the Academy?"_

_Naruto grinned widely and spoke up loudly, "Hokage of course! I'm going right to the top Iruka-sensei, what else would I be?" The exuberant little boy was confused at the snickers and whispers of the other children around him, "What? I will be!"_

"_You have to be a genin first Naruto." Iruka said, shaking his head at the boy, "Honestly. This stuff is important. Please stay awake in class, I'm teaching you all of these things for a reason."_

_Naruto tilted his head, "What? I don't get it Iruka-sensei, how can any of this help us when it's time to kick ass?"_

"_Watch your mouth." The chunin teacher warned him, "And being a ninja isn't just about 'kicking ass'. There's a time and a place for that, and the rest of the time you need to use your head. How are you going to be any kind of ninja if you don't even know how the ranks work?"_

_Maki couldn't even stomach looking at Naruto. Whatever had happened to him after his last mission had really messed him up. Danzo wasn't saying anything and he was the only one that could have possibly known, still she was told not to approach him. All she knew was that this wasn't her Naruto-senpai. He wouldn't have played at being this stupid on his worst day. He would have caught that chalk in his hand without even lifting his head. And he damn sure wouldn't have sounded so stupid trying to answer a question that both of them learned the answer to on the first day of their training._

_But there was nothing she could do. The most she was allowed to do was to observe him, and if this is what Naruto had become then she was certain that she wouldn't even do that unless she was actually forced to. Maki didn't pay attention to the rest of Iruka's lecture, she knew all of that anyway, she simply spent the rest of class glaring at Naruto and wishing that he would just come to her after class and say he was joking and he was playing a part of some sort._

_He never did. And it continued along the same vein for the next four years._

(End Flashback)

Naruto frowned at having the memories of his Academy years drudged up. If his seven year old self had met his eight year old self he would have kicked his own ass into gear, it was embarrassing and still pissed him off to this day. He could only imagine how Maki felt. The only person she knew, someone she basically looked up to for years, turned into a remedial wreck and there was nothing she could do. She couldn't even try to help him even if she could stomach being around that shadow of himself because of orders. Looking at his face every single day and watching him do nothing but screw up again and again must have been akin to laughing in her face for four years straight. She was conditioned damnably good if she could take that for as long as she did.

"And that's when you definitely weren't scared of me anymore?" Naruto asked, getting a nod out of Maki, "I guess you wouldn't have been. You could have killed that version of me with one hand tied behind your back."

"I thought about stabbing you with a pencil about three times a month." She said, getting a strange look out of Naruto, "What? You and I both know that no one would have caught me if I did it. And I didn't say I'd have killed you, just stabbed you."

"Because that's so much better." Naruto said sarcastically, getting a pout out of Maki, putting a smile back on his face, "Well that's over. As much as I'd love to admit that none of that ever happened it did, and I've had to live it down ever since. I had to beat 8 of my classmates' asses back-to-back along with 2 more experienced genin to get people to start taking me seriously."

Maki giggled, "I saw that too. You were angry that day Naruto-senpai. Have an axe to grind did you?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Honestly that's when I believed that you were back, and as strange as it sounds, when you finished beating them all I couldn't get the smile off of my face for the rest of the day. My genin squad didn't understand why and they thought I was weird, but then again I never bothered to explain, I couldn't. And that's when I truly started believing in you."

"Then?" That sounded strange to Naruto, "All I did was fight. How did that make you believe in me?"

"Because you actually came back." Maki explained to him, "I thought you were gone and that the Naruto Uzumaki that was there through the Academy was going to be there for life. And then you just popped back in and didn't miss a beat. You actually seemed ridiculously stronger than you were when you left, and I figured, if you could return from having every aspect of your personality, skills, and overall memory forcefully sealed away then there wasn't anything that could stop you if you wanted something done." She lay her head on his shoulder and allowed herself to close her eyes happily when he didn't push her off or complain.

Naruto just smiled at the younger girl and set his head on hers as he decided to drift off to sleep along with her, 'Maybe you're right Maki-chan. I'm not sure which choice is the right one, or even if there is a right and wrong in this case. There never really is. As a ninja everything we do is a shade of grey. What may be good to one person could be downright demonic to another elsewhere. I just have to trust my gut on this one and hope that it's not the wrong choice for me, you, and all of us. *laughs* And if you believe in me that much then I can't let my sweet little kouhai down by being a flake now can I?'

XxX

(Later that Night – Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto entered to a rather familiar scene, the Kyuubi lying down in the middle of a completely eradicated Konoha. Every single time he came inside of his mindscape and saw this it only inspired him to get stronger. There was no way he was going to allow this to happen to his village for real. If the Kyuubi knew how much seeing this actually encouraged him, it would probably stop doing it, but when Naruto was actually in front of him trying to speak it never seemed to pick up on how Naruto was trying to keep himself from becoming angry at the sight of the ruined village. After seeing it a few hundred times over the course of his life Naruto had come to develop a rather black humor over the subject, but all he wanted to do was shove a Fuuton: Rasengan right down the Kyuubi's throat each time he had to watch it eradicate a sector of the village with one of its powerful Imari attacks.

As Naruto neared the beast it stopped in its destruction to tower over Naruto. The two simply locked eyes for the longest time, not saying a single word. The Kyuubi honestly had more respect for Naruto than any other human it had ever come across. None of its previous jinchuuriki had taken to the process and the responsibility the way Naruto had. He didn't bother trying to be something he wasn't, normal, he didn't bother trying to hold the power at bay and simply hold it inside, no he intended to use it as an advantage over his enemies instead of looking at it as a curse. This was the purest incarnation of a shinobi that it had ever been forced to be around, though he would never tell Naruto this to his face.

The Kyuubi sat down on its haunches, laying its head down on the ground to get itself as close to eye level as it possibly could. Naruto finally spoke up to the demon that made him look like nothing more than an insect in comparison, "I'm guessing that you already know why I'm here. Before I make a final decision I just want to hear what you have to say. Say what you will about how you want to devour me, but you've always been my closest confidant, you've always been my closest ally. You helped keep me from breaking when I was in Root."

The Kyuubi bared its teeth in a rather chilling smirk that would have unnerved any other shinobi and paralyzed them with fear, **"The enemy of my enemy is my friend boy. I needed you to keep me alive, and fighting your will to survive would have been the same as fighting against myself. Besides, no host of mine would ever possibly be allowed to be the mindless drone of another." ** The amused look then dropped from the creature's face, **"Yes I know why you are here. I have to say, I'm surprised you came to me. I fully expected you to simply take the eye and then come in here with intent to yoke me into submission."**

Naruto chuckled humorlessly, "Come on now. Do you really think that me with a Sharingan would make that much of a difference with my genjutsu that I could just flat out beat you with it? I wake Maki up and could put that eye in right now and tomorrow morning when I woke up I would still be laughable at it."

'**Just when I think I have this puny human child all figured out…'** The Kyuubi thought to itself as it looked at its diminutive host,** "You obviously know what I want to say. I want you to crush that eye and do a primitive war dance on it, or better yet I would love for you to find one of the last remaining Uchiha and force-feed it to them personally, but we both know that even if you didn't take the eye you wouldn't simply destroy it."** Naruto gave it a nod agreeing with its statement. The Kyuubi growled lowly in thought as to what it wanted to say about the topic at hand.

"I want an honest answer from you." Naruto said firmly, eyes reflecting nothing but the pure seriousness that his voice conveyed, "None of your goddamn mind-game shit, no more ducking my questions and blowing me off. If you never answer anything else I ever ask you until the day we kick the shit out of each other for full control over the other you're going to answer this question right now." He could feel the ill intent just flickering off of the Kyuubi like heat from a flame, but to hell with that at the moment, it could be as angry and pissy as it wanted to be after they were done, "As a matter of me defeating the enemies after me, Gaara, Yugi-chan, and Kirabi… as a matter of me defending Konoha the way I swore I would to Danzo-jiji when I took his last mission to me, do you think I should take the Sharingan for myself?"

"**No."** It said plainly, looking away from Naruto in a bored manner, **"Now leave."**

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Naruto snapped at the Kyuubi defiantly as a crack of thunder and lightning signified Naruto's mood and mental state. The wind began to pick up as well, representing his two elements, "This isn't about you and me. This isn't even about you and the Uchiha Clan that you seem to have a gripe with. Pretend that we _didn't _have to fight. Pretend that you only knew me in passing and knew what I was up against and what I had to deal with in my miserable, battle-filled life. I want you to fucking tell me, in your honest opinion and I really want you to think as hard as your fuzzy-wuzzy cutesy-wutesy head can. If you were me… Is it… a good idea… for me to have the Sharingan. Yes or no."

It should have just turned around and slapped him with its tails, it wouldn't have done a single thing to him but still, it might have worked in theory. It should have told him to get the fuck out again, it should have started a fight right then and there and tried to forcibly influence him the way it hadn't tried to in almost ten years. But the Kyuubi did none of these things. It simply stared at Naruto for the longest time, taking all that Naruto had said and truly taking the time to answer his question **"I can't answer that question for you ningen. It is your choice in the end. If you really are to be Hokage the way you intend to be then you need to be able to answer these questions on your own because the decisions for you will only grow harder and harder in the future, if you survive that long."**

Naruto nodded and turned to leave the mindscape when he heard the Kyuubi speak again, **"When you and I fight… no Sharingan. No matter what you decide in the end. This is my only request to you."**

Naruto didn't even bother turning back around as he kept walking away and fading out of the mindscape, "I'll think about it." He said off-handedly, not hinting one way or the other on the matter.

Kyuubi smirked again as Naruto disappeared from his mind, **"Damn brat."**

XxX

(The Next Day – Gates of Konohagakure no Sato)

Kakashi stood ready to leave on his mission at the gate with Jiraiya, Shizune, and Tsunade there to see the squad off. Jiraiya walked up to his fellow white-haired male and set his only existing hand on his shoulder before speaking in a still rather gravelly voice, "It's still going to be a little while before I'm ready to do anything like train the gaki. I've only been rehabbing for around a few weeks. Just make sure that you keep him safe when you find him okay?"

Kakashi nodded, "You've got it Jiraiya-sama. Heh, if anything I'm certain he'll probably find us somehow when he's in the most trouble. Don't worry about it. If he told you all of these things then he's not hiding anymore, he shouldn't be that hard to find now."

Tsunade stepped forward next, "Good luck Kakashi. Keep Sakura safe and make sure she doesn't try anything stupid on this mission. Kami knows that if Naruto really is searching for an Uchiha he'll probably end up running into one or the other somehow. I don't want her losing her head over this." She said, sneaking a glance at the pink-haired medic who looked ready for anything.

Nodding again to his leader, Kakashi turned to his squad, "Alright everyone. There are reasons I picked all of you for this mission, but now's not the time to dwell on that." The squad he selected of Neji, Kiba (with Akamaru), Tayuya, Sakura, and Shikamaru stared at him, all each with their own determination for the mission, "The primary mission is to find Naruto Uzumaki, the secondary mission is to assist him in whatever matter currently has his attention at the moment. He is not an enemy, however be prepared for combat against anyone he has deemed _his_ target to be. There is also a very good chance that we will be facing off against Akatsuki on this mission. You've all been informed about who these people are and any further questions can be answered by Naruto himself once he is found. Any questions?"

He got a unanimous shake of heads in the negative from everyone, "Right then. Let's go find ourselves a blonde kid." He said before rushing off in a blur to be followed by everyone else.

Tsunade looked down the road where they had set out before turning to Jiraiya, "You know that foreboding feeling I had before you and Naruto went off to Amegakure?" She asked him, getting Jiraiya to look at her curiously, "I think I'm getting it again."

"I didn't know you were clairvoyant Tsunade-hime." Jiraiya said with a grin, getting a glare out of the large chested blonde woman, "It'll be fine. Even if you have that feeling he's still going to make it back. Since that sense of yours only seems to work on men you care and about and look at me, I made it back just fine, and the brat is tougher than me. The kid might wind up a little banged up, but when is he not getting put in the hospital for something?"

Shizune picked up Tonton from the ground and held the small pig tight to her chest, "I really hope that you're right and Tsunade-sama is wrong about this Jiraiya-sama."

"We all do Shizune." Jiraiya said before turning around to head back inside of the village.

XxX

(With Team Kakashi)

Tayuya looked around to all of the people she had been dispatched on this mission with before choosing to speak up to Kakashi, "So can I ask you why you decided to pick all of us for this mission. Not that I care about it too fucking much, but I'm a new tokubetsu jounin so why would you want me?" Tayuya still wore her black hat with bandages on the sides, but her clothing itself was now different. She wore a tight mesh bodysuit like Anko, only hers had long sleeves and went all the way down her legs to her black sandals. Over that she wore a sleeveless tan top that was cut to show her cleavage and short to show her stomach, and a light-purple skirt.

"You all have your roles on this squad." Kakashi said with an eye-smile as he turned around and looked at her, "For example, you have genjutsu expertise that the others don't have which will be important if we come across the Sharingan, and in case we find anyone with the whereabouts of either Naruto, Sasuke, or Itachi, and they don't feel too forthcoming with the information you can persuade them. I hear that you're Anko's favorite pet project at the ANBU Torture and Interrogation Department."

"Crazy bitch…" Tayuya muttered rather miserably, "I had to kickstart learning a jutsu that I didn't know just so I could keep her the fuck away from me. Training my ass, that was pure torture."

Kakashi smiled at her and continued his explanation, "Sakura is our medic of course and being that she has been on a team with both Naruto and Sasuke she has personal stake in this. She knows them better than anyone else-." He stopped when he heard Tayuya scoff and smirk, "-Well she knows them better than _most_ people. " He gestured towards Kiba, "Kiba is our tracker and he has a personal stake in this as well. Naruto is his friend and Sasuke escaped from their squad when he left Konoha, same for Neji, except he will be our eyes and basic sensor. Shikamaru has personal stake in this as well, and in case of combat his battle plans will be second-to-none and invaluable to us."

"Understood." Tayuya said, now figuring how this all tied together, "So where is Uzumaki?"

Kakashi answered her question brightly, "We have no earthly idea." Tayuya almost tripped and fell at the cavalier tone of how Kakashi had said that, "All we know is that he's in Hi no Kuni. But we know that no matter where he is he's going to be causing some fireworks soon. He said he was done hiding which means he's going to start something soon. Once we catch wind of him he won't be too difficult to locate."

Kiba chuckled slightly, "I'm not too sure about that actually. The guy can hide from us inside of Konoha if he really wants to hide. Now he has the entire country as his playground."

Neji shook his head, "He can hide from you because you're afraid to go into the Forest of Death."

"S-Shut up!" Kiba said turning his gaze away from the others as Akamaru let out a few canine snickers of amusement, "But yeah. Even when he goes in there… he made me try to look for him in there once. Akamaru and I looked for almost twelve hours. All we found were tons of his clones all over the place, and then he turned up at that Ichiraku Ramen stand he's at all the time. It's maddening when you want to find the guy. He's never around. This might be tough."

Shikamaru took that moment to add his own input to the situation, "What do we do if we come across Sasuke first?"

"That's simple." Kakashi said as he pulled out Sasuke's old hitae-ate that had been scratched out when he left to go to Orochimaru, "We defeat him ourselves and save Naruto the trouble since that's one of the reasons he's still in Hi no Kuni to begin with."

Tayuya looked and noticed the look on Sakura's face, "You'd better be focused on this pinky. I'd really like this to be the last time I have to deal with the Uchiha prick. The last time wasn't very delightful if you would fucking recall the beatdown that Uzumaki put on me."

Sakura looked over at her fellow kunoichi's scrutinizing gaze and gave a firm nod, "I'm ready for whatever happens. I've been training for this for years."

XxX

(With Naruto and Company)

With the new day ahead of them, Naruto once again led his team north into Hi no Kuni in search of Sasuke or Itachi, "The next town we reach we need to start searching around for intel. I'll drop some clones here, have them Henge, and we'll keep going. We'll have a dragnet of sorts over the region by the end of the day."

"I will leave behind some of my ink creatures as well Naruto-senpai." Sai said helpfully to the blonde leader, "They can help your Kage Bunshin with gathering information and speed up the process."

"Good idea." Naruto said, acknowledging how helpful that could be to narrowing down a general area faster, "Make some and I'll make some clones and then we can take to the air and look from up there."

After both shinobi had made their amount of scouting entities, Sai formed a pair of large ink birds and once again the trio flew above the forests of Hi no Kuni.

Maki held on to Naruto from behind as Sai flew next to their bird on his own, leading the two of them along, "What are we looking for exactly Naruto-senpai?"

Naruto grinned back at her as he sat down firmly on the bird and allowed Sai to steer them both with his own will, "We're looking for a lot of things in particular Maki-chan. Kubikiribouchou is a very specific sword. People will know if they've seen it. Akatsuki attire is very specific, people will also know if they've seen it. And then Kisame Hoshigaki himself is _very_ specific. He's blue and has those gill markings on his face. If someone saw him they'd damn sure remember where it was."

Sai spoke up from where he was flying nearby, "It's all a matter of how secluded they're trying to be while travelling. Finding Sasuke Uchiha should be far easier than finding Itachi Uchiha by comparison though. Itachi would be used to concealing his movements and moving under the radar."

"I wish we had an Inuzuka though." Naruto said regretfully, "If Kiba were here we'd be making great time on this. Better than we would be right now."

Maki sighed into his back, "It can't be helped Naruto-senpai. Danzo-sama doesn't even have an Inuzuka to work with in Root, so unless you headed back to Konoha and asked for one you couldn't get one."

Speaking of Konoha, Naruto had a thought, "Wait, how am I going to explain you guys away when we go home? Sai I might be able to, but Maki-chan I don't think I'll be able to. Root's officially disbanded."

"I don't know." Maki said, "But we can't say anything about Danzo-sama anyway to someone not cleared to know anything." She stuck out her tongue and revealed a seal near the back of it taking the shape of three solid lines and two broken lines, "Sai-senpai has one too."

Naruto snapped his fingers as he remembered the seal, "Oh yeah, Danzo-jiji tried to put that thing on me three different times, but I just broke it each time. I was enough of a pawn at the time. Me having that seal didn't benefit me at all. Kyuubi's chakra overpowered it when I wanted it gone."

'Naruto-senpai really is strong.' Maki thought to herself, "So what are we going to do now?"

"I'm going to search the ground." Naruto said, getting Maki to let go of her grip around his waist before he stood up on the bird, "Sai, you're in charge of Maki. When you find anything and can't find me just head back to the first village we came to before and wait for me or look for me." Naruto then jumped off of the bird and fell towards the trees below.

"Naruto-senpai!" Maki and Sai both looked as their leader fell to the ground below. Before Sai could direct his birds to go catch him, Naruto yelled out a jutsu.

"Fuuton: Kaze Wakiokoru (Wind Release: Wind Burst)!" Naruto's body was upright as he seemingly stopped for a second in the air from an air bubble that formed under one of his feet before falling again and repeating the process until he safely fell through the canopy, "I'll see you guys soon!"

Maki stared at the area in the forests that he fell to with a twitch to her eye, "I'm going to put a _horrible_ falling genjutsu on him once he gets back."

"He just did that to get a reaction out of us." Sai said as he had by now gotten over Naruto's attempt at rather dark humor, "Naruto-senpai believes that scaring his friends like that is funny. He tried to explain the concept of scaring his friends to me once, but I don't think I understood it right because he beat me up after I booby-trapped his apartment. That had to have been somewhat alarming, right?"

Maki turned and gave Sai a dry look, "Sai-senpai, Danzo-sama really should have put you on a genin squad after Shin-san passed away." She let out a sigh, "Don't worry. If Naruto-senpai is trying to teach you social things then I guess I'll have to help as well. My future boss can't be socially inept or we'd all be dead." She then saw Sai giving her his strange smile, "That smile is going to have to be the first thing to go…"

XxX

As soon as Naruto fell through the canopy of the trees he took off in a dead sprint through the ground level of the forest. All three of them shouldn't be in the air for something like this, and since he had the best stamina he was the one best suited for taking the ground route. The memories of a dispelled clone informed him that he needed to head northwest, and head northwest he did. One of Sai's smaller, faster birds was already en route to find its creator and Maki to inform them as well, thusly Naruto just had to head to the town indicated in the direction.

At the edge of the forest Naruto came to a stop at a massive gorge spanning an entire mile across, "My ass I have to cross this now!" He shouted angrily at nature… for sticking a damn gorge in his way, "Fuck it!" Naruto said before charging down the sheer cliff face. How dare a natural formation get in the way of him trying to get to where he was going, it was times like this that he was really jealous of guys like Sai that could fly.

At the bottom of the gorge lay a very wide river almost the entire span of the ravine. Running across it and beginning his ascent up the other side, there was no one there except for him and the few birds he could see flying in the distance. He ignored them until the sound of wings flapping grew abnormally close to him and that was when he was able to notice the plain white color of the avian animals that were coming right at him, "Son of a-."

"Katsu!"

The birds hit the wall that Naruto had been attached to at full speed and exploded on contact in fiery blasts. Chunks of the cliff wall fell to the ground with Naruto among them. Deidara flew above the crash site on a large clay bird with Tobi riding as well, "You found one, yeah! And you got him Deidara-senpai!"

"Be quiet Tobi." Deidara said, adjusting the scope on his left eye with a battle-hungry smile on his face, "He's not dead… I can't kill him anyway, but I can blow off a few limbs, he'll survive it. No, that wasn't nearly enough to put the Kyuubi kid down. He's way better than that." His smile grew larger as he saw the rocks at the bottom of the gorge shift about, revealing Naruto to his view once more, "You see?"

Naruto cast the last of the rocks off of his body and stood back up with a growl. Looking up in the air he saw Deidara and some weird guy in a mask with an orange spiral on it, "Fine. I guess I can kill one more of you before looking for Sasuke. Thin out the numbers so to speak."

Tobi pointed down at Naruto, "Ooh, Deidara-senpai he looks mad. Such a scary face."

"You should be relatively afraid of him Tobi." Deidara said, "This guy beat Hidan, killed Kakuzu and Sasori no Danna, he even fought Leader-sama and got away in one piece. He really is quite a spectacular jinchuuriki. Very powerful. I know from personal experience, he's incredibly dangerous, un."

Naruto stood at the ready as his brain worked out his current situation as quickly as it could, 'Okay, he's flying again. First order of business is to shoot that damn bird down for me to even have a fight chance of hitting him directly. I can handle that, but that other guy, I don't know the first thing about him. He could be even stronger than Deidara is.'

Deidara had the mouths in the palms of his hands eat more clay and form more bird sculptures, "It's been so long since we've seen each other. Let's catch up, un. I'll start off with C1, so you can remember the fear you felt at my art back in Uzushiogakure." The birds flew off at Naruto and grew in size, preparing for their suicide bombing attempts to take him out.

"Last time I didn't have the tools I needed to fight you, but this time I do!" Naruto said as he began running along the rocky area and atop the river in the gorge, 'I don't need to cut you down with my sword alone anymore, I have actual ranged ninjutsu that I can use now!' He thought to himself as he reached into his supply pouch and pulled out a single shuriken, throwing it at the birds as he made five hand-seals rapidly, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"

The aerial weaponry turned from one to over a dozen and cut through the clay birds, clipping their wings and bringing them down into the water where they detonated prematurely.

Deidara watched Naruto dispatch his feeling-out explosives easily, "It looks like someone's learned some new tricks since the last time we had it out, un." He looked at his mysterious partner, "Tobi get off the bird. This one is mine. You might get in the way if the fight gets as out of hand as I'm expecting. Go keep watch on the perimeter and make sure no one else interferes with the capture of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki."

"Are you sure Deidara-senp-?" Tobi tried to ask, unsure of Deidara's order.

"Just listen to me and leave before I explode some clay on you instead of him, un!" Deidara snapped at him, "This brat and I have a bone to pick. He remembers how he ran and hid in fear of my art the last time around."

Naruto pulled out even more long-range weapons and took aim at Deidara as he saw the other one jump from his bird to the top of the gorge, leaving the battlefield altogether. The young blonde shinobi was simply waiting for the opportune moment to make his next move on the dangerous nuke-nin, 'Be patient. Deidara isn't stupid, and fighting from a distance is his specialty. I still need to close the distance to put a hurt on him, but I can at least hold my own from here.' He thought analytically as he removed the plain white mask from his waist and placed it securely over his face.

"Strange mask, un." Deidara commented as he watched Naruto cover his scarred face with the rather plain piece of porcelain, "Pretty weird seeing something like that on a guy like you. What does it mean? ANBU?"

Fully decked out in nostalgic Root gear, Naruto scoffed and slowly drew the Sen'nenki no Ken from its sheath on his back as he spoke lowly, "You wish it meant just ANBU."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

Tsunade sat at her desk, going through her daily busy work as per usual. She barely had it in her to go out and train for her designated period of time so she decided that she might as well get Shizune off of her back for the time being by catching up with everything that required her attention. A knock on the door alerted her and seemed to be a welcome reprieve from the monotony of her day, "You may enter." That was until she saw who it was that had decided to pay her a visit, "Danzo."

The bandaged old man shut the door before he walked around her office, taking in the sights of the place where each Hokage had done their jobs dutifully even to this day, "I hope now isn't a bad time for a small conversation Tsunade-hime. If it is then I could always try to come back later."

"No, now is as good a time as any." Tsunade said, going straight into business-mode for this. She knew of Danzo's reputation prior to the Sandaime Hokage's death. Quiet. Always in the background, but his presence could never be missed. Nowadays she couldn't possibly comprehend where that line of thought had come from. These days it seemed more like Danzo was just waiting for something. He had made no noise whatsoever, he had refrained from vehemently opposing any of her policies, and he had been tremendously quiet about Naruto despite the past between them that she was well aware of at this point.

"Very well." He said taking a seat in the chair provided for guests in front of Tsunade's desk, "This is about Naruto."

'Again?' Tsunade thought to herself as she nodded and gestured for him to continue, "I see. What is it you would like to talk about?"

Danzo let silence settle over the room for a moment before speaking, "You are well aware of my past relationship with Naruto. In his childhood I was his first benefactor and I am the one that gave him the base of his shinobi skills that he still makes use of to this day."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, "Yes, I'm fully aware of your attempts to turn Naruto into a drone, just like the rest of Root. You did go ahead and disband them like you were ordered to all those years ago, right?" She asked knowingly. She may have never verbally acknowledged it to the boy himself, but after Naruto realized exactly how far back his family roots went she eagerly claimed him as her own family, distant though he may have been. After that bit of truth came out, she was rather defensive over the fact that he had been in Root. She had heard hearsay of just how that group operated and she was amazed that Naruto wound up as well balanced as he was to go with the power he had at his disposal.

Danzo frowned visibly and shook his head, "I never once lied to the boy. I told him exactly what he was in for before we ever began training, and he never backed down. He took part of his own free will, he was never my pawn. I would dare say he was the greatest recruit I could have ever asked for. But if he stayed then he wouldn't have been as useful to Konoha as he is now."

"What do you mean?" Tsunade said to the wily old man, keeping her mental sensors ready for anything off about what he was saying.

Danzo tapped the bottom of his cane on the ground before speaking once more, "He not only has the strength and skill as a shinobi he's also a jinchuuriki, this naturally makes him a more powerful shinobi than those that are his equal. You must be aware of the proficiency of the Kazekage Sabaku no Gaara. I believe that Naruto is more powerful at this time, and he is only getting better and better, not only that but he has the support of many important nations."

Yuki no Kuni and Nami no Kuni, places he was seen as a hero. Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and now possibly Kirigakure, hidden villages that Naruto singlehandedly set up friendly rapports with. It was the truth. Naruto despite only being 16 years of age was by far one of the most influential shinobi that Konoha had to offer, and his strength was respected throughout the ninja world, as news of his victories over Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, and all of the other enemies he had managed to defeat had been spread throughout the continent. The boy had his own bingo book page to himself at this point in copies distributed in multiple hidden villages.

Not acknowledging how important Naruto was to Konoha and its financial and political relationships at large would have been foolish of Tsunade, of course she knew these things, they were contributing factors that led to his promotion to jounin, he had thoroughly earned it. Everyone that was aware of these things at large knew it and no one that had thought of him as a nuisance before could possibly justify keeping him back any longer, thus she gleefully stamped his promotion through.

Danzo continued making his point, "He has your support, Jiraiya's support, the support of many of the most powerful ninja in the village in many high-ranking positions, and he has the entire future generation of shinobi utterly enamored with his strength. I'm aware of the young Konohamaru telling his friends in the Academy stories that Naruto told him of his own battles and missions. They see him as a hero, and even the boy's own generation's most talented shinobi all consider themselves friends and allies of his."

Tsunade again nodded, "I see where you're coming from with all of this, but I don't know where you're going yet."

The man smirked, "You can't hold the seat forever Tsunade. Eventually you will have to hand over the hat, and I'm sure that you know just as well as I do who would make the best choice for a successor."

"Naruto." She figured he would say. Why else would he have led her here with his conversation points? She had to say, she couldn't see any problems with that. He had ANBU experience and Tenzo said that he showed the chops for an actual ANBU position after his mission with him, also Danzo wouldn't be endorsing him on this if he didn't see Naruto as the real deal. His mission completion rate was impeccable. Since his promotion to chunin he had been Tsunade's go-to-guy that wasn't named Kakashi Hatake. All of the lower C and B-ranked missions that she needed to find a quick fix to stick someone in she gave to Naruto and he always worked them out. The kid seemed to be untouchable, no matter who was paired with him, no matter if he was the squad leader or not. Even on higher level missions he never flinched, and he hadn't actually failed a mission in three years since being sent as backup to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha on that ill-fated clusterfuck. With a little more seasoning she could see herself grooming him to take over for her by the time he was 21 or so.

"Exactly." Danzo said, "I see the strength in that boy to do what is needed for our village, and that's why I'm here to tell you myself that I give my full support, 100%, to Naruto Uzumaki in the future case of his eventual bid for the position of Rokudaime or Shidaime Hokage… whichever happens for him first."

Tsunade blinked in confusion, "You're actually supporting someone that isn't yourself towards becoming Hokage?" _Now_ she was suspicious, "What kind of game are you playing Danzo?"

Danzo shook his head as he stood up, "No game at all Tsunade-hime." He said plainly, turning to leave the office, "Is it that strange for a teacher to believe in their finest student and wish to support them."

"Not at all." Tsunade said. It was strange to consider Naruto as Danzo's student, but it was the truth and she knew it. He trained him first, before anyone else ever did.

Danzo turned back at the door right before reaching for the door, "No matter what occurs in the boy's career or life. No matter how far you and Jiraiya try to distance him from me and try to pretend that it never happened, the fact will never truly change. He was mine first. I taught him how to survive, I made him a splendid shinobi that you yourself even take pride in knowing, and he's growing into a man that you believe can protect this village the way a Hokage should. He has earned your trust through blood spilled for you and yours, he has worked his way up from the very bottom. I did this, I instilled his base values as a ninja in him. So whenever you think of me as some rogue element that you can't trust, remember one thing."

"And what would that one thing be?" She asked him rather tensely.

"I didn't do this for me." He said coolly, "And I never did this for Root. I looked at that little four year old boy that wanted to be acknowledged as someone great and I did what I could to fulfill that destiny of his, because he _will_ be greater than all of us Tsunade-hime. I did this so that the future of Konoha was secured well in advance, before anyone was even thinking about the future ninja of our village. I'd like to think that I managed to succeed on that front. What do you think?" With that he grabbed a hold of the door handle and let himself out, "Good day Tsunade-hime."

As Danzo left and shut the door behind him, Tsunade put a rather good-spirited smile of defeat on her face, "Yeah Danzo… I'd wager that you succeeded as well. For what it's worth I really can't imagine him being this reliable and powerful without training with you." She said to no one in the empty room before resigning to return to her work. The day couldn't just end because of a conversation after all.

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**Alright peeps. I've had this chapter done for at least a few days, but Fanfiction servers were being a royal bitch and wouldn't let me upload. Sorry for the wait, but it ain't my fault baby. Anyway, next chapter Naruto and Deidara will have it out old-school style, mano a mano so be on the lookout for that. It should be a good old time, un?**

**Anyway, as always thanks for the love, it makes me feel rather important. Give me a review to tell me how much you love me… or like me as just a friend. *sniff***

**Kenchi out. My fucking broken fingers hurt sooo bad. It isn't even funny anymore, fucking lack of insurance! It's been weeks! I have the grip of a seven year old, this isn't cool! If it were my left hand I would really be screwed right now, so thank goodness for small miracles.**


	45. Days of Strife

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto owns me, and that's not just a joke. Look at me, I'm writing stories based on what 'could' happen in the Naruto storyline because I'm so enamored with the fake ninja world. And Naruto owns you all too, because where are all of you? Right here reading what I'm writing because you feel the same.

**Chapter 44: Days of Strife**

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Naruto, decked out in his plain Root mask to protect his face, stared down Deidara who was apparently waiting for him to move from his position in the skies so that he could attack again, 'Okay first thing's first. Take that bird out of the sky and get him down to my level. I don't need him bombarding me from the sky again, I had enough of that the first time.'

In the air on his clay-construct bird, Deidara looked down at Naruto, still eager for an actual fight against the person that killed Sasori all on his own. All he got out of Naruto the last time around was a little scuffle that was more or less Naruto running away from his explosives while he attacked from a place that Naruto couldn't reach. While with that mask on his face he couldn't read Naruto's expression, the fact that he wasn't running and wasn't looking anywhere but up at him was evidence enough that Naruto was ready to gut this one out to the bitter end, and that just left Deidara in an all around good mood.

As far as he was concerned, giving someone who was already aware of his art's greatness a repeat performance was just fine with him. He would probably appreciate it more than any other would since he had seen its awesome power once and lived.

"I know that it hardly bears repeating after I know you remember this well…" Deidara said, reaching into his pouch for more clay, "But art is an explosion, un!" Naruto wordlessly began dashing along the ground towards Deidara, zig-zagging, but the man only laughed and flew higher into the air in case Naruto actually could jump high enough to reach him in one move, "What are you going to do from down there? I thought you had more moves to take me on with!"

Naruto didn't say a word, and the blonde, white-masked figure jumped off of the ground towards Deidara, only muttering one phrase, "Fuuton: Kaze Wakiokoru (Wind Release: Wind Burst)." Deidara's jaw almost dropped when Naruto jumped on the air and came towards him, full out running towards him.

'He can fly?' Deidara thought before realizing he was still in a fight. He jerked his bird hard to the side to dodge the incoming Naruto, but he didn't escape without some sort of loss. Naruto cut through the wing of the bird instead of Deidara, who he was aiming at. Still, Deidara's bird was no more good to him as it fell to the ground and lost its ability to fly.

After their first meeting a few years back, Naruto had honed his supplementary technique that initially allowed him to more or less get a second jump off of thin air to the point that he didn't even need hand-seals to pull it off. Since he knew that at least one member of Akatsuki could fly it was a technique that could be used to reach them on their level. It was a main project Naruto had been working on for years after being so outclassed by the long-range fighter Deidara in Uzushiogakure, and with the use of his clones to train he eventually became proficient enough to do so as if he were hopping from branch to branch in the trees, only he could select exactly when he needed to step on the branch, allowing him to avert his path in mid-air.

He was basically as close to flight as he could conceive, and it was something he was extremely proud of, especially when he tried to teach Temari how to do it during some time together and found that she couldn't do it even after working with her for an entire stay of hers in Konoha as Suna's liason. Mastering the jutsu that was the source of his brainchild technique was far too difficult to be done with just one short stay, and it was simply too tiring for someone that wasn't a walking battery of chakra.

However this took things a step further. Each step he took was now able to produce an air bubble underneath his feet, allowing him to literally run on the air instead of needing to jump, and even if the previously mentioned wind mistress had the energy, learning it would take years, just like it did to master with him, only it would take longer than 2 years since no one else could use clones like him.

A fighting style for use against those with flight capabilities… Hard work personified. Haretsu Seigan (Burst Limit).

An attempt to follow up came from Naruto who rushed towards a falling Deidara with his sword poised to take him out. Deidara quickly formed small clay spiders and threw them at the incoming Naruto who stopped in the air and allowed himself to fall to avoid the explosives that detonated in the air over his head.

As Deidara fell to the ground and rolled safely to avoid a flat-out fall from his position formerly in the air, he saw Naruto dart to the ground much the same way he got into the air to attack him in the first place. Deidara, instead of being angry or upset, merely smirked, "It seems you _can_ teach an old fox new tricks after all, un? But then again they are known to be wily and resourceful so I guess it's not that much of a stretch." He dug back into his pouch and retrieved even more clay to go with the amount he had already placed in the mouths on his hand, "Amazing… You truly are a remarkable jinchuuriki."

Naruto didn't say a word, keeping the blank slate of the plain white mask on his face a reflection of stoicism and silence as his attitude overall. He simply stood in a ready stance with his blade, ready to continue.

"C1 isn't enough for you this time." Deidara sounded rather pleased about this fact, "No… I think it's time you see my more advanced art! Prepare for C2!" In his hands formed a large sculpture of a dragon that in a puff of smoke grew to a towering clay dragon that walked in front of Deidara and glowered at Naruto dangerously.

Naruto thought hard about what to do next. Unlike Deidara's birds this thing looked dangerous, 'I could summon Gamakichi. He's big enough to tangle with that thing… no. It can probably fly and 'Kichi would get picked apart from the sky. I can handle that thing.' He sheathed his sword as he felt he'd need his ninjutsu for this one more than the weapon.

Naruto formed several Kage Bunshin that chose to draw their swords in place of their creator and rushed towards Deidara.

"Even his clones are fast, un!" Deidara said as he jumped onto the dragon, "Let's begin for real this time, show me what you've got kid!" Deidara's dragon took off and spat out a smaller dragon made of clay that was still human-sized and relatively large. The mini-dragon smashed into the ground in front of Naruto's clones and detonated, taking them all out in the larger explosion.

Naruto didn't need to shield his face from the explosion as his mask covered his eyes for the most part. He was able to see Deidara's dragon take to the skies, and noticed that after forming that attack the tail of the dragon grossly shortened. And it shortened again as Deidara ordered his dragon to launch another mini-dragon, 'Tobi isn't here, so I can't set any mines, but once the kid sees them he could just stick to fighting in the air. Those would be useless against him. Unlike the last time I can't corner him and take him out. I'll have to outmaneuver him.'

'No Kyuubi's chakra.' Naruto said to himself resolutely, 'If I can't beat Deidara without it then I can't beat Itachi without it. He's even more of a poised, polished fighter than Deidara is. If I need to rely on it then I'll lose to him later even if I win here.' Naruto took off from his place on the ground and began using Haretsu Seigan to run in the air again in an effort to dodge the dragon that didn't keep flying at the place he was once standing it, 'You've got to be kidding me! It's chasing me?'

Deidara watched as Naruto ran across the sky, changing levels, doing whatever he could to shake the smaller dragon, however he was unable to, 'It's not going to stop until it explodes and takes him out.' A smirk came across the former Iwa-ninja's face, 'Sorry kid. You should know how the big leagues work by now.'

Naruto took a great leap and turned in the air making hand-seals before positioning his hands to snap his fingers, "Raiton: Kyuuzousekka (Lightning Release: Surge Flash)!" From Naruto's hands flew a volley of sparks that pummeled the dragon until it fell from the sky to the ground below with a crash. Naruto turned back around in the air and kicked off of an invisible air bubble to get his footing right again before rushing at Deidara again, "If I can't beat you as I am I don't deserve to be able to go head-to-head with Sasuke or Itachi! If it's power that we're testing I know I've got you beat! I'm testing my finesse!"

Deidara's eyes widened when he heard what Naruto said, "What did you just say?" He said, flying around aimlessly at this point.

"You heard me." Naruto said, "You're not stupid, and I know better. Itachi Uchiha is more dangerous than you and he's why I'm out here right now. I'm going to beat you, and then I'm going to beat him or his little brother." If Deidara could see behind Naruto's mask he would see a smirk, "Because that's how I roll."

Deidara growled and clenched his teeth, "Itachi is more dangerous than me? Itachi is more dangerous than me? I'll show you exactly how dangerous I am!" He shouted as his dragon fired off another missile Naruto's way.

"This again?" Naruto growled out as he made the seals for his last jutsu again, "Raiton: Kyuuzousekka (Lightning Release: Surge Flash)!" The sparks of electricity again pounded the poor projectile and knocked it from the sky.

'How is he doing that?' Deidara wondered about why his explosives weren't hitting Naruto anymore.

Naruto kept running trying to cut off Deidara in the air, eventually getting sick of chasing him, "Time to go a little old-school with a new-school twist." Naruto ripped the tape off of his left arm to reveal multiple tattoos in the fashion of seals going up and down the arm. Picking the one he wanted to use, in a puff of smoke he summoned a fuuma shuriken and threw it directly at Deidara.

Deidara smirked once he saw the spinning weapon coming at him, "You'll never hit me with a shuriken like that you idiot, un! Who do you think you're dealing with? Use some style!"

"Fuuton: Repuushou (Wind Release: Gale Palm)!" Before he could taunt Naruto any further, a hard gust of wind from Naruto pushed the weapon, but that wasn't all. The shuriken seemed to split off, one going in one direction and the other coming right at Deidara at a faster speed.

It looked like it was guided, almost like his dragon missile, by the wind itself, 'What?' He thought as it flew right at him.

"Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Shuriken Jutsu) and a Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Jutsu) sucker!" Once the shuriken got closer to Deidara it burst into smoke and turned into a Naruto that had an explosive tag in its hand that was almost burned down completely, "How's this for style?" Naruto taunted mercilessly, "_Art is an explosion!_" With that, an explosion rocked the skies.

From the cloud caused by the explosion, chunks of clay and Deidara fell from the sky, his cloak now gone and his black short-sleeved shirt revealed underneath, 'That crazy bastard blew himself up… amazing, but it's not over yet!' He thought angrily as he reached for more clay.

"I love my Kage Bunshin combinations!" Deidara heard Naruto shout from above him as Naruto fell from the sky with his right arm cocked back, "Now Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere) you son of a bitch!" Naruto grabbed the back of Deidara's neck and smashed the blue orb of chakra through Deidara's back. He then drilled all the way through, securing his death as his arm punched through the chest. However when he pulled his arm back it stuck fast, and at that time Deidara lost his color and turned solid grey-white, "Oh you've got to be fucking-."

From one of the falling globs of clay, Deidara revealed himself and made a single hand-seal, covered in scuffs and burns, but still with a look of victory on his face, "Katsu."

The clone detonated in mid-air with Naruto stuck inside of it at point-blank range in a fiery explosion.

XxX

Sai and Maki waited by a rock formation for Naruto to arrive. They had managed to blaze a trail right to the town they had intended to arrive at very quickly due to them flying through the air without dispute. It was clear that flying was definitely the swiftest way to get there, even if they had been seen somehow. Apparently Naruto didn't mind it anymore as he had directed them to do so, and they had beaten him there by a mile. So now they were waiting on their fearless leader to arrive so that they could re-coordinate their search efforts.

"Wow, you fly like Deidara-senpai!" Both young Root teens turned towards the rock formation they were resting near to see a man in an orange swirl mask sitting atop it swinging his feet, "I bet his art's better than yours though."

Sai and Maki immediately went on the defensive and drew their respective tanto, prepared for a fight. Sai narrowed his eyes, "Maki-san, go back and look for senpai."

"Why?" She asked, ready for any strike from the strange man that was waving at them both.

"Black cloak with red clouds." He said in response, "What did Naruto-senpai and I tell you that meant?"

"Then shouldn't we fight him together?" Maki questioned. Naruto and Sai had told her of how powerful each member of Akatsuki were. Some of the strongest ninja ever.

Sai shook his head, "They work in pairs. If this one is here then where would the other one be right now?" She gasped and her eyes widened, "With Naruto-senpai. So go find him and make sure he's alright."

"Tobi can't let you do that!" The man on the rock said before dropping down onto the ground, "Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu)!" Maki tried to leave the area only for Tobi to pop up in front of her, "Hello again!" The girl jumped back in shock at having her escape routed by the strange shinobi that was incredibly fast.

"He's faster than senpai!" Maki exclaimed at Sai's side. The latter grunting in acknowledgement of his junior ninja's statement, "What do we do now senpai?"

"We get you past him Maki-san." Sai said, whipping out his drawing scroll, "Choujuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)!" A group of lions formed from Sai's scroll and went at Tobi who let out a shocked cry and headed back into the ground. He quickly drew another bird and set the girl on the ink construct before immediately sending it off, "Find Naruto-senpai!"

"Wait, I don't know how to fly!" Maki cried desperately as it took off and flew away from the area.

Sai watched his bird take Maki into the air and turned his attention back to Tobi who emerged from the ground, "That wasn't nice. That girl didn't even say goodbye, and I never even got her name. Hey, what's your name? I'm Tobi."

"Sai." Sai said, ready for another fight against the Akatsuki. Maki would find Naruto, and Naruto could take care of himself. For now he had to worry about himself, "Naruto-senpai says to introduce yourself to new people that you meet, but I don't think that applies to the people that I'm supposed to kill."

XxX

(Nearby Village Elsewhere in Hi no Kuni)

The group from Konoha had split up once they had gotten a trace of Naruto's and Sasuke's scents. Kiba and Akamaru went off on their own to find Naruto, as did Kakashi but instead he was looking for Sasuke, deigning that he could take care of Naruto's objective for him if he got to Sasuke first, believing in Naruto's ability to find the wayward Uchiha in his own way. Shikamaru had paired off with Neji. This left Sakura and Tayuya to travel together, and they weren't exactly on the same page when it came to who to look for.

Kakashi had provided some of his summoned ninken for whoever needed a strong tracker which meant that Sakura and Tayuya both got one. Pakkun to be exact. And they were on the clock. It was currently cloudy out, and if it began to rain the scents of Naruto and Sasuke would be lost. Finding Naruto would become difficult and finding Sasuke would become impossible.

The small pug walked out in front of the girls who seemed to be bickering, "Listen bitch…" Tayuya said, trying to keep her temper down as they were in a populated area, "The mission is to find Uzumaki, not your beloved Uchiha. I figured that you would want to find someone that actually gave a damn about your village enough to, oh I don't know, stick around?"

Sakura let out a huff, "Pakkun said that he can't even get a trace of Naruto's scent. As if it's not even existent at all, or altered too much to find from this far away." It was strange. How could his scent be altered that much to mess with one of Kakashi's dogs' senses? "And besides, Kakashi-sensei said Naruto would be looking for Sasuke-kun, so if we find Sasuke-kun first we'll find Naruto."

"That is ass-backwards logic and counter-productive as all hell." Tayuya griped audibly, "I know what he's going to do from the first time I met that little shit. First he's going to act like you aren't even there, then when you press the issue he's going to attack you. Can you fight your boyfriend like that?"

Sakura glared over at her, "Oh I don't know, do you think you could fight Naruto?"

Tayuya grinned in response to her attempt at a scathing comment, "Any day of the week. Uzumaki knows I'll kick his ass. And by the way he's not my boyfriend. Just because I fucked him doesn't mean I'm in love with him."

"Sure it doesn't." Sakura said rolling her eyes, "Is that why you were so angry you were about to cry when you heard he was killed? And why you were so happy you actually cried when you heard he wasn't dead?" Tayuya growled, informing Sakura that it might not be such a good idea to continue that line of conversation, "I'm just saying…"

"You'd better check yourself Pinky." Tayuya warned lowly.

Pakkun started looking around suspiciously, "I smell Sasuke Uchiha. He's close!"

"Where?" Sakura asked the small dog excitedly, "Can we find him?"

"Yes." The dog said, "Keep going forward."

Tayuya and Sakura put their game faces on as it didn't matter who wanted to go after who at this point. The most blatant lead at the moment was Sasuke, so it didn't matter whether or not Tayuya wanted to go after Naruto, it was out of her hands.

The two kunoichi navigated their way through the very busy street as everyone was trying to get home before the rain started to fall.

"We're right on top of the scent!" Pakkun said, "It's right here!"

Sakura and Tayuya looked through the crowd as hard as they could when a red-haired girl in glasses walked near them. Sakura didn't pay her a second glance, but Tayuya on the other hand stared at her and went wide-eyed. The other girl recognized her and did the same before turning and running.

Tayuya smirked and grabbed Sakura by the arm, "I recognize that bitch. Come on Pinky, that chick knows where your Uchiha is!"

"What?" Sakura said before swiftly following after the former Oto-kunoichi, "You know her? How do you know her?"

Tayuya rubbed the back of her neck, "Because that bitch was the one that gave me Orochi-pedo's stupid cursed seal. He was right there when she did it. I survived, then he took me with him from the base I was a prisoner in after my village was done in and lumped me right in with his forces where it was either excel or fucking die nameless. It's a rags-to-rags story and I owe that bitch some crippling pain. Now kick it into gear so I can catch her already!" She said, taking her flute out.

XxX

(Naruto vs. Deidara)

Deidara got up off of the ground, holding his body and nursing his multiple wounds from Naruto's earlier explosive tag and the fall he took afterwards. Luckily the clay he hid in was enough to break his fall and keep him from dying. He painfully smirked and chuckled, "Got him… I finally got that bastard good, un."

He started to limp towards the river where Naruto's body was lying face down by the rocky shore, blood surrounding his body. Hopefully he wasn't dead. Leader-sama would take Deidara's balls if he somehow killed the jinchuuriki by accident and delayed their plans.

Naruto was completely motionless, his body was racked with injuries from what Deidara could see. But if he hadn't been knocked unconscious and drowned he would be fine. The Kyuubi would see to any injuries that Naruto suffered.

"Come on Kyuubi-kid." Deidara said as he neared Naruto and reached down to grab him, "While you enjoy your nap I'm taking you to the leader. I'm sure he's going to be more than pissed at you and wants to see you again very much. Maybe you can tell me what he looks like if you wake up before we take the Kyuubi?"

"Find out yourself when you see him in hell. He'll be right along after you." Deidara didn't even have time to register the sound of Naruto's voice before it sounded out again, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!" From behind, Deidara was crushed by a massive force slamming into his back that sent him flying and skipping across the river, coming to a crashing rest on the rocky shore on the other side.

The Naruto in the water dispelled in a puff of smoke. Against a large boulder in the chasm they were fighting in, a cloak dropped to reveal Naruto. He had used the inside of his travelling cloak to blend in. It had been lined with the proper material to allow for the technique Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Jutsu). An E-rank Academy basic.

Deidara grit his teeth in pain as he sat in the shallow water against the rocks he had hit. He could have sworn that last attack slipped a disk or something because his back was screaming bloody murder at him, "Guh… He got up? Tough… un." He then honed in on Naruto. He was just as wounded as his clone let him see. His Root top was in tatters and a lot of his upper body had intense burns and wounds, and the blood that he saw in the water earlier was apparently from somewhere on Naruto's face as it was just pouring down the right side freely.

Naruto growled deeply and angrily, gritting his teeth as hard as he possibly could, either in anger or pain, Deidara couldn't tell. He was holding his hand over the right side of his face, trying to keep the blood from streaming freely from whatever wound he had as if he were keeping his hand over a loose faucet, "I… am going to _kill you_… right fucking now."

Deidara sneered at Naruto who seemed to be glaring murderously at him, "Come and try it, un. I will blow you away. Let's see you get back up from this." He reached for his clay pouch but found that it had been blown off when Naruto hit him with his last attack.

While Deidara realized he was out of ammo, Naruto had formed two Kage Bunshin at his side and the original had his hand held out in front of him, forming a Rasengan in it. His two clones latched onto his outstretched arm with their hands and lightning began coursing through the original's arm. The Rasengan started flickering with electricity before shrinking to the size of a stone.

When it shrank however, it began emitting a loud humming noise that seemed to even move the water Naruto was standing in front of, making steady waves away from him. Naruto formed a fist with his left hand that had the strange jutsu formed in it. His entire left arm glowed yellow as the noise grew louder and louder, and the intensity of the force moving the waves grew more and more powerful.

Deidara didn't like the look of that whatsoever and tried to move, only to find that he couldn't move his body, "What the hell?"

"Can't move?" Naruto asked, still holding his right hand over his eye while his jutsu was charged and ready, "Good. The waves aren't being made just for the hell of it. I charged the Rasengan with lightning chakra. Right now it's discharging high amounts of electricity into the air around me, and you're close enough in range to get a steady dose of it. Your body is numb, and the way that your body is screwed up you're as good as paralyzed. Easy pickings."

'No!' Deidara thought to himself frantically. Even trying as hard as he could he could barely will his fingers to twitch, 'He's really going to-? No!'

Naruto's clones steadied his aim with his single arm and braced it for recoil, "Temari-chan helped me with the other one, but I did this one on my own. You're the first living creature that isn't a spider to see this move. Thank you Kakashi-sensei and goodbye Deidara. Raiton: Rasenriseki (Lightning Release: Spiraling Marble)!"

Naruto opened his hand once more and all of the built up energy in his arm fired off the small ball of energy. The moment it left Naruto's hand, the tiny blue Rasengan stone became surrounded by harsh, crackling high voltage electricity. It shot across the river dissolving every drop of water that managed to touch the attack and it served a double purpose of shocking Deidara as he waited for his inevitable doom.

He opened his mouth in a silent scream as the new Rasengan hit him and instantly vaporized him as it continued to pass on and plow into the canyon wall, pulverizing it and bringing down the entire thing. A large cloud of dust flew high into the air from the annihilated side of the gorge that could be seen for miles.

Naruto watched the destruction that his new jutsu caused, still holding his right hand over his face as his clones dispelled and his left arm fell limp at his side. The dust from the destructive technique blowing all around. Naruto was steadily breathing and it was slowly becoming more and more frantic and erratic as he walked over to a boulder and sat down against it, holding the right side of his face as he tried to calm himself down.

He told Deidara that when it came to matching power between them he just didn't measure up… at least not without taking Naruto out altogether. Being a jinchuuriki made him a target, but at least it meant that they couldn't kill him. He didn't have to be so nice. And what that bastard did was the last straw. Recoil from the jutsu or not he had to just die.

Naruto threw his head back and let out a loud yell of pain that pierced the sounds of nature, "Fuck! Fucking lucky shot! One in a million fucking lucky hit! Fuck!" He cursed repeatedly.

"Naruto-senpai!"

Maki and the ink bird she had been riding on landed nearby Naruto. She barely had time to take in the damage of the battlefield and properly survey it when she got a look at Naruto, more specifically his terrible appearance, "What happened here? Who attacked you?"

"Deidara." Naruto said, trying to hold the pain out of his voice to keep Maki from potentially panicking, "It's over Maki-chan, I won. He isn't coming back." He gestured his head towards the other side of the canyon where all of the destruction lay.

Maki's hands glowed signifying a diagnostic jutsu as she tried to check him over. She moved her hands up his body and eventually by his face where she stopped. His hand was covering his eye, blood was pouring out, and she had already seen it with her diagnostic jutsu. "Naruto-senpai…" She said lowly. Turning her head down almost as if she didn't want to see what she already knew had happened, "Move your hand."

"It's a scratch." He said to her firmly, "It's always a scratch. It'll heal. It always heals."

"Move. Your. Hand." She said to him assertively as she looked back up at him defiantly, "Move your goddamn hand Naruto-senpai!" She said planting her hand around his wrist before her tone softened, her voice almost breaking, "Please move your hand…"

Naruto frowned and let out a sigh as he let Maki slowly move his hand away from his right eye. The same scar he had for years was still there… but the eye itself wasn't. There wasn't any healing that.

When Deidara's clone exploded in Naruto's face it destroyed Naruto's mask. The mask was sturdy, supposedly sturdy enough to take the force of an explosive tag and remain intact, but not in this instance, at least not from that range with the shock of the explosion all directed right at him. When the explosion happened, the mask shattered, and the sturdy material became sturdy shrapnel that wounded Naruto's face. Most of it would easily heal even without treatment, but his right eye had been hit directly with shrapnel and had been destroyed.

Maki cupped Naruto's face in her hands and looked at him with quivering eyes, "It's my fault… It's my fault again. I left you alone again when you needed help and this happened! It's my fau-!"

"It's not your fault!" Naruto snapped at her to get her to stop, "It's not your fault… I was the one that split us up. Deidara found me and fought me. It was a battle, this is a wound. Shit happens. It's no one's fault. If it's anyone's fault it's my fault."

She nodded and choked back a sob. She wasn't going to cry. Root ninja didn't cry, "C-Can the Kyuubi-?"

"Kyuubi can't regrow body parts." Naruto said with finality, shooting down her hopes and reminding himself of how bad things were for him now, "My eye is gone, it's not coming back." He shook his head, "Just heal me up Maki-chan. We've still got to catch Sasuke-teme or Itachi. We didn't come all this way for nothing."

Maki looked at him like he had grown a second head, "You're still going to fight one of them?" She almost yelled at him, "How are you possibly going to fight one of them? It's Itachi Uchiha! And Sasuke beat Orochimaru! I know you said you could have done that too Naruto-senpai and after seeing this I believe you, but with you like this Sasuke could beat you. Why would you still go after one of them?"

"I promised that I would." He said resolutely, "I never make promises Maki-chan, not anymore. Because I don't like being forced to keep my word for trivial bullshit. But this is different. There are too many factors and I made a promise that I would get back one of Kiri's swords, I had to make that promise. And I can keep going."

Maki slapped him across the face, "They will tear you apart! Itachi Uchiha isn't going to care that you're hurt! Sasuke Uchiha isn't going to care! Kisame Hoshigaki will just laugh and come at you like a shark in the water! They're not going to care like I do! Oh Kami, your eye…" She said before tears finally started streaming from her cloudy grey eyes.

Naruto just pulled her into a hug and let her cry. It was okay. He needed time to rest anyway. Time to heal, if only a few minutes. Those few minutes might have wound up being golden later because he wasn't just taking his ball and going home. Not now.

And Maki cried her eyes out. He had never seen Maki cry. He didn't even know anyone in Root was capable of tears, and this was when he realized that Danzo never broke her. He never even told her that showing emotion was wrong like he did for everyone else, she simply picked it up from everyone else in Root by proxy of just being around them. That was why she was able to blend in so well in the Academy, because she was normal.

Why? He understood why Danzo quit trying to break him, he simply couldn't. Naruto's will was strong and the Kyuubi kept him sane… well sane-r. Having someone with emotion do what they did, that was kind of a liability. How much work did Maki get without him before she was stuck in the Academy? What was she supposed to do? Just watch him? What was her designated purpose in Root? Because everyone had a certain job that they were intended for and he was racking his brain trying to figure out hers.

He was a jack of all trades even though he focused in infiltration, demolition, and open combat specialist and his job was to be Danzo's secret weapon and later the man that would be Hokage. Sai was an infiltration and espionage specialist that was no joke in a fight or a slouch in any real department, he was one day meant to succeed Danzo as head of Root. Fuu was for interrogation, infiltration, and espionage, and he was Danzo's bodyguard. Torune was meant for assassination, and capture and detainment, and he was meant to work his skill in conjuncture with Fuu's as Danzo's bodyguard. Maki was a genjutsu specialist and medic-nin and was meant to be his direct support as her areas of focus were his antithesis. What was her role supposed to be?

"Please don't cry anymore Maki." Naruto said after letting her do just that for a few minutes, "I'm not dead, I'm not dying. I just don't have an eye. It's okay, I'll manage." She slowly started calming down, "Come on. We don't cry over little things like this. You're stronger than that."

"I know that…" She mumbled into his shoulder miserably before looking up at him and pulling back, sniffling one more time before trying to get some form of stoicism back, "Okay. Let's fix you. You have a job to do." She said, beginning the seals for a medical ninjutsu, "Do you really think you can adjust to only having one eye to fight against the Sharingan?" She asked that question before her eyes went wide, "Naruto-senpai-."

She stopped because she knew she didn't have to say another word. Naruto's mind had already beaten her there by a mile and she could tell he had been thinking it over ever since he had first thought about next having to face an Uchiha, 'It's lose-lose… Either go in with one fucking eye against one of the strongest nuke-nin in recent Konoha history or go in with two eyes, one of which is new and has powers that I don't know how to use.'

"Naruto-senpai." Maki said, getting his attention once again, "If you're going to make a decision it has to be now. There are too many things going on right now for us to just sit here. I'll heal you, but once I'm done you need to have come to some kind of conclusion." Naruto just nodded silently as Maki got to patching Naruto up so that he could be prepared for another fight sooner rather than later.

In the distance at the top off the bluff. A man with a venus flytrap around his head wearing the Akatsuki cloak emerged from the ground. One half of his body was black and the other was white, "So the Kyuubi jinchuuriki has new tricks up its sleeve does it? **Leader-sama will want to know all about these events."** He said, disappearing back into the ground.

XxX

(With Sai)

Sai was befuddled. This Tobi wasn't attacking him at all. All he was doing was moving away from him with his incredible speed and apparently taunting him, because no sane person would act the way he was in the middle of a fight. Well then again he had yet to meet or hear of anyone in Akatsuki that was playing with a full set to begin with so he guessed that was irrelevant.

As he stared at the odd individual who really didn't seem to be taking this seriously, in the distance, Sai saw a billowing cloud of dust and debris in the sky, 'That was where I sent Maki-san. That has to be where Naruto-senpai is. Is he alright I wonder?' He focused back on Tobi, 'Maki-san is with him. Even if he is injured she should be able to handle it easily enough with her and the Kyuubi abound.'

"Ooh, that's a big cloud." Tobi said rather absent-mindedly. Sai couldn't believe this person had turned all the way around to look at a cloud and wondered if it was a feint, "Deidara-senpai must be going overboard again. His art is too pop for his own good, even if he does say it's super-flat." No, this was the real deal, Sai surmised. And with that in mind he couldn't just let an opportunity like this slip as he drew his tanto and disappeared in an Ink Shunshin.

He reappeared at Tobi's side and slashed at him with his blade only for it to seemingly just pass through his body harmlessly, "What?" Sai let out in shock as he jumped back away from the strange ninja, 'What in the world just happened?'

"That hurt…" Tobi mumbled childishly, though it was clear he was purely faking it, "You're not bad at all Sai-san."

'What kind of defense was that?' Sai wondered to himself, 'Well if I can't cut him…' Sai put his sword up and pulled out his drawing scroll again, "Chojuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)!" The pale shinobi drew a trio of large birds that went flying at Tobi, however Sai had slapped explosive notes on the ink constructs before they headed off, and they were timed to explode once they reached the enemy.

A fiery explosion erupted that forced Sai to jump back to avoid the blast radius and remain uninjured by his own attack. As the smoke cleared, Sai looked at the remains from the explosion to see that Tobi was nowhere in sight again, "Is he really that fast? Maki-san was right, he _is_ faster than Naruto-senpai."

"Thank you!" Tobi said from behind Sai before hitting him with a stick after popping out of a hole.

Sai was knocked across the ground before retaking his feet and looking back over at Tobi who was waving around a garden variety stick that he looked like he had just plucked off of a tree and ran over to hit Sai with, 'This is by far the strangest ninja I have ever come across in my life. It's like he's toying with me.'

"Akamaru and I heard it over here!" A voice called out from nearby followed by the barks of a rather large sounding dog, "It's coming from the direction of that cloud, and I think I've finally got Naruto's scent!" From the trees came five blurs that landed on the sideline of Sai and Tobi's little encounter.

Kiba, Akamaru, Neji, Shikamaru, and Kakashi looked at the two combatants appraisingly trying to decipher whether they were friend or foe. Kakashi quickly noticed Sai's hitae-ate with the leaf insignia, "Konoha ninja?"

Sai immediately responded in kind, "Registration 012420. You may call me Sai." He smiled over at the new arrivals, "It is nice to meet you Kakashi Hatake, Naruto-senpai has told me much about you and you're quite famous in your own right."

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow at Sai, "Naruto had a team with him? I wasn't told of that." He remembered hearing of a 'Sai' from one of Naruto's probationary missions, but why was this person here.

"It is not a widely known mission that is all I can say." Sai said before turning back to Tobi, "There is something more important at hand."

Kakashi saw the orange-spiral masked man and his cloak. He knew what this meant, "Everyone be on your guard. This is a member of Akatsuki." That immediately put everyone on the defensive, "Where is Naruto?" He asked Sai.

"I do not know." He said honestly, "If I had to guess he would be east of here, a few miles away. Possibly in combat with another Akatsuki member as we speak because our other squad member hasn't returned with him yet."

Kakashi frowned behind his mask but nodded, "Well anyway we have to deal with this person right now."

"Hi there!" Tobi waved over to them all excitedly, "Nice to meet you, I'm Tobi. Sorry about this, but Tobi has to go now. I need to go find Deidara-senpai, so later!" He said before jumping up on the top of the rock formation nearby and over the edge. Everyone jumped up after him only to see nothing on the other side.

Shikamaru let out a groan, "Troublesome…"

XxX

(With Tayuya and Sakura)

Tayuya and Sakura were hot on the heels of Karin, who managed to get some distance between them when she was running through the crowded city streets, however Pakkun was still able to track her and the two kunoichi were right on her trail as they jumped through the branches.

Tayuya held her flute to her mouth as she ran, "I wonder if the bitch is in range…" She played a few notes but didn't feel any effects take hold over anyone, "Fuck, she's either out of range or she's covering her ears. Probably the latter…"

"We can't lose her!" Sakura said as they continued to run.

"And we won't Pinky, just calm down." Tayuya said, "Don't go flying off the handle while we're still working here." Sakura nodded and followed the senior kunoichi's lead, "Dog, how close are we?" She said, addressing Pakkun.

The pug sniffed the air and responded, "Not far, just one more short push and we've got her."

Tayuya smirked, "You heard him Pinky. Let's finish this!" Sakura returned the smirk and they pressed forward, eventually catching sight of Karin, "Let's see if she can keep away from this one. Mateki: Maboroshi Kaiteki no Uta (Demon Flute: Phantom Comfort Song)" She said as she started playing her flute again.

Both girls noticed Karin slow down momentarily and Sakura charged ahead to take advantage. With a cry of exertion, Sakura smashed the tree branch Karin was about to land on with her fist, forcing her to misstep and fall to the forest floor in a heap.

Karin got up and turned to face the two other women in a defensive stance. Tayuya twirled her flute in her hand as she looked at Karin, "Hello again. Do you remember me?"

"Orochimaru's old bodyguard." Karin said, speaking of Tayuya, "Having fun playing traitor to your comrades?"

Tayuya shrugged, "There wasn't too much camaraderie between me and my 'comrades'. I was a prisoner that became a ninja for Orochi-pedo lest I die and I had his little slave mark on me. Why would I have been loyal?" She scoffed, "Good of you to break my genjutsu, though… I wonder how well you can actually fight." She nodded her head towards Sakura who was pulling a pair of brown gloves tight onto her hands, "I'm sure Pinky here is dying to find out."

Sakura had an intense glare in her eyes, "Tell us where Sasuke-kun is. We're only here to take him back to Konoha."

"You are, are you?"

The sound of that voice made Sakura stop cold and made Karin relax somewhat, relieved that this person was here, "Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke walked into the area of the forest casually, "Well Sakura? Is that why you're here? To take me back?" Sakura couldn't even speak, having come face to face with Sasuke for the first time in years. Realizing that she wasn't going to talk he turned his attention to Karin, "You almost went ahead and got yourself caught Karin. I thought you were better than that. Come on, let's go."

"Wait!" Sakura called out just as he turned to leave, "Sasuke-kun come back with us! Orochimaru is gone, we can go back to the way things were before. You don't have to keep running."

Sasuke turned back around towards her completely and gave her a dry look, "There's nothing there for me Sakura. I grew far stronger out away from the village than I did inside. And now I'm going to flush Itachi out and take my revenge." He said, forcing her face into one of dejection before he turned his attention to Tayuya, "Speaking of revenge, is that why you're here? Revenge against me for being the reason you were left behind and captured?"

Tayuya smirked at him, "You wish needle-dick." That crack raised a tick mark on Karin's head as the woman growled at Tayuya, "I'm not out here looking for you. I'm here looking for someone who's looking for you. Uzumaki." Hearing Naruto's name got a look of interest out of Sasuke, "Yep. He's supposed to be looking for you so he can kick your ass for the sword you swiped from Nami no Kuni. He wanted that himself for another reason, a better one in my opinion."

"Naruto is looking for me?" He said, taking a step towards Tayuya. He remembered how Akatsuki's goal was to retrieve the Kyuubi and other biju like it, and he remembered Itachi coming directly for Naruto himself once before. Capturing Naruto would let him simply wait it out. Itachi would come to him eventually, and he could simply keep honing his skills further while he waited, "Tell me where he is?"

"Ooh…" Tayuya said as if she had been burned, "You see I can't do that. But I _can_ fucking catch you myself for Uzumaki. It's the least I can do for the bastard, I owe him that much." She finished as she took out her flute. She looked over at Pakkun who met her eyes and took off on his own to find Kakashi.

"Really." Sasuke said, letting the curse seal drift over his body, "How about I just make you tell me where he is?"

Sakura watched the black marks spread across his body like flames and had flashbacks to seeing him like that before when they were genin, "Sasuke-kun don't use that mark! Don't do this, why are you fighting?"

"Save it Pinky." Tayuya said, narrowing her eyes on Sasuke. If there was one thing she might have missed about having the curse seal on her, it was the power boost, and Sasuke had his, "He isn't going to listen to us anymore. And that's what I was expecting in the first place."

"Karin go find Suigetsu and Juugo. I'll take care of this." The girl in question nodded and ran off, giving one last look of longing before she did. Sasuke drew his sword from its sheath, "You'll be good practice for Itachi's genjutsu. Come." He said, gesturing for Tayuya to attack him.

Tayuya let out a laugh, "I've only ever let one man say that to me motherfucker, and you sure as hell aren't him." She put her flute up, "Genjutsu is going to do all of jack-shit to you. I already know that. Luckily that's not all I've got." She made two hand-seals and shot her arm out towards him, "Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)!" Snakes flew from her arm at Sasuke.

Sasuke simply cut right through them with his sword. His Sharingan wasn't even active, "Is that all you've got?"

'And this is why I didn't want to chase down Uchiha-cockbite!' Tayuya thought to herself, 'None of my genjutsu work on this dipshit and if I'm going to start getting into a ninjutsu battle with an Uchiha I might as well label myself legally retarded.' She looked over to Sakura, "Come on Pinky, if you want your boy-toy back you're going to have to force him back."

"That's funny." Sasuke said from behind them both, his back to them. Sakura and Tayuya were shocked by his raw speed, they hadn't even seen him move, "Thinking that either of you could possibly force me to do anything." He said before turning around and swinging his chokuto only to hit nothing but intangible figures that dispersed, "Genjutsu?" He quickly turned his Sharingan on just in time for Tayuya's fist to appear in his face. He wound up taking several more hard, haymaker shots before swinging his sword at her.

Tayuya pulled up her flute and blocked with the sturdy weapon, "That's right needle-dick." She said, trying to push back against him, "Shirozatsuon (White Noise) to double-layer another genjutsu that let you think you were winning the fight. You underestimated me and you paid for it. Now Pinky!"

From Sasuke's blindspot, Sakura leapt at him with her fist cocked back, "Oukashou (Cherry Blossom Impact)!" Sasuke was able to get a view of her at the last moment and disengage from Tayuya just in time for Sakura's punch to miss him by a hair while Tayuya jumped as far and as hard away as she could. The punch hit the ground and turned the place to rubble, even dislodging trees from their roots.

Sasuke was knocked away by the tremor shockwave and found himself caught underneath a series of fallen trees.

Tayuya returned to the area and glowered at Sakura, "What the fuck was that? You could have knocked his fucking block off and you missed on purpose! I saw that!"

Sakura defended herself, "I didn't want to _kill_ him!"

"Newsflash: He wanted to kill you!" Tayuya told her, "Or do you think he was swinging that sword in my genjutsu to put on a show for us? He really thought that was us!" She let out a sigh of exasperation, "That was the best fucking chance we were going to get. There's no fucking way he's going to let that shit happen twice. His Sharingan is going to be out and blazing from this point on."

Sakura pointed over to the trees that had fallen on top of Sasuke, "He's still down, we could-." The trees exploded into a mass of splinters and bark to reveal Sasuke with his level two form active, and like Tayuya said, his Sharingan was sure as hell out from this point forward.

"Fuck…" Tayuya muttered bitterly.

"That was good Sakura." Sasuke said to the pink-haired medic, "It would have been better if you had hit me, but I actually felt that, so good for you." His eyes locked onto them both coldly, "Now I'll only ask you one more time. Tell me where Naruto is or I'll have to force it out of you. I only need one in the first place so don't test me."

Tayuya growled at him, knowing the shitstorm had just started at this point, "Go fuck yourself with that butter knife of yours."

Sasuke sheathed his sword and held up his right arm, "Have it your way." His hand became engulfed in black lightning and the dark sounds of birds flapping their wings instead of the intended chirping noise rang out, "Catch this." He said, rushing right at them.

Sakura was entranced by Sasuke's dark appearance until she heard him fire up his Chidori, "Sasuke-kun stop!"

Tayuya had already prepared countermeasures as the second she had seen Sasuke she had bitten her finger and by the time his Chidori was fully charged she had already made the snake hand-seal and slammed both of her hands on the ground the second he moved, "Kami rest your miserable black fucking soul Sakon! Kuchiyose: Rashoumon (Summoning: Rashoumon)!" From the ground, a gate large enough to shield both Sakura and Tayuya emerged with a demonic face on it. It was meant to keep damn near anything from getting past, but Sasuke's arm punched right through to the extent where his head had space to fit through as well.

He reached out and grabbed Tayuya's throat and her body was immediately engulfed in black and white electricity. She let out a loud pained yell as the lightning ripped through her body until her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell to the ground motionless and smoking from the attack.

The gate returned to the ground and Sasuke walked towards Sakura who was shocked by Sasuke's brutality and power. He let his cursed seal regress as he stalked towards her, "Now… Where is Naruto?"

"Sasuke-kun…" She said weakly, looking over at Tayuya, "Why?"

Sasuke didn't even blink, "Because I wanted to test the limits of my ability." His answer confused her, "I could have just gone around it and still gotten her or you, I just wanted to see if I could have broken through it, and I can. That's why I'll achieve my ambition, because I've done nothing but test myself and grow since I left Konoha. Now tell me where Naruto is." Sakura didn't answer as his Sharingan seemed to pierce her very soul. Eventually he scoffed and turned away, "You don't know."

Sakura let him walk past her and leave. Just like all those years ago, all over again. Once again he was walking right away from her, and she couldn't stop him.

_(Flashback – Two Years Ago)_

_Sakura fell to the ground, exhausted after another day of Tsunade's harsh training. It was without a doubt the most difficult task she had ever taken, and Tsunade was a rigid taskmaster. But Sakura was no fool, she knew that any shinobi would give their right arm to be in her shoes and she would be damned if she would let this opportunity slip._

_As a matter of fact, why was Tsunade training her? What was the appeal? She wasn't that spectacular of a shinobi and she was certain that Tsunade didn't know her by name before they had begun training so what was it?_

"_Um, Tsunade-shishou?" Sakura asked, needing to get to the bottom of it. Tsunade looked at her with a questioning look that instructed her to go on, "I'm grateful. Your training is incredible. Even now I can feel how much better I'm getting every day, but I have to ask… why are you training _me?_"_

_For a moment from the frown on Tsunade's face she figured she had said something wrong, and that it was all over, she would think she was ungrateful and drop her just like that. Surprise was her response when Tsunade actually smirked, "It took you long enough to ask me why I did it." She let out a short chuckle, "Do you really want to know why?"_

_Sakura had to know at this point, knowing that Tsunade wasn't offended, "Yes, please."_

_Tsunade turned around with her arms crossed over her chest, "If you must know, it's because of Naruto, your old teammate." Sakura's eyes widened with surprise, she hadn't even seen Naruto in forever, like he had disappeared, "He told me to train you if I wanted to have a good apprentice. I think he just really wanted to help you out."_

"_But…" Sakura said in disbelief, "Naruto hates me. During his exam, and after Sasuke-kun left, the words he said to me-."_

_Tsunade laughed again and turned around with an amused look on her face, "You think you got it bad from his little fight with you during his exam? Everyone else got it way worse than you did. You were lucky he only hit you once. And if he hated you he wouldn't have gone out of his way to say anything at all, he would have just avoided you."_

"_He has been avoiding me." Sakura argued back, "I haven't seen any sign of him in months. The last time I saw him was at the hospital with Shizune-senpai, and that's because he was there for injuries. He said hello to me and asked me how I was, but any other time I never saw him even at his house."_

_Tsunade let off a sweatdrop, "Huh… maybe I am working too hard after all." She muttered to herself scratching her cheek, "Well the idiot volunteered for the mission overflow we've been having, so it's his own damn fault for not paying attention to the meeting!" She returned her attention to Sakura, "I'll have to set your next mission to work with him somehow so you can let him tell you these things yourself, but he told me that he wanted to believe that you could achieve your goal. He said that you felt so strongly about Sasuke that he would hate himself if he didn't try to help you somehow. Regardless of what he's doing now, you were his teammate and he does care about you somewhat."_

_Sakura just looked at her teacher in shock, "He did? He does?"_

_Tsunade shrugged, "You're here aren't you?" She turned around, her green jacket swinging with her as she left, "That has to mean something. He thinks you're stronger than you appear and I want to believe he's right, so I do."_

(End Flashback)

No. She had worked so hard so that she could actually be of use and do something about it herself the next time around. Naruto put his own word up to vouch for her. Tsunade believed in her. And she was just going to let him leave without doing anything?

Sakura turned around abruptly with the intention of taking the swing at Sasuke she should have taken earlier, only to see him vanish in a burst of speed right in front of her eyes.

"Still not good enough Sakura." Sakura's eyes widened at hearing Sasuke speak that close to her before she felt her body shut down. She had never even seen him move. Just like back then again, "Love doesn't give you power. Hatred does." Was the last thing she heard before her vision went dark.

'I never even saw him… just like then… he's still so far away.' Sakura thought before blacking out.

Sasuke just stared down at her and began to walk away from her when something jumped from the trees, "They just keep coming." He turned towards the disturbance and saw Naruto kneeling over Tayuya, "Naruto. So you came after all. She said you were looking for me." Naruto didn't reply, he simply stayed focused on Tayuya, checking her for signs of life and frowning visibly while doing so.

Sasuke placed his hand on his sword and prepared to walk over to Naruto when a voice called out to him, "So I found you Sasuke." Sasuke immediately turned and glared at the figure that walked from the shadows, "You've certainly gotten bigger."

"Itachi…" Sasuke said darkly, forgetting about Naruto who was still doting over Tayuya trying to get some sort of response from her, she had suffered electrical burns from what he could see and was hurt. He could care less about the Uchiha brothers at the moment.

Itachi stared at his little brother impassively, "So are you going to shout and run right at me again like last time?"

Sasuke smirked before it just as quickly fell from his face, "You know nothing about me. How much hate has filled my heart, how much stronger I've grown because of it… you know nothing!" He said as he and Itachi began a skirmish or sorts.

Meanwhile Naruto was looking for vital signs. Tayuya was still very warm, but she wasn't breathing, "Come on Tayuya-chan." He said warily, "Give me some kind of sign here." He lay his head on her chest and cursed, "Fuck… You'd better not die on me out here do you understand me? You're better than this." He focused his lightning chakra into his hands and took a deep breath, "Come on, wake up." He said, pressing both down on her bosom in a CPR/defibrillator combination.

Tayuya's eyes immediately shot open and she sat up taking deep breaths and coughing. She looked around rapidly to see Sasuke and Itachi fighting, but she only focused on the concerned whiskered face right in front of her, "Uzumaki!" Tayuya threw her arms around his neck.

"I thought you were gone for a minute there Tayuya-chan…" He said, holding himself close against her, "Don't fucking scare me like that again." He said in relief.

Tayuya let out a short laugh, "I won't." A flock of crows flew from where Sasuke was standing and what had once been Itachi's body, "But him…"

"Don't worry about him." Naruto said, glaring intently at Sasuke as he also looked at the fallen Sakura. She was fine, just knocked out.

Sasuke stared at Naruto before turning and leaving. He didn't need Naruto anymore. He had gotten his message from that clone of Itachi's and knew where he was, _"Come to the Uchiha Hideout alone."_

Naruto had also heard that message and let go of Tayuya to lay her down on her back. He walked over to Sakura and carried her over to Tayuya before waking her up. Sakura's green eyes opened to see the blonde shinobi that was once her teammate, "Naruto!" She sat up and whipped her head around, "Sasuke-kun!" She then locked eyes with Tayuya, "Tayuya you're okay!"

"Not okay." Naruto said, "Alive, and that's all that matters right now. Heal her up for me Sakura." He stood up and walked away from them both.

Sakura prepared to begin working on Tayuya, "Where are you going?"

"To deliver a message." Naruto said before disappearing in smoke.

XxX

(With Naruto and Maki)

Naruto sat at the front of Sai's ink bird while Maki held onto his back tightly, her eyes heavy due to fatigue from healing all of his numerous injuries and getting his left arm to be fully usable. This was all to make him as fresh as she could for what would come next. It wasn't perfect but the Kyuubi could handle the rest. She had also requested that Naruto use Fuuinjutsu: Chakura Takuwaeru Kuriireru (Sealing Technique: Stored Chakra Transfer) to take what chakra she had to give to refuel him just in case he needed it. Needless to say she was utterly spent.

Naruto had new clothes on and a heavy bandage wrapped around his head, covering his right eye, much like Danzo's bandages usually covered his own eye, 'I'll be damned if I'm going to go around looking like a mummy like Danzo-jiji though.' He thought to himself when the memories of a dispelled clone hit him. He suddenly looked to one corner of the rolling forests and looked over to another end of it, narrowing his single eye, "Maki-chan I'm going to give you a clone and he's going to take you to the ground and help you get to Sai-kouhai. I've got some business to handle."

"What?" She asked tiredly, holding her arms around his torso tightly, "What's wrong senpai?"

"Nothing's wrong." He said to her softly, "But it's time."

Maki frowned but nodded. He couldn't take her with him as she was. Even if she was full-strength she would still probably be useless to him. Her genjutsu attacks would be next to useless against the Sharingan.

Naruto placed one of his hands over both of hers that were holding onto him and rubbed the backs of them soothingly before forming a Kage Bunshin that picked Maki up bridal style, "Be careful with her. Get her to Sai fast. I'm going to need every drop of chakra I can get."

The clone nodded and jumped down, hopping along the air like stepping stones on the way down.

Maki looked up into the air at Sai's bird that was now flying in a new direction with a vengeance. Maki curled against the clone's chest tightly as it continued to move with her, "Please be careful Naruto-senpai…"

XxX

(A Short Time Later – Uchiha Hideout)

"You found the hideout Sasuke-kun." Itachi said with his eyes shut as he sat in a throne at the end of a massive ceremonial room, "Then I guess it's finally time."

Sasuke's Sharingan was out as he glared at his older brother, "My eyes see everything clearly Itachi. And what they see right now, as clear as day, is you dead at my feet."

"You say you see me dead?" Itachi said questioningly, "Well then let's see how good your eyesight really is." He said, opening his eyes to reveal his own Sharingan out as he disappeared and reappeared right behind Sasuke back-to-back. He drew a kunai and went for a stab just as Sasuke pulled his chokuto and went for a slash. The two blades clashed with a loud ringing of steel sounding out.

Four kunai landed all around the two combating brothers, and they both jumped away right in the nick of time as a dense dome of electricity formed around the weapons. Itachi and Sasuke both snapped their heads towards the entrance as they heard a voice, "Damn, almost got them both in one. My depth perception sucks like this." Both Uchiha members widened their eyes as Naruto strode into the base with a bandage wrapped tightly around his head.

Sasuke immediately understood why this Naruto looked so different and battle-weary, "The other one was a clone. That's why he didn't fight."

Naruto slowly walked inside, not caring that he was interrupting a conflict eight years in the making. Once he had gotten enough inside he spoke, "Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha. Two of the most infamous nuke-nin in Konoha history. I am Naruto Uzumaki, registration number 012607, jounin-level shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, and the future Hokage. Nice to see you both again, and you're to both be captured for your crimes against the village. Please surrender, I don't have to bring you back alive." Sasuke and Itachi just stared at him until the silence grew uncomfortable to him, "Didn't work? Didn't think it would. Oh well, I tried to do this without the violence."

"How did you find this place Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked him curiously. He really wanted to know.

"I could tell but I'd have to kill you." Naruto said plainly.

Sasuke shook his head, "Nevermind that. Look at you, you're a mess. What do you think you're doing here? You're as blind as a bat, you're going to get yourself killed here. You can't even see, you might as well have shown up with your eyes closed, it's the same difference."

Naruto shook his head, "No Sasuke, not really. You see, you see an injured guy that can't see, a guy that might as well have his eyes shut altogether since the outcome against your doujutsu would just be the same no matter what." He reached up to the bandages on his head and loosened them, "But what _you_ don't see Sasuke, Itachi…" He ripped the bandages away from his face with one swift pull.

If Naruto could take a picture of a pair of faces at that exact moment and guarantee anyone that it could sell for millions he would have banked his money on the image of pure shock and so many other emotions he couldn't even begin to label them that was currently reflected on the faces of Itachi and Sasuke, and that picture was eternally seared into his mind the second he took the bandages off.

The two brothers locked red eyes with each other, as if to confirm with the other what they were seeing, and then they turned back to Naruto… and ignored his left, blue eye to lock their red eyes on his solitary, single one in his right socket.

The red, three tomoed eye of a fully matured Sharingan. Naruto dropped his bandages to the ground and took in the sight of what his new eye provided him, "What you don't see… is that my eyes are wide open."

* * *

Jutsu List

Haretsu Seigan (Burst Limit). S-ranked ninjutsu. Hijutsu, supplementary. Using the properties of Fuuton: Kaze Wakiokoru (Wind Release: Wind Burst), the user will mimic flight by using the air bubbles the original jutsu creates to literally run on nothing more than air. Perpetual motion is needed for this jutsu to remain active, as stopping in the air will end with the user falling to the ground, however even then during the fall the user could catch themselves in the air and continue. Mastery of the wind element and the previously mentioned ninjutsu that is the derivation of this one is required to even attempt to learn this technique. Incredible stamina, timing, and chakra reserves are needed for this jutsu to be useful to anyone desiring to use it due to the necessary constant movement, ability to time one's swift steps, and the continuous use of chakra to execute.

Raiton: Kyuuzousekka (Lightning Release: Surge Flash). B-ranked ninjutsu. Offensive. Mid-range. The user will form lightning chakra and use hand-seals to focus it in their hands. They will then release the energy with the friction provided by snapping their fingers in the form of multiple baseball-sized sparks that when hitting the opponent will deliver a shock on contact.

Raiton: Rasenriseki (Lightning Release: Spiraling Marble). S-ranked ninjutsu. Kinjutsu, offensive. Mid-to-long range. The user must have the lightning element mastered. The jutsu shrinks and concentrates the power of the Rasengan, forcing it to spin faster in a smaller amount of space with the assistance of Kage Bunshin. The Rasengan will then be charged with pure lightning chakra that will temporarily power the rotation of the jutsu without the user needing to maintain contact with it. The intensity of the rotation and the vibration from the high-powered lightning chakra will cause anything to be touched by the center sphere itself to be vaporized on contact. The destructive power of the lightning circulating around the center orb is not to be scoffed at either, the force it generates can easily pulverize solid rock. Even the formation of the jutsu itself releases enough spare electrical discharge to effect the environment around the user. The jutsu however will leave the arm that fires it temporarily disabled, paralyzed and unusable until it can be treated or a good amount of time passes to allow it to heal.

Mateki: Maboroshi Kaiteki no Uta (Demon Flute: Phantom Comfort Song). D-ranked genjutsu. Supplementary. All ranges. Requirements: Flute. The user will play a song on the necessary instrument and will lull the target into a false sense of security, no matter the situation. Their awareness will drop dramatically, their adrenaline will become non-existent, and no matter the situation they will not feel as if they are in any kind of jeopardy, completely taking away the necessary survival instinct needed to function properly in battle.

Shirozatsuon (White Noise). B-ranked genjutsu. Supplementary. All ranges. Requirements: Instrument. Users of sound-based genjutsu will play one single low special note and hold it while using another genjutsu. One can use this genjutsu to overlap another to keep enemy brains from registering the fact that they hear anything despite the fact that the follow-up genjutsu is indeed taking effect. This is a very dangerous genjutsu that allows users of sound-based genjutsu to use their techniques without an enemy being alerted.

* * *

**And…. scene. Chapter complete for all you squares, skops, scalliwags, stunts, skeezers, tricks, marks, trick-ass-marks, mark-ass-tricks, and etc. **

**Last major conflict of the arc coming up and it's going to be awesome. THE THREE-WAY DANCE! How will Naruto adjust to having the Sharingan in battle? Is he too wounded to be a factor? Can he win without relying on the Kyuubi's demonic chakra? Random rhetorical question. Random rhetorical question! RANDOM RHETORICAL QUESTION!**

**Jesus I'm hungry as hell. And I have to get ready for training tonight. I hope you dug everything, especially my lightning-element Rasengan, I like it.**

**As always, anything that isn't a spoiler and I'll answer it if I can, tell me how I did, and until next time folks I hope you're all living good.**

**Kenchi out.**


	46. Use Your Illusion

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Step to me Kishimoto. Fight for what's yours. What? WHAT?

**Chapter 45: Use Your Illusion**

* * *

Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi all faced off with each other. The shock from Naruto's Sharingan was still settling in the two brothers and Naruto was trying to adjust to the sight. It wasn't letting him see in red vision the way he thought it would, good thing it didn't. But he had never been able to see so clearly in his entire life, out of that eye anyway. His left eye had the view that it always had. It was like looking through a half of a freshly cleaned glass window on a bright spring day and leaving the other half unwiped if he had to compare it to anything.

When Maki first put it in he had a rightly tough time trying to get down timing. What his left eye saw full speed his right eye saw in damn near slow motion. The mixture of the two was a total mindfuck at first until he came to terms with the fact that whatever moved slowest was the correct moving speed. He hadn't tried this in a fight yet, but he was going to have to learn on the fly if he wanted to walk away from this one. When he looked at Itachi and Sasuke he could see the chakra built up around their eyes, signifying their Sharingan use beyond just the physical appearance of the Sharingan. He might be able to get used to this; he could see when techniques were forming and have time to prepare if he got his timing down, which he would have to in this battle or die trying.

But there was a time and a place for everything and now wasn't the time to be thinking about his replacement eye. This was only meant to give him his full breadth of vision back for the battle, nothing more. Fighting anyone as dangerous as these two handicapped would be a grave mistake, 'Okay decision time…' Naruto thought to himself as he found himself in a three-way standoff, 'If I go after Itachi then Sasuke will try to take me out because he wants Itachi to himself. If I go after Sasuke then Itachi would just sit back and watch and try to pick me off later… just me… not Sasuke. He'd save Sasuke for last no matter what. But if I don't do anything then Sasuke would just attack me anyway, and Itachi would just attack me anyway… and I'd be fucked no matter what I did because I'm in the way.'

He had to drop in when he did. This was Uchiha land. This was an Uchiha hideout. And like he said, he was on the clock to catch up to them in the first place before the battle ended and one was dead and the other vamoosed. It was either get in now at the start, or get caught skulking around when they started winging the big stuff at each other, which would expose him when he started dodging collateral damage and they would double-team him anyway. Uchiha business was Uchiha business, and don't let the eye fool you. He wasn't a fucking Uchiha. They called each other out. There was no invite to a Naruto Uzumaki at all when they ran across his clone in the forest, he crashed this party, and party-crashers were never welcome.

Itachi looked between Naruto and his little brother Sasuke. His Akatsuki target and the brother he had been building to a deathmatch struggle against for over half a decade. He was not about to allow Naruto to ruin this. This was to be his redemption. Sasuke was his target, Naruto had no business here, 'And what is this familiar feeling I'm getting from his Sharingan eye? How did he even get a Sharingan eye?' He decided to question Naruto on this, "Naruto-kun how did you obtain that eye? Why do you have it?"

Naruto never took his eyes off of either brother lest he get his head taken off. This was a whole different situation than the last time he had fought both. Itachi was still Itachi, badass. Sasuke was now not only naturally stronger as he had been good enough to put Orochimaru down and beat Tayuya without taking any damage, but he was certain he had been subjected to more than a few experiments from Orochimaru or Kabuto to improve his body for Orochimaru's eventual possession, "If you have to know, I was given the eye by someone who is a mutual enemy of you both. I was going to find out more about it before I thought about using it, but blame Deidara for rushing my decision… the bastard took my eye when I took his life, and I couldn't let either of you just walk away from this. This chance was too good to get one or the other… I didn't think I'd be getting both."

Was Naruto threatening? If Itachi didn't realize that by now he would have been a fool, and Itachi Uchiha was no fool in battle. Naruto was scary strong, far stronger than their first encounter where he actually managed to land a blow on Itachi, but the thing was, he always had a weakness that Itachi's Sharingan was tailor-made to combat; genjutsu. But now he would have to go to the Mangekyou Sharingan and use Tsukuyomi like he did to Kakashi to put him down for sure with a genjutsu. And with Sasuke still here he couldn't waste chakra like that on him. He was going to have to get them both in the same shot if it came to that.

"Who do you think you are?" Sasuke said to Naruto coldly, barely keeping a sneer from his face. A Sharingan… a damn Sharingan in Naruto's eye socket. Kakashi was bad enough, but now Naruto as well? It was like his former comrades were laughing at his fallen clan and abusing their inherent powers, "What gives you the right to use that eye? That power is the birthright of an Uchiha."

Naruto could have been nice about his response. He could have simply said that it was all for the mission, so that he could operate effectively enough to accomplish it. His job was to detain either Sasuke or Itachi long enough for Sai and Maki to find either Kisame or the person with Zabuza's sword and take it from them. If he could, he would kill them, but he was the only one strong enough to take either or. But hearing Sasuke say that just triggered the smart-ass in him, "It's my _right_ as a _ninja_ to use what I need to win. I didn't have an eye. Would you like to know what that's like Sasuke? It fucking sucks. And besides, Uchiha are famed for using the skills of others to bolster their own. Why can't I do the same thing?"

Wrong answer to Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke disappeared in a blur, but Naruto saw him coming without having to guess and feel things out the way he had to before this. And with his reflexes on point due to him fighting so many quick people without the Sharingan in his life, with it he had his sword out and clashing against Sasuke's from the side, 'I can see everything! This is awesome!' He thought, right until he felt a harsh jerk on the back of his collar and wound up slammed hard against the ground without warning.

He quickly looked up to see Itachi standing over him with a kunai drawn and prepared to end Naruto's short run in the battle before Itachi was forced to abandon his attack to block Sasuke's chokuto strike.

Naruto didn't waste any time and got back to his feet, although he didn't intervene in Sasuke's clash with Itachi… because that wasn't Itachi. Naruto vanished in another blur of speed, reappearing on top of the throne where Itachi had been sitting the entire time. Naruto had his sword positioned for a downward thrust right through the top of Itachi's skull, "It's not enough Itachi! I can see _everything_ now!" As Naruto said that, a chokuto buried itself through his back and out through his chest from behind before he could strike Itachi.

"You still can't see anything you pretender." Sasuke said from behind, having been the one to bury the blade into Naruto's body. The Sasuke and Itachi that had been fighting dissolved into crows and snakes respectively. But Naruto instead of letting off a gasp at being impaled, he burst into white smoke revealing himself to have been a clone.

"And you still can't see through the smoke Sasuke." Naruto's voice projected through the room while his body couldn't be seen, "That's what your life has always been since you were a kid; just you chasing shadows. Itachi's shadow, Orochimaru's shadow…"

Sasuke looked down in the throne to find that Itachi's body had dissolved into crows again before he turned his attention to Naruto, looking around to try and find him, "And what would you know about it Naruto?"

The chamber went silent before Naruto's voice sounded out again, "I was raised in the shadows, I was simply chosen to go into the light. I'm still in the shadows just like you, only they're different from when I was young, and they're different from yours entirely."

Sasuke growled as his eyes caught a glimpse of movement and he hurled a mess of shuriken at it only to hear the popping noise of more clones, "What do you know about shadow or hatred? What can you say about anything like that to me, someone like you that doesn't understand the darkness?"

Naruto's clones began to litter the chamber from the dark reaches of the room all over and Sasuke proceeded to ruthlessly exterminate them the moment they hit the ground or came into sight with his sword skills. All the while the original continued to speak, "You literally don't know the first thing about me. I've seen terrible things Sasuke. Done things you could never imagine. I know more about shadow than you ever will, but there's a difference between shadow and darkness. Shadows are necessary. Where there is light and people to bask in the light there is always shadow. Shadows must exist; the grey neutrality of shadow to maintain balance. Darkness is unnecessary and evil; it forces people to make mistakes, it hides the truth from you more than shadow ever could, and the worst elements of this world can be found in the dark."

"A fine speech Naruto-kun." Itachi's voice echoed out as well from nowhere, "But your plan has no foundation. I have already neutralized your seal tags hidden in this room, you will not be trapping anyone, you will not be bringing down this fortress on top of us today, and you will not be escaping even if you understand your situation. Your first mistake was simply coming here in the first place. This never concerned you."

After that, the sounds of metal clashing and sparks flying from the shadowed areas of the room began going off all over. Sasuke could see the figures dueling with blades in the dark. It was clear which one was Naruto by way of it being the figure making sparks with the larger weapon attacking the other one, Itachi, that seemed to dance around his blade, just out of reach.

He formed a Chidori in his hand and took careful aim, "Chidori Senbon (One Thousand Birds Senbon)!" The attack transformed into multiple senbon, countless in number, that fired rapidly directly at Naruto and Itachi, forcing the pair to scatter away from each other and dodge the widespread attack aimed at both of them initially, but once they broke away, the focus was solely on Naruto, "Get away Naruto! Leave and stay out of this or I'll kill you first! There are things I want to know before I kill Itachi!" He snapped at him, 'Itachi himself won't come out and face me until he leaves!'

"Better idea." Naruto said as he ran directly towards a wall, cornering himself seemingly until he jumped at the wall and kicked off of it to jump back towards Sasuke. Sasuke diverted his aim to hit the airborne Naruto until he saw Naruto jump off of the air itself and duck under his stream of lightning senbon. Adjusting his aim only resulted in Naruto adjusting his jump in the air until he reached Sasuke himself, "I'll just beat you until he comes out and faces me or leaves! After all, I only need one of you right now!" He said as his sword swung at Sasuke and was blocked by the youngest Uchiha, as he held Naruto's weight in the air.

A smirk came to Naruto's face and from his back foot he used a pair of air bubbles as stepping stones to push himself again, driving Sasuke back with the pure physical force of his glorified leap forward. Sasuke's guard eventually failed and Naruto took a step on the air to deliver a kick right to Sasuke's face.

Sasuke slid back against the ground, gritting his teeth harshly as he tensed from the force of Naruto's kick, 'His movements with what he's doing… I can see him forming wind chakra and letting it burst with each step he takes on the air.' He stopped his slide by stabbing his sword into the ground, 'But his every step is so sporadic and sudden. Almost instinctual… I can barely see what's coming before he does it. He doesn't telegraph his moves because he's simply flowing and reacting!'

Naruto could barely believe what he had just done. Hitting Sasuke all those years ago when he damn near made a drinking game out of it was one thing. He was so much faster than Sasuke back then and Sasuke's Sharingan wasn't fully matured. But now, Sasuke should have been able to see him coming shouldn't he have? Naruto hadn't even known that he had discovered a way to make his taijutsu unreadable to the Sharingan's ability to predict moves simply by the compounded use of his own Sharingan, and the reflexes and reaction time he had to develop just for him to use Haretsu Seigan (Burst Limit). With the Sharingan he could actually track his and his target's movements and instinctually react accordingly, and he didn't even know it yet.

"Naruto-kun you are a nuisance." Itachi said from behind the still amazed Naruto.

'Why is everyone I fight so damned fast?' Naruto thought before turning abruptly and cutting through Itachi, "Fucking genjutsu! How many layers does this shit have?" He yelled in exasperation when Itachi's body faded to crows once again.

"Kuchiyose: Raikou Kenka (Summoning: Lightning Blade Creation)!" Sasuke revealed seals inscribed on the bottom of his wrist guards, similar to some of the multiple seals that Naruto had inscribed all over his left arm. In the blink of an eye, shuriken were summoned and thrown at Naruto from where he had been left by Naruto beforehand.

Naruto blocked the weapons with his sword only to have Itachi stalk him from behind again. He turned his head to retaliate when Sasuke pincered him in from the other side. Naruto was starting to get angry. He was no longer a sucker for a low-level genjutsu, but the more elaborate ones still troubled him as he made a swift hand-seal, "Enough fucking genjutsu! Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere)!" Naruto inhaled and exhaled several small blasts of wind chakra in multiple directions, cutting through the genjutsu of both Sasuke and Itachi.

Having disposed of the genjutsu distractions once more, Naruto immediately brought his right arm to one of the numerous storage sealing tattoos up around his shoulder and selected the one he wanted, causing an immediate 'crack' noise and a blinding light to surround his body. The light only lasted for a moment, but when it cleared, Naruto was no longer in sight, having used the flash bomb to cause Itachi and Sasuke to avert their eyes momentarily to cover his movement.

As silence once again reigned through the room, it was revealed that Itachi's body that had been in the throne and had dissolved into crows was actually cover to get Sasuke away from him. They never dispersed they just hid the fact that he had never left the seat, and there he sat, "Sasuke… you said there were things that you wanted to know. Please, don't let Naruto-kun's presence here stop your intention. The battle has not yet truly begun, but whatever you have to ask I'm willing to listen." He sensed the presence of something from up near the ceiling drop from the air above him, only for it to stop in the air and jump away as if it had been chased.

Before he could react to what was obviously Naruto, a sword was driven through the back of the throne and the point had emerged from his chest. The Naruto that had attempted to drop in on him disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing it to only be a feeler clone.

"I couldn't care any less if Naruto was here or not." Sasuke said from behind the throne, "As long as my question gets answered before I kill you, I don't care." He then grit his teeth angrily, "Now tell me what I want to know or I'll make you wish I actually did kill you with that last move."

Itachi sat at the throne with blood coming from his mouth, "You avoided my vitals on purpose."

Sasuke ignored him and went ahead with his question, "On that night you claimed there was a third person… and I realized that it could only be someone you didn't kill. Meaning it was someone to help you wipe out the rest of the clan. Not even you could have killed the entire Military Police Force on your own the way you did… now tell me. Who is the third surviving Uchiha that you spoke to me of."

"**Boy you will stay that blade right now or I will make your life a living hell forever more!"** The Kyuubi roared at Naruto as clear as if he were standing right in front of him. This was the first it had heard from it since his conversation with it the night before. It hadn't spoken up any time since then whatsoever. But now he had a chance. If nothing else he could at least get rid of Sasuke's-, **"You will listen to the Uchiha. This is important to you as well."** What? Naruto couldn't comprehend why the Kyuubi would say that. Couldn't it see that-? No that was exactly it. It _couldn't_ see. Damn it, he knew that was going to happen.

"And why do you want to know of him?" Itachi questioned Sasuke.

"Because after I kill you here he's next on my list." Sasuke muttered darkly.

"You? Kill him?" Itachi asked in scathingly dry disbelief before going silent and eventually speaking up with his answer, "Madara Uchiha. One of Konoha's founding fathers and the first person ever to awaken Mangekyou Sharingan."

Sasuke drove his sword deeper through the throne, "Don't fuck with me! If that were true he would have been long dead!"

"You don't have to believe me." Itachi said calmly, if not strained due to the sword in him, "Naruto-kun had it right earlier. Shadow may hide things but it is necessary to maintain balance, but darkness hides more truths than shadow ever could. What you can see in this world depends on your perception of reality, how people are bound by what they perceive as the truth, but 'truth' can be a mere trick of the eyes. A trick of the darkness or shadow. A mirage. One must consider the possibility of living in one's own little world, shaped by these beliefs they perceive to be the truth. Like the way you simply decide Madara is dead, or like the way you used to believe I was a kind, caring brother."

Sasuke growled and launched his ranged Chidori behind himself at the real Itachi sitting at a second throne, something that Naruto's clone picked up on when it attacked from above, missing him on purpose by an inch, "I can see right through your genjutsu and lies now!" He glared up at the ceiling at Naruto, "_I'm_ the one that can see everything now." He said, echoing Naruto's earlier statement.

Cursing from his place on the ceiling, Naruto dropped to the ground. He should have known there was no way to hide with the way things currently were, 'Come on think. You're doing good. Better than you should have done, all things considered…' He looked between Sasuke and Itachi with a grave expression, 'But that's because of the Sharingan and I know it… I have a feeling things aren't going to be getting any easier.'

"For as strong as your eyes are, you still don't have the same eyes as me Sasuke." Naruto could have almost cried when he heard Itachi say that, because he knew what it meant. The same thing it meant the last time he said it to Sasuke.

"Then use your Mangekyou to try and kill me right now, or am I too strong for you now?" If he actually thought that it would have done anything right now, Naruto would have thrown his sword directly at Sasuke's head.

Itachi seemed to shut his eyes as he stood up from the throne, "Confident are you?"

Naruto for his part was not. What he had said earlier was true in essence; he could see everything. But he could _see_ all he wanted to because this was what he was meant to see. This was what was supposed to happen as directed by Itachi and to a lesser extent Sasuke. He was barely forcing his way into the picture and keeping his head above the proverbial water through literal brute force. He needed to get himself out because as he expected all along, even the Kyuubi was no help here, that had been proven earlier. And Naruto could see why the Kyuubi despised the Uchiha Clan and their Sharingan so much now, because under the doujutsu's influence it was nothing more than a subject to the world that was created around it, and it never had a clue.

Here he was a one legged man in an asskicking contest. He had the tool he needed, but he just couldn't use it the way he had to in order to succeed. He knew all of nothing about genjutsu and what he knew about Sharingan he remembered from Danzo, he seriously doubted that the old man knew anything about Tsukuyomi. There was nowhere for him to run, and nowhere to hide.

Because this was their world, and to them he was just an anomaly that had no place, that was unwanted, unneeded… and just like anything else that was unwanted in the ninja world he was about to be disposed of.

Itachi's arm hung lazily through the opening of his Akatsuki cloak, "The Mangekyou Sharingan has a very unique characteristic."

Naruto growled, "Other than mind-fucking me into a coma?"

Itachi ignored him to continue his explanation that was directed at Sasuke, "From the day you awaken it, your eyes begin a slow descent into darkness. The more you use them, the quicker the process moves."

"What?" Sasuke asked, confused as to what that meant.

"The kaleidoscope will eventually lose its light."

Sasuke's face hardened, "Blindness…" That revelation was news to Naruto. So Itachi's ridiculously strong eyes had a drawback all along? If he had known that he might have let himself take a hit of the Tsukoyomi three years ago so that he could weaken him for now, "So that's the price you pay for gaining control of the Kyuubi no Yoko."

"You actually read the tablets I told you to read." Itachi said, sounding rather pleased as he slowly started walking down the stairs in front of his throne.

Sasuke couldn't have cared any less, but Naruto could barely move. Any move Itachi made could have been the last thing Naruto ever saw. Sasuke spoke, "Who is Madara?"

Itachi's eyes shifted to that of the Mangekyou Sharingan, "A man who tamed the Kyuubi and controlled it like a pet." Naruto's eyes shot wide open. He knew that. He knew this already. He was aware of who Madara Uchiha was. The Kyuubi despised the man and cursed his name for sport for as long as Naruto had been in contact with it. But here Itachi was saying that he was still alive, and that made his blood run cold, "My accomplice and my teacher. The only person in history to learn the Sharingan's final secret. An invincible immortal. That's who Madara Uchiha is."

XxX

From the ceiling of the building, the strange plant-man that had witnessed Naruto defeat Deidara watched the battle at hand. He would have headed down to engage Naruto himself if he thought he would have won. The blonde had no place here. However the fact of the matter was, he knew that in a fight with Naruto he would have been torn asunder. He was not the most battle-adept member of Akatsuki, and Naruto had actually gone head-to-head with Konan and Pein and walked away to fight another day. That was out of his level of ability to deal with. He was a spy, not a fighter.

But after his opening gambit failed, the blonde found himself caught in something that could only be described, probably by Naruto himself if he had been asked, as his worst nightmare. A battle he had never had to fight. A battle he couldn't win and neither of them could lose to him.

"They haven't moved an inch…" The plant-man muttered quietly to himself.

And it was true.

From the second Naruto walked in he had been ensnared in the attempted genjutsu duel between Sasuke and Itachi. He had unwittingly forced his way in after he had missed his opening gambit and the two had made eye contact with him while keeping it with each other, making it a free-for-all.

"**They're fighting with nothing more than their eyes."** The black half of the man said.

Itachi's face was as calm and impassive as ever. You couldn't even tell he was exerting any effort.

The same could be said for Sasuke. Despite his intense glare he had been preparing for this, and was handling it beautifully thus far.

Then there was Naruto. Both of his eyes were twitching again and again. His hands were shaking and there was a sheen of sweat on his face. He was trying to bat off the effects of the genjutsu by literally fighting through it with his mind, to will his mind to fight. Instead of trying to focus his mental plane and try to will it over theirs he was simply a subject to their imagination. If he had more experience he probably would have known that he had to let the illusion flow like water. But the only experience Naruto had with genjutsu was either knowing to avoid them altogether and tell for the signs, or to hurt himself and break one before it fully took hold.

He had never been under the yoke of an eye-based genjutsu before because he had never fought a fully matured Sharingan-genjutsu. But to remain in the fray to this point was nothing short Of miraculous. Through sheer will he had been adapting and surviving in the middle of a genjutsu conflict between two full-fledged Uchiha; masters of the art. Though his own Sharingan probably had more to do with it than anything, as if he hadn't had it he probably would have been beaten by now, he had never been forced to fight like this in his life.

There was only so much that a natural propensity towards combat could compensate for. He was out of his element, out of his league, and out of this fight before it even began.

XxX

(Inside the Genjutsu Battle)

What Itachi had just told them both had left the two younger teens in stunned silence.

Madara Uchiha.

Instead of going blind had taken his own brother's eyes and reached unbelievable levels of power with his renewed Mangekyou Sharingan.

Had battled with the Shodaime Hokage and formed the Valley of the End with the titanic struggle.

Formed Akatsuki and to this day hid from the world behind them.

And had masterminded the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha on the day of Naruto's birth all those years ago, forcing the Yondaime Hokage to stop it.

'It was him…' Naruto thought to himself, 'Someone like that is still alive and walking around? Why is Itachi saying this? Why is he letting me know these things?'

"Madara Uchiha is a pathetic shell of his former self." Itachi claimed, "He's no longer worthy of being considered the greatest Uchiha. The only person who can surpass him, surpass the invincible Madara and achieve true immortality is me." He then looked at Naruto, "And unlike Madara, you don't fit into my plans Naruto-kun. You will die here for intruding…" Itachi said, looking back at Sasuke, "Intruding on my prize! My opportunity to obtain greater power than him!" An uncharacteristically manic grin worked its way to his face, "You Sasuke! Like Madara Uchiha and his own younger brother, you will become my new light!"

Sasuke and Naruto both took a single step back in shock from Itachi's new attitude, "You were my spare!" A demonic figure appeared behind Itachi and shot its tendrils at Sasuke and Naruto, grabbing the younger brother and attempting to impale Naruto.

Naruto quickly crossed his arms in an 'x' in front of his body, "Fuuton: Senpuu Kakasui (Wind Release: Whirlwind Pyramid)!" Naruto channeled every bit of power he could put behind the jutsu to block the sharp tendrils, but before hitting his most focused point, it adjusted and went around, hitting him in sides where the wind wasn't nearly as intense.

Naruto was thrown back, but not stabbed through. His defensive jutsu did that much for him at least. He didn't know how much longer he would be able to force himself to go on. But his attention returned back to Itachi and Sasuke when he realized that Sasuke had gotten rid of the demonic illusion, and he hadn't moved a step from where he had been standing while listening to Itachi's story, 'He got rid of the genjutsu so that I didn't have to?' Naruto thought to himself, 'Of course! He's in this too! We're all locked in the same genjutsu! Itachi got me, Sasuke got me, and they got each other!'

That was why they thought he was in the way so much. He wasn't fighting Sasuke and Itachi's separate illusions simultaneously in his own mind while they had it out with each other in their own minds respectively. For this moment in time their consciousnesses were linked. This was in all of their minds! Together! Now how could he use that? He had to hurry up and think or he'd find himself in the middle of a shootout, the equivalent of an innocent bystander, 'Come on! How do I get out! There's a way out! No technique is unbreakable, no jutsu is absolute, and no fighting style is perfect!'

Sasuke had enough of playing story time with his big brother and cast away the cloak he wore, "It all ends here Itachi. It's time that I fulfill my goal."

"You said that you see my death. But you should know that you cannot win against me." Itachi stated plainly as if it were a foregone conclusion, "Because I have the Mangekyou Sharingan I'm afraid you just don't measure up Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't bother rising to Itachi's words. Saying anything in response with venom in his voice wouldn't get the point across so it didn't matter, "You can use your eyes as much as you want. My hatred is going to turn your illusion into a reality. And the reality is your death."

With that, Sasuke and Itachi began producing and throwing shuriken at one another in an untraceable amount. Eventually they rushed one another and met in the middle, each blocking the other's attempt to stab them.

The shuriken had all been thrown with such force and speed that when they hit the other they ricocheted harshly. And this was what utterly amazed Naruto; Itachi had only thrown the shuriken to defend against Sasuke's, yet when they hit his they ricocheted towards him with the same velocity they had first been launched with. The timing and aim needed for that was ungodly, he couldn't even comprehend it. At first he almost didn't believe it was possible when he started blocking with his blade, but when he started getting cut up due to not being able to get them all, only the ones that were aimed at vital points, he had to concede the possibility as reality. Itachi Uchiha was no mere urban legend, he was legitimately that damn good.

And taking the dozens of metal stars across his flesh brought a reality check to Naruto. Sasuke could go after Itachi all he wanted. Itachi would just avert the force of his attacks away from himself and towards Naruto. This would continue until he dropped. Genjutsu or not.

A Kage Bunshin formed behind Itachi and pelted Sasuke with kunai, but a snake emerged that blocked the attack and surrounded him defensively.

The Kage Bunshin Itachi turned its attention to Naruto and before it could make eye contact with him and get him in anything else, the blonde threw his sword like a javelin right at Itachi's heart. Itachi moved to the side, but Naruto used Kawarimi to switch with the blade and simultaneously formed a seal-less Kage Bunshin of his own that Kawarimied again with the sword, putting it back into Naruto's reach and letting Naruto attack with it.

Itachi-clone blocked the original Naruto's attack with a kunai while Naruto-clone went for the original Itachi right until Sasuke emerged from his snake defense with a fuuma shuriken that it hurled at the original Itachi and Naruto-clone.

Just as it was about to hit Naruto-clone, the blonde replication smirked and in a puff of smoke used Kawarimi again to switch with the embattled Itachi-clone that was cut down by the weapon.

The clone burst into a flock of crows and split up, flying around Naruto and his clone, and Sasuke. Itachi's silhouette rushed through the cloud of dark feathers that were abound from the crows and swiftly defeated Naruto's clone before returning the favor from three years prior and kicking Naruto hard in the face, sending him flying back onto his backside. Before he even stopped sliding, he abruptly stopped and let out a seething growl blocking pain. Itachi had pinned his hands to the floor with a kunai to the back of each that went clean through his gloves and hands.

On the other side of the chamber he heard Sasuke let out an anguished yell of true pain. Itachi had pinned him to the wall and gouged his eye out.

He could relate when he saw Sasuke activate his cursed seal to get Itachi away from him momentarily so that he could come to terms with the pain and the loss of the eye. Getting your eye taken out was not an experience you could just grit your teeth and gut out. He believed there was no one on the planet that could take that pain and suffer in silence. Genjutsu or not.

'Genjutsu-Itachi is badass…' Naruto thought when he started to feel stakes drive themselves into his body; arms, legs, torso. He let out a cry of pain at the sudden sensations ripping through his body, 'Fuck! He made eye contact _again_ before he kicked me!' Naruto was getting a crash-course in how to use his Sharingan to help him out of trouble and he couldn't say he appreciated the hands-on approach of the lesson, 'I'm running out of steam here… I've _got_ to break this. My mind can't keep taking all of this damage.'

And there was his answer.

Like he had realized before. His mind, Itachi's mind, and Sasuke's mind were joined for the duration of the doujutsu based genjutsu.

His _mind_.

And he would be damned if there was anyone in the room that had a more solid grasp on their mental state than he did. If he had been any good at casting them in the first place then Naruto would have wound up being a god of genjutsu, however he was physically incapable of activating them due to the intense and delicate amount of chakra control needed to do so. He would never be able to do two things; genjutsu and medical ninjutsu.

Three hours. That was all the time Naruto was provided to be given a crash course in basic theory by Maki while he waited for his wounds to heal after his surgery. With his Sharingan she had placed him in her best examples of genjutsu and allowed him to memorize certain facets and nuances that kept him alive thus far against Sasuke and Itachi.

But now with the on-the-job Sharingan training he was getting now not only was he 100% fully aware that he was deep within the most comprehensive genjutsu he had ever felt in his entire life, with layer after layer after ungodly layer on top of it, he had enough awareness to fight back and stay competitive or at least keep Itachi and Sasuke from turning his mind to gruel within the first moments. He was dangerous enough that they had to fight him nearly as intense as they had been fighting each other.

After years of contact with an all-powerful creature of mass destruction in his mind that constantly flooded his head with murderous intent and manipulating whispers he had the mental power to stand up to a genjutsu of this caliber and lessen the effects he would take. After years of developing his own mind to the point that his mindscape was a full-scale flawless replica of Konohagakure no Sato in its entirety he had the mental composition to compose a realistic illusion if he had the ability to actually do so. And he now had the Sharingan to comprehend what he was actually looking at. It was time for a breakthrough.

Ignoring the pain of the stakes in his body, Naruto looked around the chamber where Itachi and Sasuke were grappling over his last eye, and Sasuke looked to be losing, 'I need to get out now. If Itachi gets that eye, Sasuke won't be able to take it anymore and he can focus on finishing me.'

Putting that aside, Naruto looked around the room intently, focusing as hard as he could. This was a mixture of their minds. So where was the part that comprised his portion?

The genjutsu environment that Naruto could see with his Sharingan was split into subtle, hard to see segments, like an ever-changing ink blot of each shinobi's psyche, 'Where is mine? Where is mine?' From what he could see it was of course vastly Itachi, including the area he was trapped in, but when he focused, starting in the area of their struggle, Sasuke's area of overt influence was spreading slowly but steadily. He was fighting back.

Seeing that made Naruto's eyes widen, 'He can push back against the Tsukuyomi with enough will like that?' Naruto tried to do that himself but didn't budge any portion of the illusion, 'No, I'm thinking too big.' He realized, 'There's no way in hell I can break the Tsukuyomi being a green-ass rookie at using the Sharingan. If he chose to hit me with that I'd be done. But I _can_ break this one pinning me down.' Switching his focus to the stakes immobilizing him, Naruto felt his influence grow.

Itachi's focus was solely on Sasuke. That left Naruto to use the negligence of Itachi over his situation to force his own way through. Naruto hadn't had any influence over the environment whatsoever with the exception of his own mental avatar. He had been surviving thus far with nothing more than his literal skills. He couldn't feint a genjutsu when he got hit like Itachi and Sasuke's mental avatars could. When he got hit he literally took the damage, and his body felt it in the real world.

The stakes in him loosened and he ripped his hands right up from the kunai pinning them to the ground. Directly behind him lay the only little portion of the genjutsu that represented his mind and he had never moved towards anything so fast in his life. When he stepped a single toe in that zone he instantly built and expelled a crushing amount of chakra from his body, "Genjutsu kai!"

XxX

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto dropped to his hands and knees in the sewer environment that used to represent his mind and once again behind the bars sat the Kyuubi. It's eyes were glazed over and it seemed more docile than it had ever looked in his entire life, it didn't even register his presence, 'No way… it's completely calm.' With his Sharingan he checked the area. There was no genjutsu. This was his mind, and he had broken out. However when he tried to will out some of the Kyuubi's chakra he found that he was unable to. He then remembered what Sasuke said.

"_So that's the price you pay for gaining control of the Kyuubi no Yoko."_

And he could see the genjutsu affecting the creature as well. Itachi had forced the Kyuubi into submission just like Madara had. Naruto stood up and walked towards the cage. He could see the genjutsu. Maybe he could break it? All he needed was to use his own chakra to disrupt the Kyuubi's flow. It would just take a little jolt.

As he reached the bars he tried to slide through the bars only to find himself repelled. That was weird. He could interact with the Kyuubi before. It was how he started taking more chakra from it to train with. The bars must not have allowed contact with the Kyuubi, he had never tried to go into the cage when he was younger before making the Konoha mindscape. He really had to hurry up.

He looked up at the tag on the door that said 'seal' and scoffed. Fine, he'd just interact with it like that. It was a pain in the ass to have to grab for the seal that was several feet off of the ground when before he could have just been in closer to the Kyuubi but whatever.

His hand was just about to make contact with the seal when a firm grasp stopped his arm in its tracks, "I would rather you didn't touch that." A calm, stoic voice said.

Naruto's face went back to full battle mode as he turned around, believing that Itachi or Sasuke had somehow gotten to him again in his own sphere of influence, but came to a surprised stop when he saw the person. He stood still and blinked a few times. His blue and red eye focusing on just who he was looking at before he finally found it in him to speak, "Hey there dad."

Standing directly in front of Naruto was Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage, with a small smile on his face, "Hey there son."

XxX

(In the Real World)

Sasuke held the eye that in the Tsukuyomi had been plucked from his head as he returned from the genjutsu, physically unharmed. He breathed heavily and fell to one knee on the floor.

On the ceiling, the strange plant-man carried on a conversation with himself, "Well that was quicker than expected. Itachi won." The white half said.

"**But why?"** The black side asked in return.

"Well he just got hit with Tsukuyomi." The white side explained, "He won't be able to move. Now all that's left is to just take him out any way he wants to." He then got a look of surprise on his face when he saw Itachi sink to a knee as well, clutching his left eye, "Huh?"

Itachi stared at his younger brother, "Y-You broke my Tsukuyomi."

Sasuke smirked as he stood up slowly before he looked over to the third man in the encounter. Naruto didn't look dead, nor did he look like he was still trapped in any genjutsu, and his body hadn't given out so it hadn't defeated him in any way either, "H-He broke it?" Itachi looked over at Naruto and noticed the same thing along with something else that Sasuke picked up shortly as well, "Is he in a trance?"

XxX

(Meanwhile – Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto didn't know what to say to the man. His father. He had grown up without one and had stopped caring or even thinking about it a long time ago. Even when he found out who his parents were, other than taking some time to look at hard to come by photos of them he had never dwelled on it too much. But now it was here staring him in the face and he had to say _something_, "So, long time no see old man. Literally… I've never seen you. Ever. Not even once."

Minato laughed slightly, seeing as how Naruto went ahead and tried to break the ice, "Yeah. My fault about that. For what it's worth, and I know it's worth nothing, I'm really sorry for what I did Naruto."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and smiled slightly, "Sorry for what? You gave me the power to do the only thing I ever wanted; to be acknowledged and to protect my home. The way you did it I really can't complain about even though that thing-." He said, pointing his thumb back at the docile Kyuubi, "Really chaps my ass sometimes. And you did what you had to do. I stopped being upset years ago."

"Still…" Minato said with a frown, "The fact that you're taking this better than I thought you might have kind of makes me feel worse about it. You aren't going to yell, or ask me why, or get angry?"

Naruto raised his scarred brow, "I already said that I didn't care. You want me to be mad or do something like that?"

Minato shrugged identically to Naruto from moments before, "It would help."

Naruto sighed and shook his head before suddenly snapping his right arm up and backhand slapping Minato across the face violently. Hard enough to force out an audible crack that echoed through the sewers. Minato just kept his head turned to the side with his eyes wide in surprise as an angry red welt formed on his cheek. Naruto put his hand down and flexed his fist, "You told me to do it _Hokage-sama_." Naruto said with a sly smirk, "I follow my kage's orders faithfully."

Minato just looked at Naruto before breaking into laughter, laughs that Naruto returned until it quickly died down, "I've seen everything. I've seen and know about everything you've done in your life Naruto, be it far in the past or as recent as a few hours ago."

Naruto then turned somewhat serious, "I had Hamako-chan go over your seal and she found that you would do this if I ever tried to take it off of the Kyuubi. I wasn't going to you know."

Minato nodded, "I know, but if that was the case then I would have never gotten to see you." He said with a grin, "I had to take the only shot I would have at doing it and so here I am. I had to see firsthand the kind of man my son went on to be. You're almost just as tall as your old man at 16."

Naruto's gaze hardened. What did the man think of him? No matter how Naruto tried to rationalize it into making him impassive over the matter the fact remained that this was his father, a tremendous shinobi, and a great man to boot as well. Naruto had done things he wasn't proud of… he had killed so many people in his life and seen so much. Even now using this Sharingan eye was something he wasn't proud of, but he did it because he felt it was necessary. And if that led Minato to despise or disown-.

"I'm proud of you." Minato said, shocking Naruto, "I'm so proud of you, you'll never understand how much I am. You're a fantastic ninja, you've defended Konoha in ways that I never went to lengths to do and you're a good human being through all of that. Don't let you taking that eye put you under any kind of guilt, you did what you had to do. You never let your eyes be clouded with darkness no matter what happened to you." He pointed back at the Kyuubi, "And you've done a fine job of keeping him in check as well. I knew you could do it."

"About that." Naruto said, "I need to go old man. I have to break the genjutsu on the Kyuubi and get back to fighting. I'm up against Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha and I'm amazed that I haven't been killed yet."

Minato shook his head, "It's barely been one second outside of your mind Naruto. I know I don't have that much time to talk to you anyway, but I have to tell you now that you should believe what Itachi said. There was a man in a mask that attacked Konoha and used the Kyuubi as you've heard, I just never figured it would be Madara Uchiha." Naruto nodded gravely in agreement, "You can defeat him. He is the mastermind of Akatsuki. The man in the orange swirl mask."

Naruto looked at him in confusion, "But Pein-."

"I saw that too." Minato said, remembering what he saw of how Jiraiya had been crippled and how Naruto had been crushed by the man's might, "Pein is the result of the countless traumas inflicted on him even from his childhood by war under our system of shinobi. Madara more than likely manipulated him into taking on this goal of gathering the biju, but as long as the current system exists there will be more people like him."

"Ero-kyofu said the same thing." Naruto said, "But Pein is strong old man. I never even touched him last time."

Minato placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "You can beat him because he made a mistake by not finishing you right then and there. I believe in you. You can change the world Naruto. You just have to win here first." He walked past him towards the Kyuubi's cage and placed his hand on the seal, "I'll help. Put your hand on me and channel chakra through me as if I were the Kyuubi." He saw Naruto give him a dry look, "Yes I know that's what you were about to do in the first place, but this way is safer. The last of my chakra in the seal will be a medium so that the Kyuubi, if it becomes aware while you're doing this it won't suddenly snap for control. Next time you'll have to find your own way to do this so don't let the Kyuubi get put in this again."

Naruto nodded and touched Minato's arm to begin channeling chakra, "It was damn good to meet you dad, and I swear I won't ever lose again. I'll be Hokage, I'll be better than you, and I'll find a way to stop all of this… I promise. I won't let Madara do what he did to Konoha to anywhere else."

"I know you will Naruto." Minato said with a smile as the seal glowed and the mindscape began to fade, "Remember I believe in you and I love you son. Say hello to your mother for me…"

XxX

(Five Seconds Later In Real Time – In the Real World)

Sasuke looked over at Naruto and drew his chokuto from his back slowly as he looked at the non-responsive Naruto. He could finish him off and focus on Itachi, "Couldn't measure up after all could you Naruto? You should have just stayed out of our business." He said before rushing forward at him in a blur.

CLANG

Naruto's eyes focused on Sasuke as he blocked the strike with a sudden draw from his ninjato sheath. Naruto started breathing rather heavily and kicked Sasuke away from him as the two squared off alongside Itachi once more, "Sorry about that." He said, "I had to go down to the sewer and fix a clogged pipe." He quipped, referencing the Kyuubi's sewer-scape, 'Kyuubi are you awake in there?'

"**What?"** The Kyuubi shouted as it seemed to stir from a daze, **"What happened? Weren't you in the middle of fighting them a second ago? How did you just break apart and stop, and why?"**

'It was a genjutsu.' Naruto explained, 'Itachi almost melted your mind like Madara Uchiha.' He heard the Kyuubi growl at that name in his head, 'That's not important now. Ship up. No more genjutsu so don't worry about it.'

"**No more genjutsu? Are you serious? No hypnotism either?"** The Kyuubi asked, sounding a mix between relieved and disbelieving.

'Well the hypnotism is a subtle genjutsu, and even if I didn't have it nullified with my Sharingan I have to deal with your yapping enough to know how to ignore another voice in my head.' Naruto explained as he tried to gauge out how much chakra he had left while the Kyuubi ranted at him.

He hadn't had the Sharingan on for that long in real time, but he had wasted a lot of his chakra fighting off the genjutsu and eventually shattering it. The good news was that Itachi looked like he was dead on his feet and Sasuke didn't seem that much better off than himself at the moment, 'I'm feeling the battle faster than I should but I'm still good. If Kakashi-sensei knew that my first time using the Sharingan outlasted his like twenty times over by now and that I'm still going, he would probably hate me. I love being the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.'

Itachi looked over at Naruto, "I don't know how either of you managed to escape, but Naruto-kun you are more trouble than I want to deal with at the moment. I want Sasuke's eyes, and now I want your life as well." He said, "I don't care for Madara's plans. Killing you is of no consequence to me in the end. After this battle I will have achieved my goal no matter what."

On the ceiling the plant-man grinned, **"Ooh Itachi's pissed now. He's going to blow those kids away with Amaterasu now!"** The black half said in an excited voice.

Naruto looked between Itachi and Sasuke and put his sword up, "So is the staring contest over now? Are we actually going to fight now?" He said, trying to sound confident and downplay the trouble he had in the genjutsu. He was never going to let anyone do anything like that to him ever again after this was over. He absolutely despised genjutsu. On the other hand, if the actual fighting was actually going to begin he felt right in his element.

Itachi looked over at Naruto with his left eye closed, 'He fractured every one of my illusions without alerting me while I was dealing with Sasuke. Naruto-kun doesn't know the first thing about genjutsu combat. Even with the Sharingan he should have been overwhelmed. Were his will and chakra that strong to allow him to brute force his way through most of it until he could find an opening?' Either way it didn't matter. Naruto was too dangerous to remain here. He was ruining everything that Itachi was trying to do and no matter what he couldn't let that happen.

Sasuke noticed Naruto's right eyelid was faintly twitching every few moments, but from Naruto's expression he didn't seem to either mind or notice it, 'Is he like Kakashi? He must feel the strain of keeping the Sharingan active.'

That wasn't it. He could most definitely feel it at this point, but he had chakra to burn, he always had chakra to burn. He had at least ten times the amount of chakra that Kakashi had these days. However long Kakashi could keep it active for they might as well have multiplied it by ten for Naruto.

Once again things were as they began. To an observer from afar it would have been like barely anything had happened at all. But the fireworks hadn't even begun yet.

* * *

**Okay this chapter was quick to put out because I knew what I wanted Naruto's first definite experience with the Sharingan to be like. He has no earthly idea how to use any kind of jutsu or any kind of technique in general with the eye, but with it he was able to last in Itachi's genjutsu because he could perceive that he was in a genjutsu. He simply treated it like the real world, lasting by nothing more than pure willpower and understanding of what was going on added to the fact that Sasuke's presence in the illusion forced Itachi to split his attention, thus he was unable to focus on one or the other enough to deal any lasting mental damage to Naruto. Nothing that would break him anyway.**

**Also note, he never used Tsukuyomi on Naruto. I just skipped the manga scene where he used it on Sasuke. When he had him against the wall and plucked his eye out, that was the Tsukuyomi attempt in this. He simply left Naruto to suffer in the series of genjutsu he placed. Naruto broke them all in succession.**

**He kept out of way of lots of damage by obscene abuse of Kage Bunshin and copious amounts of Kawarimi if that didn't come across.  
**

**I feel like this was the most different fight scene I've ever written. I hope it worked out, I just thought trying something different for half of the actual conflict would be a good time for testing something. The next chapter will be the full actual fight and the finish so look for that soon. Maybe by the end of the weekend if time allows.**

**Any questions that I could answer, and by now you should know what those aren't, and I'll see what I can do. Busy weekend.**

**Catch you soon, Kenchi out.**


	47. FUBAR

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I've written that last message three times in the last 36 hours I swear to God.

**Chapter 46: F.U.B.A.R.**

* * *

(Forests of Hi no Kuni)

Sakura kneeled over the injured Tayuya and steadily healed her wounds from Sasuke's attack. She had been electrocuted, suffered multiple electric burns, had her heart stopped, and luckily was able to have it restarted by Naruto's Kage Bunshin before it left for some reason, "How are you feeling Tayuya?" She asked.

Tayuya gave her a dry look as she lay still on her back and allowed Sakura to work, "Like some prick with an iron grip grabbed me around the throat and fucking shocked me into cardiac arrest. I feel fantastic Pinky, can't you tell?" She said sarcastically as she shifted uncomfortably on her back, "Thank Kami for Uzumaki…"

A nod was all that Sakura could give in response, "This was all my fault… If Naruto hadn't shown up you would have been-."

"No shit." Tayuya said without remorse, "And it wasn't even necessary. We had the prick. He underestimated us and you could have smeared that pretty boy's face all over your knuckles and half of this forest if you had just grown a spine and unloaded on him. One shot." She coughed out a chuckle, "I don't think hitting anyone in the face ever felt any better to me in my life. After you hit him you probably could have put him back together. You trained with Tsunade didn't you? You sure as hell didn't get her rack size from her so you got the healing part at least didn't you?"

Sakura looked away from Tayuya, "I know I screwed up-."

"Yes." Tayuya said, cutting her off from what was sure to be self-deprecating remarks, "That's the gist of it, you fucked up. We almost got killed. You hesitated, against a known missing-ninja that managed to take Orochimaru down on his own, and didn't cream that asshole when I served him up on a silver platter." Her face was completely serious, "I'm reporting this when we get back. I have to. You're a chunin for fuck's sake. What would you have done if it were you leading the team? What if you were the jounin instead of me? What would you have done, let him kill your team?"

Sakura shook her head, but couldn't say anything. She let the healing jutsu drop from her hands and she turned away fully.

Tayuya shook her head. Her body was still completely numb, but she could move enough to know she wasn't paralyzed or anything, "This isn't a fairy tale. You can't turn the misunderstood dark prince with kisses and fucking sunshine. He doesn't give two squirts of piss about you." She narrowed her eyes at Sakura's back as she sat up, trying to work the feeling back into her body, "If I ever find out you did anything like that again, I'm going to fucking maim you." She stood up and started walking about, muttering to herself, "I swear… Crazy Snake Bitch had the right idea after all… beating the stupid out of these fucking airheaded 'kunoichi' Konoha's got running around."

"Right here. Here's where I left them." Pakkun's voice said from a short distance before the rest of the squad from Konoha arrived on the scene with Sai and Maki in tow, "What happened?"

Tayuya crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against a tree to take some weight off of her legs but get them used to standing again, "Pinky had a nice little reunion with her Uchiha prince, who then preceded to try and kill us while she tried to talk him down. He's long gone."

Kakashi noted the multiple visible wounds on Tayuya and the relatively pristine Sakura in comparison. He figured Tayuya must have gotten hurt covering Sakura while she tried to reason with Sasuke. He looked at Sakura and shook his head, "This is why Tsunade-sama told you it was a bad idea to come on this mission. You wouldn't be able to stay objective." He turned his attention back to Tayuya, "Are you alright?"

"I'll live." She said in reply, "Thanks to Uzumaki."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "You saw him?" He nudged his head towards Maki, "She said she was with him before she got to us and the other new guy."

"It was a clone." Tayuya explained.

Neji frowned at not being any closer to either Naruto or Sasuke, "So where did Naruto go? Kiba was unable to follow his trail due to the method of travel he used to search for Sasuke himself, and Sasuke's scent is all over the forest."

Kiba shook his head and rubbed Akamaru's head, "It's so displaced and jumbled I can't pin down the right one."

Sai narrowed his eyes, "But can you locate them at all?" Kiba nodded, "How many directions?" Kiba pointed in five different directions and Sai nodded, pulling out his drawing scroll, "Choujuu Giga (Super Beasts Imitation Picture)!" Five small birds formed and went off in the directions that Kiba gave, "Give them a moment and they'll check your leads. They will be back soon with the information."

Kakashi gave Sai an eye-smile, "Good work." He then addressed everyone else, "Until then we need to take stock of the situation." He looked at Maki, "You said Naruto was in a fight with an Akatsuki member and won prior to heading after Sasuke?"

Maki nodded but stayed silent otherwise until Sai placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, "His other comrades will find out sooner than later. There is no way he'll be able to hide it once he returns. Tell them what you told me."

Maki still looked apprehensive but decided to continue the explanation. Sai was right, he wouldn't be able to hide it by the time he got back, "Naruto-senpai suffered multiple wounds varying in severity. Most of them were easily dealt with through a combination of medical ninjutsu and the Kyuubi's abilities, but he suffered one injury far more grave than anything either of them could handle." She noticed everyone looking at her, intent on hearing her out to the end, "Despite my instruction, and hesitance to allow him to go on, he is the squad leader, and he did so. He's found Sasuke Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha." Everyone had their jaws drop at that revelation in shock, but Maki had intentionally held back the most shocking part of the news. They could find that out only when Naruto would allow them to. He wouldn't be able to hide his Sharingan forever.

"And he still fucking went to fight?" Tayuya snapped at her, "What the fuck is that idiot thinking? He'll get himself killed!"

Maki glared at her, but her gaze relented, "It is his own self-given part in a mission given to us by the Mizukage and endorsed by the Hokage. We are to obtain one of their famed swords, from either Itachi Uchiha's partner Kisame Hoshigaki, or one of Sasuke Uchiha's team members. His part is to keep the leaders, Sasuke or Itachi, away from their partners so that we can obtain the sword."

Tayuya looked around at everyone, trying to keep the worry out of her voice, but failing, "Everybody get up and get ready to move when the pale guy's birds get back!"

Kakashi put a hand on Tayuya to calm her down, "Take it easy…" Tayuya heaved a deep sigh and sat down on the forest floor. Kakashi looked up at the sky, 'Those ink birds better hurry if we're going to find anything. Naruto will be fine either way though. He wouldn't have gotten involved in something he knew he couldn't handle.'

XxX

(Naruto vs. Sasuke vs. Itachi)

'Can I handle this?' Naruto thought to himself absently as he stood before Itachi and Sasuke, no one had moved to attack anyone else yet and everyone was as still as a statue, 'Yeah, I've totally got this… I think.' He noticed Itachi make a half-ram hand-seal, 'Yeah… I'm the man. Now let's do this.' Naruto saw Sasuke's hands move towards his seals on his wrists that held his shuriken and he went to the seal on his left arm to drop another flash bomb.

'Damn it.' Sasuke said, averting his eyes from Naruto and focusing on Itachi to keep from being blinded.

Itachi did the same and wound up finding himself surrounded by several Narutos. Sasuke was in a similar predicament and was already in combat against them. Itachi blocked a sword strike with a kunai and kicked the clone that had attacked, dispelling it. He then, without a single wasted motion, threw the same kunai and buried it right between the eyes of another clone and jumped into the air, spinning around, but upon turning around had a jutsu ready, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu)!"

From Itachi's mouth flew dozens of tiny fireballs. The more fleet-footed clones were able to survive the bombardment but the slower, less aware ones were eradicated, leaving only three. However in the fireballs were shuriken attached to wires, wires that were used to wrap around the other Narutos and bind them. Only one Naruto was able to cut himself free right before the other two were slammed together hard, dispelling them. The original didn't sweat it though and he went after Itachi again, trying to cut him down.

Meanwhile Sasuke had managed to deal with his copies with ease and then focused on Itachi and Naruto fighting it out by themselves. Taking advantage of the fray, Sasuke summoned a fuuma shuriken. Upon a second look it was revealed to be two.

He held one in each hand and threw one each at Naruto and Itachi. As the two targets jumped away from each other to dodge, the shuriken then split to reveal that there had been one underneath each that had been originally thrown. Naruto had to hold back a scoff; he had just used that move a few hours ago against Deidara. There was no way he was going down to that move, but as he prepared to dodge his Sharingan noticed the wires attached to them, much like Itachi had just done to defeat his clones, 'Teme's specialty.' Naruto thought as he coordinated his dodge to allow him to avoid the weapons and cut the wires with his sword.

Itachi had been able to dodge the shuriken as well, but due to his deteriorating eyesight he found himself ensnared in the wires as he fell to the ground, he was unable to see them clearly. Sasuke smirked, "So does using Tsukuyomi seem like it was such a good idea now Itachi?" He taunted before ducking as he heard wind whip from behind him.

Naruto had attacked Sasuke with his sword, trying to take him out at the neck, but Sasuke was able to avoid it. To make up for his miss, Naruto was able to form a seal-less Kage Bunshin that swung its sword up at Sasuke in a vertical motion. Sasuke showed great dexterity in using a one-armed handstand to avoid the second slash after dodging the first. From this motion he delivered a kick that caught the original Naruto in the head and forced him to stumble back.

Sasuke's Sharingan glared at the Kage Bunshin of Naruto as he stayed upside down in his handstand that had previously saved him. The clone tried to quickly switch to a horizontal swing to cut Sasuke, but Sasuke was able to draw his chokuto and cut the clone down before it could finish him.

Sasuke then saw the original Naruto going for Itachi who was trying to free himself. Naruto's sword was out and poised for the finish, "Naruto! Itachi is mine!" He roared at him, feeling his chance at revenge slipping away. He had never thrown a kunai so hard in his life than when he did right then.

Naruto turned and saw it, almost having it bury itself in his skull, but it only wound up giving him a cut on his cheek as it narrowly missed due to his dodge.

Sasuke used the opportunity to keep Naruto from getting to Itachi with a slash of his sword that Naruto was forced to block with his own. It was forceful enough to send Naruto stumbling backwards a step before he unloaded a retaliatory backslash of his own that Sasuke avoided.

Naruto growled at Sasuke keeping him from getting rid of Itachi while he had the chance and focused back on Sasuke while Itachi was down. He was sick of them protecting each other from him while trying to fight each other and get rid of him at the same time.

Naruto angrily rotated his sword and regripped it as he spun, trying to get past Sasuke's guard, but only hit air with his swing. Sasuke slashed at his belly as a counter and Naruto jumped back out of range, only to have to do so twice more as Sasuke was now intent on cutting him open. Naruto turned and ran with Sasuke on his heels and would up having to jump off of the ground to avoid a slash at his ankles and jump again off of an air bubble to avoid a second cut at his airborne form.

Naruto wound up jumping right up the stairs near the throne and was followed closely by Sasuke. Naruto tried to take advantage of having the high ground and swing at Sasuke, only for the young Uchiha to garner enough force to flip over Naruto and try to cut him in the air. Damn Sharingan was impressive.

The two started dueling blades again until Naruto took advantage of a misstep and got towards Sasuke's side, dragging the blade of his sword down the flat of Sasuke's own, aiming right for his head. Sasuke saw it coming and narrowly dodged it by backflipping out of the way, leaving Naruto with a parting gift of a rather deep gash on his leg from his chokuto that bled freely.

As the two squared off, Sasuke smirked at having drawn first blood on Naruto until he felt something trickle down his brow and cloud the vision of his left eye with red. He dabbed at it to find that Naruto's last swing had cut his forehead over his left eye. Looking back at Naruto, Sasuke found him with a smirk on his face as if to say, 'Some fight huh?' Sasuke scowled, but it slowly turned into a smirk of his own, returning the sentiment.

Itachi had seen Naruto and Sasuke's swift blade duel, but the two boys were messy blurs to the weakened eyes of Itachi. The elder Uchiha brother was able to cut himself loose in order to prevent Naruto from potentially killing Sasuke.

Sasuke made his hand-seals at blinding speed, coincidentally Itachi had made the exact same seals, and both Uchiha Clan members fired their attacks at the exact same time right at Naruto, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)!"

'What the fuck is this bullshit?' Naruto roared in his mind as he jumped into the air and did so again off of an air bubble to avoid the initial fireball and the updraft of the scalding air that rose up from the two clashing ninjutsu attacks, 'Jump-on-the-only-guy-affiliated-with-a-village day or something?

Sasuke's silhouette flew from the fire with his right arm drawn back, holding his signature jutsu, "Butt out Naruto, mind your own business! Chidori (One Thousand Birds)!"

"Fuck you, this _is_ my business!" Naruto replied, sheathing his sword and quickly forming his own signature melee jutsu in his right hand, "Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!"

The two fighters slammed their attacks forward and clashed the two powerful techniques that stalemated as Naruto was driven further up into the air. Neither of them were winning the battle as the loud sound of the power clash echoed through the chamber, but Naruto and Sasuke's momentum from the push of the fireball backdraft sent them higher. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Itachi running up the wall and on the ceiling towards them and he formed a plan of action.

Naruto was basically counting the steps before Itachi got to them, 'Wait for it… wait for it… Now!' The second that Itachi stepped into his range, Naruto added a second hand to his Rasengan and pumped it full of wind chakra, "Fuuton: Rasengan (Wind Release: Rasengan)!"

The sudden addition of wind chakra to the already volatile attack combination caused a nasty explosion that blew a hole in the roof that all three ninja flew through.

Sasuke landed on the roof, revealing half of his body under the influence of the 2nd stage curse seal. The single wing on his back was covered in cuts, but other than that, Sasuke was unharmed, "Damn it that was close…" Sasuke said to himself taking note of the mostly superficial cuts on his clothes and body, "That wind chakra of his is strong against lightning… I'm going to have to watch my elements when we trade our jutsu back and forth."

Itachi appeared on the roof unharmed and rushed towards Naruto. Gritting his teeth in anger, Naruto prepared to defend himself when he realized that Itachi was attacking head-on, "Itachi never does that…"

"Bunshin Daibakuha (Clone Great Explosion)."

"Fu-!" Naruto cried out trying to jump out of range with his arms crossed defensively, no real time to react accordingly. The clone exploded in range of him and Naruto flew out of the smoke with a one-tailed chakra cloak around him in the shape of a fox. He was rather disheveled from the explosion, but any minor wound he received, including the cuts from Sasuke, were already healed. The single tail whipped around angrily in the air as Naruto glared at Itachi, 'Kyuubi keep the chakra low unless I need more. If he tries a genjutsu I don't want to risk him actually getting it on you again, so I'll need to be able to switch off quickly.'

"**Tear them apart kit."**

"Who do you think you're telling?" Naruto yelled in vocal response as he attacked Itachi again with renewed vigor and bloodlust.

Sasuke sat back and watched Naruto rush Itachi at a speed faster than he had already been moving at, 'This is the power of the Kyuubi…' He lost his sense of awe when he realized how much stronger it made Naruto, and they had been giving Itachi a rather fitful run for his money before this, "No!" He yelled in fear of Naruto actually critically injuring Itachi in this form.

Naruto got close and jumped into the air, high over the roof over both Itachi and Sasuke, "I'll finish you both with this one move!" He placed his fists together, linking them for his favorite attack, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of Wind God)!" Naruto shot off a massive pressurized wind attack from his hands that actually found itself enhanced by a sentient swipe of Naruto's chakra tail.

The two brothers looked up in the air at the move. The only way down was to jump off of the top of the hideout, and that fall would utterly kill them. Jumping through the hole in the roof would do no good. The attack had all the power it needed to bring the place down on top of them both if it hit the rooftop.

"And now you lose Naruto-kun." Itachi said, shutting his eyes as his head was looking towards Naruto in the air, "Your wind will just make my flames burn that much hotter." His right eye trickled blood right before he opened it wide, "Amaterasu (Illuminating Heaven)!" In the literal blink of an eye, The sky was filled with jet-black covering the length of what was going to be Naruto's attack, and Naruto was falling right into it.

Sasuke looked up in awe. Naruto was dead. He was a dead man and there was absolutely nothing Naruto could do to save himself. Once the flames touched his body he would never put them out. He would burn in the fires of hell that were as hot as the sun.

The shock of seeing the sky filled with black flames, blocking his view of the Uchiha Stronghold rooftop, nearly broke Naruto's focus and forced him to drop his chakra cloak. Naruto looked down at his left arm, in particular one of the multiple tattoos on it. Wrapped around the middle of his forearm was the seal of his choice, but he had never tested it. It was meant for emergency… well if this didn't sure as hell count…

Naruto made four hand-seals, and stopped on the half-tiger seal with his right hand, holding out his left arm straight with his palm facing the flames. Either this worked or he would be ash before he hit the roof, "I love you Hamako-chan! Fuuka Houin (Fire Sealing Method)!"

"What?" Sasuke said in disbelief. That would never work. Fuuinjutsu wasn't powerful enough to contain the full power of one of the Uchiha Clan's most powerful ninjutsu even conceived

"What?" Itachi said in equal shock, his left eye bleeding from the exertion the attack put on him. There was nothing to seal the flames into even if it was powerful enough to hold the Amaterasu. What was he going to use? Neither brother could see through the density of the dark flames.

The appropriate seal that was tattooed around Naruto's forearm spread down until it covered his hand and a blue glow of chakra vapor emitted from his palm. Like a vacuum it sucked up the offending flames that Naruto was about to fall into. In a matter of seconds, Naruto had cleared the sky of the treacherous flames and he fell back down to the roof safely. He kneeled on one knee with his head down as he held his left arm with his right. His chakra cloak flickered in a living manner as usual.

"Impossible!" Itachi verbally exclaimed, far out of character, 'There was absolutely nothing to transfer the flames to! What on earth did he use? There was nothing there at all! No scroll or anything!'

Sasuke didn't know how to feel. On one hand he didn't have to use his pre-planned escape for the Amaterasu; he could save it for another emergency if he needed it. On the other hand, Naruto had once again interfered in his battle with Itachi. How did he directly overcome the Amaterasu? A seal didn't seem like it could contain the power of Amaterasu with no effect at all.

"Gaaaah!"

Both Uchiha brothers were alerted when Naruto shouted his lungs out and hunched forward, desperately holding his left arm as it twitched uncontrollably. He had never felt this much pain in his entire life. No one else could ever say that they had ever heard Naruto wail in such anguish before, and they probably never would again.

Naruto's tattoo around his forearm was glowing an intense, burning red. The flames were settling within the storage force of the seal, 'I didn't know sealing something directly into a body part would hurt so badly!' It didn't feel like any fire he had ever felt in his entire life. Naruto had been burned before, he had been burned a lot. That was nothing compared to this. He may have been alive, but he wished he had just let the fire hit him because then he would be dead by now and wouldn't feel the pain anymore.

'Kami, I want to rip my goddamn arm off!' He screamed in his mind as tears of pain pricked at the corner of his eyes. Whenever he had seen anyone demonstrate this seal's ability to hold any kind of flame without anything being burned he figured doing it on his arm would hurt, but the second the seal solidified and returned to its normal black color it would be fine, 'When Ero-kyofu and Hamako-chan used this the seal settled way quicker than this!' Unfortunately, neither of them had ever demonstrated the seal on the sheer amount of fire that Naruto had absorbed, nor had anyone ever used the seal on their own body. He let out another unholy scream that echoed out into the darkening sky and raked Itachi and Sasuke's ears.

Sasuke spared one last glance at Naruto who sounded like he would simply die of the shock the pain was causing him, 'That's what happens when you take our eyes and believe you can automatically match our power.' He thought before focusing on Itachi, who dropped to a knee and coughed up blood. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, 'No mercy… just like he showed our clansmen.' Sasuke told himself as he let his body fully take on the 2nd stage of the curse seal, "Running low on chakra Itachi?"

Itachi simply looked at Sasuke and stood back up, his left eye bleeding and blood coming from his mouth. He blurred from Sasuke's sight in a burst of speed.

Sasuke crouched in a stance of preparation before he flapped his wings and wound up smashing Itachi who had gotten behind him. However Itachi's body turned into a mass of crows that surrounded Sasuke's body. Sasuke batted them all away only to find himself ensnared tightly around his entire body in ninja wire. Sasuke struggled to get free, but the amount of wire was so thick that he couldn't break it with brute force, nor could he reach a blade.

"This is the end for you Sasuke." Itachi said, standing a ways away from his younger brother, as he had anchored the massive amount of wires into the ground with over a dozen kunai surrounding Sasuke's body, "It seems this is as far as you can go. You cannot move, you cannot escape. Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Flame Jutsu)." He said as flames flicked from his mouth to the wires he had been holding between his teeth.

Fire flickered at the edges of all of the wires and travelled along them towards Sasuke. They hit Sasuke's body just as the wires went slack. However, as the flames died down, the charred corpse of a snake revealed itself in Sasuke's place. Sasuke had desperately summoned the creature to block the fire enough to survive.

Meanwhile, Naruto was losing it. The pain from the seal he had used to absorb Amaterasu wasn't going away. His breathing was frantic and erratic… and he was drawing more of the Kyuubi's chakra out of nothing but pure desperation. At the moment he now had two tails waving angrily and batting the rooftop, raising rubble with the intensity of the strikes.

Inside of his head the Kyuubi was trying to get Naruto to calm down, **"Boy you're losing control and drawing on my chakra as a lifeline to dull the pain! You know that's only a useless crutch. That will only cause the pain you still feel to make you angrier and rely on more of my chakra!"** As he tried to talk Naruto into a calm state of mind, a third tail emerged, giving Naruto his three-tailed form, **"Tell me you understand me damn you! Don't you quit and let this slip! After all of this and you're going to make me fight your battle for you? You're going to give me the reins? If you do you'll never get them back!"** He warned Naruto.

'No!' Naruto thought to his tenant, 'I'm not handing the reins over to you. I just need to dull the pain!' On this level, the chakra began to hurt Naruto if he used it for too long and abused it. His plan was to overexert his left arm in this form to numb his arm enough for the pain of Amaterasu's sealing to go away. At least until the seal finished solidifying. After he had ordered his command to the Kyuubi he didn't hear the creature's disputes anymore and he felt most of his power fluctuating around his arm where the chakra was bubbling harshly. His arm started to shake and numb and he began to calm down. He had to make this quick. At this rate his arm would shortly be useless to him if the seal didn't settle and he couldn't feel Amaterasu anymore.

Naruto stood back up with his caustic chakra cloak stinging the air around him and his three tails whipping wildly. His left eye was blood red, while his left remained Sharingan. He had enough of sitting back and having to defend, that seemed to be all he had been doing since he had found his way to the roof, 'I can win! My old man sealed the Kyuubi in me because he knew I could grow skilled enough to beat this Madara person, well let's start with _these_ Uchiha first!'

Itachi's attention was taken from Sasuke when Naruto began drawing upon more and more of the malevolent chakra inside of his courtesy of the Kyuubi, 'This is ruining everything. At this rate, Naruto-kun will kill one of us before-.' He had to stop his thought when his Sharingan picked up Naruto beginning to move towards him. Or was it Sasuke he was coming after? It didn't matter, he still had to stop Naruto.

Before he could begin to focus a counter attack on Naruto, behind him, Sasuke emerged, cutting his way through the dead, large snake he had used to block the brunt of Itachi's last jutsu. Itachi found himself caught in a pincer between the two teens using the warped, dark powers inside of them, both of them set on killing him and each other.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto who stood behind Itachi from his point of view and noted that now he was using even more of the Kyuubi's power, 'Of course he can use more of its power. That amount he was able to summon was still a far cry from the legends told about the Kyuubi. Even now-.'

As he kept thinking, Naruto dropped to all fours on the roof and let out a deafening roar that expelled a wave of his chakra in a shockwave at the two brothers. The force of the soundwave had enough pressure behind it to turn the surface of the sturdy stone rooftop to rubble. Itachi put his hands up to keep his body from being overtly wounded from the attack, but the sleeves of his Akatsuki cloak began to burn away before he was thrown back like a ragdoll near the edge of the roof. He caught himself near the edge and pulled himself back up, breathing heavily, blood steadily coming from his mouth now, 'There's no other choice. If I don't use it I'll never last long enough…' He thought as he stood back up and coughed blood into his hand.

Sasuke's wings tried to flap back against Naruto's shockwave. This gave him a measure of protection from Naruto's caustic chakra, but he still managed to get driven back slightly. The unstable rooftop was unable to provide him a decent foothold and he found himself losing ground as he was eventually pushed off of the ground and thrown off of the roof into the air. Sasuke's wings caught him in the air and he glared at Naruto who jumped towards him in the air as he made the tiger seal and inhaled deeply, 'It has to be now. Naruto I won't let you ruin my chance no matter what!' "Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu)!"

Naruto let out a gravelly gasp of shock as coming directly at him in the air was a massive dragon-shaped fireball, with flames so hot they had dark clouds already trailing behind them. He tried to stop himself in the air with an air bubble to avert his path, but failed to do so. His normally precarious to begin with chakra control was shot to hell once he went past one-tail, substituting the power boost for the control he had painstakingly worked his entire career to hone. It was only meant to overwhelm his enemies with tremendous force, for times when having the control just didn't matter enough for him to prioritize it… and this time wouldn't be any different if he had anything to say about it.

Naruto was hit directly with the fireball the moment he let out a roar of defiance. As the attack exploded on him, the black clouds began rising to the sky, 'There. You wasted your fire absorption technique on Amaterasu. You couldn't block that. And now everything's all set up for-.' Two red claws of chakra shot out of the clouds that had formed in the air when Sasuke's jutsu hit Naruto and grabbed Sasuke by both of his arms, holding them apart, leaving his torso open for attack, "What?"

"**It's over!"** Naruto's gravelly Kyuubi-powered voice yelled from inside of the cloud before it floated up completely, revealing Naruto with steadily healing burns all over the front of his body. The two began falling back towards the roof as Naruto used his chakra arms to reel Sasuke in towards him. In his right hand was a Rasengan that had a bright burning red shell of chakra around it, **"I'll see you in hell Sasuke! **Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)**!"**

The demonically charged jutsu hit Sasuke directly in the torso. The twisted look of agony on his face, stuck in a silent scream, locked eyes with Naruto as his body started disintegrating from the point of contact on up and through on his right side. Naruto held onto Sasuke's body until his torso vanished up to the joint of his shoulder, taking out one of the points that Naruto had a hold of.

Itachi had a basically perfect view of the scene of Naruto basically destroying the right half of Sasuke's body with his Rasengan. As they fell from the air and hit the rooftop with a resounding crash, Itachi stood staring in abject horror as he could hear Sasuke gasping like a fish, "Sasuke…"

Naruto stood over Sasuke's body, staring down at the youngest Uchiha to confirm his kill. From the point where he had made contact there was simply nothing. Sasuke's entire right side was gone. He was still alive, Naruto had no idea how, but if he didn't finish him he would die in a matter of seconds. Still, there was a difference between killing someone and being cruel. Naruto formed another Rasengan, intent on ending things with Sasuke now when he heard a yell of pure rage and looked up at Itachi who had never looked at anyone with such emotion on his face in his entire life. A flock of crows flew around Itachi's body and when they dispersed a second later he was gone.

Naruto's eyes widened when he felt a punch right to the back of his head that sent him flying and rolling through the rubbled rooftop. Naruto stood up to see nothing but a flock of crows flying away, 'Itachi hit me? He actually touched me directly?' Naruto turned his head all about to catch the movements of the faster Uchiha brother, but whenever he thought he got a glimpse he just wound up seeing crows in his place before taking another hit, 'He's punching me! This should be killing him right now! Doesn't he care about being burned by the chakra?'

Itachi _didn't_ care.

Every punch felt like he was sticking his hands in a fireplace and pulling them back out, but he didn't care. Why would he have cared? Naruto ruined everything. This wasn't supposed to happen. Sasuke wasn't supposed to die. Naruto didn't know that, Itachi would never say it out loud, but he could sure say it with his actions, and each time he hit Naruto he was screaming it at him. The pain he was inflicting on Naruto and the pain that he was inflicting on himself was therapeutic to Itachi.

Naruto could keep up with him, but his lack of experience with the Sharingan allowed Itachi to take advantage of his lack of ability to prioritize his targets. When Itachi would use his crows they would only cover Itachi's sudden shifts in directions, allowing him to get closer and hit Naruto. There was no more need for him to keep the rest of his energy in reserve now, he was going to finish Naruto off for what he did to Sasuke if it killed him, and it probably would. There was no need to keep his last move under wraps any longer, if he did Naruto would just kill him too.

Naruto let out another roar and released a shockwave that threw Itachi bonelessly across the roof as the sky turned completely dark overhead, pitch black the sky seemed. Naruto had an enraged glare on his face, but it didn't seem to come close to comparing to Itachi's, who coughed more blood as he rolled through being thrown back, stopping himself easily, and faced his brother's killer. His glare turned to a look of confusion as he noticed Naruto's chakra appendages, 'Wait, he had three tails of chakra. I only see two now-.'

Naruto's third tail emerged from the ground in front of Itachi and grabbed a hold of him. Itachi let out a cry of pain at being grabbed by the harmful chakra before Naruto began slamming him all over the roof angrily.

Itachi's vision was unable to make Naruto out properly as he kept getting bashed about with the chakra tail slams, but he was able to focus enough to attempt to counter Naruto, 'You will not be taking us both without your own death Naruto.'

Naruto suddenly dropped Itachi when his chakra shroud was shattered by the black flames of Amaterasu, 'He missed!' Itachi's depth perception was off due to the beating he had taken and his own incurring blindness. Still, the attack was enough to break Naruto's hold over him with his chakra. The flames were even close enough to catch Naruto's hands ablaze, and Naruto hurriedly ripped his gloves off to keep them from leading the rest of his body to catching ablaze. He was just now getting over the agonizing pain of simply sealing Amaterasu away.

Itachi breathed heavily and stood shakily as his Akatsuki cloak was now nothing more than holey rags. There were burns all over Itachi's body where the tail had wrapped around him. He would have been lying if he said that the rainfall that had appeared from the storm clouds overhead wasn't a total relief. But when lightning started to crash, both Itachi and Naruto both looked up at the sky and saw a massive concentration of chakra in the clouds, 'Those aren't natural… Sasuke.' Itachi thought to himself.

Naruto on the other hand could see exactly how large this was going to be as the storm built power directly over the entire Uchiha Stronghold, 'Kyuubi… give me more chakra.'

"**Another tail?"** The demon said inside of his head, **"No problem-."**

'No.' Naruto thought gravely, 'That… That won't be enough. I need more. Whatever this is, I can't run from it I need more.'

"**You know you can't handle more than four! You won't be able to stay aware and protect me with your Sharingan! I will not have my power sealed by the blasted Uchiha again! Never again! I would rather you die here than fall prey to those eyes!"** A berserk Naruto in this case would be no good to the Kyuubi. It didn't have time to give Naruto all of its power which meant that it wouldn't be able to escape, and Itachi wasn't doing this attack. That meant Sasuke was still alive and had enough chakra to pull this off. If Sasuke still had the power to do this he could still subdue the Kyuubi like what was done before. Kyuubi would not have that happen again.

Naruto's Sharingan was different, it managed to convince itself when Naruto had it implanted. It was protecting the Kyuubi from the other remaining Sharingan out there that could yoke it to an Uchiha will again, and inside of Naruto's mind when he had freed the biju from its genjutsu haze that estimation had been proven as far as the Kyuubi was concerned. Death would be a welcome alternative to becoming a slave to the Uchiha again.

But Naruto wasn't having any of that.

'We can't just die here! I know you can give me the power to survive this! You can flatten mountains and raise tsunamis with swipes of your tails, you can give me enough of that to let me survive!' Naruto argued back as the power began to build in the sky and took shape. A massive mythical dragon took form, and roared from within the clouds. By this time Naruto was not going to be taking no for an answer. He dropped his concentration over his cloak, returning to normal to scream at his own mental inhabitant, his Sharingan spinning wildly. As his Sharingan saw the jutsu building, he was out of time and he knew it.

"Goddamn it Kyuubi give me enough fucking power to live through this, that's all I want!" He roared in more desperation than he had ever said anything in his life.

As his last word was uttered and echoed to the sky, it was drowned out by the ungodly blast of lightning that came from the sky in a flash and eradicated the entire Uchiha Stronghold as well as the hill it sat on.

XxX

(Moments Ago – When Naruto and Itachi began to fight alone)

Sasuke lay on the ground with the right side of his body gone, 'I have to use it!' He thought as he saw Naruto standing over him with the Rasengan in hand, prepared to finish him, 'I have to use it now!'

Before Naruto could strike, he was sent flying by an enraged Itachi, sparing Sasuke, but he still only had seconds before he would be dead on the roof the way Naruto had originally intended.

He rolled over and carved a hole in the roof with his Chidori and pushed his head through, opening his mouth widely. His mouth stretched unnaturally wide and he began to regurgitate. From the inside of his mouth, a new body started pulling its way out, like a snake shedding its old skin. Sasuke's body fell down from the ceiling and landed on the ground before taking a knee and heaving heavy breaths, 'I almost died right then!' He thought as he looked up and heard the sounds of Itachi and Naruto continuing to battle, 'Absorbing Orochimaru was a serious boon to this fight.'

Sasuke stood back up, and closed his eyes, "This is going to be my last jutsu. I don't have anything left… but." He smirked and opened his eyes, the sounds of Itachi and Naruto battling above sounding out with massive thuds against the ceiling, "It's time to achieve my ambition. They won't be able to dodge this final jutsu. No baby-Kyuubi powers, no Mangekyou Sharingan… nothing will help them avoid this."

He raised his hand into the air and channeled lightning chakra to his hand, "This is not a regular lightning jutsu. This is lightning from heaven itself, and no one walks away from it." He guided a wisp of lightning through the holes in the ceiling to the sky, "Kirin… Now disappear with the thunder." He dropped his hand straight down and all he saw was a flash of light.

XxX

(Meanwhile – With the Konoha Ninja)

"Where the fuck are we going now?" Tayuya snapped irritably. She was not having a good day. First her partner almost got her killed by the same kid that was almost indirectly responsible for getting her killed three years ago, then she found out that the first person to treat her decently was in a battle with the two Uchiha brothers, then she learned that the same person that was good to her was not only fighting the two last remaining Uchiha, he was doing it with some kind of handicap, "Pale and listless over there never told us what we were going for."

The group was being led by Sai as he headed through the woods towards their destination, "Our mission was to find the sword Kubikiribouchou or Samehada while Naruto-senpai detained whichever Uchiha we ran across." Sai's brow furrowed, "My birds located both keepers of both swords. That's where we're headed now."

"Why aren't we looking for Naruto?" Kiba said in a disgruntled manner. A friend of his was hurt and fighting dangerous people, and he had no idea where he was to help him.

Kakashi explained why, "Our mission was never to go to Naruto, nor was it to capture Sasuke. It was to locate him so that we could assist him in his mission. He's handling his portion of executing his strategy. Our job is to help ensure that the objective is achieved. Respect Naruto's decision as a squad leader. He is a jounin as well as myself, Neji, and Tayuya. He knows what he is doing." Kakashi said with full confidence.

Neji's Byakugan was out as he scouted ahead, "We're very close." In the distance he saw two men dueling with massive swords, "I believe I see the men fighting that you spoke of Sai-san."

"Very well…" Sai said, stopping and thus bringing everyone else to a stop, "I do not believe that a battle with Kisame Hoshigaki and whoever believes they can fight on par with him would be in our best interest at all."

Shikamaru looked at Tayuya with a pondering look on his face, "I have an idea of how to handle that." Tayuya wondered why he was looking at her in particular when he smirked, "They're meatheads… From what I've heard of Kisame Hoshigaki he doesn't seem to be the kind of guy that values subtlety too much."

Tayuya figured what his plan would be and returned his smirk with a rather vicious grin, "Right. Leave it to me you lazy bastard, I think I've got you." She then noticed Maki place a hand on Kiba's shoulder who was nearby, "What the fuck do you want?"

Maki had a small smile on her face, "If you're insinuating what I think you are then I think I could be of some help."

XxX

Kisame and Suigetsu were trading strikes with their respective swords. So far it seemed to be rather leisurely as far as the two of them were concerned. By leisurely of course, it's meant that while they were swinging their weapons to dismember and behead they were pleasantly bantering with one another.

Suigetsu's arms were noticeably more pumped up due to his ability to manipulate his watery body as he swung Kubikiribouchou with a casual expression on his face, "Is this all you've got Kisame-senpai? I thought you would be using all kinds of stuff on me by now?"

Kisame snorted as he blocked with Samehada and returned a slash of his own, "Yeah, like I'm going to use any water ninjutsu against the kid that can turn to water. Itachi-san's the idea man, but I'm not that stupid kid." He gave the boy a shark-like grin, "Besides, I like the fact that when I cut you to ribbons you're going to be a puddle. Seeing blood all the time gets kind of old. Are you sure sending your little friends away was the best idea?"

Suigetsu jumped back and faced off against Kisame again. The two prepared to square off again, but when they tried to move they found their bodies unable to budge, "What?"

Kisame growled as he tried to do the same but couldn't, "What's going on?"

Nearby, in hiding, Shikamaru held the rat seal, "Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possesion Jutsu) is a success. Good work girls."

"Whatever…" Tayuya muttered, looking over at Maki, "You have genjutsu skills?" Maki gave a nod while focusing on her jutsu.

Shikamaru tried to get both men to mimic his movements so that they would throw their swords over, but the resistance he was given was great, "What's going on here? It's like trying to force a bull elephant to pull an anchor by pushing it."

Maki frowned, "Sorry. It's my genjutsu, Juuryoku Satsujin (Gravity Killer). They think their bodies are five times heavier than normal. They're monsters, it took forever for them to slow down enough for you to get with one attempt. With them like this, trying to work their muscles in any way right now is a total strain. It relies on your physical strength against what their minds perceive if you want to move their bodies from the look of your jutsu."

Neji pointed out at the battle that had been stopped, "I don't think that will be much of an issue. Watch."

XxX

Sai rushed into the area and quickly drew his tanto, cutting Suigetsu's arms off and grabbing Kubikiribouchou, dragging the heavy sword behind him as he quickly retreated, "Hey you son of a bitch!" Suigetsu roared at Sai as his arms reformed, "Get back here with my goddamn sword!"

Kisame just laughed at Suigetsu, not even really caring he was captured, "Well look at you, you'd better get moving kid! You went and lost old Zabu-chan's sword! That's rich!" He laughed uproariously as Suigetsu took off after Sai, "Okay Samehada, find whoever put this genjutsu's chakra in me and get it out. Consider it a little snack." The sword made a vibrating noise and got to work on breaking the genjutsu.

XxX

In hiding, Shikamaru dropped his jutsu as his arms went limp for a moment, alerting everyone that was around him, "Geez. That actually felt like I lost my arms for a second… troublesome." He muttered while rubbing his arms.

"And now it's time to go." Maki said with a smile, "We only needed one, and Sai-senpai broke my genjutsu over the water one. It's still on Kisame."

Tayuya nodded, "Okay, let's get the fuck out of here then." She looked out and saw Suigetsu chasing after Sai, "Your friend looks like he's in trouble."

Maki shook her head, "Sai-senpai will be fine." She stood up motioned, "Shall we leave? I know where Sai-senpai is going." Kakashi nodded, "Follow me." She took off, and the others all followed her.

In the woods, Kakashi felt something off about Maki, and he lifted his headband to reveal his Sharingan eye where he immediately brought the team to a halt, "Neji use your Byakugan and check as far as you can." Before anyone could ask why, he continued, "This isn't Maki is it?"

'Maki' turned and faced them before giving a very Sai-like smile, and in a puff of smoke turned into Sai. In shock, Neji activated his Byakugan and gasped, "It's some kind of Bunshin!"

"And why couldn't I smell the difference?" Kiba asked.

The clone explained, "Maki put a genjutsu on you right before we launched our ambush on Kisame and Sasuke's acquaintance. All it did was stunt your sense of smell, and since we were already there you didn't notice it."

Kakashi nodded, "It was under a Henge. Maki must have replaced herself with one of Sai's clones, but why?"

"There are many reasons." The clone of Sai said, "But know that we are not enemies, nor have we betrayed you. I've taken you far away from any danger and on the path back to Konoha. I'm sorry, but Naruto-senpai cannot come back to the village yet. These are his orders to us, we simply carried them out in our own way. 'Let no one tail us and find me' That was what he said."

Sakura gasped, "But why would Naruto order something like that?"

Sai-clone looked at Sakura and his face went emotionless, "He didn't need others getting in the way of what he had to do. I believe he made the right choice on that front." The clone said, referencing Sakura's earlier episode with Sasuke, "By the time you get your bearings we will be long gone. You should just return to Konoha. We on the other hand, have a mission to fulfill."

Kiba growled at the clone, as did Akamaru, "You asshole!" He launched himself at the clone of Sai.

"Kiba no!" Kakashi said, as Kiba reached Sai-clone.

"Naruto-senpai will be in touch." Sai-clone said, just as Kiba's claws passed through him. The clone then exploded and covered everyone in ink. Kiba coughed and sputtered, "Urk, gross! I can't smell a thing, all I can smell is ink!"

Neji rubbed at his eyes, "I can't see. I need to wash the ink out of my eyes." He said as Sakura came to his aid and poured a canteen of water in his eyes to try to clear them, "I'm no good like this."

"Man that girl was smooth…" Shikamaru muttered, "She used the smallest distraction to get away from us; when my and her jutsu were broken by that Sai cutting that guy's arms off everyone focused on me, and she didn't miss a beat getting out of there."

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, "Naruto's got a good squad with him… to be able to get away like that. We let Sai go scot free due to the chase, and Maki used pure misdirection to slip away unannounced. Sai knew enough about her personality to have his clone portray her well enough to get us this far away." Kakashi let out a sigh, 'It will be quite some time before we can pursue.'

XxX

In the area where Kisame was left alone, he stood still, holding Samehada with a perturbed look on his face, "What do you mean looking for that little sliver of chakra in my body is like looking for a needle in a haystack? Just get it done." He said to the weapon that vibrated a reply, "Don't be a smartass, just do it."

From the trees, a certain man in an orange swirl mask appeared, "Ooh, what are you doing just standing here? This doesn't look like a very interesting place to hang out." He said brightly.

Kisame smirked, "Oh, some punks put a genjutsu on me and ran for it." He stiffly moved his head to a direction, "One of 'em went that way, I don't know how many others there were or where they went though."

This seemed to sober the man up for a moment before he returned to normal, "Okay, Tobi will go and chase the one you saw Kisame-senpai." He said with a crisp salute before taking off in that direction.

"Weird kid…" Kisame said, "Weird, but good I guess." He then realized he was still weighed down, "Man fuck this." He said as he began to walk stiffly, "Keep working on that damn genjutsu…" He ordered to Samehada, "I'm not dragging you down my arm again until it hurts me enough to break."

XxX

(With Sai and Maki)

The two were on one of Sai's birds, birds that Sai had kept to himself the full abilities of. After his birds returned to him and informed him of everyone's location he had managed to hide one very important location. The location of Naruto.

He used his birds, instead of just dispelling them, to form a secret message to Maki about the plan of action: To find an opening and leave the Konoha ninja behind, and everything had just fallen into place from there. They had the sword, they lost the Konoha ninja, Sai had ditched Suigetsu when Maki suckered him into another genjutsu that threw him off of Sai's tail, and they knew where Naruto was.

Miles away, dark foreboding clouds had just struck down a sudden massive bolt of lightning in the distance.

There was no storm that could produce lightning of that magnitude. The clouds in the sky were just for rain. The clouds in the distance were pitch black.

Neither of them said a thing. There was nothing worth saying at the moment that either of them cared to hear.

XxX

(Destroyed Uchiha Stronghold)

Sasuke stared at the aftermath of his jutsu that could double as a force of nature. The entire area was a rubble-strewn wreck, nothing was left of the hideout except tattered slabs of stone.

Itachi lay face down on the ground, motionless.

Seeing that his goal was complete, Sasuke let his Sharingan fade and dropped to his knees, his eyes starting to sag closed, "It's over… it's finally all over. I did it." He said in relief, almost in disbelief that it was truly over until he focused on the feeling of pure crushing malevolent chakra.

'No way.' Sasuke thought to himself as he rushed over to see what it was and found Naruto over the summit of a large pile of rubble. He was simply standing up, with a look of pure awe and wonder on his face. Around his body, there was a haze of red chakra that disappeared, and a layer of bone that looked like the skeleton of a fox that was draped over his back, like a pelt of some sort. It then fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Naruto swayed in place before catching his balance and his skin was red as if he had been sunburned all over.

Sasuke snapped out of his trance at seeing Naruto still standing once the feeling of the murderous intent he had by now attributed to the Kyuubi left him, "How? How are you still alive?" He asked in wonder/respect/fear, before he realized who he was talking to and grew angry, "Tell me how you're still alive!" He roared at Naruto.

Naruto didn't even focus on Sasuke's anger as he asked his question. He had just come closer to death than he ever had in his entire life twice over the course of a month; once against Pein, once here against Sasuke and Itachi. And both times the only thing that saved him was dumb luck and timely intervention from an always reliable source. Naruto answered in a whisper, "Kyuubi." Sasuke looked at him, waiting for him to elaborate, "I don't know, just… Kyuubi."

Naruto went to his thoughts to contact his chakra creature and find out what was happening, 'Kyuubi did you do that?' He asked, rather relieved, 'I told you I could handle your power, a second of using you past my limits wouldn't make me lose control. How far'd you go anyway? That was more than five tails, I felt it.' He waited and waited and got no answer. Kyuubi never responded, 'Kyuubi? Come on, talk to me here, are you pissed because I yelled at you?' He then thought of something else, 'Wait, I've never gotten you to do anything by ordering you to do it. Why this time?'

Still no answer… and it was freaking Naruto out.

He would have to worry about that later. He turned his head towards Sasuke slowly and looked at the exhausted Uchiha with his single Sharingan, "You're out of chakra." He said, not asking. It was a fact, he could find no trace of it on Sasuke's person, "I'm not." He said, getting Sasuke's eyes to widen.

Naruto's body screamed at him in pain as he turned towards the Uchiha to finish him off. Every inch of his skin was screaming at him in agony due to the full-body burns he had suffered from whatever the Kyuubi did to help him survive Kirin, but he was better off than Sasuke as he hissed lowly while grabbing his sword's hilt and slowly sliding it out of its sheath.

Sasuke was almost beside himself at this point. He didn't know how Naruto didn't know he survived, and he didn't care, because if Naruto was still alive then that meant there was a chance that-.

"So this is what you envisioned when you saw my death?"

Almost like instinct at hearing that voice, Sasuke immediately went to level two of his curse seal, "Goddamn you!" He angrily jumped back to where Itachi was laying where he saw Itachi slowly rising to his feet. Naruto moved at a more reserved pace, still trying and failing to contact the Kyuubi and letting his healing abilities handle what they could of his burns.

Around Itachi's body, a flaming ethereal skeleton rose from the ground, "If I hadn't used this I would have been obliterated. Sasuke you truly are powerful. Now bear witness to the final trump in my arsenal… Susanoo (He With The Ability To Help By All Means)." The spiritual skeleton then took the form of an armored humanoid, still surrounding Itachi. He noticed Naruto, "Consider yourself lucky to see this." He spoke to both of them, "If you have any more tricks left, I wouldn't suggest holding them back."

It had been said before by many shinobi in Konoha that Naruto had overheard speaking prior to Itachi's defection. It had been drilled into Naruto's head after Itachi left Konoha and took out his clan. Naruto knew it when he had first run across Itachi three years ago and stalled to save his own life from capture. It was a fact in Naruto's head that he carried with him for years and all the way through this mission because the elder Uchiha was the one Naruto was most wary of. Still… seeing this in front of his eyes right here, right now, Naruto had to believe that the point was if anything _downplayed _and could not be accentuated enough to complement the man.

Itachi Uchiha was a bad motherfucker.

Period.

'How can he even stand after all of this?' Naruto wondered, not so much intimidated at this point, more like amazed. Itachi had taken a beating from him when he used the Kyuubi's chakra, and he was still moving forward with this 'Susanoo'. Speaking of the Kyuubi's chakra, He still couldn't get any. He had just gotten a huge burst to help him survive Kirin and he couldn't get jack now to face off with Itachi's Susanoo, 'The whole fucking world's against me, I swear to Kami. Fine! I'll have to use _that._ Sorry Temari-chan, I know you don't like it, but nothing else is going to work this time.' Naruto said, taking Itachi's attempt at verbally goading him deadly serious. Someone like Itachi wouldn't say that if he hadn't meant it. Still why was he even saying that in the first place? Nevertheless, after almost being blown away by Kirin, Naruto wasn't counting Sasuke out either.

Sasuke took Itachi's threat more seriously and with more trepidation. Unlike Naruto, who apparently looked like he was still ready to rock and roll wounds notwithstanding, he _didn't_ have anything else. Kirin was only good for one shot, as his storm clouds had cleared after his usage, and setting the damn thing up as well as using his body shedding technique to survive Naruto annihilating the right half of his body took everything he had in the tank, 'Shit, shit, shit! What the fuck am I going to do? What now?"

"_Shall I lend you my power?"_

That voice, 'Fuck… no.' Sasuke hadn't heard whispers of that voice in his head since Naruto had defeated him all those years ago, and here it was again. In an impossible situation, only it was infinitely more powerful this time.

"_Admit it Sasuke-kun, you need me."_

'Fuck you… get out.'

"_Do you want your revenge on Itachi? Or are you just content to let Naruto-kun finish your fight for you. Kukukuku…I'm sure he'll have enough fight in him to kill you and then get rid of Itachi for you. Just wait and see."_

Sasuke grabbed his neck on the curse seal and dropped to his knees, scratching the ground with his sharper demonic nails as continued to struggle.

"_Go ahead. Unleash me and your deepest wish will be granted."_

A scream of agony from Sasuke preceded Naruto jumping away from the Uchiha avenger. Why? Because the space on his neck that housed Orochimaru's curse seal began expanding and eventually ripped through, producing eight towering snake heads. The creature was white and had spikes on each snake body.

Naruto got as far away as he could and palmed his face, "That's great… that's just fucking great…" He said to himself, 'Wake the fuck up Kyuubi!' He said inside of his head, still getting no response from the beast, 'Damn it! Am I going to have to beat these things by myself?' He growled dangerously when he saw some of the heads look over at him and open their mouths in a threatening manner.

Itachi, from within the defenses of Susanoo, looked at the massive eight-headed serpent that hissed at him and his spiritual warrior with a few of the heads, "Orochimaru's Yamata no Jutsu (Eight Branches Jutsu)… This is it." He tried to take a step forward, as did Susanoo, but when he did his leg buckled under him and he coughed blood harshly, 'No… Naruto's Kyuubi chakra is speeding up my illness.'

"No…" Itachi said, forcing Susanoo to reach for a gourd on its belt as his vision started to spin. The hydra hissed and came at Itachi, intent on destroying Susanoo, "This is what all of this was for… I won't lose now. Not yet." But a cough that did nothing but spew blood from his lips said otherwise as Susanoo started to fade.

Naruto on the other hand, was facing down three separate snake heads that wanted nothing more than to kill both him and the weakened Itachi, "I have to say…" Naruto said as the snake prepared to strike, "I'm surprised. How you managed to get something like this from Orochimaru I'll never know, and I don't care." Naruto formed two Kage Bunshin and held up his right arm with a Rasengan in it, "This was supposed to be for Susanoo, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend… and you're the biggest threat right now."

As the Kage Bunshin began to manipulate the chakra around the Rasengan, one whipping his hands in a circular motion to generate wind chakra, a white shape of four points like a fuuma shuriken formed around it, rotating as the Rasengan in the center held the entire thing together. It began to let off a loud bell-like screech that grated against the hydra, getting the heads to hiss dangerously.

"Yeah, yeah. You want to eat me, blah, blah…" Naruto muttered before he charged forward with his dangerous looking new attack in his grip, "Well you can eat this!"

The snakes moved together to prepare and attack the thing rushing towards them intent on attacking, Naruto. But before they could all slam down onto him, Susanoo smashed against them all, disrupting their effort and letting Naruto get close enough to leap at them with his jutsu to attack, "Fuuton: Rasenshuriken (Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken)!"

Naruto smashed his attack into the snake heads as they all let out a deafening simultaneous hiss.

Itachi stared at the clash after softening up the snake with what he had left to give. Naruto's Rasenshurirken caught the hydra in a vortex that ripped into its body with an uncountable number of tiny wind blades and eventually felled all eight heads, 'Amazing… Naruto you are an amazing shinobi. I can't even count the amount of attacks your jutsu causes… truly an S-ranked ninjutsu.'

Naruto fell down from his attack attempt on the snake and hit the ground hard, looking at the downed snake through half-lidded eyes as he slowly stood back up, "Got you ugly… How'd that taste?" He said, stumbling around as his left arm twitched uncontrollably.

Before any rest could be given, a single head of the snake stood up and opened its mouth and roared as something emerged from its maw. Itachi closed his eyes and stood back up, knowing this was not over, "Finally I can bring this to an end. It's time at last." As if he expected something of this nature to happen.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the person that emerged from the mouth of the snake, "I should have fucking known better… I should have known he wouldn't have killed you off that easily! Orochimaru!"

Orochimaru sat with the top half of his body sticking out of the final hydra head's mouth, and regurgitated his Kusanagi sword out, taking it in his grasp, proving that it really was him. He laughed loudly, "Yes! This is the chance I've been sitting and waiting for! This battle was perfect to force Sasuke-kun to expend his chakra and lose his ability to suppress me! Now his body will be mine, and you will both die here first!"

Naruto looked over to Itachi and Susanoo who locked eyes with him and nodded. Naruto pulled the Sennenki no Ken from his back, "The enemy of my enemy…" Naruto repeated lowly, "Sen'nen Hakkei: Ichijiraware (Millenium Release: Primary Materialization). The sword dematerialized and turned into his bladed gauntlets and greaves, "I only need a few seconds of this… I shouldn't lose much chakra…" With that he vanished in a flash of raw speed and reappeared, having run up the entire hydra and stopped in front of Orochimaru, "Anko-chan says hi." He said before driving the blades of both gauntlets through his chest, "I needed to stab you anyway. Now I don't have to chase down Kabuto the way I had planned to at first."

Orochimaru's face froze in a face of shock before his eyes moved and locked with Naruto's. He sat with Naruto's blades in him, laughing as if he were unharmed, "Your tiny blades can't harm me Naruto-kun! He slashed at Naruto's blades to make a show of breaking them to dishearten him, but he only managed to knock Naruto loose from his body. His surprise at his sword not breaking Naruto's vanished as he made the massive snake head toss Naruto into the air, "It doesn't matter Naruto-kun! You can't kill me, I'm immort-!"

He was kept from finishing his comment when he and the hydra head he was in was stabbed through with a massive sword made of liquid fire held by Susanoo. The weakened Itachi, serving as the medium providing the spirit with the ability to move and the chakra to exist smirked as his eyes bled and even more blood sat around his mouth, "Naruto-kun might not be able to kill you, but I've prepared for any little nasty surprises he had hiding… like you."

Orochimaru began to laugh again, "Do you think that any weapon that you have could possibly harm me?" He then felt himself go hazy and be drawn forward towards something uncontrollably, "No! It can't be! The Totsuka no Tsurugi! You had it all along!" He said, his voice distorting as he and his hydra were all sucked into the gourd on the hip of Susanoo.

Sasuke's body lost all traces of the Hydra, or Orochimaru, or his curse seal. Everything, as it was all drawn into the gourd and sealed away, shut tight. Sasuke sat on his knees exhausted and out of chakra. Like it or not, Orochimaru's surprise appearance was his last gasp in this fight, and Itachi knew it, "This is the end Sasuke. It's all over." His eyes no longer had their Mangekyou Sharingan design, just the red irises of the original kekkei genkai.

Sasuke sat on his knees, unable to stand as he didn't even have enough chakra to turn his Sharingan back on anymore. Naruto had torn him apart during the fight. All of the injuries, all of the jutsu he had used to keep pace with Naruto and Itachi throughout the fight, he had nothing left.

"Your eyes are mine." Itachi said, walking forward weakly and panting heavily. He was hardly able to keep his eyes open as he slogged ahead, "I'm going to savor-. *cough cough*" An intense coughing fit brought Itachi to his knees as the form of Susanoo started to fade away and his blood stained the ruins of what was once the stronghold of their proud clan.

The sound of a high-pitched ringing screech directed their attention to the side, where Naruto was walking towards them, limping through the debris of the battlefield and holding another Rasenshuriken. In addition to his body count of wounds, his Root top had been ripped open through the front, revealing a seal tattoo on the front of his chest, "Sasuke you idiot…" Naruto said quietly, "You almost gave Orochimaru exactly what he wanted… your eyes. That madman would have killed us all. I'm going to finish this right now, to keep you from doing something else to destroy the world, idiot. You had your chance to surrender at the start."

"How did you live through getting thrown into the air like a ragdoll?" Sasuke asked weakly.

Naruto kept moving forward not even blinking as he held the Rasenshuriken and found his way to even ground over all of the rubble without, "I can run on the air asshole. Thanks for that by the way. As if I hadn't had enough happen to me today I had to fight Orochimaru too." His footsteps started speeding up until he broke into a run towards Sasuke, but his speed was a far cry from the pace he had been moving at during the battle.

"Fuck you!" Sasuke yelled at Naruto as he tried to stand and get away. He tried, but his legs were next to useless like Naruto's. He couldn't even manage to run.

"Sasuke get away!" Itachi moved in front of Sasuke and cut Naruto off from reaching him as Susanoo's arm descended down with a shield on its arm to block Naruto's Rasenshuriken.

Naruto grit his teeth as he continued to run forward. What was Itachi made of to keep going like this? Was everyone sure that there were only nine jinchuuriki in the world? Because in Naruto's view Itachi was certainly making his case for being a tenth. Why would he block for Sasuke? How could he still keep doing this? What in the world was keeping him up? "Both of you are going down Itachi, I don't care what kind of defense you have, Rasenshuriken can cut through it!"

Itachi simply focused on blocking Naruto's attack, his eyes pouring blood like tears at this point, 'It doesn't matter how strong your new jutsu is or what its element is comprised of Naruto-kun… Susanoo's Yata no Kagami (Eight Span Mirror) can render it null.' He thought until a sick grinding noise signified Rasenshuriken slowly carving its way through. A peek of the spinning white blade of the jutsu poked through and the hole just started steadily growing larger and larger until the jutsu started cutting into Susanoo itself.

'There's nothing Rasenshuriken can't cut through.' Naruto thought, holding his right eye shut either in concentration or as a desperate effort to hold the last dregs of his chakra, 'It's my strongest jutsu and my last shot to finish this. Itachi can't live! If he takes Sasuke's eyes and grows as powerful as Madara Uchiha originally was then I'll have _three_ monsters to deal with!' Naruto continued to push further and further into Susanoo, getting closer to Itachi at the core.

Sasuke could only watch on. He had no chakra left, and nothing to penetrate Susanoo. He couldn't attack Itachi to ensure his revenge, and if he had then Naruto would simply kill him with his Rasenshuriken. Hell even if Naruto got through and hit Itachi directly to finish him he could still keep going and hit him with it.

Itachi dug as deep as he possibly could. Finding enough chakra to power Susanoo and the shield to stop the rest of Rasenshuriken from punching through and hitting him, 'Naruto you will _not_ be getting past me today! You will not have Sasuke!'

Naruto's attack arm started going into spasms uncontrollably, only this time he couldn't will it to stop, 'No, hold out a little bit longer!' Naruto pleaded with his body, 'I'm inches away! I'm almost there!' Using the Rasenshuriken injured Naruto's arm, not like using Rasenriseki. Rasenriseki was a fire and forget attack and it didn't have the focused destructive power that Rasenshuriken had. If he had shot that at Itachi it wouldn't have gotten through, it would have been deflected. Naruto could keep plowing ahead with his Rasenshuriken until it broke through, but also unlike his other Rasengan improvement, using this attack legitimately had risks for him.

Rasenriseki would just paralyze his arm for a few hours. Prolonged use of Rasenshuriken like this tore Naruto's arm apart from the inside out, doing cellular damage.

He had never held onto it this long for that reason, and this was why his arm would fail before he was done.

A wicked explosion of air rocked Susanoo, the dome of white, blinding wind cutting every single stone of rubble in its wake to a fine gravel. From the smoke of the blast, Naruto's body rocketed lifelessly into the air and into the side of one of the large hills off near the Uchiha Stronghold in the hidden valley it was situated in. His entire front was covered in small cuts from the backlash of his jutsu and Susanoo stalemating.

Knocked to the ground, Sasuke covered his eyes as the dust cleared from Itachi and Naruto's clash where he found Itachi still standing with his back facing him, his ponytail swaying in the leftover wind from the attack. But this wasn't what Sasuke took note of. He especially didn't pay attention to the wisps of rapid moving wind that dissipated in front of Itachi's body just as the smoke from the attack and defense left the area. Only one thing mattered to Sasuke.

Susanoo was gone.

Itachi was defenseless. His spectral protector was gone. And Sasuke stood; no Naruto in his way, no Orochimaru in his head waiting to take his body, no Susanoo to take his best shot in Itachi's place, nothing.

Sasuke drew his chokuto, holding it in a reverse grip, and limped forward towards Itachi with his Sharingan still off, 'It's time… finally. You'll take my eyes Itachi? I doubt it. Over my dead body...' He thought as he kept limping forward, his vision going blurry. Itachi turned around, alerting Sasuke, but his appearance made him second-guess Itachi's condition.

Itachi had blood dripping from every orifice in his head, his entire front was covered with cuts just like Naruto.

Sasuke continued to stalk forward and weakly drew his chokuto back as Itachi lifted up one of his hands, covered in his own blood. Sasuke sneered, thinking Itachi was going to beg off, or had one last trick up his sleeve. But when he got close enough for a killing strike, Sasuke was shocked when all Itachi did was tap him on his forehead, just like when he was a little boy, mouthing words he had no power left to speak.

A stunned Sasuke could only watch as Itachi fell forward onto his shoulder and rolled off to the ground where he didn't move again. Sasuke just stared at the unmoving Uchiha as the blood from Itachi's hand trailed down his forehead. Once again, thunder clapped and the clouds began to rain down onto them all, only this time it was natural.

Sasuke stared down at Itachi for what seemed to be an eternity before looking up at the sky where tears began to well in his eyes. They eventually started to stream down his face and mix with the rain as he screamed out in anguish, "Damn you Naruto! Damn you! Why is it always you? It was supposed to be me! I was the one that was supposed to finish him, Itachi was my fight!" Sasuke dropped to the ground on his knees and punched the ground several times, each time weaker than the last, "He was mine…" He said, his Sharingan activating one last time in a strange pattern before falling the rest of the way forward on his face where he didn't move again.

Sasuke and Itachi's bodies just sat in the rain untouched for quite some time until Madara Uchiha appeared in his orange mask and Akatsuki attire. He looked down at the two brothers for a few minutes, just standing in the rain, "You're slow Zetsu." He finally said.

From the ground, the body of the plant-man emerged, "Well we can't all move through time and space like you." Zetsu said snappishly as he looked at Itachi's non-breathing body, **"I almost couldn't believe it when I saw it... but I'm looking at it right up close and personal. The last Uchiha was actually killed."**

"Did you record the battle?" Madara asked impatiently, incredibly upset by the turn of events.

"**Did I ever."** Zetsu replied, "You're probably going to find a good many interesting things about that fight. But we're probably just going to leave now, right?" He asked, getting a nod from Madara. He pointed over to a hill a few miles to the side, "The Kyuubi jinchuuriki is over-." He saw a bird land over on the same hill and take off soon thereafter with another new one following it, **"-Oops. Nevermind."**

XxX

In a crater in the side of a distant hill overlooking what was once the Uchiha Stronghold and the hill that it sat on top off, Naruto's eyes were fluttering open and shut as he tried to crawl out, "I've got to get up… I've got to get up. *pant pant*" He crawled to the edge of the hill and looked down over the distance of well over a mile and saw no ethereal flames, no giant warrior, nothing.

Naruto kept panting heavily as he rolled over painfully onto his back and used his good left arm to touch the tattoo on his right arm. He had to correspond to Hamako to let her know that he was okay before he blacked out. After his episode with Pein he had decided to always tell her the results of anything that had happened to him, lest he let the world think that he was dead for a second time.

He thought of a message until he saw Sai fly overhead. As he landed nearby and dismounted his ink bird, Naruto saw a flash of silver on the bird's back and relayed his message to Hamako, _"Mission accomplished. Heading to Mizu no Kuni to deliver sword. Tell Tsunade-baachan not to worry."_ He sent before he blacked out.

Sai saw Naruto lose consciousness and picked his leader up to carry him over to their ride as the rain continued to pour, "Good work Naruto-senpai." He said as he placed Naruto on his bird with Maki and created his own for himself. After making sure Maki had Naruto secured on the bird, they both took off.

While he circled the site of the battle and saw the fallen bodies of Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha, he prepared an explosive note to a kunai to throw down and eradicate the bodies. Next to the two fallen figures on the ground, he saw Tobi appear out of thin air. He picked up both bodies and looked up at him in the air before he seemed to just disappear again.

On her bird, after seeing the man with the mask look at what she knew was Naruto, she held onto him tightly as if he would just pull him right in away from them until he simply left. Sai narrowed his eyes and grunted before flying away.

* * *

Jutsu List

Juuryoku Satsujin (Gravity Killer). C-ranked genjutsu. Supplementary. All ranges. This technique increases in potency over time. Each minute, the opponent will feel like their clothing, tools, weapons, and generally anything they carry, has doubled in mass. This can cause targets to start slowing down, or against those rather weak against genjutsu, may even cause them to grow tired.

* * *

**I hope that worked out fine for all of you because I had a blast writing that. It's late, you don't care. You got your fix, now go out there and be somebody!**

**If all went according to plan, I pulled that off well. Next chapter is the fallout and all of the good stuff that comes with that. I left some burning questions, some stuff that might pique your interest to find out later, some stuff that will stick with you as you read ahead, some hints that you might have or might not have gotten, and all kinds of stuff for the next arc.**

**I'll catch you all later. I hope the trio of chapters recently have been to your liking, as I enjoyed doing them… even though my brain hates me and is smashing itself against my skull as I type this.**

**Anyway, I'll hopefully catch you all next time around. Kenchi out.**


	48. No Reset Button

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If you read between the lines, you'll find that within each chapter of this story is a hate filled secret message filled with insults, obscene remarks, and doubts of Kishimoto's manhood directed around my lack of owning Naruto.

…Oh, nevermind. Those are just most of the _other_ disclaimers.

Enjoy the chapter.

**Chapter 47: No Reset Button**

* * *

(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)

The body of Pein's arguably most powerful path, the body that had once been his childhood friend Yahiko, stood on a balcony high up in his own personal tower and looked out over the steady strewn rubble that a good portion of his village still lay in. The cleanup of the village had been slow as Pein had directed village resources towards one thing.

Trying to unearth the corpses that he had kept preserved for… certain purposes. And it had been a waste of time in the end.

By an act of God-. No not God. He was God.

By an act of pure, dumb luck in its purest and most genuine form, Danzo's Root force had decided to attempt to sack the village during Naruto and Jiraiya's battle against Konan and himself, scattering much of his force and destroying much of the village in what seemed to be mostly diversionary and stalling tactics that allowed Naruto and Jiraiya to somehow escape. One of these tactics wound up being demolishing the building that Pein kept to have his extra bodies preserved and stored for potential usage in case of one's outright destruction or loss, like that of his Anima Path that had been captured by Jiraiya before his and Naruto's eventual defeat.

It was pure coincidence as they had no way of knowing what they had done, as it was a well kept secret. The only thing anyone in Ame knew about his use for certain bodies was that they would take them to his tower where they would never be seen again until reanimation, and that would be where they remained until they needed to be used by him. His bodies that had been kept were buried under the rubble of the felled building. He couldn't use just any regular body for his Anima Path. Not only did the bodies need to be specially prepared, they needed to be in general powerful bodies under their own right. The ones that had been found had suffered from the runoff generated by the constant rain in Ame and had become bloated and grotesque. Unusable for what he needed them for.

The battle in Ame had produced no such casualties that Pein could use. There were mostly cannon fodder genin that were cut down in the streets by Naruto trying to keep him in place for Konan and by the Root that had gotten into the village. The few higher level shinobi that had engaged Naruto directly had been lost when Naruto cornered himself inside of an apartment skyscraper only to demolish it from the inside and escape by jumping out. Those bodies were utterly obliterated and unfit for any kind of usage… the ones that were still in one piece anyway.

This was only the first of the headaches that the Akatsuki leader had been facing. His control over his own organization was steadily fading. Most of his forces were dead or out of commission for good; Sasori, Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidara, and now Itachi had wound up being defeated as well. The rest of his comrades he couldn't trust with the exception of perhaps Kisame. It was clear that Zetsu took orders all the way from the top so to speak, from Madara Uchiha who had been under the guise of Tobi to keep a firsthand eye on the organization he had 'masterminded'.

Things had been unraveling around him as far back as several years ago when Orochimaru betrayed the group, trying to take Itachi's body for himself and failing, but as more and more time dragged on the back-schemes grew and grew. Kakuzu had killed several of his own partners in the past out of greed and anger, depleting the potential replacements for the group before the time for the plans to be carried out ever even took place. Itachi had planned for all of this to happen with Sasuke, directly going against their group for his own objectives. Having seen the battle play out he had many things to think about in the future.

The most unsettling thing that was grating on Pein's nerves was Madara. Instead of simply letting things go as they had been, the mysterious Uchiha had been asserting his place as the mastermind to try and force Pein into certain actions. He not too long ago during the strife of battle between the brothers Uchiha and Naruto had come and ordered Pein to attack Naruto and even Konoha if he had to. There were at least two reasons as to why that would be frowned upon.

First of all Jiraiya survived and learned the secret of his technique. There was no doubt in his mind that there were countermeasures set up to prepare for him if it came down to it now. Handicapped or not, Jiraiya was a dangerous man, and there was an entire village to contend with as well.

Attacking Naruto would do no good either at the moment. Despite his defeat earlier, Naruto had already been fatigued from fighting Konan and the entire damned village. His skeletal frame had also been destroyed by whatever that technique was that manipulated his entire physical composition. After seeing Naruto's last battle Pein knew, Naruto would be dangerous to fight at full power, and that was the thing about it. Pein wasn't at full power. With a lack of Animal Path he was missing a significant sliver of his combat prowess, and Naruto would have backup from the looks of things to even his odds if he were to attack now.

He needed a body for his new Animal Path. Only then would he plan an attack against Naruto. Underestimating Naruto and going in half-cocked would get him killed since he had to take Naruto alive and Naruto had no such qualms about taking him out.

And he had a deep seated desire to eradicate any and all aspects of Konoha Root, in particular, the mastermind Danzo Shimura. The man had been moving about in the shade since before Pein's time and was as cunning as he was seemingly mysteriously powerful, with no fear of any shinobi of any caliber despite his outward appearance making him out to be injured and frail. He had caused Pein more harm and had been a thorn in his side for decades. His perpetual use of shadowed military force to move things to his choosing left Pein weary. He had his troops positioned close enough to Ame out of his range of perception to be able to head right in when there was a window of opportunity, taking advantage of the calamity provided by Naruto and Jiraiya.

Pein looked out over the village and narrowed his Rinnegan eyes. He would take no order from Madara that he didn't see as viable. No one would tell God how to enforce his will, and he would handle his own affairs first. No one else's would be prioritized. Madara had no control over him, "I need a new body for the Animal Path… Then I will make Naruto Uzumaki and Danzo Shimura feel the pain of my people for their treachery."

XxX

Konan sat on the very edge of the top of Pein's tower with an origami figure in her hand. A sudden breeze shifted and blew the paper figurine away from her hands as she ignored the rain that had become as natural in Ame as sunlight was in other places.

The suffering of those that had been rendered homeless in the battle that had taken place not too long before this had been propagated by Pein directing all forces to search the ruins of the city. Not for their loved ones lost, not for anything they felt necessary to find and recover, but for any sign of an intact body that had belonged to Pein for future use as one of his paths.

'He's starting to become no more different than Hanzo was…' She thought to herself rather bitterly. What had changed since Hanzo's death? Nothing had changed at all. If anything, the only thing that had occurred was even more death in Ame than before. Pein had killed anyone with any sort of attachment to Hanzo at all. Any relations to the man, even anyone walking down the street that muttered anything positive about the last leader of the village and was overheard found themselves quite dead.

On the same outlook, Ame was still isolationist and didn't seem to be making any signs of changing that anytime soon. With the battles that had been fought during the coup the nation's overall military might was weaker than ever, the failed attempt to corner and capture Naruto Uzumaki when he infiltrated the village led to a wide-scale pitched battle that left a segment of the village in ruins with even more collateral damage throughout, and in the aftermath even now efforts of relief were just now being initiated as Pein had instead used the citizens of the village who believed in him… or his might… to attempt to exhume the bodies of his potential future paths.

This was clearly no longer about Ame the way things were supposed to be, the way Yahiko would have wanted it to be. It wasn't about making the world better at this point. It simply seemed like Pein wanted everyone to suffer like Ame had. That was all that his major plan would have entailed. Yahiko would never have wanted that. All these years and with all of Pein's power nothing had changed at all.

Madara Uchiha was trying to strong-arm his way back into Akatsuki as if he had been running things all along. He left them alone for years to do their own thing, to set up their own operations and fund things on their own dollar after setting the base groundwork. They had amassed all of the recruits with the exception of Itachi and the principles that the group operated under were supposed to be their own brainchild.

Something was wrong with all of this and she could feel it. Things were being shifted and positioned about around them and they were being directed by Madara Uchiha. She and Pein were the equivalent of chess pieces in a major game, and she was certain that they weren't intended to be anything much more significant than pawns or at the best, knights.

Akatsuki was on the verge of splitting altogether. The plans and original intentions that had started the group so many years ago seemed to have run into a brick wall fortified by iron due to the will of a man that should have died decades ago.

And their country was still crying… literally and figuratively… because Pein literally would not allow it to stop.

XxX

(A Hidden Location)

Inside of a dark cave, a pair of eyes opened and saw nothing but dark. The man sat up and felt that there were bandages on his copious amount of wounds, including bandages over his eyes.

"Danzo's pet fox sure did a number on you and your brother." The voice said again, "You _did_ know that's how he was so strong during your first encounter didn't you? Danzo trained him personally." The man that had just awakened barely registered what he was hearing. Danzo? No, Danzo swore… he made Danzo swear to leave Sasuke alone. What was this? "You didn't believe that steps wouldn't be taken to ensure that he never had to keep your promise?"

'No. Naruto knew nothing of the situation. If he had, he would have left. He wouldn't have fought, would he have?'

"I gave you first aid." Turning towards the sound of the voice the man saw nothing but heard footsteps moving through the dark towards him, "It looks like you achieved your goal after all… right?" The voice sounded completely amused.

The bandages over his eyes, 'No… It couldn't be… Madara you had better not mean-.' The person thought with increasing trepidation in his heart.

"I mean… just in the nick of time too. You were as blind as a bat." Madara stood and crouched directly in front of the person and reached for the bandages around their eyes to touch at them "I took the liberty of implanting them already Itachi. You're welcome. You should keep them on for a while though, to let them heal and settle."

Itachi reached up and touched his bandages, voice quivering with shock and horror, "No… no. What? Why? What do you-? What do you mean?" He asked in disbelief.

Madara stood up and walked away from Itachi, "What? You mean how did Sasuke die and you didn't? You thought you protected him from Naruto's final attack didn't you?" He let off a short laugh that lacked any humor, "The first time Naruto used that new jutsu of his on Orochimaru's Yamata no Jutsu form did you think that the hydra was the only thing that took damage? Sasuke took every single hit, Orochimaru just regenerated his wounds for him so that he could finish using his jutsu before taking his body for himself in the end. That attack hit everything that it touched. Sasuke was already beaten before you ever sealed Orochimaru's spirit, before you ever jumped in front of him to shield him from Naruto. He drove the nail in his own coffin when he activated his Sharingan for the last time. And you're not dead because Naruto took the brunt of Sasuke's attacks and Orochimaru's hydra."

"How?" Itachi roared. It hurt to move and he couldn't even stand. He fumbled around trying to stand up, to grab anything to help him, but to no avail, "How did he die? How could he have died? He was alive, I saw it! I saw him!"

Madara shook his head, "You couldn't see your own hand in front of your face. Sasuke was going to die no matter what after taking that attack. Whatever Naruto did it affected him on a cellular level. He severed so many nerve channels that the only thing keeping Sasuke moving until the end was his own body's futile attempt at using adrenaline to run temporary damage control. His chakra circulatory system was torn asunder as well. The second he activated his Sharingan out of anger he basically set off a timebomb near his heart where the chakra centralized from."

Itachi began silently crying. His bandages stained with tears as he let his body collapse on the ground. He didn't try to get back up, he just lay there, crying over his loss.

Madara just stayed there, staring at Itachi for a moment before turning to let him alone, "You very well may possibly go on to be even stronger than me now Itachi. Whether you wanted it or not, it is what it is. When you take those bandages off you will never see the world the same way again. I expect you to carry out your duties per usual after you heal. I will send Kisame to you." He said as he seemed to fade into nothing, "And don't you ever try to plot against me again Itachi… you've obviously seen where that got you in the end."

Itachi let out a haunting wail of futility, "Damn you Naruto, it wasn't supposed to be him! You killed him! You ruined everything!" He broke down into weeping even more, slamming his fist onto the stone floor desperately, "It was supposed to be me…"

XxX

(Mizu no Kuni – Hospital)

Naruto sat alone in his hospital bed with a hospital gown on, bandages on his body and around his head covering his right eye, and his right arm in a brace. He had been brought there after being picked up by his team and had been treated for his wounds quickly. After sleeping for an entire day he finally awoke to find himself in Kiri with Maki and Sai in his room at his side.

He poked at the brace and flexed his fist. This would heal soon. Yep, and Temari never had to find out that he had used Rasenshuriken, and he wouldn't get a beatdown from her fan for doing it. Rasenriseki was a safer bet long term to use, but if he missed then he wasted the use of an arm for the duration of the battle. He could use Rasenshuriken twice due to being more in-tuned with that element before he took any damage, but Itachi… Itachi simply would not let him get through. He couldn't cut all the way through Susanoo, he was inches away and he just couldn't do it.

Naruto played back the battle in his head and groaned to himself softly. What was wrong with him? In the back of his mind, he believed he could have had the happy ending. He believed that he could have gotten Sasuke to help him fight Itachi and then surrender. He didn't know that Sasuke wouldn't allow anyone else to kill Itachi but him, and wouldn't accept anyone trying to do so.

He held back on Sasuke early, but the more Naruto tried to bypass him and attack the brother that seemed to be the stronger of the two, Sasuke became more enraged. He attacked with more and more malice and Naruto responded with force in kind. After Sasuke had called down Kirin, Naruto had had enough, and when he actually called on Orochimaru's power to possess his body it was time for Sasuke to go. If nothing else, Sasuke had to die that day.

But he had waited too long, had focused on Itachi. He gave Sasuke too many chances to escape, to try again, to find another way because in his head he remembered Team 7. He remembered Sakura, and despite her faults he didn't want to kill the only thing that had driven her to grow. For the bulk of the fight he had given Sasuke a pass when he focused on Itachi instead, much like Orochimaru had been given by Jiraiya years ago, and just like Jiraiya he paid for it. After he sealed away Amaterasu it was too late for focusing on Sasuke alone.

He missed his shot at killing Sasuke when he realized that bringing Sasuke back alive still left him as a dangerous loose end. The man almost brought Orochimaru back and gave him the Sharingan he desired so intensely, and by the time Naruto was committed to the kill it was too late. Damn 'Will of Fire'… Sometimes it was a bad thing to hold back and to try and understand your enemy's point of view. Naruto recognized that some people needed to be finished off while he had the chance. For the sake of the ninja world some people had to die, whether Naruto knew them personally or not. Sasuke had lost his opportunity for redemption that day.

Neither brother died that day. He hadn't been able to finish off Sasuke or Itachi because he had skirted around picking off the weakest link while he could. He fucked up… or he would have if Sai and Maki hadn't gotten Kubikiribouchou away from Sasuke's ally.

His decision was flawed, he let his social morals interfere with his morals in battle when he walked into that room without letting Itachi and Sasuke tear each other apart until he was revealed. And in the end he was unable to finish either man. He only wondered what had become of them after his team had evacuated him from the area. Neither of them looked like they would be going anywhere. But this would come back on him somehow, he knew it would. Next time there wouldn't be a chance for any enemy of his to wiggle out and survive. If you were an enemy of Konoha or the alliance Naruto was setting up, you were an enemy of his, and he would destroy you.

His time in the light taught him how to protect, but now it was time for him to remember how to kill again. Madara Uchiha would not give him any chances, he would rip the Kyuubi from his body gleefully, just like he would do to Gaara, Yugito, and Kirabi. Not if he had anything to say about it.

The door opened to his room and the sounds of a cane tapping against the ground alerted him to the familiar bandaged appearance of Danzo walking in. The man raised his only visible eyebrow as he looked at the bandages around Naruto's head, "So you seem to be modeling yourself after me now."

"Not by choice Danzo-jiji." Naruto said with a shrug, "Why am I not surprised you're here?"

"I am an important figure in Konoha Naruto-kun." The old man said, "I'm as much a representative as Koharu and Homura. I am allowed to go on diplomatic excursions as well and Tsunade allowed me to be the one to come here to confirm the message you sent." He reached into his robe and pulled something out. A small box that he threw over to Naruto, "By the way, your lover, the one that trained you in sealing, she gave this to Tsunade to give to me to give to you."

'Hamako-chan?' Naruto wondered as he looked at the box. He touched the tip of his communication tattoo to contact his white-haired teacher/lover, _"Hamako-chan, you sent something to me?"_

"_Yes."_ The response came quickly, _"After you told me of your injury and intention to fight the Uchiha I worked on something for you. I didn't know when you would be able to receive it so I worked quickly. I hope you like it."_

Naruto looked at the box and tried to open it, only to realize she had placed a seal on it to keep someone else from getting it. Danzo had no way to see what it was before delivering it, so Naruto saw that he was still standing there, looking at him blankly, waiting for him to open it.

Naruto frowned before deciding to open the box. He bit his thumb and dragged it across the box to force it to click open where he saw a neat row of several small concave, clear little circles. He questioningly activated his tattoo again, _"Contact lenses?"_

"_Special contact lenses Naruto-sama. Put one on and find out what I mean."_

Naruto shrugged and pulled away his bandages from his eye, keeping it shut until right when he had the lens prepared to place into his eye. He heard Danzo gasp, but ignored it as he pushed the lens against his eye and blinked. Upon blinking he found his Sharingan turned off, 'What the hell?' _"What the hell did they do Hamako-chan?"_

"_Consider it your eyepatch like Kakashi-san uses to keep his covered. I outfitted several of them with a design of your eye pattern and color, to cover the eye when you don't need it. I also put in seals that would make the design transparent when you channeled chakra to your eye, so that you could get to it without having to take the lens out. "_

Naruto got up and walked into his bathroom where he looked into the mirror and saw two blue eyes staring back at him, "Holy shit. Hamako-chan I swear I love you." And he proceeded to send that message out to her.

"_Anything for Naruto-sama. I'll see you soon?"_

"_I don't know. I'll tell you when I'm certain._" He sent back as he walked into the room with Danzo who was staring at him. Naruto was not in the mood to beat around the bush at the moment, "Yes that is what you thought it was. No I don't want to hear anything from you about why I have it. It was either use it or go in fighting with only one eye. And I don't need you to tell me a damn thing about the decision I made, or should we talk about _yours_?" He said, keeping any of the questions he thought Danzo would ask out of the conversation.

Danzo walked over to a nearby chair and sat down, "Why did Sai nor Maki inform me of your new addition, so to speak, when I spoke with them before?"

Naruto shrugged, "Because they knew better than to go around telling my business before it needed to be known I guess. No one knows how badly I was hurt during the mission except for them, Hamako, and now you. And I only told you so you could tell me Danzo-jiji…" He said before shutting his eyes to find what he wanted to say, "You worked with Orochimaru years ago. Gave him something in exchange for having your own Sharingan implanted, or so I've heard. Apparently mine is a leftover. You probably sent me into the base to either find it or destroy it all those years ago as a double cross."

"It couldn't be allowed to be studied and analyzed any further than I had allowed. Who knows what might have been done to it to strengthen it past what it already was." Danzo simply crossed his hands over his cane, "And how did you come across this information, or that eye? It is… very familiar in its feel of chakra to say the least."

Naruto immediately answered, "Kabuto Yakushi told me and gave it to me in exchange for attempting to take Sasuke down for him. Now I don't even need to know how you got the eye in the first place because I already know where it came from, there's only one place and time possible. But something's eating at me about all of this. If you were able to get to the eye in the first place and get away with it you needed to be aware of the massacre in the first place, and Itachi, after we got out of his genjutsu, didn't fight like a man that wanted to kill the rest of his clan."

Danzo narrowed his single eye at what Naruto was beginning to imply, "What are you saying boy?"

"You already know what I'm going to say." Naruto replied without trepidation for who he was talking to, "Itachi went out of his way, out of his way, to make sure I didn't kill Sasuke. He went out of his way to protect Sasuke from my last attack. When he thought I had killed Sasuke earlier in the battle he completely lost it and attacked me recklessly. Why?" He asked as Danzo seemed to just stare at him, 'What am I doing? I don't need to know this? I'd better drop the whole-.' Naruto stopped his train of thought, 'Wait a minute, why the fuck would I think that?' He immediately channeled chakra to his eye and saw the chakra focusing on him from Danzo's eye, "Don't fuck with me Danzo-jiji!" He yelled with his Sharingan active once more, "I swear if you don't stop using whatever it is you just tried I'm going to rip that goddamn thing out and turn it into a pendant!"

Danzo didn't seem to be shaken by this, "What are you talking about?"

Naruto wanted to stomp over and rip the Sharingan out of his head just out of principle, "Whatever it was you just tried to do with your special little implant. I just saw you use it! Don't dodge the fucking question. I just got through fighting the two bastard, I've got a lot of things to mull around in my head while I'm sitting here. So why don't you tell me a story before do all of that, and maybe I'll tell you one as well." Naruto said rather snappishly.

Danzo let out a great sigh before pointing to his throat and shaking his head. Naruto understood that meant not to talk, but communication still needed to occur somehow. At that moment, Danzo lifted up the bandages over his eye and looked right into Naruto's for just a moment. Naruto didn't even bother trying to block it as he realized that's how they were going to be able to talk.

The two just stared at each other, with one Sharingan active for each, for about thirty seconds in real time. Over the course of thirty seconds, Naruto's faced twisted further and further in distaste and shock before the genjutsu he was under to speak had ended and he quietly hissed an exclamation, "What the fuck? You fucking told him to do what? Kill them all?" Danzo nodded and Naruto's jaw dropped. Danzo, Homura, Koharu, and Hiruzen Sarutobi had convinced Itachi to kill every member of the Uchiha Clan except Sasuke, "H-H-He's a hero…" Naruto said falling back onto his bed in shock, "All of these years he lived with that… he's a goddamn hero. A better man than me." He looked down at his hands, "He wanted Sasuke to kill him. To end it all right there."

Naruto wasn't sure he could ever pull the same thing off if he had been forced to. He had no family, thus everyone that he wound up getting particularly close to he loved them all. They were his family. To kill any of them; Hamako, Temari, Gaara, Kankurou, Yugito, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Tayuya, all of his friends he had been genin with, hell even Maki and Sai. He would have trouble pulling the trigger with even one, he just a few days ago remembered hesitating to put Sasuke down early in their battle because he had been on Naruto's squad for most of a year and had bled alongside him as a comrade. Itachi did all of that and more to stop warfare. He killed his actual family.

"Kill hundreds… save thousands." Naruto said to himself as if he were trying to put himself in Itachi's shoes before finally shaking his head, "No, Danzo-jiji, you've got the wrong man to be Hokage…" He said, "I understand… I understand everything you've ever told me. Why you've done it… hell even keeping the Sharingan from me I can see why you did that. I can't… I would never be able to…" He composed himself, "I don't think I would have ever been able to order that to be done."

"Then what would you have done?" Danzo asked in return. He legitimately wanted to know.

"I don't know!" Naruto replied. He was being put on the spot here, how was he going to answer that in three seconds, "But I would have come up with something! How long had you known it was going to happen? What did you do to keep them quelled? Damn it, you could have done something else!" He said as he punched a wall nearby, cracking it, "An entire clan… and you guys killed them just like that. There was no bringing this issue to them? You couldn't spare a word."

"It was to protect Konoha Naruto-kun." Danzo said, not put off by Naruto's show of emotion, "We believed that the Uchiha Clan were responsible for the Kyuubi's attack and the coup they were planning couldn't be ignored.

"I know that!" He said, "I told you I understood why you did it, but there was a better way to handle it!" Naruto calmed himself down. Danzo didn't know. Nobody but him knew. No one else had the pieces of the puzzle that fit together like he had, but if it came to that he wouldn't have ordered Itachi to kill his own family. That was simply sick, "For fuck's sake you couldn't have sent anyone else? It had to be him that did it? You and fucking Homura and that old bat Koharu couldn't get anyone else to do it?" Naruto thumped his chest with his fist, "We would have done it! I would have done it for him! That's what Root was for wasn't it? Protecting Konoha from the shadows?"

Danzo frowned at Naruto's overestimation of Root, "How difficult was it for you, after all of these years of training and with a Sharingan of your own, to fight and walk away from your battle with just _two_ Uchiha? Itachi was the very best. Do you really think that anything short of all of our force would have managed to even cripple theirs?"

Naruto growled, "Itachi was the best just like you said, and I doubt that many of them were as good as Sasuke was. Win or lose though, we would have fought them to the last man. We would have fucked them up in advance and they never would have known it was us. Unless you actually give certain members like Maki or Sai backgrounds or aliases in public, or somebody was already well-known like me, nobody would know that they existed. Then if they were still stupid enough to try and fight the main force of Konoha's shinobi could end things quickly from there." He sighed, shaking his head and looking down, "If we had been there, even as backup being led by Itachi…"

Danzo cut him off, "We would have lost nearly everything. All of my best that would have stood a chance would have been destroyed and Root would have been crippled. Everything would have ended there."

"Self-sacrifice is a ninja's duty. You forgot that, or ignored that, when you made Itachi kill them all." Naruto said earnestly before he looked up at Danzo, "This is why we couldn't operate as effectively as we needed to. If you could have just come to an understanding with the Sandaime all those years ago we could have been more useful than we were. All we did was run black-ops. We could have been running black-ops that better supported Konoha's daytime dealings, and we could have gotten recruits easier, you wouldn't have to worry about losing just a dozen of us like you do now. There are always tons of orphans like me and Maki out there that would have joined just for the purpose it gave, or people like Fuu and Torune that would have come to you to just disappear from the pressure of their clans. All being regulated by the Hokage in secret would have meant was that you could have better done the things we did."

"Then change that when you become Hokage." Danzo said with finality, "If you believe that you could have handled the situation better then prove it. Take the seat one day and you will have Sai as your Root commander. Then you may do as you like, the way you believe things should be run."

"Fine." Naruto said, "I will, that's a promise."

"Good." Danzo said with a victorious smirk, "But didn't you just a moment ago say that you were the wrong man to be Hokage I trained you to be?" Danzo stood up and began to walk away, wrapping his bandages back around his Sharingan eye, "When you desire to learn how to use your new tool have your seal-master servant contact me. I feel you won't be going back to Konoha after this anyway." Danzo reached the door and opened it to reveal two figures in black cloaks and masks that bowed to him and followed him away from the room. Sai and Maki walked back in to find Naruto sitting in his bed with a puzzled look on his face.

"Wait a minute, what the hell just happened?" Naruto asked no one in particular before scowling, "Damn Danzo-jiji… making me contradict myself." He said before his eyes widened, "Wait, tell Danzo-jiji something that I never got to tell him." His face hardened, "Tell him that Madara is running the show, that he helped Itachi during the massacre and runs Akatsuki, and that I don't know any more than that."

"Madara who Naruto-senpai?" Sai asked as Maki went to remove Naruto's arm brace so that he could leave the hospital.

Naruto looked at his pale teenage partner and turned his Sharingan eye off, "Madara Uchiha."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

Tsunade sat at her desk as the team led by Kakashi dispatched to assist Naruto returned. It had been a successful mission, all things considered, only Naruto had expressly directed through his teammates that Danzo had told her of that he wasn't coming home yet. This left her kind of perturbed and it only got worse when she heard of Sakura's 'contribution' to the mission.

She looked at her apprentice in a stern and disappointed manner, "You allowed a hostile missing-ninja to injure your comrade while you held back and tried to reason with him?" Sakura looked away from her teacher, "What if Naruto's Kage Bunshin hadn't shown up? She would have died out there."

Sakura couldn't manage to bring her eyes up from the floor, "I'm sorry Tsunade-shishou… I'm sorry Tayuya. I thought I could do it, but when I got out there I just froze. It was really him, but those powers he used were so dark." For a while on the way back home she almost tried to tell herself that it wasn't Sasuke, but then she remembered the promises she made to stop making excuses and get stronger. Even after all this time she was dead weight on this mission.

Tsunade shook her head, "Sakura what's wrong with you? You fell to pieces over this mission, you were doing so well before this. I can't send you back out as you are. You'd be a liability in the future if your fortitude in situations like that would be weak enough for you to freeze up like that. Next time you won't be so lucky. Now all of you are dismissed except Kakashi, I still need to speak with him."

The others all nodded and filed out of the room until Kakashi was there alone with Tsunade and Shizune, "So…" Kakashi started, "You don't seem to be that surprised about Naruto's team. IS there anything you can tell me about them?"

Shizune placed a pair of files onto the desk, and opened one to reveal it to be Sai, "The boy's name as you know is Sai, no surname. He graduated the Academy at the age of nine under Danzo's sponsorship and became a chunin at 10, since then he has mostly worked with Danzo and having his missions that we provide for him filtered through the man first. He was regularly placed on Naruto's teams regularly at Danzo's request months ago. Since then the two have shown incredible teamwork and a good rapport with one another so we left them together."

Tsunade began to speak when Shizune stopped, "When Naruto actually goes out of his way to _request_ his own team he always seems to select Sai to be on them. He seems to have a great amount of trust in him and faith in his abilities."

Shizune then opened up the second file to reveal it to be Maki, "The girl's name as you also know is Maki, no surname either. She's had a rather normal and steady climb through the rankings and is currently a chunin at the age of 15, one year younger than Naruto, two years younger than Sai. She was sponsored by Danzo until she graduated the Academy at the age of 11, the same year Naruto did, but the two have never interacted to our knowledge until now. Never been placed on the same team, never run across the other in passing, nothing." She explained, sounding rather confused as to why Maki was on the team, "Two years ago at the chunin exams held here she advanced in rank and left her team behind. From there she basically all but disappeared from our mission rosters until now."

Tsunade already knew of this as after being given the identities of the two she began looking into them as much as she could, "They're both orphans, no known parentage or relatives. All signs point to them being trained from young ages by Danzo like Naruto was."

"Can we trust them?" Kakashi asked. That was what he really wanted to know.

Tsunade shrugged, "From what you told me they seem to look to Naruto as their unquestioned leader. No alternative missions from Danzo, they just seem to follow the orders of Naruto, so I think a better question is; do you trust Naruto?" Kakashi nodded without hesitation, "Then you can trust them. Sai didn't disable you or leave you behind before they left to finish their own mission, they made sure you had gotten away as well. They see you as allies because you are Naruto's friends, and you are his genin sensei."

Kakashi eye-smiled at her, "I also helped him perfect his training with his secondary lightning element." Kakashi let out a sigh of what seemed to be longing, "That finished lightning Rasengan is amazing. I wish I was able to perform it, but again, Naruto does the impossible. Those Kage Bunshin are killers."

Tsunade rolled her eyes, "Anyway, I believe we should wait on word from Naruto about certain matters before we plan another move. Things are going too well for us right now. I have Danzo in Kiri to see if he can finalize the treaty with the Mizukage that Naruto's completed mission brought. I might as well get some sort of use out of him, right? Then we'll find out where Naruto is heading next and go from there."

"No need Tsunade-hime." Jiraiya said, appearing at the window, "He already contacted us and told us where he's headed after he leaves Kiri."

"Us?" The female Hokage counted, getting a grin out of Jiraiya who raised his single remaining arm and slowly ticked his fingers down to zero on his hand when a knock came at the office door.

It opened to reveal Hamako with a rather displeased look on her face directed at Jiraiya, "I can't jump that high Jiraiya-sama, you could have at least escorted me to the Hokage's office. How rude." She said, walking in and shutting the door behind her, "And after I let you stay at Naruto-sama's home per your request."

Jiraiya just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before Tsunade spoke up, "You were saying that you know where Naruto plans to head to next?"

Jiraiya nodded and Hamako bowed to Tsunade before she began to explain, "Naruto-sama is recovered enough from his last series of battles to head towards Kumogakure as his original trail dictated he would. I apologize for not telling you his set series of destinations sooner, but he requested that I didn't. My loyalty to my master comes first Hokage-sama."

Jiraiya sat on the windowsill with a notepad in his lap as he wrote away furiously, "…My loyalty to my master comes first…" He had a perverse smile on his face, "Man this girl is gold for submissive dialogue. My next book is going to have talking scenes that make people want to-."

"Jiraiya!" Tsunade snapped, getting him to recoil like a scolded puppy and slowly put his notepad away. The good thing about losing his arm was that Tsunade hit him way less these days for being stupid. At least she gave him warnings now. She hadn't given him warnings before hitting him in over fifteen years. With Jiraiya properly scared into temporary obedience she turned back to Hamako, "It's alright. You aren't a shinobi therefore loyalty to Naruto first and foremost is alright. Now please continue."

Hamako smiled at the busty Hokage and did just that, "As I was saying he will be heading to Kumogakure to get advice on training with his biju from one final source that may know how to best gain control; Kirabi, the younger brother of the Raikage and the Hachibi jinchuuriki."

Jiraiya pointed his thumb at himself, "Then that's where I'll be going to meet him next. It's about time for me to begin what I had planned for him. I'll leave as soon as I can get things ready Tsunade-hime."

"And I will be coming with you." Hamako interjected brightly, getting a stunned look out of Jiraiya, "What? Naruto-sama is going to be doing a lot of work with his biju very soon and he may need me there in case of any irregularities going on with his seal. I would feel better if I were there while he was carrying out his work. He also said something about the Kyuubi refraining from interacting with him and keeping him out of his mindscape. There may already be a problem." She then turned and began to leave the room, "Besides, it's not like you can order me to stay here or anything. Can you?"

"But-." Jiraiya tried to say, but was cut off when Hamako reached the door.

"It's either let me go with you to Kumo Jiraiya-sama, or leave without me and I'll still go by myself." She said at the door with a sweet tone of voice, "If you do that though then master will be angry, and he might kill you if I'm injured on the way. And even if he's angry at me for doing such a thing in the first place he will forgive me, because master loves me." She finished, shutting the door behind herself.

Jiraiya groaned and palmed his face, "And the thing about it is, she's completely fucking right. Kami, that kid is so whipped and he has no idea." He sadly started to slink back towards the window and climb out, heaving a sigh, "I guess there will be no pleasurable detours on this trip to Kumo… if I did then Hamako might invent a seal to sterilize me or something." He shook his head before jumping away, leaving an amused Shizune and Tsunade in the office.

XxX

(Mizu no Kuni – Near Kirigakure no Sato)

Maki was glaring at Naruto who wouldn't meet her eyes with his own, "Naruto-senpai whatever you did to your arm you did to yourself."

"Maybe…" Naruto said tentatively. He didn't want to hear this, he thought he had dodged this since Temari was going to find out, but now he was going to hear it from his cute little support member of his squad, "Why?"

While Maki was normally very docile it was quite clear by now that when it came to Naruto's overall health in the long term she didn't fuck around. The only reason she didn't wrap his head in enough bandages to stop a kunai when he got his Sharingan was because he needed that eye… and because after everything else she was far too tired to waste the energy, "Because you did cellular damage to your arm, that's why. Don't do that again. If you're going to use one of those attacks of yours use Rasenriseki, it's way safer."

He let off a sigh, "Yes Maki-chan…" He said in a dull tone of voice before mumbling to himself, "…I'm still going to find some way to use it though."

"What was that?" Maki hissed dangerously at him, her grey eyes piercing into his blue ones. Yes, she did take her role as the de facto medic-ninja of the squad very seriously, and getting blown off like that would make even the kindest doctor upset. Maki was nice, but she also killed people for a living. Having Naruto be hard-headed about the advice that several other medics besides her gave him and the ignoring her himself was not very smart, "No Rasen-whatever-you-call-it."

"Rasenshuriken." Sai interjected helpfully with his smile on his face.

"Right." Maki said before turning back to Naruto and pointing at him intently, "No Rasenshuriken. Repeat after me Naruto-senpai; no Rasenshuriken…"

Too many of the cute girls around him could do terrible things to him, and Naruto expected Maki to be no different from any of them in that respect, "No Rasenshuriken." He said, conceding this point to her.

"…Only Rasenriseki." Maki continued, expecting him to repeat after her, "And only use that if you're sure it will hit."

Naruto rolled his eyes, but acquiesced to her request/demand… it would make things easier going forward, "Only Rasenriseki… and I'll only use it if I'm sure it will hit." He noticed Sai still smiling and wheeled around to him, "And get that fucking smile off of your face Sai, that's the equivalent of anyone else laughing their ass off at me and I don't want to hear it from you!"

Maki, satisfied with Naruto actually heeding medical advice, calmed down to normal by the time Naruto began laying in on Sai, "Sai-senpai didn't make a sound Naruto-senpai."

Naruto turned and glared at her only to realize that she was glaring right back. She'd been dealing with his pissed off attitude since she was a little girl, he wasn't going to be able to punk her like that, "What happened to the respect? What, we're not having people after our necks and you both smart off to me again?" He said, rather put off by this idea.

"We call you –senpai." They both said simultaneously to dispute his point, getting Naruto to facepalm.

"You call me –senpai more out of irony now when we're not in a fight…" Naruto said with a deadpan face before a small smile peeked through, "I knew I'd get you guys to loosen up sooner or later. Maki you were way faster to do so though. Sai took two years... Actually now that I think about it, it technically took you three years if we're counting overall time." He chuckled before sobering and looking at them all, "I never got to say this before, but seriously you guys, good job. I couldn't imagine pulling off something like that with another team."

Maki looked down with a small blush on her face, "It was no big issue… you gave us a mission and we accomplished it." Sai nodded in agreement.

"No." Naruto said, with a serious look on his face, "Not only did you do everything exactly the way we needed it to happen, you both went above and beyond what I'd asked you to do. You got the sword and got away cleanly, you even made sure we didn't leave our comrades in the crossfire when you broke out. And you made sure they didn't find me and take me back to Konoha, which is what they would have made us do once they followed you to me." He shook his head fondly remembering how they explained how they had gotten away, "It was flawless you guys, really. I wish I'd actually pulled something like that off for my part of the mission.

Sai turned to Naruto and looked at him questioningly, "What do you mean? You kept both of them busy. It was a battle against two powerful opponents at once Naruto-senpai.

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I was too soft and I didn't let them just kill each other before trying to finish the winner. I thought if we had both just killed Itachi that Sasuke would have come back to Konoha without much issue, his job would have been done. I didn't think he would react so violently like that though. And I doubt that the Sharingan helped." He bit back a grunt of anger at himself, "By the time I realized that I was a third wheel and they both just wanted me dead and out of the way, I had gotten Amaterasu shot at me, then I started fighting Sasuke to kill. But with what I know now… and after all of that I didn't get either one of them."

"They looked dead to me Naruto-senpai." Sai said, "I flew over after you passed out. Neither of them looked like they were getting back up, and then that man in the mask came and took their bodies away." He narrowed his eyes remembering that the masked man had taken them away before he could destroy their bodies. That was a kekkei genkai that was still out there and dangerous if someone managed to implant them the way Naruto had done out of necessity.

"Madara Uchiha." Naruto said, speaking of the man in the orange mask, "You can say his name Sai. Just because you won't say him name out loud because you don't believe he's alive doesn't make any difference at all. He's out there, he's running the show in Akatsuki, he wants my head, and now I've got to find some way to beat him too since you say he can teleport. I can't do that crap. I don't even know how I'd begin to learn that."

Sai frowned visibly as he recalled his first run-in with the masked man, or 'Madara'. He still was in shock that he had been trying to fight what for all intents and purposes should have been a ghost. In hindsight it made sense that he was though, he couldn't lay a finger on the guy, his tanto passed right through him and even an assault from suicide ink birds didn't do a thing, "I still can't believe that I was fighting Madara Uchiha… He fought nothing like what I assumed the man would have done in his time. But then again, how much information is on Madara in Konoha? Even in the village any info on him would probably be only known to the Uchiha Clan."

Naruto and Maki nodded in agreement as they walked along until Naruto stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide in realization. Maki stopped and looked at him strangely, "Naruto-senpai what's wrong, are you okay?"

Naruto didn't even address the question, instead looking to Sai, "Sai could you repeat that last part again?"

Sai blinked but did as ordered, "Even in Konoha, any information on Madara Uchiha would only be known to the Uchiha Clan. I don't see why that's important Naruto-senpai."

Naruto walked over to Sai and grabbed him by the shoulders, "You wouldn't would you?" He said before turning his Sharingan on and grinning madly, "Why do you think no one knows that much? Because they can't find anything or they can't decipher any of it. The Uchiha Clan was good and would know how to hide their secrets only for them alone... them and their Sharingan. And I know where it is. Itachi more or less showed me when we fought, though I think that was more for Sasuke to see."

Before anyone could ask what he was doing, Naruto created a single Kage Bunshin that had its Sharingan on. Naruto wordlessly threw a punch at the clone who caught it before grinning, "Saw it coming all the way boss."

Naruto's grin grew more than before, "Can you turn it off to save chakra?" The clone did just that and Naruto pumped his fist victoriously before talking to the others, "We need to get to the mainland now. Once we do I'm making a clone to go back to Konoha and Naka Shrine. There it's going to read everything that it can with its Sharingan and dispel. Maybe it'll find something we can use. It'll have half of my chakra and orders to quickly do what I made it for and to dispel. If it makes it that far it should last until I get what I need."

"What if it gets injured and dispels?" Maki asked in concern. Splitting off Naruto's chakra wasn't the issue for her. Even with half of his chakra he still had more than generally any ninja alive. No the issue was, if the clone made it most of the way there but didn't get to Konoha and get what Naruto needed that would be a lot of mental backlash and fatigue to Naruto for no reason.

"That's a chance I have to take." Naruto replied, "Besides, if I wind up going down for the count for a while I trust you two to get me to Kumo until I wake up. Hopefully it won't come to that, or we'll get there before my clone dispels. I can't take the time to make a decision on either Kumo or Konoha, this way I can do both. I'm not letting Madara Uchiha get the drop on me if there's anything I can do about it." He started walking forward again with purpose, "So, to Kumo? Because we've still got work to do. This isn't over yet. Not even close."

Sai and Maki looked at each other before following behind him as Sai spoke up, "You already know our answer Naruto-senpai."

"Then let's go." Naruto said with a smile on his face.

XxX

(A Hidden Location)

Itachi had left. He had gotten up and gotten away as soon as he was able to. Kisame had come and taken him away per his instructions from Madara, but had never said a word when Itachi simply silently walked with him, tears silently streaming down his face nonstop.

They had left, but there were three people that were still there. Sasuke's team that he had amassed.

Suigetsu was pissed. He had Kubikiribouchou in his possession. It was in his hands, he was finally starting to achieve his dream of getting all of the swords. He didn't even know where the others were at the moment. No one did. He had a piece of his dream in his hands and then had it snatched away by a team of shinobi that had been lead by Naruto Uzumaki as they were told by Madara Uchiha, and now he would be farther away from defeating Kisame and claiming his sword, the only one he knew the location of, than ever before. Suigetsu would never forgive them or him. The cowards.

Juugo was beside himself. First Naruto Uzumaki killed his only closest friend years ago in Kimimaro Kaguya, and now Naruto had taken away the only person left for Juugo to put his faith in, the man that Kimimaro's spirit was to live on in. Sasuke Uchiha. Now there was no one to keep him in check, and he wasn't sure how long his self-control would hold out. If he was to lose control he could only hold solace in the fact that he would try… try his absolute hardest to hold it back the way Sasuke had done for him.

He would hold out, just long enough for them to find Naruto… and then he would unleash every ounce of the indiscriminate killer that he hated with every fiber of his being. If anyone deserved such a fate it was Naruto Uzumaki, and he would make sure that it came to pass.

Karin had been inconsolable. She had cried over Sasuke's corpse ever since she had been informed of his fate by Madara. He claimed that she wouldn't want to see his body after what Naruto had done to it, though this was just to keep her from finding that Itachi now had his eyes, lest the girl try to go to him and attempt to rip them out of his head. He swore he would give her ample opportunity to avenge Sasuke's death firsthand very soon.

To her, Naruto had to die. Everyone around Naruto had to die. That bitch Tayuya, that had chased her and fought her Sasuke for Naruto had to die, and that pink-haired slut that tried to lure Sasuke away… probably so that Naruto could kill him easier… had to die as well. They all did. And when she finally got to Naruto she would cut his eyes out the way she believed he had done to Sasuke from Madara's explanation.

It was the least she could do for her fallen love.

So now they stood before the man himself, Madara Uchiha. All of them wearing the new cloaks, black with red clouds, given to them by the Akatsuki mastermind, "You will all have your chance to make Naruto suffer… but you're all not ready yet." He saw them all bristle angrily and turned his single visible Sharingan to Juugo to hypnotize him into a calm state before he snapped, "But you will be. In the meantime I have a mission for all of you. How would you like to find the location of the man that gave Naruto the power to match Sasuke's doujutsu and overwhelm him with his own power?"

"Who was it?" Karin growled, "I'll rip his fucking heart out, just like my own was."

Madara felt rather pleased at the way things were turning out despite how Sasuke was killed. Oh well, Itachi was more useful in that instance than his brother, his spirit was broken, there would be no more acts of rebellion from his once apprentice again. And now he had three people to bolster the ranks that had fallen to Naruto already, "Locate Kabuto Yakushi. You all should be familiar enough with this person, right?" He saw Suigetsu's face twist in anger just as Karin's did as they turned and left with Juugo.

Yes, he had three new pawns to use for his own affairs.

He would have to find some way to thank Naruto once they met again… right before he ripped the Kyuubi from his body. It was courtesy after all, to thank someone who had done something wonderful for you after all.

XxX

(Elsewhere)

Itachi's eyes were still bandaged, and he hadn't stopped crying since he had learned of Sasuke's death. He was nowhere near 100%, not even close, but his body moved as if he was. Kisame decided not to pry, until Itachi spoke to him of course while they were on the road together, "Kisame." He said suddenly, getting the man's attention, "Will you still stay loyal to me, even knowing what you've learned of my intentions for my life?"

Kisame smirked, not that Itachi could see it, "The way I see it you've always been straight with me Itachi-san. You've always been the kind of man that was able to see through all of the lies. Maybe because those eyes of yours are so good."

Itachi simply kept walking in silence, 'You're wrong Kisame, I was only ever able to see what I was allowed to see. It just so happened that was more than most. The only thing I had ever been able to see was my single solitary light. Sasuke was my light. And now my light has been snuffed out.' He felt around the material covering his eyes tightly, 'And I am deep within the darkness of my creation, being led by the sleeve by the master of it.'

He knew Madara had him trapped. There was nowhere left to go. There would be no way to make good on his threat to reveal Konoha's secrets to all of the hidden villages with the alliances being enacted through solid and strong bonds and means orchestrated by events spearheaded by Naruto over the last three years.

So he would let the man do as he wished. There was nothing left for Itachi but to exist for one reason, and he would do whatever he had to in order to achieve his final goal. He cared not for Konoha, nothing was their fault in the grand scheme of things. There was one man that needed to die, 'Danzo Shimura will fall by my hands to avenge my clan…' He thought before switching to another man that had to leave this world in order for him to be able to rest, 'And Naruto Uzumaki will suffer. Now I will forever have to live with the curse of killing my own clan, the curse of not being able to protect my brother and having him die right at my side. I will make you suffer for what will seem like an eternity Naruto Uzumaki, but for an immortal as I will be it will never be long enough.'

'You said that your eyes were wide open… that you could see everything. _I_ can see everything Naruto… but the only thing I _want_ to see. The only reality or illusion I _want_ to gaze upon is your suffering and torment. And until I see that with my own eyes I will allow Madara to lead me through the darkness… because the darkness is the best place to flush out a shadow.'

"Kisame." Itachi said to his partner, "Let's make our way to Suna. It's time to begin."

A shark-like grin came from his sword-wielding partner, "You've got it Itachi-san… I'll follow your lead."

Itachi nodded and continued to let Kisame lead him in the right path, 'I'll drag you into the dark with me Naruto Uzumaki.'

* * *

**Alright people. The thing is, some things don't change that much for no reason. Like the whole Sasuke looking for Itachi and finding him thing; I had never changed anything in the story that would have kept that from happening. I didn't cripple either one. Naruto never came across either and fought one of them prior to this somehow. He hadn't even interacted with either in years in any kind of significant way. Itachi always wanted his last fight to be against Sasuke so that he could drain Orochimaru from his spirit and allow Sasuke to kill him. No matter what that fight was going to happen.**

**Itachi lives. That is what is most important to take from this. I had to go back and change it to make it more ambiguous as to the outcome. I just had to. I put that chapter out at 2 am and I couldn't sleep thinking about how I'd mucked up the end I wanted for that chapter, especially with every review I got. The appeal of valiantly trying to write Itachi's descent into insanity and darkness is something I can't pass up. It's too much.**

**Itachi lives and has lost everything. His goal. Everything he had sacrificed for has been taken away and he only has one person that is solely responsible for this; Naruto. Sasuke was Itachi's breaking point. The only reason he went through with the massacre is because he would be assured that Sasuke was safe by Danzo. And now Naruto has opened up a whole can of worms that he is totally unaware of. Danzo doesn't know of Naruto technically breaking the promise he made Itachi years ago, but he will… he seriously will.**

**He couldn't care any less about Madara. He couldn't care less about anything. **

**And I love what I did. Hopefully you all will too when I flesh it out in the coming chapters. This has been a big-ass roller coaster jack… and we haven't run out of loops just yet my friends. I've still got more things that will blow your mind. Trust me.**

**As always I'll catch you guys on the flip side. I'm going to update other stuff and I'll probably be super-busy during this last month here at college for the semester, so wait for me to clear some time, yeah?**

**Kenchi out… I'm a virtuous man. But you, you already knew that.**


	49. Better Than Your Best

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… because I don't have tiger-blood. I'm afraid that I'm not bi-winning. I only win over here… not over there too. How unfortunate. I guess I'm not a bitchin' rockstar from Mars after all.

**Chapter 48: Better Than Your Best**

* * *

Naruto and his team continued on towards Kumogakure, having recently passed over into the mountainous terrain of Kuminari no Kuni, and Naruto had finally summoned Gamakichi to confront him while they travelled, "So… were you ever going to, you know, let me know about the whole summoning familiars thing?"

"**I kept forgetting…"** Gamakichi admitted sheepishly as he moved alongside Naruto and Sai with Maki taking a seat on his back. They had gotten off of Sai's ink birds so that he could take a rest and get his chakra back, **"Better late than ever eh Naruto-nii?"** He said with a hesitant chuckle, **"Please don't cut me."**

"What?" Naruto asked incredulously, "Why the hell would I cut you? I'd never cut you. Who told you I'd cut you?" Yes he and Gamakichi had beaten the crap out of each other since Gamakichi got big enough to actually fight him back, but that was mostly them playing or training. He'd have never hurt Gamakichi for real. He wasn't sure if Gamakichi was actually afraid of him or not from the sounds of things though.

And the answer was obviously a resounding 'no' from the grin that crossed the toad's face when he heard the concern in Naruto's voice, **"Nobody told me you would, I just wanted you to stop chewing me out about the whole familiar contract thing. You signed it so I just wanted you to shut up about it. It's in the past."**

"Naruto-senpai would never cut any of us, he's a softie like that." Maki said to the toad that was giving her a ride for the time being with a smile.

Naruto grabbed the sword on his back before he stopped himself from unsheathing the weapon at the expense of his comrades, "Yeah… I'd never cut any of you." He said in a way that didn't convince any of them that he wouldn't.

"**Yeah…"** Gamakichi said hesitantly, stopping to let Maki down, **"Anyway, I'm going to go tell the elders that you're my familiar so they'll get off my back for not getting you to sign my contract way back when we knew we were cool with each other. Later aniki, tell the Hamako girl I said hi when you see her. I always liked her."**

"Because she fed you and let you stay in the apartment that one night after we were done training." Naruto said, explaining Gamakichi's reasoning, "Good reasons I'll admit. You're lucky Hamako-chan's so sweet."

Gamakichi then let off an involuntary shiver, **"Better than the other one that lived next door to you that cursed me out when I stepped outside the next morning."**

Naruto smirked, "That was just Tayuya-chan, and you scared her. You're lucky she only kicked you off the balcony and didn't follow up." Didn't follow up because Naruto grabbed her and kept her from jumping down on top of the downed toad afterwards, but hey if she stopped she stopped, "Later Gamakichi."

Gamakichi stuck his tongue out at Naruto before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Sai took that moment to check in on their fearless leader, "Are you alright Naruto-senpai? Any problems from your injuries or from anything else?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, I'm good. My left arm still burns a little bit, but it's more than manageable by now. I almost forgot about it until you said something to be honest." His injury to that arm wasn't really medical since there was nothing Maki could do for it other than keep him lit up out of his gourd with painkillers, and a stoned Naruto would be next to useless. Apparently keeping the fires hotter than hell stored in a pocket dimension centered in your left arm hurt, go figure. That was something that needed to go into fuuinjutsu notes the second he got a free moment; sealing certain things that weren't weapons inside of your body hurt. Good to know.

Maki moved up next to him and grabbed his arm that had saved him from being burnt to ashes and checked it over, seeing nothing outwardly wrong with it after running a diagnostic jutsu, "Why don't you just get rid of the Amaterasu fire Naruto-senpai?"

"And label myself retarded?" Naruto said in an amused voice, "I have Amaterasu stuck inside of my arm. If I can't deal with the little burning feeling and find something cool to do with that then I don't deserve to be anywhere near my rank." He could unseal it whenever he wanted to. Yes it hurt like a son of a bitch, but with his mastery of wind chakra and with Amaterasu being fire that would be amplified by that element along with the fact that he could reseal Amaterasu and even a tiny spark of it would be enough to create more with his wind he had himself a new weapon straight from the eyes of Itachi Uchiha. So he didn't know what that would do to his arm in the end, nerve damage or whatever, so what? He had two arms, he could deal with one being useless, Jiraiya only had one.

Sai looked over at Maki examining Naruto's arm as they walked to let him regain his chakra, "So you're willing to keep the most dangerous fire ninjutsu in the world stuck inside of you for fighting?"

Naruto gave Sai a dry look, "You say that like it's not a good idea."

"It's not a good idea." Sai said, narrowing his eyes at the seal tattooed on Naruto's arm that signified where the black flames were held.

"You're right…" Naruto said, getting looks of surprise from Maki and Sai, "It's not a good idea, it's a great idea." Naruto made Maki let go of his left arm so that he could hold it up, "There's a chance I could learn how to control this, and then what? Face it, we need every little cheap trick or extra tactic I can muster up for us right now and learning how to use the Amaterasu is right up there."

Maki's grey eyes widened at the prospect of him doing as he was suggesting, "Could you really control it?"

"Control it? No." Naruto answered honestly, "But I don't need to control it, all I need to be able to do is direct it and restrain it. Hell I can do that pretty easily. Want to see?" He offered, holding his left arm straight out ahead of them while holding onto the forearm of it with his right hand.

"No!" Maki and Sai both jumped at Naruto and grabbed his arm to hold it down. The last thing they needed was for the countryside of a foreign country to be engulfed in black flames just for a demonstration, even though both of them would be lying if they said that they weren't at least a little bit interested in seeing such a potentially powerful jutsu. Still, setting off a mountain fire right before heading to the hidden village of the country wasn't really worth it.

Naruto frowned as they let go of his arm like it was a loaded weapon. Well it technically was, but that wasn't the point, "I could seal the flames right back up you know." He didn't know if doing that would hurt like hell the way it did the first time though… oh well, he'd have to find out eventually. Man, he had lots of stuff to handle once he got to Kumo. At least he wouldn't have to work on getting them onboard with the alliance against Akatsuki, he had already handled that.

"My chakra feels fine Naruto-senpai." Sai informed him, pulling him from his thoughts, "Should I create rides for us to reach Kumo with?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, Kumogakure are notorious hard-asses with their security, especially after the time when Akatsuki came for Yugi-chan and almost got away with her. They're going to be all up in arms, so us flying right over them, even from this far away would get us in more trouble than if we just walked the rest of the way."

"What if your clone pops while we're still heading up there?" Sai asked, storing away his drawing scroll at Naruto's behest.

Naruto shrugged as he took the lead once more, "I don't know. You guys are both strong young shinobi, between the two of you I'm sure you can get us to Kumo if I end up blacking out. It's just one clone though so I should be fine."

XxX

(With Naruto-clone – Konohagakure no Sato)

Much to the Naruto-clone's amazement, he made it the absurdly long distance to Konoha in one piece. A two day trek only to stop and eat to recharge his energy was what it had taken to get there, and now all he had to do was get to Naka Shrine and see what he could find.

As much as the clone wanted to stop and see how everyone was doing, especially the people he had been forced to more or less have his team ditch on his last mission, he had to keep moving. He couldn't afford to get caught up in a mountain of questions at the moment, and he especially couldn't get himself caught while he was at Naka Shrine itself. He needed his Sharingan out in order to even read anything and to do that he would need to cancel the contact lens over his eye.

It really sucked having to sneak around his own village, but orders were orders and he had clear ones from the original Naruto to not get caught and to dispel right after he got what he thought he needed and offloaded what needed to be done. Hence why he was walking around in a Henge at the moment as he made his way onto the island in the middle of a lake where the shrine was set.

The shrine was on the grounds that used to lay in the Uchiha Clan District, and Naruto-clone knew full well that he would be by himself in this area of the village, as after Sasuke left there was no one around at all that would have frequented the place. It seemed like a waste of land to keep it like it was. It was like a museum; nothing had been touched since the massacre. He didn't even think Sasuke touched anything past what he needed to train himself. He hated to say it as he moved through it, but it was just an ugly reminder of years past to the rest of the village now. At least he would probably be getting some use out of it.

Quickly making his way out to the shrine on the island, Naruto-clone followed the directions that had been provided to him by both Sasuke and Itachi during their little talk while the battle raged, and in the main meeting room found the tatami mat that needed to be lifted to find the secret area with the tablet necessary for him to inspect.

Naruto-clone lit himself a torch and made his way through the tunnel to find his way into a room. Lighting the other torches in the room, he saw the tablet intended for doujutsu eyes at the back. 'Okay, here we go.' Dropping the Henge to save chakra, Naruto-clone channeled chakra to his right eye and deactivated the seal on his contact lens to begin to read. Not even Kakashi had seen this tablet, and here he was getting to read it himself first-hand.

He didn't need the information on how to get more tomoe for his Sharingan, since his already had three when he received it. He didn't want the information on the Mangekyou Sharingan, he was never going to kill anyone that close to him for the power. But as he read, he discovered something rather important to a problem he had been having that he couldn't get the answer to.

Naruto-clone began to read out loud quietly to himself, "Sharingan is the embodiment of the physical gifts of the Rikudou Sennin's that have been passed down to our clan. By virtue of this, our eyes hold the power to yoke even the mighty biju to our will if the user is powerful enough and has a stronger enough will to impress their own onto said tailed beast. Among certain clan members their eyes possess the power to do this, and even beyond, with the ability to plant powerful subliminal messages that the recipient never even suspects. This is different from the hypnotism aspect of our eyes as it is more akin to mind-control. The victim never suspects a thing, even after the fact. This is one of the single-most dangerous powers the Sharingan has the potential to bring, even by Mangekyou standards. Those that can even read this portion of the tablet have the potential to use the mind-control technique."

And that came as a surprise to the clone even though it shouldn't have. There were so many parts of the tablet that it couldn't read, so why wouldn't there be another part that only certain people could read, "Whose eye did I get? Man I've got a good one." He said to himself, rather pleased at his turn of events as he continued to read what he could. But then he thought to himself about the events that had transpired recently since he had gotten the eye, in particular during his battle against Itachi and Sasuke.

"_**Never again! I would rather you die here than fall prey to those eyes!"**_

"_Goddamn it Kyuubi give me enough fucking power to live through this, that's all I want!"_

Naruto remembered his last words to the Kyuubi before it went silent. He hadn't had a chance to go into the mindscape and see exactly what the problem was, but he knew that there was nothing wrong with it. There was nothing holding its power back it just wasn't speaking to him. And now he could begin putting the pieces together over what had happened, "Oh shit…"

In the middle of the battle when Sasuke called down the single most powerful lightning technique Naruto had ever seen in his entire life to kill both he and Itachi in one shot Naruto had requested that the Kyuubi to give him more power than his tenant figured he could handle. The Kyuubi refused to give him the power on the grounds that Naruto would go berserk, and a berserk Naruto wouldn't be able to use the Sharingan as a defense against either Itachi or Sasuke's attempts to control him. And then Naruto had snapped at the massive beast in anger and desperation, demanding the chakra he needed to survive.

And he had gotten it. Looking back on it he had actually been given enough chakra to survive the horribly destructive attack even if it had only lasted for a second, which was all that he needed it for. Though he had never stopped to question just how he managed to get the power now he had an idea, he had somehow forced the Kyuubi with his Sharingan to give him what he wanted out of instinct.

So he had reached the heart of that issue. "Crap…" The clone thought as it decided to continue reading on, still having a mission to complete even after it read what it needed, "Boss is going to be pissed at himself when he finds out why Kyuubi's been ignoring him." He sighed and turned his eyes back to the tablet, "Oh well, it's not my problem."

XxX

(With Naruto, Sai, and Maki – Kumogakure no Sato)

As usual, when Naruto showed the scroll detailing his mission to the guards at the front of the village stamped with seals from the Hokage, Kazekage, and Mizukage, he and his team were all let right into the village. And from there it didn't take much wandering around for someone familiar to find them, or in this case just Naruto.

Maki stood beside Sai as she stared at the ongoing scene with a twitching eye, "Why am I so mad right now Sai-senpai?"

"I couldn't tell you Maki-san." Sai responded as his eyes were locked on the same thing.

As they wandered through the village on their way to the Raikage's office, Naruto found himself swiftly and surprisingly swept up in a massive hug and a kiss that almost knocked him out by surprise. Who knew Yugito was so strong? Wait… he _did_ know that. Everyone knew that.

Naruto had refrained from fighting back because why in the hell would he do something like that? And instead decided to wait out the beautiful older jinchuuriki's public display of affection, which took about two minutes for her to finally break for breath, "Man Yugi-chan, miss me?" Naruto said, stumbling slightly on his feet.

"Sorry." Yugito said, looking uncharacteristically sheepish with a blush on her face, "…I'm just so happy you're okay. Everyone was told that you went missing in Amegakure, and then we got news that it was a false alarm and that you were fine and travelling all over." She stopped before she started to ramble too much and then noticed the two others dressed in similar attire as Naruto, "And is this your team?"

Naruto nodded, "Yep, the guy is Sai, the girl is Maki. They're my kickass underlings." He smiled as he looked over his fellow jinchuuriki, "You look good Yugi-chan. It's nice to see you again after last time. Did your hands heal up?" He could still remember how messed up her hands were from their run-in with Kakuzu and Hidan.

Yugito grinned and showed him her palms that other than a faint mark in the centers of them as a scar had no injury, "It wasn't anything a little physical rehab couldn't fix Naruto-kun." She slowly sauntered over to him and began walking around him, "I see you've got tattoos now. They look like they serve a purpose though, and by the way I like the new clothes." She looked at the similarly dressed Sai and Maki, "You guys look like a well-oiled unit I have to admit. I hope you all fight as well as you look like you can." Though it was well ceiled her words were directed mostly at Maki whose eyes had yet to leave her since she appeared.

Maki narrowed her eyes at Yugito, "I can assure you we can take care of ourselves just fine Yugito-san. Naruto-senpai trusts me with his body and his life, and I won't let him down." A frown crossed her face as she continued her statement as a thought, '-Again. I won't let you down again senpai.'

Yugito just stared at the younger girl before turning back to Naruto, "Well it's a good thing you're here. There are people that wished to see you. They came here expecting you to show up sooner or later and Raikage-sama let them stay until you got here."

Naruto looked at her thoughtfully before punching into his palm as realized what was going on, "Ero-sennin and Hamako-chan beat us here. Wow, I didn't expect that. How'd they do that? Ero-sennin's handicapped and Hamako-chan isn't even a ninja."

"So that's why I didn't feel the girl with Jiraiya-sama to be a threat…" Yugito said quietly to herself. Due to the fact that she knew Jiraiya, she was the one that elected to lead them to their place to stay while they were in Kumo and during this time she attempted to gauge the character of the girl that introduced herself to those that knew Naruto as his 'assistant', "Your assistant is a very good-natured person Naruto-kun."

"That's what she's calling herself now, my assistant?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow as they began to walk again, now with Yugito in tow, "I guess it's better than what she called herself when she first started introducing herself to people." Having her introduce herself as his servant and then as his concubine for the first six months was not as on the level as the sweet girl thought it was.

Yugito nodded in response to his question. She had quite a little interesting talk with the female seal-master while she had been showing Hamako and Jiraiya to the place they would be staying. But now wasn't the time or the place for her to go into any kind of talk with Naruto over what she wanted to say, instead electing to make small talk with Naruto and his team. As usual, Naruto was very warm to her, and the way she had found herself doing the last few times she had seen him felt her heart skip when he smiled at her. Sai was polite but was rather dull, still he would chime in and contradict Naruto whenever he launched into some kind of hyperbole. Maki still kept a rather cool attitude towards her, but she knew why the girl was acting that way. Either she was suspicious of a foreign kunoichi being so familiar with her team captain or something more personal… probably a combination of both.

Eventually she led them to the hotel that Naruto stayed at the last time he had come to the village and took them to the floor that Jiraiya and Hamako were on when Naruto had a thought, "Wait, did the Raikage only give them one room?" Yugito looked at him strangely but nodded, "Well then I'm sorry about the noise I'm about to make." Naruto stood outside of the room that housed Jiraiya and Hamako and cleared his throat before cracking the door slightly, "Ero-sennin I swear if you perved on Hamako-chan even a little bit while I've been gone I'll take your other arm and beat you to death with it!"

A panicked yell and a happy yell followed by tons of rapid footsteps followed, some to another place inside of the hotel room, the other set to the front door where it flew open and Naruto was greeted by the eager smile of his lovely helper, "Naruto-sama!" Naruto opened his arms and let the civilian girl crush herself against him in a tight hug, "You're alright! Kami… having you here in person is so much better than having to sense your lifeforce and talk to you through the seal."

'Have her boobs gotten bigger since I've been gone? Kami, she's going to be a big as Tsunade-baachan at this rate!' Naruto laughed a little bit at having her nuzzle against his chest, "It's alright. Everything turned out the best that we could have hoped for with all that happened. And thank you for the gift."

Hamako pulled away from him and placed both hands on the sides of his face, pulling him down towards her to get a good look at his eyes, in particular his right eye as she looked past the scar she had grown used to due to the cut from Kimimaro powered by foul cursed seal chakra. The blue eye she saw she knew was not true, and she just couldn't imagine the actual Sharingan eye that lay behind it. However, she kept it hush due to Naruto's instruction. No matter how morbid it seemed it was necessary for him to survive, and if he didn't want anyone to know about it she sure wouldn't be the person to tell.

Jiraiya cleared his throat, getting Naruto and Hamako's attention, "Kid haven't you learned anything from me? If you're going to get all kissy-face with the girl then at least get your own room and take her there first. Amateur."

Naruto looked past Hamako into the room to glare at Jiraiya before his eyes softened, "Good to see you not all hooked up to machines Ero-sennin."

Jiraiya raised his single good arm in a fist, "You can't keep a good man down gaki. I'm glad you're here, we have work to do."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he walked into the room and turned around to face everyone else, "You're damn right we do. There's some things that you guys need to know, and the Raikage does too."

Yugito nodded, not asking any questions yet, just figuring that she would bring them in to the Raikage to skip having him repeat himself to the man later, "Come with me. He expected to see you once word reached him from the gate that you got here. That's the real reason I found you so fast."

"What about Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked him. With their normal method of communication between Naruto and the Hokage here with them how was she to get this news that he knew she didn't have?

"It's covered." Naruto said, "I'm everywhere Ero-sennin."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

Tsunade stood on the observation deck of the tower that gave a fantastic view of the Hokage Monument. As she looked at the face closest to hers she smirked while thinking about the person that would more than likely be filling in the space on the other side.

"Man my face is going to look good up there."

Tsunade didn't abruptly turn around despite her surprise, but when she did she caught sight of the very person she had been thinking about since his completed mission that had opened full correspondence between Konoha and Kiri… if only Danzo didn't screw it up while he was there. Bah, that old fogy knew how to play the diplomat game. Things would be fine, "Not that I'm not thrilled to see you in one piece, but brat why are you here? I thought you were heading to Kumo."

"I'm a clone Tsunade-baachan." Naruto-clone said as he walked up next to her and stood beside her, looking at the monument for a moment, just letting himself feel at ease in her presence before he said what he needed to say in accordance to his final mission. He could take a few moments of comfort around someone he cared for when part of his mission was centered around the person in question.

"Nice new threads." The female Hokage said with a smirk, getting Naruto to smile, "And tattoos to boot. You trying to make a statement or something?"

Naruto-clone shook his head, "I think the statement was made a long time ago." He said, crossing his arms over his chest with a smile on his face.

Tsunade took the time to notice that Naruto was officially significantly taller than her. As far as she was concerned it was still almost like yesterday since Naruto had barely come up to just over her bust when they first met. He sure shot up like a weed, as he now stood 5'8, 'And he's only 16…' Tsunade placed her arm around him. Even though it was just a clone it was still Naruto.

Naruto-clone shut his eyes and allowed himself to lean against her for a moment to enjoy the presence of his mother-figure in the place of his original self. After a moment he decided that enough time had passed, he needed to tell her what he had revealed himself to say, "There's something really big you need to know Tsunade-baachan." Tsunade let off a hum to let Naruto-clone know she was listening, "So on the last mission I wound up taking out another Akatsuki member, Deidara. His body… it's gone though. There's not a scrap of him left for any kind of bounty."

Tsunade nodded but didn't say anything. It wasn't that big of a deal at all that he wasn't getting this bounty. He had more than enough money, but that wasn't what he wanted to tell her, she was certain about that.

"Then I fought Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha… at the same time." Wow. She thought he fought one of them since Hamako never told her exactly who he fought, only that he recovered from whatever it was that he did. He fought both of them though, "I don't know what happened to them after the fight since I passed out when I got knocked away, but I was told that they were taken away and I know who took them. Madara Uchiha." Tsunade's eyes widened, something Naruto immediately noticed, "I figured you'd know who that was."

"He's dead Naruto." Tsunade said, trying to assure him of this fact, at least it was a fact to her. Her grandfather had beaten him into the ground years ago, way before her time even.

"No he's not." Naruto replied, "I've got a whole lot to tell you Tsunade-baachan, are you willing to listen to me, because it's all going to take a while."

Tsunade frowned and let out a sigh. She could be stubborn about it and assure him that Madara Uchiha was dead, but from the way he was talking he had hard evidence to the contrary to back up his own claims, and Madara's body was never found after the battle that had formed the Valley of the End so there was always a chance in their line of work that he managed to live, "Alright brat, I'm all ears."

XxX

(Kumogakure no Sato – Raikage's Office)

Naruto stood in front of the Raikage with everyone else in tow as he finished telling him everything that he felt they needed to know, "And that's all I've got on that."

Maki and Sai already knew everything he did at the moment so they didn't show any surprise towards anything. On the other hand Jiraiya, Hamako, and A all had their jaws open after hearing what Naruto said. Jiraiya recovered first, "Are you kidding me? Madara Uchiha?"

"Yep. The one that everybody knows about. Itachi said so."

Hamako spoke next, "I swear Naruto-sama can't you ever make anything easy for yourself?"

"Apparently not."

Yugito put a hand on her hip and whipped her ponytail back before looking to her village leader, "So what do we do about this? Naruto-kun's beaten more than half of the Akatsuki by now. Are we still just going to hang back and be reactionary? Iwa is out their jinchuuriki and Kiri is too. Not to mention Taki lost theirs before anyone else."

Naruto nodded, "The only ones left are Yugi-chan, Gaara, Kirabi, and me."

"We still can't find out where they are unless they're already moving. That's one advantage that they have over us being such a small force, they know how to disappear." A said to them, rather upset at the revelation of such a powerful shinobi still being alive in addition to the ones that they knew still roamed with the Akatsuki. And if Madara Uchiha had gone for this long without revealing himself to anyone that he didn't want to know of his existence then the chances of discovering him were low as well.

Sai then spoke up, "I actually fought this man for a short time while Naruto-senpai was attempting to locate the objective of our last mission. He didn't take me seriously for an instant. Every attack I launched that actually managed to hit him did no damage, as if I never touched him at all." The pale shinobi then narrowed his eyes as he tried recalling more useful information, "He could also seemingly teleport at will because this was how he left the area."

Jiraiya looked over at Naruto, "So what will you do now?"

Naruto let out a humorless laugh, "What else can I really do except for one thing? I'm going to train and then I'm going to beat his ass. Pein too. What do you expect me to do, let your crippled ass handle it?" Naruto gave everyone a grin, "Just leave it to me. I'll handle it. There's no way I can lose once I put a little work in." He threw his arms up behind his neck and sauntered out of the room in high spirits, "I'm going to go meditate for a bit and talk to the Kyuubi, maybe it has some kind of input on all of this." He said as he left the office, shutting the door behind him.

As she watched him go Hamako frowned. Once he left the room she let out a sigh and shook her head, getting everyone's attention at the subtle action. Noticing the eyes on her she explained herself, "You all saw that didn't you? That smile on his face when he said he'd handle it, it was fake. Naruto-sama was faking it the entire way out. "

Yugito blinked surprise, "He's not scared again is he?" They had gotten past that when he saved her, there was no way he was scared to fight again.

"He's not scared." Maki commented defensively, "Naruto-senpai isn't afraid of anyone. He just doesn't know what he's going to do." She looked down and held her arm, "It's complicated, but many things have happened. And now when we thought we were getting ahead this gets dropped on us. He just needs some time to think."

XxX

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Once again, due to him not stopping to change it during his battle with the Uchiha brothers, Naruto's mind was the same sewer it had been when he had first come into his head to confront the Kyuubi. As he walked through the shallow water pooling around his ankles, he couldn't help but think of his father, "My old man is actually proud of me. I guess it's time for me to actually give him a good reason to really be proud of me when I stomp Madara out."

How he was actually going to do that was beyond him at the moment. According to Sai he couldn't even touch him, and when he actually did start getting the advantage the man could just teleport away. In addition to that he still had Pein to deal with. When he beat the two of them then he could rest easy, but until then he needed to get his house in order so to speak, and the first place to do that was right inside of his own head.

Naruto eventually reached the large cage that always housed the Kyuubi and stood in front of it, "I know you're in there. Where else could you be?" He got no response, "You're not asleep. You haven't slept since I woke up in Kiri. I can always feel your presence you're just not saying anything, so just talk already."

Silence still reigned inside of the leaky sewer as Naruto gave the Kyuubi ample time to respond only to hear nothing. Preparing to lash into the biju with a barbed diatribe designed to get some kind of response from the creature, Naruto froze when the memories from the Kage Bunshin he sent to Konoha hit him all at once, and his mind had already processed the most urgent issue at hand to him at the moment. Naruto's mouth was stuck open as he continued to look at the Kyuubi.

"**You kept your word for as long as you could didn't you."** Kyuubi said, its eyes finally appearing in the dark, **"I'm impressed. You only kept from controlling me with that eye of yours for… five hours. I'm impressed boy."**

Naruto spoke in a low defensive voice, "I didn't do it on purpose. If you had just given me the chakra that would have saved us I wouldn't have done that by accident." Naruto took a step forward, "And it worked! I kept control for long enough to live through that fucking lightning strike didn't I!"

"**You enslaved me against my will again!"** Kyuubi bellowed, almost knocking Naruto back with the force of its voice, **"I didn't give you the chakra because you would have gotten yourself hypnotized and then what would we have done? You would have been berserk, you wouldn't have been able to let the chakra fade, you would have been intoxicated by the power!"**

"I turned it off after I knew I survived!"

"_**I**_** turned it off after I knew **_**we**_** survived!"**

"Goddamn it!" Naruto yelled, running up to the bars and punching them as hard as he could, letting out a harsh clang that echoed, "What the fuck do you want me to say huh? What exactly do you want to hear come out of my mouth, 'Oh, sorry I did what I had to off of instinct to save our miserable, useless fucking asses from being charcoal briquettes. Forgive me?'" Naruto said in a high, mimicky voice before flipping the Kyuubi off, "Fuck you! I don't care what your reason was, I don't care what you are, you were going to get us killed, and I am not dying because you're scaredy cat!"

The claws of the Kyuubi slammed through the bars, forcing Naruto to jump back to avoid them, however his glare on the Kyuubi never relented, **"Watch your mouth runt before I-."**

"-Before you what?" Naruto pestered back at it, "All I have to do is make eye contact with you since you're scared to death of anything with a fucking pattern in their eyes! 'Oh, don't look in their eyes!' Or how about, 'I will not be a slave to the Sharingan!' Or maybe that gem when I was getting my ass kicked by Pein, 'I will not allow this pretender to yoke me to his will, I will not be his slave!'" Naruto scoffed in disgust, "For something that talks like a boss you sure do cry like a bitch."

"**I swear I'll destroy you…"**

"Then do something about it right now. I'll let you try it." Naruto said with his arms outstretched. He could feel Kyuubi's chakra leaking from the cage and surrounding his body when Naruto unsealed the contact lens and revealed his Sharingan only for the chakra to creep back, "That's what I thought… I didn't even do anything. I _can't_ do anything. You're just scared of the Sharingan."

Not just the Sharingan, apparently the Rinnegan that Pein had as well. For all of its power, the Kyuubi only ever had to brute force its way through anything, it was all it knew how to do, overpower things. Then it ran into something that could control its own power and use it at a whim. Something like that would make even an overwhelming entity scared, especially since without a jinchuuriki a biju lost most of its skills of reason. Even though Naruto felt that he could protect the Kyuubi it didn't really matter in the end to the creature, it still believed that the Sharingan was the end-all, and that there was no escaping its grasp. If that wasn't fear then Naruto didn't know what to call it.

Naruto turned his head and spit on the ground before turning around and leaving down the hall he arrived from.

"**Where do you think you're going you miserable punk?"** The Kyuubi growled to Naruto's back, prompting Naruto to stop in his tracks, **"You're just going to walk away from me?"**

Naruto's shoulders shook once as he let out a laugh, "I was going to come in here and try to hash things out with you about what we were going to do next. There's a lot to get ready for, like Madara himself… but now that I think about it I don't want a scared little fox kit afraid of a pair of eyes watching my back. I don't need you if this is how you're going to be."

"**Don't make me laugh."** The Kyuubi replied derisively, **"You know full well that you rely on my power to get you through any truly tough situation. You do need me."**

"You're kind of right, but no I don't." Naruto said with finality, "You need me, because even though you're trapped in here, if you weren't in here you'd already be Madara and Pein's slave like the others that they caught." He turned around with his Sharingan still out before letting his blue contact re-settle over it, "So I'll drag you kicking and screaming with me all the way to the battlefield if I have to, because the only reason I need you is so I don't die having you get sucked out of my body." He then kept walking away, "I'm muting you and I'm not coming back in here until I'm sure you're not going to be a pussy anymore. I don't need a voice in my head doubting me while I'm fighting." Naruto finished as he faded out of his mind.

XxX

(Back in the Real World)

Naruto opened his eyes to find Hamako sitting directly across from him on his bed with her eyes closed. Once she heard his breathing shift, signifying he was done meditating she smiled at him and opened her own eyes, "Are you okay Naruto-sama?"

"I'm okay Hamako-chan." Naruto noticed her frown at him. She must have thought he was lying, "I'm serious Hamako-chan, I'm not hiding anything from you. I'm just thinking." He said as he got off of the bed and drew his sword from his back, confusing her as to what he was doing. He suddenly began to take swipes at the air with the blade, "Damn." He did it again and frowned, "Damn." He did it once more, furrowing his brow, "Damn it!"

"What's wrong?" Hamako asked him, not really concerned with him yelling. She had told everyone to give him some time to himself for a bit and she decided to stay with him to make sure no one bothered him by trying to pull a Jiraiya or a Kakashi and sneak in on him to intrude.

Naruto stared at his sword before speaking, "I had a clone go back to Konoha to decipher some things on a special tablet with the Sharingan… and I found out something. The reason why I can't channel wind chakra through this thing and why it eats so much of my chakra." He looked up at Hamako, "The reason this thing can turn into the gauntlet and grieves is because it naturally generates ying-yang chakra."

Hamako gasped, that explained why the released form of the sword was never the same for any two users. The yin portion had their thoughts take form and the yang portion made it real enough to become tangible, "So why would it take so much of your chakra?"

"The same reason that it generates yin-yang chakra in the first place." Naruto said, "You know how this was a gift given to Uzushiogakure?" Hamako nodded, "The Shodai Hokage gave it to them as a gift to the Uzumaki Clan for their alliance between their village and Konoha. He did it after he fought Madara Uchiha. This is how he beat Madara, he sealed away tons of his chakra into the sword, enough to cripple him and make him easy to finish so that his wife Mito could seal the Kyuubi into herself. That's why its sentient, it's full of his chakra."

"So what does that mean?" Hamako wondered. She had tried to study the sword for years, but the seals on it were impossible for her to decipher. She just never understood why she couldn't tell what the seals were meant for. At first she thought that they were how the sword had the power to transform and augment Naruto's power, "Wait, so every time you ever used the sword in its released form you had Madara's chakra running through you." It merged, making their chakra one. This is why Naruto was exhausted after using it.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, that's pretty much what was powering the transformation." He then stared at the sword again, full of intent, "But there's something else. When it's in a regular state like this it can do something else. It can cut into time and space, but I can't see the tear."

Hamako tilted her head cutely to the side, "See the tear? You mean in time and space? Are you sure?"

"Madara can do it and the tablet said that the sword can too." Naruto said, voice full of belief, "Apparently the Sharingan is supposed to be able to see the ripple that the cuts cause when I try to generate chakra through it. That's the reason my wind won't go through the blade, because whenever I tried it I was just making the sword cut through time and space."

"I don't know what that means master." Hamako admitted. These ninja things went over her head sometimes, even though her sealing skills were damn near flawless.

Naruto looked over at her and smiled, "I don't either, but I guess we're going to find out very soon just what I can do."

Hamako then had something come to mind, "But what about the Kyuubi? Aren't you going to work on honing your skill with its power?"

"To hell with the Kyuubi right now." Naruto said, surprising her. He had never really openly cursed the Kyuubi before, "It's too timid for me to use right now. It'll just get me killed as it is. I can't believe that anything good would come of using it in a fight against Pein or Madara." Naruto ran a hand through his hair before heading towards the door, "I need to go see Ero-sennin. He's been talking about teaching me something for the longest time now."

"Got it Naruto-sama." Hamako said with a smile, "You can count on me to help you with whatever you need. I've been very busy since you left the last time making new seals for you to use."

Speaking of seals made Naruto widen his eyes as he fished a vial out of the inside of his Root top, filled with blood, "There's only one piece of the puzzle left to get Orochimaru's shitty seal off of Anko. I got his blood, now I just need to find his base that let him make the seal's original effects."

XxX

(Ta no Kuni – Remnants of an Otogakure Base)

Inside of the hidden underground base, Kabuto stepped over the bodies of a group of guardians that had been tasked with defending Orochimaru's secret experiments. Even after the man's death and final defeat they were still willing to attempt to stop him, "Didn't the fools get it when I said that I'm the only little piece of Orochimaru-sama left? Oh well, not like there's too much of a waste here." He said to himself as he walked into the leaky lab to begin looking things over to see if there was anything he could use.

His control over the parts of Orochimaru that he had placed into his own body was steadily getting better, still, he felt that he needed Orochimaru's own secret observations of experiments that the man had conducted over himself in his time to help him get better control faster, which led him back to a place that he himself had no more use for, an Oto base.

"You just couldn't keep yourself from coming back, could you? You useless waste of chakra."

Kabuto stopped and turned around to see Karin standing in the dimly lit doorway of the lab he had been perusing through, "Ah Karin. Are you through running all over the place now that Naruto-kun has dealt with Sasuke-kun?"

"Don't you say a fucking word about Sasuke-kun!" Karin snapped at him viciously, "And don't you bring up that demon-toting murderer that killed him either! You helped him do it!"

Kabuto chuckled, "Well I indirectly helped Naruto-kun, but I didn't rightly know if he would be able to actually pull it off. I guess I owe him some thanks for such a job well done." He barely registered the girl as a threat. So what that she found him? What could she possibly do to him as she was? With this in mind he returned to digging through the lab for anything of use to him, "He's such a reliable one."

"He's next." Karin said coldly, getting Kabuto to freeze.

"Next you say?" He said, his voice hiding a threatening undertone as he turned his head around to give her an even glance, "That's interesting. Next after whom I wonder?" He tilted his glasses up onto his face.

"Right after I fucking slaughter you for giving that bastard Uzumaki what he needed to fight and win." Karin asserted, moving from the doorway into the room where the better lighting allowed him to see her wearing an Akatsuki robe.

Kabuto stared at her for a moment before turning his body around fully, revealing that half of his body had been changed by the integration of Orochimaru's remains, "I see. Well those are certainly a pair of tall tasks you've set for yourself. Trying to kill not only little old me but Naruto-kun and the group he keeps with him as well." Kabuto laughed, "I'd like to say I'd love to see you try-." His laughter then suddenly stopped as he glared at her hatefully, "-But I'd rather you just drop dead and get out of my way. Leave or I'll kill you here."

"Hmm…" Karin voiced out loud in false contemplation, "That sounds reasonable, but I'd rather just leave with your head if you don't mind."

"You'd need a squad of the best to even lay a scratch on me." Kabuto quipped to her, ready to just kill her and get back to business, "You were always terrible at fighting." An explosion them rocked the far wall of the lab, forcing Kabuto to jump aside to avoid being injured by any debris, "What?" He said, covering his eyes and nose from taking in any dust or flying materials.

"Oh, yeah." Karin said off-handedly, "That's my squad. You know, the one that you said I would need to even lay a scratch on you." The dripping noises in the room stopped as Suigetsu formed in front of her and through the wall that had been destroyed walked Juugo, "So do you think this squad is good enough to shake you up Kabuto?"

XxX

(Kumogakure no Sato – Raikage's Office)

After an hour or so, Naruto returned to the office with Hamako in tow and found his team, Jiraiya, and Yugito still there waiting patiently for him. Smiling to himself at seeing the loyalty of the people around him, Naruto walked up to Jiraiya, "So Ero-sennin, you said before we fought Pein that there was something you wanted to show me how to do." He shrugged his shoulders, "Well now sure as hell seems as good a time as any to let me in on it."

"You sure?" Jiraiya said with a smirk, "You might not be up for this kind of thing Naruto. It's only one of the top level techniques that only someone as manly and as awesome as myself can learn or teach."

Naruto gave him a deadpan look, "I'm sure I'll do just fine with it Ero-sennin." He then returned the man's smirk, "So how do we get started?"

Jiraiya bit his thumb and began making hand-seals, "Like this. Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!" In a puff of smoke, Fukasaku appeared on Jiraiya's shoulder, "I'm sure you know one half of the Two Great Sage Toads."

Naruto looked at the small toad on Jiraiya's shoulder and smiled, "Yeah, this was the one that was with you when I woke up after the fight with Pein. How are you Gama-jiji?"

Jiraiya palmed his face, "Naruto could you show the toad elder some respect? Your training is up to him in all honesty." Jiraiya mumbled out something that sounded like stupid brat while Fukasaku just chuckled.

"**It's alright Jiraiya-chan."** Fukasaku said, hopping off of the man's shoulder as he stood in front of Naruto, seemingly looking him over in appraisement, **"You are extremely talented, and quite powerful. Even stronger than the last time I saw you. As you are now, if you were to fight Pein you could possibly win."** Hearing that raised spirits around the room. Hamako just smiled as did Sai, while Maki gasped almost in elation, remembering the way he looked after his defeat at the hands of the man, **"Do you know the secret?"**

Naruto nodded in seriousness, "Hamako-chan told me right after she found out about it. None of those bodies are the real one." Fukasaku nodded, confirming Naruto's information, "So then where would the real one be?"

"We couldn't tell you kid." Jiraiya said, never finding out that much, "But I'm sure it can't be too far from where the other bodies themselves are at any time, so he can keep control of them." He snapped his fingers on his single remaining arm, "So we don't need to do this then? We just need to hone what you already know. The Kyuubi is a good enough boost for you to fight Pein then."

Hamako frowned, knowing what Naruto told her earlier, and it was only reinforced when he spoke up, "We're not using the Kyuubi for this." He said, surprising everyone except his assistant since they all knew that Naruto's capabilities when using the demonic chakra were nothing short of impressive, "I can't trust it, I can't rely on it to have my back for this, we're not using it." Besides, he had already been beaten once using the Kyuubi's chakra, effortlessly beaten. That meant that Pein could take him on even if he could use more tails of chakra. He left out the part where he figured that the Kyuubi was scared, allowing it to save face, but he still wasn't going to use it.

Everyone knew that Naruto didn't have Kirabi's range of control over the Kyuubi, he didn't even have Yugito's control, though what he did have control over could overpower Yugito if she went all out, especially since Naruto could still use a few ninjutsu while maintaining a chakra cloak when Yugito couldn't while using full power. From the way he was talking, the delicate truce that Naruto had with the Kyuubi on a regular basis was once again upset for some reason.

"Besides…" Naruto said, "There's still the whole Madara Uchiha thing to deal with. I know I can't beat him. No, if you thought I should have learned this before Pein made us both look stupid then I still need it now. Not much has changed with me to be honest." However he was _not_ being honest. Quite a bit had changed with him since his first encounter with Pein.

Jiraiya looked at him and nodded, "It's worth you learning it…" He mused, even though he intended to get to the bottom of Naruto and Kyuubi's rift between them as for the most part they usually had a well-working relationship that was far more cordial than Jiraiya figured it to be when he first met the sealed off Naruto before the chunin exam finals, "Alright, we can start whenever you're ready."

"Let's go now." Naruto said, ready and sick of sitting around idly with all of the information swimming through his head. He wanted to get through this training, he wanted to catalogue a future plan of action, "We don't have any time to waste here. Not really."

Fukasaku cut in, **"Are you sure Naruto-chan? For this training we're going to have to head up to Mount Myouboku. It will be a long process that will take time."**

Naruto's lips quirked, "Well then we'd better do it now shouldn't we? To get it out of the way."

Yugito was slightly put off, wishing Naruto would have spent some more time in Kumo so that she could catch up with him. He hadn't even been there for a day and he was already going to head somewhere else. Still, she understood why he needed to. This wasn't a social call, he told them things that they needed to know, and now it was up to them to tell the others in what was shaping up to be an alliance. Maybe this kind of news would kick Iwa's ass into gear over the whole situation and get the Tsuchikage to stop being so archaic over the matter.

Even though Naruto was leaving so soon, Yugito still had a way to be proactive about things, "Naruto-kun when you decide that it's time for you to gain full control over the Kyuubi I want you to come back to Kumo. Me and Kirabi can help you out." She then looked over at the smirking Raikage, "If it's alright with you Raikage-sama."

"It's alright with me." A said, amused at Yugito trying to cover up her enthusiasm at helping Naruto out by using him as a buffer to the concept, "I'll keep you and Kirabi in reserve until Uzumaki finishes with whatever he needs done."

Jiraiya and Fukasaku were about to speak up and say that it would probably be a long while before he finished, but Naruto cut in beforehand, "You won't have to keep them waiting for long Raikage-sama. I'll wrap this up in no time."

"What about us Naruto-senpai?" Sai asked him, knowing full well that he and Maki would not be allowed on the personal land of the toad summons as they weren't linked to the creatures by contract.

Naruto looked over at his team, "I want you to go back to Konoha and take Hamako-chan with you so that she's safe. I'll need you guys to be ready since I have no idea what's going to be happening soon. Keep things safe while I'm away would you? And take care of her you guys" He said with a grin that showed him he was counting on them.

"Yes Naruto-senpai." Both Sai and Maki responded in stereo.

Jiraiya smiled at seeing the obedience that Naruto got out of his teammates when he needed it. Fukasaku then interjected, **"Well if you're really all ready to go then I'll head back and tell Gamakichi to summon you so that we can begin."** He disappeared in a puff of smoke, having sent himself back to his home to prepare for Naruto's arrival.

Jiraiya put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Anything you want to say gaki? Now would be the time to say what you need to say."

Naruto turned to his friends in the room and cleared his throat, "I'm going to be gone for a while you guys, but when I get back I'm going to kick the shit out of Madara Uchiha's dusty old ass and send him back to the stone age where he came from. So just believe in me okay? I'll come back with all kinds of cool moves, I guarantee it." He finished with a small smile.

Hamako smashed herself against him in another hug, getting Maki and Yugito to glower at her slightly, "I'll keep in touch with you Naruto-sama in case anything you need to know happens, so don't worry about anything. Just train hard."

"I will Hamako-chan." Naruto said as she pulled away again, having said her peace on the matter. He looked over at Yugito who shrugged.

"I'll wait and say what I need to say when you get back. I think you might think it's important." She said with a smile, "Keeping little mysteries like that in your head might keep you alive or help you do what you need to get done faster to get back to me, okay Naruto-kun?" She heard the Raikage chuckle slightly and had to refrain from glaring at the man.

Naruto nodded and turned towards his team expectantly, wanting to hear if either of them had anything to say. Sai spoke first, "Just don't die Naruto-senpai. That wouldn't look very good for you." He said with a smile, not even losing it when Maki smacked him on the shoulder.

Maki coughed into her hand and turned towards Naruto, her grey eyes meeting his blues, "Um, you can count on me Naruto-senpai. We'll be ready when you come back."

Naruto let out a small laugh, "I always knew I could count on you Maki-chan." He looked around the room one more time before sighing, "You know, I-." He then disappeared in a puff of smoke, alarming everyone in the room except for Jiraiya.

"Man that was fast." Jiraiya said before blinking in surprise, "Wait a minute why the hell am I still here? How the hell are they going to summon him before me? I've got seniority in this bi-!" Before he could finish ranting he also vanished in a puff of smoke.

Maki just looked at the fading smoke and scratched the side of her face, "I'm going to have an ulcer by the time I'm 19 if I even live that long in the first place aren't I?"

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**There's plenty set up for the coming chapters and the like so it's all good in this hood. Probably. Meh, what do I know? I'm just some guy with insane musings, a laptop, and a chip on his shoulder.**

**Nothing to say… I'm pissed off and this did next to nothing to alleviate my anger. I don't think I should go to any party tonight even though it's the last weekend on campus, because if someone gets in my face like they usually do at some point in the night Kenchi618 might have to choke a bitch. I am not going to jail the weekend before exams thank you.**

**Hope you enjoyed yeah? Anyway, I'll catch you all later. Updates will probably be coming way quicker after next week because of the absurd amount of free time I might be having.**

**Later peeps. Kenchi out.**


	50. Take What You Want

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do own ungodly amounts of anger and pent up aggression however… which I can use to obtain Naruto by illegal means. All I know is that Kishimoto better never appear in front of me while I'm in this state of mind or… I just don't know what I'll do. I might not be able to be held responsible for my actions.

**Chapter 49: Take What You Want**

* * *

(Ta no Kuni – Remnants of Otogakure Base)

Kabuto looked over at Karin as Suigetsu and Juugo flanked her on both sides. The lab they were in was now a wreck, but it didn't matter to Kabuto, there wasn't much there worth fretting over, "You asked me what I think about your team?" He asked, surprised at their appearance, but not very concerned with them. Sasuke was their knockout power, and without him they were still pretty dangerous, but he could still handle them on his own, cornered though he was, "I think you should all just get out of my way before I shove one of you back into a test tank and put two more of you six feet under. Do you really think this was a good idea?"

"I think it's a pretty good idea." Suigetsu said in amusement, "Three of us against one of you seems like a brilliant idea to me."

Kabuto laughed and pushed the glasses up on his face, the side influenced by Orochimaru in clear view, with more of his body having assimilated his remains, "It normally would be, if you three didn't suck so bad without Sasuke. What do you think you're going to do to me?"

"You're the reason… the reason that Kimimaro went off to die and the reason that Kimimaro's will, Sasuke Uchiha is gone as well." Juugo allowed the cursed seal to take over part of his body, notably his right arm, as he turned it into a piston, "You aren't leaving this room alive."

Kabuto pretended to shake in fear, "Ooh, I'm not leaving this room alive. Please no… spare me." He then quickly lifted his hands up at them with a smirk on his face, "Not. Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)!" Kabuto shot snakes from his sleeves at the wayward team opposing him, forcing them to dodge out of the way of the door, allowing him to sprint towards it and begin making his exit, "So sorry! Maybe next time!" He taunted as he began running away.

Karin growled and got her team in order, "You can't run forever Kabuto… No matter where you go I can find you, and you won't be getting very far anyway." With that they pursued Kabuto through the seemingly endless hallways and corridors that was the hallmark of any Otogakure base. Right before they turned a corner, Karin picked up a new chakra signature that wasn't human, although the hissing noise also gave away what it was, "Juugo!"

"Got it!" As Juugo ran ahead of the rest of his team, his arm still in its piston form only now jets had formed on the back of it, a massive snake that encompassed the entire hall turned a corner and came right towards them, its mouth wide open, ready to swallow them whole, "Get out of the way!" From the jets he had formed, chakra emitted from them to quickly boost him towards the snake, punching it in the head hard enough to slam it through the wall and clear a space for his teammates to get through.

Suigetsu chuckled at the motionless snake they ran past as they continued after Kabuto, watching as it cancelled its own summoning and returned to its own realm, "Sorry, but all of you snakes are just cannon fodder anyway. You're lucky that Juugo was being nice… or that it wasn't me she asked to get you out of the way."

Karin snapped at Suigetsu and his gloating, "Would you stop preening and get a move on! I'd like to catch up to Kabuto today you know!"

"Juugo's got him damn it." Suigetsu insisted, as Juugo used the jets he had formed to speed himself forward towards the surface of the base to cut Kabuto off from escaping. As they reached near the entrance the sounds of booming and the slight shaking they could feel told them that he had managed to catch up, "Told you. And what good are you going to be in a fight anyway?"

"I'm not sitting this out!" Karin said resolutely narrowing her red eyes as they gazed upon the sunlight of the upper world once more, "This bastard is a part of the reason that Sasuke-kun was killed."

As they reached the surface they saw Kabuto avoiding a punch from Juugo that hit the ground with enough force to leave a crater, "My, my Juugo. All of that power and absolutely no finesse to go with it. What a shame." He then noticed the others coming out to face him as well and began to laugh, "It's so pathetic, you think you can just walk up to me and kill me? I've taken down ninja that were five times better than all of you, you could never take me on, especially now!"

Suigetsu looked around and cursed, 'Fuck! There's no water nearby! Not even a rice paddy's worth to use! I don't even have a sword either!' Either a sword or water would have been enough for him to want to fight, but he had neither to work with.

"Poor Suigetsu." Kabuto said sarcastically as he still kept himself out of the way of Juugo's attack. He could see that Suigetsu wanted badly to jump in and attack him as well, but with no water for his better ninjutsu and no sword to engage with he had to pick his spots to say the very least. Having gained enough distance away from his enemies, Kabuto made a come hither motion with his hands, "Come on, I have other things to do besides humiliate all of you."

Karin grit her teeth, 'He's just toying with us.' She moved forward as if she had an answer for Kabuto making child's play of them before Suigetsu grabbed her by the arm to keep her back, "Let go of me Suigetsu!" She said angrily until she saw how intently he was looking at Kabuto.

Suigetsu moved forward in front of her, still staring at Kabuto, "This isn't even the real Kabuto is it?" The grin that came across 'Kabuto's' face was all the answer he needed.

"Sorry, Kabuto's been long gone. I told you I had better things to do than humiliate all of you." 'Kabuto' said before his body changed appearances to the form of one of the deceased Oto ninja that he had done away with inside of the base. The corpse then dropped to the ground, lifeless once more.

Juugo allowed himself to turn completely back to normal as Karin and Suigetsu stared at the dead ninja that had been required to masquerade as Kabuto posthumously, "So now what do we do?"

Karin took a moment to actually think about that, 'Even if we caught Kabuto again what would we manage to do against him? He made this look easy the entire time… I wish that Sasuke-kun was here.'

Suigetsu just grunted irritably, as it wasn't like there was anything else they could do. They couldn't even touch a corpse reanimated by Kabuto, what would they do against the actual Kabuto if he had been forced to actually fight. In this case it was a good thing for them that Kabuto was so willing to cut and run and wasn't so bloodthirsty, "I need a sword… I need _some_ kind of sword. Any kind of sword until I can get to a Seven Swordsmen weapon." He then snapped to the defensive as something emerged from the ground in front of them.

"Hey, we caught the kids before Kabuto killed them!" The white half of Zetsu said cheerfully as he fully stood up and the black half spoke, **"Pssht, he probably left because he didn't feel like getting his hands dirty here."** Zetsu then looked at the remnants of Team Hebi, **"Anyway, there's work for you all that needs to be done. You were allowed to roam on your own to handle your own affair and as I can see you failed. You have orders to head towards Kirigakure and wait for orders. We'll be watching."**

Zetsu then descended back into the ground, leaving the team alone once again. After a moment, Suigetsu let out a chuckle, "Well doesn't that just fall into line with what I wanted. I wonder if I can make a detour… it's been so long since I've been home."

(With Naruto – Mt. Myouboku)

Naruto looked around his new surroundings and took it all in. He and Jiraiya now stood in an area that seemed to be flush with nature; all kinds of rivers and other bodies of running water abundant, lots of plant life, more than he would say that Konoha had, both in variety and in quantity, and in front of the two stood Gamakichi and Fukasaku, **"Welcome to Mt. Myouboku Naruto-chan. This is where we'll be training you for the time being."**

Jiraiya took a deep breath, inhaling the mountain air and patting his chest with his one arm, "Smell that mountain air gaki. Fresh, clean… this is nature. Savor that… because this is all you've got until you finish your training."

The mountain wasn't a bad place to be at all. Naruto actually quite liked his new surroundings, it was pretty quiet and a more peaceful area than he was used to. The kind of nature he was accustomed to was the Forest of Death… and as long as there weren't any man-eating spiders conditioned to hunting down and killing shinobi here he had to say that things were infinitely better on Mt. Myouboku.

After getting his fill of looking around, Naruto turned towards Fukasaku with an expectant look on his face, "Not that I want to seem ungrateful for the opportunity or seem like I'm in a rush… but I'm in a rush. What am I going to be doing while I'm here?" His answer to that was Jiraiya putting a hand on his shoulder, when Naruto turned to look at him he saw a huge grin on his face, "What's the matter?"

"How about you and I have a spar for old times' sake Naruto?" The frown that crossed the teen shinobi's face at hearing the tone that Jiraiya asked him with was obvious. Jiraiya never asked Naruto to fight, it was always the other way around. He had only asked Naruto to fight him once, the first time they did. It had been years since then, "It's really just to show you what you're going to be learning, but I wanted to see how you could do now anyway."

Naruto thought about it, 'What if he sees the Sharingan? Meh, who says I have to use the Sharingan? I'll just fight him without it, I don't need to turn it on.' A smirk came to Naruto's face, "If you want it you've got it Ero-kyofu. Lead the way." Jiraiya let outa chuckle and did just that, leading Naruto along through the wildery home of the toad summons, "You know that I'm not going to take it easy on you even though you lost your arm right?"

"Take it easy on me if you want to and see if you don't wake up staring at the sky." Jiraiya quipped before looking back at Gamakichi and Fukasaku who were following the two humans, "We're going to need Shima-sama for this one to get the point of what we're going to be doing across to him."

Gamakichi quickly threw up a webbed hand in salute, **"I'll go get her. I already know enough about how Naruto-nii fights. The elders don't so they should watch the entire thing."** With that, Fukasaku sprang from Gamakichi's back onto Jiraiya's shoulder as the larger orange toad went off to complete his self-imposed task.

Eventually, they made their way to a piece of land surrounded by what appeared to be a steadily flowing stream that accentuated the peaceful feeling that the place kept overall. With the place for their battle found, Fukasaku jumped from Jiraiya's shoulder onto a large lily pad that was on the water, **"Well Naruto-chan, let's see whatcha got. I'm expectin' a show from ya."**

"And a show you'll get." Naruto said, shaking his arms out along with his neck as well as kicking his legs loose, "Rules?"

"Same as always whenever I decided to go and beat your ass gaki." Jiraiya said, standing at the ready, "Now bring it on."

Naruto let out a laugh as he set himself in a ready stance, "I've gotten more than a few new moves down pat since we last fought. Hell, I've gotten new moves since you were with me in Amegakure, just like this!" Naruto launched himself at Jiraiya using his unrefined form of Haretsu Seigan (Burst Limit), the refined version being him using his Sharingan, but there was no way he was revealing his implanted doujutsu without just cause.

Jiraiya was barely able to register Naruto actually leaping on nothing more than air as he came at him in a serpentine pattern, 'That's… new to say the least.' He lifted his single arm in defensive preparation, but in a strictly hand-to-hand sense not having an arm against Naruto's onslaught was not to be advised as Jiraiya quickly found out.

Naruto's offense was fast and accurate, so much so that Jiraiya had to prioritize what he wanted to be hit by Naruto's flurry of fists and feet, deciding to take the hits to the body instead of his face. Time obviously hadn't dulled the force behind Naruto's physical attacks as Jiraiya could have attested to whenever Naruto landed a rib-rattling blow. Deciding to get the boy off of him by any means necessary, Jiraiya rolled through the one-handed seals he had memorized, "Hari Jizou (Needle Jizou)!" Without the Sharingan active, Naruto wound up punching the steel-hardened hair follicles and punctured his fist allowing Jiraiya to get back and gain some distance, "Hari Jigoku (Hell Needles)!"

"Shit!" Naruto started backstepping in full retreat as the needles impaled the ground in front of him. Naruto created a quick Kage Bunshin behind himself to assist his evasion by throwing him into the air just as needles hit it and dispelled it. Naruto made three hand-seals as he inhaled deeply and exhaled harshly, "Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere)!" Several small bullets of wind flew from Naruto's mouth at Jiraiya, forcing him to put a stop to his own offense to avoid them.

Jiraiya thought that they would be at a stalemate, as he would be waiting for Naruto to land on the ground to begin their battle anew, but he had yet to truly receive the memo that Naruto didn't need to be on the ground to fight any longer. Naruto rolled his body upside down in the air and formed air bubbles under his feet that both burst simultaneously, shooting him at Jiraiya forcefully, 'The damn kid's like a pit bull!' He thought as he kept his hair as sharp as ever as a defense.

Naruto linked his fists together at the thumbs and shoved both of them out at Jiraiya, "Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!" Naruto fired off his jutsu and knocked Jiraiya back off of his feet harshly in a show of force. The momentum of him already flying towards the toad sage coupled with him unleashing a faster projectile jutsu was an effective combination of moves.

Landing on his feet in a forward slide, Naruto came to a stop as he saw Jiraiya fall into the stream, 'I got him… I actually got him, and got him good at that! All right! That's for three years of humiliation and there's more where that came from!'

Jiraiya's head popped out of the water with him taking a deep breath, 'Little punk is probably thinking he's hot stuff right now.' Instead of seeing Naruto in the midst of a premature victory dance that even he admittedly would be doing if he had managed to nail his sensei the way Naruto just had, his blonde student was watching his every move with an appraising eye, looking ready to fight at the next prime moment. He wasn't even rushing in to follow up, expecting Jiraiya to have a counter prepared, '…Or maybe not.'

'If he's going to stay in that water I guess I have to show him that he's not safe there.' Naruto thought as he formed five Kage Bunshin to protect him, 'My second element is perfect for that.' He thought to himself right before his clones grabbed him and threw him directly into the air without warning, "What the hell?" Naruto exclaimed, not understanding until he saw a Jiraiya behind them that had emerged from the water from there with his palm on the ground.

Underneath the clones still on the ground, they quickly sank into what was turning into a dark bog, drawing them in up to their necks. Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, 'Those clones are his eyes and ears when he doesn't have them on himself.' With that thought shoved to the back of his mind, Jiraiya took aim at Naruto who was still hanging in the air, "I'd love to see how you block this one!" He said as he began making hand-seals.

'I'll tell you how I'll block it!' Naruto thought furiously as he used his aerial specialty to boost himself higher into the air, 'You don't let it happen in the first place!' Naruto threw a shuriken from his supply pouch at Jiraiya and with a practiced speed, knocked out his hand-seals faster than Jiraiya could with his one arm, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"

The single shuriken turned to dozens of metal stars flying through the air that Jiraiya dodged by jumping back into the water, taking cover to avoid them, never letting go of his hand-seal until he jumped back out of the water and made his final one, just in time for him to see Naruto back on the ground, rushing at him with his sword drawn, "Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet)!"

"Bunshin Daibakuha (Clone Great Explosion)!"

Naruto's sword-wielding clone glowed and blew itself to smithereens just as Jiraiya fired off his own jutsu, the two respective forces sending the white-haired man flying back away from the explosion, blunting the damage, 'Kami, he's relentless. No mercy for a poor old man it seems.'

Naruto had been keeping himself in the air with his air bubbles, hopping out of Jiraiya's field of vision as he sent down a clone in his place. Naruto smirked as he finally decided to land back onto the ground, 'Thank you Itachi and thank you Sharingan for that beautiful clone jutsu. And that's why I only used seal-less jutsu in that fight against you guys and your copy-eyes. Suckers.'

Jiraiya stood back up and chuckled, "You've grown strong Naruto. You're not just some advanced kid anymore, you're top of the line for sure now." He said with a smile on his face, "But you've still got room for improvement. I haven't even gotten started yet!"

Glad but somewhat perturbed that his sneaky new Kage Bunshin move didn't wound Jiraiya, Naruto could only return the sentiment, "I know you haven't! Kick it up a notch why don't you, or are you finally saying that I'm better than you?"

"That'll be the day!" And as Jiraiya felt two weights settle on both of his shoulders he almost immediately felt the tide of the battle turn, "Unfortunately for you that day isn't today…" Suddenly Jiraiya's nose grew larger and formed warts, he grew a goatee that hadn't been there previously, his eyes turned toad-like, and the lines under his eyes grew to encompass most of both sides of his face, "Kid I want to introduce you to Sage Mode."

Shima smirked at Naruto from her place on Jiraiya, **"Giving your tadpole a crash course in what senjutsu's all about eh Jiraiya-chan? I guess we'll have to help ya with that won't we?"**

Naruto was confused when he saw Fukasaku and Shima take their places on Jiraiya's shoulders and was even more so when he saw how this had bolstered Jiraiya's confidence, seeming to take him immediately out of a defensive state of mind. Still, Naruto knew not to underestimate anything, especially anything that Jiraiya did. He also didn't feel like testing Jiraiya's offensive capabilities in this form, choosing to launch his own attack.

Naruto held his sword in his hands and rushed directly at Jiraiya who wasn't moving at all, 'He's not dodging. He's not doing anything but waiting for me.' Naruto had his sword poised to strike as he closed in, 'You'd better do something now Ero-kyofu, I'm not stopping for you! I'll split you clean in two if you let me here!' And then he actually swung the blade, and watched in shock as Jiraiya blocked it with the back of his forearm, "Huh? Who blocks that with their arm?"

"No chakra flow through it gaki?" Jiraiya asked, standing in a defensive stance and blocking Naruto's sword swing as if it had been a kick, "Oh that's right, you can't do that with your sword. You might have worried me if there had been something in that." He then proceeded to rap Naruto hard in the face one time with his fist, something that sent Naruto flying back away from him, forming a small trench. He then turned his attention to the toads on his shoulders, "So now that you've seen him what do you think?"

Fukasaku answered Jiraiya's question, **"He's as talented as they come. If he can master Sage Mode then there's no tellin' what he'll be able to accomplish."**

Shima on the other hand took to scolding Jiraiya, **"Did ya have to hit him so hard Jiraiya-chan? Look at him."** Naruto had yet to even try to pull himself up to continue yet, **"Ya really rattled that tadpole's brains with that one."**

"He's fine." Jiraiya insisted, "He's just milking it."

On the other hand, Naruto was sitting in the trench that his body formed with blood coming from wounds on his face after just one direct punch, 'What the fuck just hit me? Did he summon Tsunade-baachan for a one-hit special or something? Kami, that was terrible! And he blocked my sword with his arm!' Naruto finally stood up albeit shakily, and after wobbling around for a few moments he pointed at Jiraiya accusingly, "Okay, what the fuck just happened?"

Jiraiya smirked, "What, the punching you in the face part or the blocking your sword part?"

"Both!" Naruto shouted back. The only thing he thought of that could do that was his four-tailed cloak. As a matter of fact he could probably keep on fighting if he tried drawing on that, but he'd be damned if he was going to go crawling back to the Kyuubi like that, especially over a spar with his sensei. Hell even the Sharingan would be a boon, though it wouldn't get him past a defense like that. Would he really have to step it up that much to do Jiraiya damage now?

Jiraiya merely laughed boisterously, "Are you done yet?"

"Not yet…" Naruto muttered, looking at his left arm, in particular the seal tattoo around his left forearm, "I've got one more thing I want to try and I'm sure you can survive it Ero-kyofu." Jiraiya looked confused until Naruto charged towards him again, "Well… maybe you'll be able to survive! I've never tried it out to see how powerful it could be!"

"A straightforward attack against a superior opponent?" Jiraiya expressed in disappointment, "You know better than that. I guess it's time to check that attitude of yours one more time gaki."

"I'm not trying to get the drop on you, this is just a test!" Naruto shouted back as he made a set of hand-seals ending in the half-tiger seal with his right hand and cocked his left hand back to strike, "Fuuka Houin: Kai (Fire Sealing Method: Release)!" Jiraiya wondered what Naruto thought unsealing a few measly flames would do until the boy spoke up again as his seal tattoo glowed, "Flames of Amaterasu!" Naruto's left arm up to his forearm was immediately covered in pitch black flames.

Jiraiya's eyes widened, remembering that fire from Itachi's escape away from him three years ago, "How the hell did he get that!" He yelled in shock rhetorically as the other two with him had no way of knowing themselves, "Did he seal that into his own arm? You crazy little piece of-! Kami what's wrong with your head?"

'It doesn't hurt.' Naruto thought to himself, as he saw that the flames were being restrained by the seal around his forearm, keeping it in place and restrained from spreading or even affecting his body physically, 'I can't even feel it. It isn't even burning me.'

'I've got nothing on me to seal that into!' Jiraiya thought furiously as he clocked Naruto incoming, 'I'm not sure I can take that, even in Sage Mode. But we're about to find out because here he comes!' He then noticed Naruto suddenly stop in his tracks as he stared at his flaming fist, "What's the matter? Why'd you stop?"

Naruto scratched his head as he looked at his black-fire hand, "Well the thing is, I don't know what to do with this thing except punch you with it." As he stared at his hand he didn't even notice Jiraiya facepalm, "If that's all I can do… I mean it would make one hell of a punch for sure but still… there's got to be some way to use it differently, in a more useful way."

"Okay, that's enough then." Jiraiya said, sighing in relief when Naruto resealed the Amaterasu flames back into his arm. The two toad elders hopped off of his shoulders, returning him to his normal appearance, "You only saw just one advantage of what you're going to be learning here. You will be learning Sage Mode." He said in a gravely serious voice, "I hope that little spar loosened you up, because this training will be harsh."

XxX

(Hi no Kuni – Route back to Konohagakure)

Sai and Maki took Naruto's instructions to heart and kept a watchful eye on Naruto's very cheerful servant Hamako. She seemed in bright spirits as far as Maki could see, but to Sai who knew her significantly better by way of his interactions with Naruto for years prior he could see that something was amiss with her, "Hamako-san is there something wrong? You've been different since we've set out from Kumogakure."

Hamako turned to Sai and her bright smile returned, although there wasn't much behind it, "It's nothing Sai I promise, it's just… things are getting rather, I don't know how I should put this, scary? The things that we know are very chilling and Naruto-sama has to face them down all by himself. There's nothing that I can do in the end."

"Naruto-senpai isn't alone." Maki asserted, crossing her arms and looking away. She had attracted Hamako's attention with her comment thus she continued speaking, "He has Sai-senpai, Danzo-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Hokage-sama… he has so many people that are willing to help him. You are one of them as well, and there are things you can do that no one else can."

Hamako thought about it and moved over to Maki, giving the raven-haired Root kunoichi a hug that caught her off-guard. People didn't hug her, ever, "Thank you for that Maki-san. And I'm very happy that there are people like you around to ensure that Naruto-sama's safe. How do you know him? He never told me how he managed to meet you."

Maki recovered quickly after Hamako let go of her, curious as to how she knew Naruto, "Naruto-senpai trained with me when we were children and he was my partner in my earlier missions, then he disappeared." She finished on a slightly somber note before cheering up, "He always looked out for me and made sure I was safe in the field. I always wanted to work with him again."

"My guide on relationships labels that as hero worship." Sai chimed in for Hamako's benefit, getting a mortified look from Maki, "Maki-san missed Naruto-senpai desperately after his departure from Root. She barely left his bedside after we recovered him from Amegakure after his battle with Pein." Sai ignored Maki's glare on him as she tried to mentally bore a hole through his head.

"It was not hero worship!" Maki snapped back before reining herself in, "I mean, he was sort of my hero, but all I wanted was really to repay him for all of the things he's done for me. He doesn't even register any of it as favors. Like protecting me was his duty. I never even got to prove to him that I could stand on my own two feet."

Sai turned towards her with his smile on his face, "And what part of anything you just said is not hero worship?"

Hamako chose to interject at this point in order to possibly save Sai's life, as she saw Maki's hand creeping towards her tanto, "Alright that's enough Sai." She said in a calming manner, "If Maki-san claims that it is not hero worship then it is not hero worship." Maki gave a grateful smile towards Hamako right until the seal mistress spoke again, "It's quite clear to me that she has a crush on my master." This elicited an indignant squeak from Maki who couldn't find her voice at the moment.

Before Maki could get her voice back, Sai pounded his hand into his palm in understanding, "Oh so that's why she would oftentimes refer to things she had done with Naruto-senpai, or reference some kind of advice that senpai gave her back when he was sealed. Relationships are extremely complicated…" Maki turned her head towards Sai fast enough to whip her braids violently, "But what about your relationship with him Hamako-san?"

Maki tried to weakly insert herself in the conversation, "Now wait a minute you guys-."

Hamako merely waved Sai's question off, "I may love Naruto-sama but I am his servant first no matter how much he tried to get me to renounce such a thing once upon a time. I am meant to look out for his well-being and act in his best interest. If other girls care for him then they'll have to show him and get him to accept them. Yugito-san does, I can see that. There are others that do as well."

Maki's cheeks began to redden, "Hold on, I never-."

Sai began writing something down in a small notepad that he carried with him and reading it back to himself, "Women are usually very indirect with how they feel. Case in point, Naruto-senpai's relationships with several of them including my teammate. Side-note to self: If there ever is a woman that I feel something for I must be the one to initiate contact because she more than likely will not." Sai snapped his notebook shut and tucked it back with his belongings, "Good information to have." He said.

Maki gave a deadpan look at Sai and Hamako as they both kept walking with smiles on their faces, "There's nothing I can say to dispute that I like Naruto-senpai is there?" Both Sai and Hamako immediately shook their heads eliciting a sigh from Maki, "I didn't think so…" She said, hiding her face with her hands.

XxX

Naruto stared at a waterfall and a fountain that had been producing some kind of oil as Jiraiya, Gamakichi, and the two elderly toads stood ready to explain, an explanation that was headed up by Fukasaku, **"Alright Naruto-chan. This is where your training will be taking place. In order for you to learn Sage Mode you will have to learn how to balance your physical and spiritual energies of your own chakra with the energies of nature."**

Naruto blinked after hearing the explanation, "Okay… well how do I do that?" Jiraiya then planted his hand firmly on Naruto's shoulder.

"You have to learn how to be still." He said with a huge grin on his face.

Naruto's eye twitched as a frown formed on his whisker-marked face, "I already know how to do that. I've staked out spots for days before Ero-kyofu. If I'd have moved I'd have blown my cover."

Jiraiya then switched to grabbing Naruto's cheek and pulling it comically, "Really? I mean _perfectly_ still. Like a stone statue… you can't move anything for even a moment. If you don't… well I probably shouldn't say."

Shima then cut in, feeling that he had to know if he was going to do this, **"If ya can't learn to be still an' control the nature chakra then you'll take in too much and turn to a toad an' then a stone statue."** She saw Naruto's jaw drop, **"Yep, that certainly changes things up a bit, don't it?"**

Naruto didn't like how this was sounding. When he messed things up he usually did it by going overboard. Going overboard in this instance would turn him into a statue, "So I only get one shot at this? Get the way to do this down or turn into a toad statue? That sucks."

Gamakichi moved towards his human familiar and got his attention, **"Nah Naruto-nii it's not like that. If the elders figure that you're about to turn then they can get you out of it before you wind up like that. Everything'll be fine."**

Fukasaku hopped onto Naruto's shoulder and pointed at the fountain, **"That there oil will help you feel the natural energy so that you can eventually learn to draw on it by yourself. Jiraiya-chan'll be right here with ya to help out."**

Nodding to affirm that he would be doing just that, Jiraiya gave Naruto a confident grin, "This was my idea in the first place. I know that you'll have this down in no time gaki."

"What do I have to lose?" Naruto said eventually, shrugging after he actually thought about it for a second, "Well I could turn into a stone statue, but worst case scenario on that one is that I die alone and Akatsuki can't get the Kyuubi out of me." He then stroked his chin in thought, "Hey maybe I should botch the training on purpose just to end all of this? Not that it really matters to me but does turning into a statue hurt?" His answer was a hard shot to the head from three toads and his one-armed godfather that knocked him to the ground, "Right… so I won't be doing that."

"Good." Jiraiya, Fukasaku, Shima, and Gamakichi said simultaneously, still glaring at Naruto for his stupid suicidal comment. There was no way in hell Jiraiya was leaving that mountain if Naruto purposefully turned to stone under his watch, not as long as he knew all the ways he'd die once he returned home.

XxX

(Sometime Later – Kaze no Kuni)

Inside of a cool cave that protected them from the blazing environment of the arid deserts, Itachi began pulling his bandages away from his eyes, "Kisame it's time. One of our targets is near at last."

The shark-like man looked over at his partner curiously, "But the Ichibi jinchuuriki is still miles deeper in the desert, we just stopped here so you could let your eyes heal from the surgery. There's no way we'd catch him outside of his village."

Itachi finished disposing of his bandages, keeping his eyes closed as he made his way toward the exit of the hideaway, "I know that Kisame, I said _our_ target, not Madara's target. Now let's go."

Kisame put his predator-esque grin on his face as he quickly followed behind, "Okay I gotcha. Heh, whatever you say Itachi-san. I'm right behind you."

XxX

Having just entered the desert on their way doing the follow-up for Naruto's initial diplomacy mission, Danzo, Fuu, and Torune made their way over the sands at the pace of their bandaged leader, "Fuu, Torune." Danzo said suddenly.

"Danzo-sama." Both men said simultaneously as they had long since been conditioned to do.

"I hope that you two are prepared for conflict." Danzo said, alerting them prematurely as they looked around at nothing, "Not here… later. Not too much longer though."

Fuu narrowed his eyes over the desert wasteland, "Do you expect some sort of treachery from Sunagakure? Do you believe there are some of their ninja hiding in wait to attack us?"

Danzo shook his head, "No. Naruto-kun has done a fine job in establishing a relationship between our two villages. The Kazekage would not allow an attack on a Konoha diplomat by his own shinobi. That's not the type of trouble I'm anticipating."

On the other hand Torune was confused. If not the shinobi inhabiting the nation that they were in then who would possibly be willing to attack them? He couldn't think of anyone willing to come after them at the moment, "Who do you expect to attack us Danzo-sama?"

"I do not know." Danzo said, still not able to shake a foreboding feeling that had settled over him, "But I do know that it will be a threat worth taking notice of to say the very least. We should begin to speed our efforts to travel towards Sunagakure. Perhaps the trouble will pass us over in that case."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

Tsunade sat in her office thinking over the information that Naruto's clone gave her a few days ago. According to him and his team, Madara Uchiha was alive and spearheading the entire Akatsuki operation, not Pein. He was the figurehead leader, while Madara had been the benefactor for his schemes. Now it was more important than ever for the villages to come together in response to this threat.

Kirigakure was eager to finish negotiations and served to be very receptive to the idea, surprising since Tsunade had switched out Naruto, a very affable young man that showed he had the skills to communicate with higher-ups with Danzo, someone perceived to be very prickly to say nothing of his cold subordinates he chose to have with him. The last thing that a village recovering from an outright civil war wanted or needed was a group plotting to take over the world, nor did an alliance of villages not including them appeal whatsoever. Sunagakure was a given to go along with things. Going there to finalize discussions was merely a formality at this point. Tsunade's rapport with Gaara, Naruto not even being involved, was nothing less than cordial to say the least.

Iwa was still a problem, what with Onoki refusing to budge on the matter of the villages teaming up, but eventually the pressure would ensure that he would fall in as well. It would be foolish not to. He wasn't the only nation in the alliance without any jinchuuriki. Takigakure had lost theirs as well as Kiri, having extracted the Sanbi from their last Mizukage Yagura and with the Rokubi having been captured from their rogue host; however both of those villages still wanted to take part.

"There's something we're missing about all of this though." Tsunade said to herself out loud as she drummed her fingernails on the surface of her desk before letting out a sigh, "And so much of this could have been avoided with a better perspective from people like Sarutobi-sensei… but hindsight is 20/20." She looked over at Tonton who was sleeping on the couch against the wall, "You think I could have handled things better?" She asked, half-jokingly, not receiving an answer, "Heh, maybe the Yondaime could have… especially the whole Uchiha Clan thing."

She stretched her arms above her head and stood up, alerting Tonton as the small pig could hear the chair sliding back to break the calm of the office. Tonton hopped down and followed behind Tsunade, oinking a question as the Hokage opened the door to leave, "Well…" Tsunade said in response, "I'm going to get some training in… maybe some hands-on work in the hospital. I doubt things are going to stay quiet for long, and I have to be ready for whatever happens don't I?"

XxX

()

"Ow goddamn it!" Naruto cried out in pain as he found himself smacked with Fukasaku's staff for what seemed like the umpteenth time this day alone. It had been a few days, almost a week since he had begun to train, and his training consisted of trying to harmonize himself with nature. To keep him from turning into a toad statue when his balance with nature was off Fukasaku took to nailing Naruto with his staff to 'knock the nature chakra out of his system'. Needless to say Naruto was inspired to get this down quickly as he was sick of getting hit by a stick by some grandpa toad… not that he would say that out loud lest he take a few more whacks for his trouble.

"Again Naruto." Jiraiya said, observing from nearby as Naruto sat back down in a meditative position, "This is the way that it has to be until you get it down pat. When you can properly balance the nature chakra in your system then we can move on to the next thing." He got a nod from Naruto who understood and got right back to work doing so as he closed his eyes to begin his meditation process again, 'He's getting this far faster than even I could have anticipated, he isn't even using his clones. Well it's not like he isn't used to meditating. Trying to synch with the Kyuubi for so many years must have given him experience… I wonder what happened between them, because in Kumo he seemed to be angry with it, angrier than I've seen him in quite a while.'

Fukasaku watched with his staff at the ready for any signs of Naruto attempting to turn into a toad so that he could jump in and stop him from transforming into a statue. Still, Naruto had taken to this training better than anyone thought he would have. As he noticed that it had been more than a few minutes and he hadn't had to hit Naruto yet, **'And this is without the oil too, so quickly…'** A smile came to the old toad's face, **"I think it's time to show ya just what you're capable of with the use of senjutsu."** He pointed his stick over at a large stone toad statue five times a human's size that Naruto was sitting right under, **"I want ya to lift that."**

Naruto quickly hopped to his feet without any complaints about the seemingly insurmountable order and hoisted it right off of the ground, "Whoa…" He said in surprise at himself, "I feel great. Better than I've ever felt in my life. This is what I can do when I use senjutsu?"

"**Yep."** Fukasaku said with a smile still on his face as Naruto held the statue up in the air with ease, **"But there's something ya need to know about getting the nature chakra into your system…"** And Naruto found out what it was when he had to drop the statue and jump away from it or risk crushing himself underneath it.

"What the hell?" Naruto asked in bewilderment as Jiraiya laughed and extended a hand to help him up to his feet, "What just happened? I thought I had it."

Jiraiya wiped a tear of humor from his eye as he began to explain, "The thing about it is, you use your sage chakra up when you move or do anything. You only had a few moments worth when Fukasaku-sama asked you to lift the statue. You break the connection with nature when you move and you can't draw anymore in while you fight. It has to be done while you're still."

Naruto scratched the side of his face as he looked at the stone statue he had just lifted clean off of the ground, "Well… I mean, it's super-useful and all but I have to stay still to even initiate Sage Mode don't I? So how will I ever use it?" He wanted to use Sage Mode so badly after he had felt just a hint of what he could be capable of with nature chakra backing up everything he already had. He wondered how strong he was in comparison to Tsunade when he used that.

Fukasaku calmed Naruto down, **"Now, now Naruto-chan, we have a way for that to work. Jiraiya-chan wouldn't have made ya learn how to do this if there wasn't a way for it to work."** That made enough sense to get Naruto to wind down as he was still jazzed up from the statue lift, **"Now to make sure ya can actually do it and that it wasn't a fluke I want ya to gather nature chakra again."**

Naruto sat on the ground and meditated for a few more minutes until he finally felt the feeling he had felt when he lifted the statue. Standing up, Naruto smirked at Jiraiya and Fukasaku, "So how's that? Is that good enough for you guys?"

They both looked at Naruto in confusion as Jiraiya pointed at him and voiced the question on both of their minds, "Naruto why is only one of your eyes showing the effects of Sage Mode?"

"What?" Naruto asked, as he couldn't see that one of his eyes had the bar-like pupil while the other scarred eye was still the same as it always had been. Naruto reached up and pointed at the unchanged eye and got a nod telling him that it was the one that hadn't taken on the mark of using senjutsu. It was the Sharingan eye that was covered by his contact lens, "Um… is it supposed to show in both eyes?"

Fukasaku and Jiraiya both nodded, **"What's going on? You've got the basic process down, ya have the nature chakra flowing through ya. What's the matter?"**

Jiraiya gave Naruto a stern glance. There were too many strange things going on with Naruto lately. He was keeping something from them and now it was something he needed to address, "Naruto, what's wrong with your eye? Everything legitimately organic about your person is affected by Sage Mode. Both of your eyes should have the mark."

Naruto let out a sigh. What possible lie could he concoct for this one? And lying to the man that was teaching you his secret techniques and the elder of your summoning creatures had to be a total no-no. Fine, if he had to know then he would. No one else would, "Okay the thing about that is, I lost my right eye when I was looking for Kubikiribouchou for Kiri." He saw the skeptical looks on their faces as he didn't fight like a man with only one eye, "This isn't my real eye." He channeled chakra to his lens to deactivate it and show them the real eye, "This is now."

He heard Jiraiya and Fukasaku gasp once they saw it. Yeah, it must have been pretty shocking to see his Sharingan out and active like that, "Naruto why is your eye like that? What's it supposed to be?"

Naruto gave him a strange look, "It's supposed to be the Sharingan. Can't you see? You've seen the Sharingan before haven't you? I got a hold of a Sharingan eye and implanted it into my empty socket."

Jiraiya squinted as if he were trying to get a better look at Naruto's eye, "Sharingan? That's not what it looks like gaki."

"What do you mean that's not what it looks like?" Naruto said, somewhat alarmed at hearing that his Sharingan might not be, "What does it look like then? I know what it looked like when I had Maki-chan put it in. I know what it looked like when I saw it after my fight with Itachi and Sasuke. What's wrong? I can't see it."

Jiraiya pulled out a kunai and started scribbling out what Naruto's Sharingan eye looked like to him on the ground. He stepped aside so that Naruto could get a good look at it, "Just so you know half of it is red and the other half is yellow." He then watched as the blonde boy scrutinized it. Naruto's central pupil was a horizontal bar surrounded by three tomoe. Half of his eye was red while the other half was yellow in a yin-yang pattern. Due to Naruto feeling stressed out over the loss or mutation of his Sharingan it was currently spinning, both the tomoe and the yin-yang red-yellow combination of his eye.

"Holy crap how'd this happen!" Naruto exclaimed in shock right before his nature chakra faded, returning his Sharingan to its normal three tomoed state, "Wait, it's back to normal now."

"**Can ya tell the difference?"** Fukasaku asked, curious as no one with a doujutsu had ever been able to use Sage Mode before, **"Between your regular Sharingan and that one?"**

"I… think so." Naruto said, still slightly freaked out. In reality he had only been paying attention to what Jiraiya said, not what he could or couldn't do with his Sharingan, "What now?" He asked.

Jiraiya shook his head and let the shock of Naruto having a Sharingan settle, "Now you're going to tell me and Fukasaku-sama how you wound up with a fully matured Sharingan eye in your right socket… and don't leave any parts out."

Naruto groaned and then planted himself onto the ground in a seated position. Jiraiya did the same and waited for him to explain, as did Fukasaku, "Grr, fine. It starts off after me and my team took the mission to take back one of Kiri's swords. We wound up in the southern part of Hi no Kuni…"

XxX

(Kaze no Kuni – Sunset)

Danzo and his escorting members of Root came to a complete stop, prompting Fuu to take up the ram seal and begin sensing around for any signs of danger. After finding a signature, his eyes widened in shock, "Danzo-sama. There's a massive chakra signature coming right towards us."

Danzo turned towards his subordinate and gave him a careful glance, "How massive a signature?"

"More chakra than I've ever felt from anyone in my life… except for _maybe_ Naruto Uzumaki." Fuu said informatively, prompting Torune to assume a battle position in preparation for potential conflict, "Like I said it's heading straight for us. What do we do?"

Danzo answered in his usual reserved manner, "We make sure we're ready. Which direction is the individual coming from?"

Fuu pointed in the necessary direction and over the horizon of the sand dunes they could see something akin to a fin sticking out of the ground heading towards them, "What on earth is that?" He asked.

The answer from Danzo was quick and precise, "The enemy. I hope that you two are good enough to stand against the Akatsuki."

As he said that, from the ground burst Kisame, swinging Samehada in a manner that separated Torune and Fuu from Danzo. Instead of going after the brain of the three, Danzo, Kisame spent his efforts doing all he could to send Fuu and Torune further and further away, ignoring Danzo altogether, "Sorry. It's too bad for you guppies but the big fish belongs to someone else, so you and I will have to play for a while." Kisame said as he dashed after the two Root members retreating from his dogged pursuit.

Danzo narrowed his visible eye as he watched his Root shinobi struggle against Kisame, getting pushed further and further away. The reason being, there was only one person fighting against them, 'Akatsuki operates in pairs. And the partner to Kisame Hoshigaki is-.'

"Hello Danzo."

Danzo didn't even bother turning around to face his enemy as he already knew exactly who was standing there, "Hello Itachi. It has been quite a while hasn't it?"

Standing with his back facing Danzo's back, Itachi stood calmly by, "Yes it has."

They simply stood not moving for the longest time, Danzo subtly trying to undo the bandages on his right arm as he spoke, "So it's come to this? I thought that you were working towards Konoha's benefit, even now as a member of Akatsuki."

"I am." Itachi said, "I went out of my way to wait for you under the guise of healing my eyes instead of heading towards Sunagakure to attempt to take the Kazekage. But there are things that _I_ want now. The status quo has changed. Your trained operative took away my salvation. You remembered our arrangement didn't you?"

Danzo felt like sighing. Of course he did, it kept his hands tied from running damage control on Sasuke's psyche after Itachi's killing of the Uchiha Clan. What a shame. If Danzo could have gotten to him then maybe Sasuke would have ended up being Naruto's partner the way Sai was now, "To keep away from your younger brother or you would reveal our secrets to the other countries."

Itachi let out a humming noise, "And yet who was it that interfered in our final battle? Naruto Uzumaki… a boy that you apparently trained. A boy that had the garb of your Root operatives. Tell me how that was keeping away from Sasuke?"

"You fool…" Danzo said lowly, "Naruto had no idea of what had transpired. He knew nothing other than that you were a member of Akatsuki, a group set on ending his life. When he saw Sasuke he didn't see someone to protect per our agreement, he saw a missing-ninja of Konohagakure, he saw both of you as missing-nin and threats to our village. And like the Konoha shinobi he was he did what he could to end that threat… though I thought he had finished you."

"Not me." Itachi said, finally opening his eyes, "My brother… Naruto killed Sasuke in our battle." His Sharingan now had the appearance of its usual three sided pinwheel with three intersecting ellipses overlapping the pinwheel around the center, "And now I carry his eyes as my strength. I'm not turning my back on Konoha, I've lost too much to do so now. But I can hold a grudge against Naruto Uzumaki… and I will end his life the way he did so to my brother. Killing him will end everything. It will save Konoha, it will avenge Sasuke." A kunai planted itself into Itachi's grasp subtly, "You should see this as the correct action to take. I will kill Naruto and grow in strength enough to defeat Madara myself."

"You can't boy." Danzo said, shaking his head pitifully, "You have been twisted by Madara even though you cannot see it. And you cannot defeat Naruto-kun either… he will grow far more powerful than either one of us. Even that 'leader' of yours… Pein. He will fall sooner rather than later."

Itachi remained silent for a second before speaking again, "You say that I cannot defeat Naruto as if I am going to make it out of this desert. Are we not about to fight ourselves? Do you believe that you're going to die here?"

"If that is what it comes to…" Danzo said, trailing off as he had nearly finished unlocking the bolts on the heavy braces that sat underneath his bandages. As if he would allow Itachi to finish him off here. If Itachi truly wanted to fight, truly wanted to destroy Naruto, Konoha's future, then he had to stop him here, "Do you truly plan to kill Naruto-kun?" He got no answer from the stoic Uchiha, "Then I cannot let you pass Itachi, no matter what it takes."

With that, Danzo's braces that were on his arm fell to the ground. As soon as they made contact with the sand, Itachi burst into a flock of crows and Danzo disappeared in a Shunshin.

* * *

**And that's chapter people. Next up we will have Danzo Shimura vs. Itachi Uchiha… so yeah, it's going down. We'll have Naruto wrapping up his time on Mt. Myouboku, so expect that fun to happen, with some new tricky tricks all for you guys to enjoy. Things are getting shaken up all over the world. Who knows what's next? Questions that I can answer? You all should know the drill by now. Until the next update stay frosty people.**

**Who'll win?**

**Who's next?**

**I decide!**

**E~~~~PIC… RAP BATTLES OF HISTORY!**

**-I mean, THE SEALED KUNAI!  
**

**Kenchi out.**


	51. For the Sake of the Future

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. My birthday is in two and a half weeks and I would like Kishimoto to do the right thing and give me the rights for my birthday. He knows he wants to. He doesn't want all of that responsibility.

**Chapter 50: For the Sake of the Future**

* * *

Kisame kept rapidly pursuing Torune and Fuu over the sunset sandy environment of Kaze no Kuni, chasing them further and further away from Itachi and Danzo. If Itachi wanted to take on the old man by himself Kisame could deal with that. It just gave him two enemies of his own to deal with. Maybe he could kill them before Itachi finished the old man off, told him that they had what they came for, and made him stop fighting as was Itachi's nature.

"You two are really good at running away, did you know that?" Kisame taunted, trying to goad them into a fight. But he knew that they weren't stupid enough to turn and fight him just because of an insult or anything like that. Danzo would have made sure the drones that travelled with him personally were far better than that.

Meanwhile the two Root ninja didn't know how to go about countering Kisame's chase. Fuu didn't have the time to set up his signature trap so that left Torune to fight directly and maybe begin the counterattack. They needed to get back to Danzo, but they first needed to dispose of the ex-Kiri ninja. A daunting task indeed.

Torune had already pulled the gloves off of his hands revealing that they seemed to look purple. This was the sign of his Aburame Clan Kikaichuu, although his were special nano-sized insects that did something more devious than simply draining chakra. Torune and Fuu looked at each other before wordlessly nodding and breaking directly apart away from each other, splitting Kisame's attention.

Fuu quickly threw a trio of shuriken at Kisame who blocked with his bandage covered Samehada. Torune then took advantage of Kisame's focus being diverted and launched at the man with his fist cocked back, ready to strike. Kisame simply smirked and the bandages on Samehada flew off, as it grew in size and bent around like a flail, stopping Torune's attack, "Now that's more like it. Keep me entertained why don't you?"

Samehada then snapped back to its normal position, flinging Torune away and keeping the Aburame from making contact with him. All of a sudden, a scarecrow looking puppet with sickle-like limbs dove from the sand and rushed right towards Kisame.

The Akatsuki swordsman jumped back as the puppet plunged, missing its attack and hitting a sand dune. Kisame tried to scan the area for Fuu but was unable to see him. A growl from Samehada put a smirk on his face, "Well I found you." He then went off away from Torune and the strange scarecrow in a seemingly random direction. It turned out to be not a random direction at all as Fuu burst from a hiding place in the sand before Kisame could reach him, "Heh, Samehada can sense your chakra fool."

Fuu grit his teeth and tried to steel his expression, 'I couldn't even finish my jutsu before that bastard found me!' It had been a long time since Fuu or Torune had fought someone as strong as Kisame. They probably had never fought anyone as strong as Kisame to be quite honest, and despite his reputation as a bloodthirsty musclehead it would be difficult to catch him off-guard. No one in Root's ranks except for Naruto who was more of an associate instead of an operative at this point had the brute power to match Kisame head-to-head. If he couldn't hide his presence then his body was vulnerable when he tried his variant of the Yamanaka Clan jutsu.

"Come on boys!" Kisame said with a boisterous match, "Don't tell me that's all you've both got! I expected more of a fight from those little suicidal puppets from Root after what I've heard!"

They were most certainly _not_ suicidal… but as far as Torune and Fuu were concerned, getting into a fight with someone better than them was not a suicidal action. After all, there was always a chance that they could win, slim as it may be. And in Root they all knew that even if a chance was slim, as long as something was in the realm of possibility they would possibly be sent on a mission to complete or obtain whatever it was.

The best of them had their resolves tempered in the fires of hell so to speak.

And that's why they would not cut and run. Because they couldn't. Because they had faced down situations like this, potentially with odds that were worse. Because it didn't matter how much of a monster Kisame was, it was their job to deal with the things that no one else could.

Even if it killed them.

XxX

(Danzo vs. Itachi)

When Itachi and Danzo blurred from sight, they had been prepared for a high-speed opening to their battle. That was not what occurred. Instead of trading offense, Itachi wound up staring at what Danzo's right arm looked like. Grey and discolored, but that was not the staying point of what was so intriguing… horrifying… well viewers to what Itachi was bearing witness to would have to come up with their own descriptive adjectives for what he saw.

Because imbedded all throughout Danzo's right arm were ten implanted, fully matured Sharingan eyes.

"You don't want to do this Itachi." Danzo insisted as he brought his greatest weapon to bear. Not a single person in his employ, in all of Konoha knew that he had these eyes. They were even bigger secrets than the eye he had in his right socket. That he could easily explain away, the others… not so much.

Ignoring Danzo's words, Itachi simply stared at the right arm of Danzo, not moving or saying a word. His eyes merely stared at Danzo's arm before they suddenly snapped up towards Danzo, "I could accept just one." Itachi started to say, "I could accept you using just one Sharingan the way Naruto did, after all he wound up losing his eye before our battle. And I never held any ill will towards Kakashi for his own. The Sharingan is a powerful tool. But how do you think this looks Danzo? This doesn't look like the death of my clan was for the good of anyone other than yourself."

Danzo merely shook his head, not offended by Itachi's words, "Believe whatever you wish Itachi. This was done to truly keep our home safe."

"Home…" Itachi shut his eyes as if he had been trying to remember what Konoha was like, "I do not have a home any longer Danzo."

"Do you regret any of it?" Danzo asked.

Itachi sighed and shook his head, "Everyday. But regrets are merely wastes of time, solving none of the problems produced by the actions that are remembered." Itachi then disappeared in a flock of crows as his voice echoed out all around Danzo, "There are no reasons to have any regrets. What's done is done."

"Words to live by." Danzo admitted, 'Or in this case die by… because he seems to be intent on truly doing this. At the very least I know what Itachi is capable of due to Naruto's recount of his battle with him.' A wisp of sand kicking up for a second in Danzo's peripheral vision gave him the range of Itachi to himself. He then made a set of hand-seals and inhaled deeply before spinning around and exhaling, "Fuuton: Shinkuuha (Wind Release: Vacuum Blade)!"

A blade of wind formed around Danzo and cut into a body, revealed to be Itachi, however after being cut in half the body detonated in a great explosion. Danzo however was able to see the explosion before the combustion spread and he managed to blow himself away from the explosion faster by exhaling wind from his mouth.

"I am sorry elder." Itachi said, appearing suddenly behind Danzo with a kunai, "But you broke our covenant." Naruto in Root would always be Danzo's strongest weapon. In Itachi's mind it was negligent of him to not inform Naruto… he believed that Danzo left him uninformed so he could have Sasuke taken out but still have plausible deniability. Danzo was devious like that, Itachi wouldn't have put it past him.

Before Itachi could stab Danzo, Danzo turned his head directly down and blew more wind chakra from his mouth, kicking up a large cloud of dust to obscure Itachi's vision. A blind Uchiha was historically acknowledged as a dead Uchiha, especially in the later annals of the clan's history. Without those eyes they didn't have much else to make up for the loss with. This however was not just any Uchiha, it was Itachi Uchiha, and while he might not have been able to defeat Danzo without his eyes he could damn sure last long enough with them closed to avoid being blinded by sand to show Danzo that he was not to be trifled with.

Danzo believed that Itachi was still in the cloud of sand, as his Sharingan hadn't caught any movement coming from it. Danzo took a deep breath and exhaled, planning on blowing the sand out of his field of sight and even more into Itachi's eyes, until he heard Itachi call his jutsu out.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)!"

Danzo's wind actually helped to fan the flames of Itachi's jutsu, turning his fireball into something akin to a firestorm as it came roaring at Danzo stronger than any other time he had seen the rather common elemental jutsu used. As the flames engulfed his entire body in an unavoidable torrent that gave time for the sand to disperse, Danzo's stoic outlook on things truly found itself put to the test when the sand cleared, "So you truly are taking this battle seriously." He said as his voice echoed out around the area, his body not visible.

"I can't afford to save my energy against you Danzo." Itachi said as the sand cloud finished clearing, revealing him covered completely by his Susanoo, "Luckily I am fully recovered from my injuries suffered in my last battle… and my illness has cleared up for the moment."

Itachi's illness. Through his entire life Itachi had suffered in secret due to his uncurable sickness contracted back when he was a Konoha shinobi. Not even anyone in his clan knew of his disease, as Itachi refused to allow anyone to discover such a detriment that could be taken advantage of. Not even the Hokage at the time himself was aware of it.

Danzo knew of it simply because Danzo knew things about the people of interest in his village, his Root specialized in discovering the dirty little secrets of others. It had caused Itachi's stamina, and by proxy his chakra reserves, to suffer in varying degrees depending on how much he exerted himself, the climate in which he was in, hell even the weather affected him. All sorts of variables… it was quite cumbersome and a testament to Itachi's true skill and strength that he managed to become such a powerful shinobi with such a handicap.

And as the large flaming ethereal warrior surrounded Itachi's body, Danzo reappeared, looked at the setting sun over the sandy wastes of the country. And at that moment… he really wished that he was fighting Itachi in inclement weather and that it wasn't a beautiful evening with even temperatures. Because unlike Naruto he didn't have the advantage of crappy weather or even a person to fight alongside him to divert Itachi's attention.

Naruto wasn't able to break through Susanoo even with his most destructive jutsu… even though he could have but he hadn't done it right. The way he had gone about attacking the Susanoo construct would have been impossible for even the mightiest ninja to accomplish. Danzo would not make the same mistake in this battle. His aim would be perfect… unlike Naruto's. Because after learning of the Yata no Kagami (Eight Span Mirror) he knew exactly what to do.

He learned a lesson after learning of Naruto's battle with Itachi and Sasuke. He knew just what to do, all he needed was an opening.

XxX

(Meanwhile – Mount Myouboku)

Naruto was mentally preparing himself for the next day of training tomorrow as he sat in the house possessed by Shima and Fukasaku. He and Jiraiya were both waiting on dinner, dinner that was being cooked by Shima. Both hated what the elderly toad woman concocted night after night, but what could they do? Naruto took shoveling the terrible food down as a way to train his resolve. Jiraiya just held back tears whenever he ate it.

All of a sudden Naruto grit his teeth and slammed his fists on the table, "Fuck! I'm stupid!" He suddenly exclaimed, getting Jiraiya's attention as he was about to doze off waiting on food.

"We knew that." Jiraiya quipped before getting to the meat of the situation, "What's the matter gaki? Something wrong?"

Naruto moaned and dropped his head on the table, "Nothing but my hindsight…" He admitted, thumping his head on the surface once before continuing to speak, "When I was fighting Sasuke and Itachi I fought his strongest jutsu, Susanoo."

"And?" Jiraiya asked, trying to get him to explain further. He had already heard Naruto's account of the battle. It sounded like it had been a barnburner, "Tell me what you just figured out about the fight kid."

Naruto sat back up and drummed his fingertips on the table, "I was stupid when I attacked Susanoo… I took it head-on and I couldn't get through to Itachi himself."

Jiraiya rubbed his nose, "It's alright kid. Nothing you've got, nothing I've got. Nothing anyone has can get through Itachi's Susanoo and that freaky shield that it has."

"That's the thing…" Naruto said with a frown, "I could've gotten through as long as I hadn't attacked head-on. The shield was what kept me from cutting through Susanoo, otherwise I would have cut through that stupid-ass thing like a hot knife through butter… or like a spoon through Shima's fly soup." He smirked when he saw Jiraiya turn green just thinking about the food he had brought up.

Jiraiya choked down his nausea and got back on topic, "So you could have decisively won that battle for sure without getting repelled the way you did?" Naruto nodded, "Wow. Do you think Itachi knows about that little weakness?"

Naruto shook his head, "Who else would he have possibly used Susanoo against to test it? He probably only trained with it to learn how to attack and to learn how to use the shield thing… other than that he doesn't know about the fact that there's one big ass weakness about Susanoo that I couldn't take advantage of while I was holding the Rasenshuriken, and I'm not talking about all of the chakra it takes to keep it going. Susanoo in its complete form pretty much anchored him to the ground except for some lumbering footsteps."

It was clear from the look on Jiraiya's face that he barely recognized what Naruto was referencing. Naruto blinked and had the bright idea to activate his Sharingan and use the only genjutsu that Danzo had been able to instruct him on, using the directions that he had gotten from the tablet in Konoha's Naka Shrine.

After sitting there for a few minutes while he took in Naruto's explanation and the end of the battle through Naruto's eyes via genjutsu Jiraiya's eyes widened in realization as Naruto's point hit him, "Which means-!"

"Exactly." Naruto cut him off, knowing exactly what the old toad sage was about to get to, "When Itachi used Susanoo he couldn't move nearly as fast as he normally could, like he was literally lugging it around. If you were fast enough and had enough space to move and get Susanoo's back then Itachi couldn't turn around fast enough to counter you." Susanoo was usually big enough to catch anyone with that huge sword it had. It's reach was incredible, "*sigh* A whole lot of good that information does me now though." Once again… hindsight was 20/20.

As he looked outside, Naruto couldn't help but notice that the setting sun made the mountains of the toads look as if the place was drenched in blood. He didn't know why he thought such a morbid thought at the time and immediately cleared it from his mind.

XxX

(Kisame vs. Torune/Fuu)

Kisame was grinning from ear to ear. The two were not backing down, but even they knew that they had a slim chance of touching him at all. Even so, they had drawn their tanto and were eagerly trying to cut him down, compounding their individual efforts to take him down. Still, he had been a member of the most elite force of swordsmen in the world. These two were intermediate users at best. It wasn't enough.

Fuu cried out in pain as he found himself slashed across the chest, with Samehada's scales shaving off the material of his shirt and the flesh on his torso. Torune tried to attempt a slash but it wound up being blocked by Samehada, followed up with a spinning back kick from Kisame that sent him flying, "Heh, come on ladies! That can't be everything you've got! I'm sick of going through the motions here!"

This was hopeless. At this rate the two of them wouldn't be able to even fight Kisame to a stand-still. It was obvious that he wasn't even taking them seriously. He wasn't trying to kill them, he was prolonging the battle, confident in Itachi's ability to handle Danzo all on his own. He just wanted to get as much enjoyment out of this fight as he could.

"I hate this desert." Kisame commented offhandedly, "It's so dry out here, there's no water for me to use." He then made the snake hand-seal, "Good thing I brought my own so to speak. Suiton: Bakusui Shouha (Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave)!" Kisame opened his mouth and spat out an ungodly amount of water that formed a massive wave headed right for Fuu and Torune.

Seeing this coming right for them the only option available for the time being was basically how this entire battle had started, with them running like hell. Except now instead of just running from Kisame swinging a sword they were running from Kisame swinging a sword while he was riding a tidal wave.

Kisame was actually quite amused when he saw the two Root ninja run from his tidal wave. He laughed to himself and made a tiger seal, "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Jutsu)!" Ten copies of Kisame formed from the still crashing tidal wave, all of them running after Fuu and Torune, "Run for your life boys! You've got ten Mizu Bunshin chasing after you… don't slip up now!"

Torune turned around over his shoulder to see just how desperate his situation was. There was no by the books way to handle this one. That meant that he had to come up with something that came out of left field. That was the mindset of the masked Root operative when he stopped running away and immediately turned towards the onslaught. His insects were not large enough to create a wall or anything like most Aburame Clan members could do, not that it would do much good here.

There was something he could do though. With his tanto he cut through all ten of the weakened water copies of Kisame when they tried to engage him, insulted that the man thought that would stop them even if he was that much stronger than them on his own.

His focus could not be shaken as he allowed the water to crash into him directly, taking the brunt of Kisame's tidal wave just as he tore the top of his outfit off. There was no way he was going to survive that kind of impact.

"Torune!" Fuu shouted in vain to his partner. What were the chances that he would walk away from that? What were the chances that Fuu could even come close to beating Kisame on his own? In the end it didn't matter. His partner went down fighting, and if that fate was good enough for Torune it was good enough for him too.

Kisame laughed at what Torune had done. What had he been thinking? As the waves tapered out and subsided they seemingly made a lake in what otherwise would have been a pit of sand that both Kisame and Fuu now stood on the surface of. Kisame addressed Torune's attempt at whatever it was he had been trying to do, "Your partner… he fought hard… he fought well. I wouldn't have died though. That's just me."

Fuu could see Torune's body nearby floating face down in the manmade lake. He was not moving. But what Fuu did see gave him a little bit of hope for winning. Torune had not just thrown himself at Kisame in a suicidal attempt to go down swinging. There had been a method to his madness that only Fuu as his longtime partner could see. Torune's sacrifice had purpose. Until that purpose took hold he just had to stay alive. He would know when Torune's last strategy paid off.

XxX

(Danzo vs. Itachi)

Danzo had to say, Susanoo was an imposing figure. There was no getting around that fact. Just the sheer intimidation factor alone of its finished form would be enough to convince a lesser ninja that they didn't have the firepower to deal with it. But Danzo did in fact have the firepower to deal with it, and he knew exactly how to do it, having learned from Naruto's mistake in his own battle with Itachi. He had three ways to win this. One would be to make this a prolonged battle of attrition.

And as Itachi's gigantic armored Susanoo moved forward he figured for now that would have to do as his primary plan, there was no reason to expect any openings to just automatically present themselves to make the finish any easier for his other two plans. He had to be ready for a long battle.

Itachi forced Susanoo to grab its ethereal sword and unsheathe it in an attempt to cut Danzo down, only for Danzo to jump high into the air, given a boost by him exhaling wind chakra through his mouth, "What a versatile element you have." Itachi commented before guiding Susanoo to slash Danzo out of the air, "But it stands to assert that Naruto's own mastery of wind is greater than yours and he could not defeat me."

"He _did_ defeat you." Danzo commented before he again exhaled wind from his mouth in mid-air and avoided the attack on what was meant to be his prone position, "He simply did not finish you. He accomplished his goals while you did not or did Sasuke kill you and I'm fighting a ghost right now?" He said, a jibe at Itachi's intention to give his life for Sasuke, "Do you have any idea how badly you traumatized that boy? You should have simply let things lie as they were Itachi."

"I don't need you to tell me that." Itachi remarked, barely hiding his ire as he sent Susanoo after Danzo who was steadily backpedaling, using his wind stream from his mouth as a boost to move faster. Suddenly, the form of Susanoo vanished and Itachi began rushing towards Danzo, "Today you fall."

Danzo noticed Itachi trying to make eye contact, a no-no in a battle against Sharingan users even when one of the users had the Mangekyou Sharingan. There could be only one thing that he wanted done and it would probably have crushed Danzo, leaving him only one option as he focused his chakra towards the Sharingan in his right eye socket, 'You will _not_ use the Tsukuyomi in battle.'

Using the power of his particular Sharingan, Danzo gave the subtle mental command to Itachi that he would not use his terrifying genjutsu on him, as he was certain it would spell the end for him if he had. Genjutsu was not his forte despite his use of one particular technique.

Itachi seemed as if he had a change of heart while he had been getting closer to Danzo, however this did not keep him from attacking altogether, he just didn't attack with Tsukuyomi, "Amaterasu (Illuminating Heaven)." With that, Danzo's body immediately caught ablaze, signifying that Itachi's aim with the black inextinguishable flames managed to strike true. However Danzo's body merely vanished from his sight instead of expiring before his eyes, "I had a feeling this wouldn't be very easy." Itachi commented, not knowing where Danzo would resurface from, thus keeping his sharp eyes peeled for anything. He had to say, the lack of going blind due to using his techniques was very much valued. If only it didn't have to come at the price that it did. He had never wanted it to end that way with him and Sasuke.

"Are you letting your mind slip Itachi?" Itachi was broken from his reverie of his brother's fate and cursed, this was not the time to show his regrets in battle, it would end with him dying in the sands, "Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere)!" In Itachi's blindspot out of his peripheral vision, Danzo stood and fired several simultaneous small bullets of air at Itachi, "You're fighting a proxy battle Itachi." Danzo commented as Itachi dodged the attack, showing the depth of his speed and skill, "Your heart isn't in this, you're just fighting for the sake of fighting. That is not the way to win."

Taking offense at Danzo claiming that he had no real reason to fight him there, Itachi responded, "My heart is the entire reason I'm here to fight… or its lack thereof. My heart, my hopes, my goals were with Sasuke. I keep going for him." Itachi stated as he forced Danzo to burst into flames with another Amaterasu before that body vanished as well, forcing Itachi to narrow his eyes in suspicion.

"If that were true…" Danzo's disembodied voice echoed out from seemingly nowhere around Itachi, "Then this battle really is lost for you. Your reason isn't much of a reason at all. Do you even know what you're doing here?"

Itachi noticed another appearance of Danzo and pursued him, intent on getting to the bottom of what his evasion technique was, "Tying up the loose ends of the village as well as my own." He said in a veiled insult to Danzo, "Your 'Root' needs to be pulled from the village's foundations. You are an unnecessary appendage sucking life from Konoha and the ninja world in general."

"Do you think I've never heard anyone insult my Root before?" Danzo said as Itachi drew closer. He doubted that even in his prime he would have been able to move faster than Itachi Uchiha, well now he was seeing firsthand that most certainly could not, "Peace is not as free as most of you in the village seem to think it is. The enemy is _always_ at the gates. Root just ensured that they would be a little further away." He began to make more hand-seals.

Too bad that Itachi was faster and finished his set before Danzo could, "Too slow. Fuuton: Shinkuuha (Wind Release: Vacuum Wave)." Itachi had copied Danzo's earlier jutsu and had turned it against him, exhaling and spinning around rapidly to cut Danzo into segments with his wind blades… but once again Danzo's body vanished. After Danzo's body had vanished this time, cuts appeared on Itachi's body.

"Foolish." Danzo's voice stated, "This is why most of the wind techniques I knew were never used by my Uchiha Clan team member years ago despite him having unlocked his Sharingan. Most of my special wind ninjutsu are dangerous to attempt for anyone without full mastery of the element." It was true, not even Naruto had been able to learn any of them in his youth under Danzo's training. Naruto could only learn one, the Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere), the basis of which he used to create his own signature move later in his career, the Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God). Instead of a finely pressurized finesse piercing attack though, Naruto's jutsu was just brute force. It didn't require hand-seals to use though which was impressive.

Itachi nursed the cuts on his person, grateful that none of them were too deep. If the jutsu had been stronger then he probably would have suffered quite a bit of damage instead of just the shallow wounds he received there. He finally decided that it was time to cease the deep conversation and finish things. He knew what Danzo was using to keep himself out of harm's way and he had to say that he was shocked Danzo would use such a forbidden technique. Not even Itachi would have considered attempting it.

"Susanoo (He With The Ability To Help By All Means)." In a rush of ghostly flames, Itachi's complete spiritual protector took its place around him, keeping him out of any potential harm's way. The next time Danzo showed himself he would get the answer for certain of just what the old man was doing to defeat his own demise, "I always knew that you feared death Danzo but to go this far to escape it. Your use of the Izanagi is ingenious… to say nothing of your moral faculties."

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

In the distance a bearded creature with the top of its head wrapped in bandages much like Danzo was usually seen that had the body and trunk of an elephant and the legs and claws of a tiger appeared in front of Itachi and Susanoo quite a distance out of its reach. Itachi didn't react much to the creature however, staying on his guard but nothing more than that, "Your Baku summon. You really are pulling out all the stops against me aren't you?" Itachi said to himself.

His rhetorical answer came when the Baku creature began inhaling as hard as it could, causing a powerful suction effect that drew in sand and seemingly more if there had been anything there. Itachi merely hunkered down and defended with Susanoo, shield out towards the Baku to negate its suction, "You cannot break through Susanoo's Yata no Kagami (Eight Span Mirror). It negates all elemental attacks on it."

"Fuuton: Shinkuu Renpa (Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves)!"

Itachi was unable to turn his back fast enough to move Susanoo and its shield towards the new threat. Surrounding the incoming Danzo's body was a torrent of massive wind blades, coming at Itachi from all sorts of different angles. He could see the blades actually cutting through the sand in the air. And once the suction from the Baku got to it, the jutsu seemed to grow even stronger.

All in all there was really nothing that Itachi could do as the blades cut into Susanoo deep enough to actually cut into him. As Danzo witnessed the blood fly from Itachi's body and the young man himself fall to the ground he had to give a nod of thanks to Naruto for laying the groundwork for his plan to even take shape. Thanks to his ability to deduce Susanoo's weak point from Naruto's telling of his battle his strongest wind attack did not fall to Susanoo's mirror the way Naruto's had.

XxX

(Kisame vs. Fuu)

Finding oneself getting pummeled in a fight that one believed they had at least a 50-50 chance of winning is never a good feeling. The feeling of getting oneself pummeled in a fight that one knew right from the start that they never had the slightest snowball's chance in hell of winning was more of a hollow feeling to be quite frank.

The latter is what Fuu was feeling at the moment. With the death of his partner Torune, he had no real offensive attack. Any ninjutsu he could have launched on Kisame's person would have ended with him having to leave his body to do so.

Which left him the alternative of trading blades with the 'Monster of the Hidden Mist'.

Fuu's desperate attempts to bring Kisame down as they continued to fight in what would probably wind up being one of Kaze no Kuni's new oasis's were not bearing him any fruit. Kisame was systematically dicing him up. Shredding would actually be the more accurate term for what was happening to him if he were to stop and analyze the situation.

Kisame let out a few pleased chuckles at the sight of the blood dripping from Fuu's frame onto the surface of the water. Samehada had been steadily devouring his chakra with each swing he managed to connect with, "You've fed my sword so well I think it has to work off some of its extra calories if you catch my drift." He had to say that this young Root ninja was tough, no one could ever call them out for being spineless that was for sure. Questionable in their actions? Definitely, but they would fight you as hard as they could if that was how things were to be.

Fuu fought off sweet unconsciousness, knowing that if he shut his eyes he would drop, and that would be the end of him with absolutely nothing to show for it. Torune's sacrifice to assist in Kisame's demise would have been in vain. But he knew that Samehada working off calories was code for 'I'm about to hit you with a big-ass jutsu. I'm just telling you in advance because I think it would be funny to see how you'd stop it.'.

Kisame's hands, still clasped around Samehada, flew towards the ram seal as he began to build chakra and Fuu realized something important. Kisame didn't know that he was a Yamanaka. He had never actually seen him use his clan technique, he had just seen the scarecrow puppet and must have figured him to be a puppeteer. In reality when he had been using the scarecrow that was actually something that had his consciousness in it, meant to be a trap that Kisame never sprang out of sheer chance.

Well there was one jutsu that every Yamanaka could do, and Kisame's building of his chakra left him wide open to it. Fuu's hands were just as fast as Kisame's as they flew towards his jutsu-specific hand-seal and unlike Kisame he didn't need to build the chakra for it, "Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Jutsu)!" Firing off the jutsu, Fuu made sure to fall backwards so that he could float on the surface of the water instead of drown face down.

And just like that, Fuu found himself inside of Kisame's body, allowing himself a smirk with the blue-skinned man's own facial features. However his triumph did not last. Kisame's body had still been holding Samehada, and Samehada did not approve of this imposter of Kisame. He was not as strong as his actual user and it despised that.

Samehada forced spikes from its handle, stabbing into the hands of Fuu in Kisame's body and forcing him to let go of the sentient weapon that then growled at him from the mouth at the top of its blade. It lunged at the imposter in its user's body and wrapped itself around it in a tightly constricting move that forced him under the surface of the water, 'What is this thing doing?' Fuu thought as Samehada began dragging itself along Kisame's body underwater, 'Is it really willing to damage it's own user to get me out of it?'

In reality, Fuu's body was being damaged by Samehada's scales as well as Kisame's. If this were really Kisame then he would be tough enough to force the sword to stop hurting him. This imposter in Kisame's body could do nothing of the sort, thus it was not Kisame. Besides… Kisame was more than tough enough to take this.

It felt as if Fuu's skin was being slowly shaved off, 'This thing will flay me alive if I stay in this body!' His own body would be useless if that were indeed the case. As such, Fuu found it prudent to force himself back into his own body.

And as he did so he began sputtering and splashing, shouting in pain as he could feel and see the terrible wounds inflicted due to Samehada. But he couldn't dwell on this because he could hear Kisame growling.

Over where he had left his body, Kisame was back on the surface of the water, holding his hands in the ram seal and glaring at Fuu murderously, "You won't get that chance again…" He muttered lowly. His Akatsuki cloak had been shredded off of his body and the marks where Samehada had rubbed up against him were clearly bloody and visible, "Suiton: Dai Bakusui Shouha (Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave)!"

Once again, Kisame spit out a massive torrent of water that hit Fuu, only this time it did not hit with crushing force the way his last attack of this nature had done to Torune. It had moved in a capturing motion as it began to form a massive orb that was able to keep its own shape. Fuu found himself with an all new set of problems as he was now caught in a full-scale underwater field.

"You're going to suffer…" As Kisame stated this, his body began to fuse with Samehada, turning him into a full human-shark hybrid, "Suirou Sameodori no Jutsu (Water Prison Shark Dance Jutsu). There's no escape." He then noticed a grin on Fuu's face as he seemingly tried to hold his breath with a pained expression, "What are you grinning about? You're trapped!"

'It hurts…' Fuu thought to himself, 'It hurts so bad… but it's not my injuries.' He looked down at his arm and noticed that part of his skin was purple and it seemed to be spreading. This was the effect of Torune's special insects. As he looked around he could see his partner's dead body floating in the orb with them. Kisame had sealed his own fate.

"What is this?" Kisame asked, straining himself painfully as his skin began to break out in purple spots all over, "What's going on?"

Fuu had to stay alive a bit longer, if only to see whether or not his partner's plan would truly work in his death, 'He allowed his nano-insects to scatter in the water with his death. They can't survive for long in the open air, but in a place like this they can live on outside of their host's body for a little while.' It was one of the ways that they had managed to bring down the sizeable Prajna Group, using this method to poison their water supply. Kisame's body was almost completely purple and sickly looking at this point. He had swallowed the water… he had been around it, having it splash all over him more than Fuu had. His dose would most assuredly be fatal.

'Good work…' Fuu thought as he allowed his eyes to close, succumbing to the cell-destroying effect of Torune's bugs.

Kisame on the other hand screamed until his eyes rolled into the back of his head. His demise had been far more painful than Fuu's. There was nothing he could do after taking so much water into his actual body. With his death, Samehada separated from his body and the massive orb of water lost its foundation to hold, dropping and filling the lake that Kisame had already created even further.

All three bodies; Kisame, Fuu, and Torune, floated lifelessly on the top of the water as Samehada let out noises that sounded like crying as it floated along as well. The sun had long since finished setting, bathing the entire scene in white moonlight.

XxX

(Danzo vs. Itachi)

Danzo's eyes had turned to the slight distance away as a massive orb of water was visible on the horizon before it eventually dispersed. That was clearly where his underlings had been fighting their own battle and it looked to be a very destructive one to boot. The thought of another battle to fight against an Akatsuki member made him look down at his right arm, 'I've got six Sharingan eyes left. Itachi took four to defeat. Hopefully Kisame won't take any.' He thought as he noticed that four of the eyes on his arm were worthless now.

All of a sudden, in the distance, the Baku, his summon, attracted Danzo's attention as it let out a wail of anguish and pain before dispelling. He saw no explosion or any sign of combat and he could not see Itachi in sight, 'Itachi must have defeated my summon… genjutsu because it wasn't much of a fight. He's not dead after all.' He hadn't even left a trail of blood from where Danzo left him. To move so fast without a sign of him doing so and to leave no trace; Itachi really had been worthy of his Konoha station as ANBU captain. Danzo made to head in the direction of the place where his summoned creature dispelled.

"The Izanagi. The Sharingan's most forbidden jutsu." Hearing Itachi's voice stopped him in his tracks, "The power to remove the barrier between illusion and reality… although it comes at the price of sight in the Sharingan eye that performs the technique." Danzo noticed Itachi standing up with his Akatsuki cloak cast aside, his wounds visible on his body, "A small price to pay though for cheating death isn't it Danzo? After all, why face your fear when you can just avoid it altogether?"

"You are correct Itachi." Danzo admitted, "I did fear death. I feared death for the longest time. I feared that without me Konoha would be lost. Konoha's right flank would be forever unguarded… that my death would end with the death of our village." Itachi seemed to have a satisfied look on his face, hearing Danzo say those things, "That was until I realized that such a fear was foolish."

Itachi simply blinked at the seeming change of heart in Danzo. Something he hadn't expected out of the notoriously stubborn elderly man, "What are you talking about?"

"The village existed before I ever gained the power to organize Root." Danzo stated, drawing a kunai and breathing his wind chakra on it, giving it a temporary appearance of a scimitar coating, "It takes both sides, both the light and the dark to maintain the balance to keep Konoha safe. Hiruzen secured the light half, passing down the Will of Fire we were all taught to all of the youth… and I have secured Konoha's protection from the shadows with my future generation of operatives. The village will survive on after I die. My faith has been with the future of the village as its next Hokage will be Naruto Uzumaki."

"And you truly believe this?" Itachi said as Susanoo began to form around him again, his body beginning to twitch due to the chakra he had used to continue the battle thus far, "You really believe that Naruto can become the Hokage and keep Konoha safe?"

"I would bet my life on it." Danzo said before forming two hand-seals, "As a matter of fact I already have. Fuuton: Shinkuu Taigyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere)!" He inhaled deeply and launched a massive single ball of wind at Itachi only for Susanoo to block the easily scouted frontal attack, "Something you failed to do when instead of letting your brother move on with his future you forced him to dwell in the past!"

Itachi's eyes reflected hatred as Susanoo lunged forward with its sword. Danzo lifted his right arm and a massive tree grew from nothing in the sand as a defensive measure, however the sword was not truly physical and phased right through before stabbing through Danzo, "Do not speak of things you don't understand." Itachi said tersely. When Danzo's body faded again out of his sight he didn't even allow him the chance to materialize anywhere else as when he saw Danzo's body again, the yellow eyes of Susanoo glowed brightly for a split-second prior to a large scale of area that Danzo stood in spontaneously combusting, "You know nothing of why I did the things I did!"

"You manipulated your brother worse than I've ever manipulated anyone." Danzo's disembodied voice said before he reappeared a ways away from Itachi and Susanoo, breathing slightly heavily. The powerful series of jutsu that he had been using were not intended to be used by someone with his genes. The Sharingan alone would have been taxing enough on his chakra reserves, but using the one in his head and the ten in his arm in conjunction with Izanagi, as well as the Mokuton genes he needed for him to use Izanagi in the first place was draining him steadily, "You really are a student of Madara. You have a gift for twisting others to your will just like he does. Not even Shisui's doujutsu could have so completely warped Sasuke the way you did."

"That's enough out of you!" Itachi roared as he brought Susanoo to bear, driving forward to end Danzo's life. He had never been so angry in his entire life. The only time that ever came close was when he believed that Naruto had killed Sasuke in the middle of their three-way battle.

The sword swept across the top of the sands and caught Danzo cleanly. Itachi merely kept Susanoo swinging its sword despite the fact that the constant action and the strain of using Susanoo was aggravating his sickness. He needed to end this now. With that in mind he wound up cleaving Danzo two more times. Danzo reappeared in the air above Susanoo's sword only for its eyes to glow yellow again while looking at him in the sky and force another instant explosion that engulfed the Root commander.

Itachi knew that Danzo was not dead. If he hadn't died yet then he would not be dying from such an attack. Even if it was just as impossible to dodge as Amaterasu, Danzo still had more Sharingan eyes to use Izanagi. And right when he thought this, Danzo returned right on cue, appearing from thin air as Izanagi canceled itself once more

Susanoo was truly imposing. Danzo just could not get to Itachi a second time. Even when he was able to cut into Susanoo he simply wasn't able to cut deep enough to kill Itachi. He was most certainly feeling the effects of using so many of his Sharingan eyes, but he would not use the one inside of his head. He would not use Shisui's eye for the Izanagi, it was far too valuable to simply waste.

'I need…' Itachi started to think as he coughed violently, 'I need to conserve chakra.' Winning here at the cost of all of his chakra would do him no good, but Danzo wasn't really giving him a lot of options here. Thinking about what he would have to do after the battle if he won, Itachi deactivated Susanoo. If he had used it for too much longer he wouldn't have walked away. There was no need to ensure his demise tonight; Danzo was not Sasuke, 'It is time we bring this to an end.'

Danzo looked at his right arm and grunted. He had left Izanagi active for too long while dealing with Susanoo for that last sequence of attacks. He no longer had any Sharingan eyes to spare, "So has it really come down to this?" He asked Itachi, "After all you've sacrificed are you really willing to ignore all that you have worked for?"

Itachi did not answer Danzo. There was nothing more that needed to be said. One of them would die, either Itachi would clean part of his mind and conscience with Danzo's blood or Danzo would keep Naruto and Konoha safe for a little while longer by taking Itachi's life.

Danzo let out a sigh as he stared Itachi down with his chakra imbued kunai in his hands, "If this is what it has truly come to; either the end of you or me then I want to say just one thing to you Itachi. Thank you. You have sacrificed more than your life, you have sacrificed more than any shinobi even myself would ever have. Your Will of Fire never burned out."

That was something that had never been said. For all he had done, for every sacrifice made, for every Uchiha life that was ended by his hands, for every bit of Itachi's future that was destroyed by the urging of three old shinobi that couldn't find an alternative, for all of that not a single person had ever expressed gratitude. What had Itachi gotten out of his sacrifice? He had lost his family, he had lost his lover, he had lost his career, he had lost his reputation as a stellar and loyal high ranking ninja, he had garnered the unconditional hatred of his beloved younger brother who for the better part of a decade had existed solely to put him six feet under, he had become an international criminal that was destined to be pursued to the ends of the world until his demise.

For all of that he had never even heard one person offer his their appreciation, not one single time. And to hear it at this moment, he didn't know how to feel. But he would not stop, things were too far gone to change now. This battle had to end, no stalemate would do. But as Itachi burst into a flock of crows to initiate the combat once more Danzo's Sharingan eye caught the slightest of movements. For a second Danzo swore that he could see a tear fall down Itachi's face.

And that sight made him realize just how tired he truly was.

Perhaps it would be nice, after 60 plus years of tireless work and fighting, to finally rest.

Let the new blood handle protecting what was now their world.

"This is for Sasuke." Itachi's voice sounded out from behind Danzo, forcing his eyes to widen as he heard loud chirping consistent with only one attack that he knew of, "Chidori (One Thousand Birds)."

There was no time to turn. This one was coming right for his heart. He knew it. He was not fast enough to turn and counter Itachi, not even on his best day he would not have been able to turn fast enough. With his mind running at thousand miles a second, Danzo flipped his wind chakra coated kunai reverse-style and stabbed himself through the stomach just as Itachi's right arm drove itself through his chest from the back. Danzo took one deep breath as the pain tore through him from being impaled twice, but he also heard Itachi let out a sound of pain as well. Danzo moved the blade to find that he had managed to stab Itachi deeply, just as deeply as he had stabbed himself.

Danzo could already feel his control over the implanted Mokuton cells in his arm slipping. It was a race now to see whether or not he would die from Itachi's final attack or from losing control of the Mokuton and turning into a tree. He might have preferred the latter, leaving a lasting impression on the world by being a tree in the middle of the desert, but he still had a job to do and as he twisted the blade deeper and freed a hand to grab a hold of Itachi's arm through his chest he would have to settle for the impression made by training the next Hokage.

Itachi's arm was stuck, he couldn't yank it free. The wound in his own torso was sapping his energy as well as holding him in place just as well as his arm through Danzo.

"This is the end Itachi…" Danzo said, struggling as he reached up past the seal on his chest towards his Sharingan eye to destroy it for safety, "There is nowhere for you to go. You may have the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, but you don't have Madara's ability. You can't avoid this. Ura Shishiou Fuuinjutsu (Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Jutsu)."

Four black double bars released from his body around himself and Itachi before forming a large black sphere around them. It then swiftly started to suck everything caught in the sphere into Danzo's body. It took the sand around them in the shape of a semicircle, leaving quite a crater, but more importantly it took Itachi's body within as well.

Itachi merely shut his eyes and accepted his fate, 'Mother, father, Sasuke… I'll see you all soon.'

As everything found its way absorbed into Danzo's body he lifelessly dropped to the ground, blood pooling around him.

His body merely sat there in the moonlight for the longest time until Zetsu emerged from the ground right next to his corpse, "Well would you look at that? Apparently Itachi Uchiha can be beaten not once but twice." The black side then spoke up, **"Even with the power of his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan heightening his abilities Itachi's heart wasn't in the battle. His will to fight has been gone since the Kyuubi jinchuuriki encountered him."**

They both moved towards Danzo and gathered him up, "Well we couldn't touch that nasty infested water to get Kisame's body so Madara will just have to make do with Samehada." As they sank back into the ground with Danzo's body the black one spoke up, **"Besides, Leader-sama wanted us to bring him Danzo's body as well… I wonder why."** He said out loud before his body completely vanished into the sands.

XxX

(With Naruto – Mount Myouboku – Naruto's Mindscape)

In the middle of the night instead of launching into a dream of some sort, Naruto found himself back inside of the sewer mindscape he had yet to set back to normal. Naruto sighed and stomped his way to the bars of the cage, knowing he would only be there for one reason, "What the fuck do you want?"

The eyes of the Kyuubi had yet to open as it found Naruto standing in front of its cage. Of course he was. The Kyuubi had been the one to call him there in the first place, **"I believe we need to talk."** The massive creature said in a sociable manner that Naruto hadn't come to expect from it.

"Really?" Naruto said, a skeptical look on his face as he chewed on his lip in an irritated manner, "I thought we'd said all we needed to say to each other the last time we spoke. I already told you, if you're going to keep shaking in your sandals every time you see someone with a weird eye pattern then I don't need you dragging me down. I'm fighting for both of our lives here." So far nothing had changed to make Naruto believe that the Kyuubi had changed.

"**I have something that you need to know that may change that opinion of yours."** The Kyuubi said matter-of-factly, **"Your old toad teacher's plan of fusing with you for activating your Sage Mode will not work. You are already fused with me. Any other attempt to do so by another would fail miserably."**

Naruto had to hold back from making an outburst. If he couldn't fuse with Fukasaku or Shima then that meant he couldn't use Sage Mode in a manner that would be practical for battle. The time he had spent on the mountain preparing himself until this point was all for nothing if that were the case, "How would that change my opinion? All that would do would be to piss me off even more wouldn't it?" He asked calmly despite the fact that he was indeed very upset by this turn of events.

"**Normally yes… but then again where do you think you get your incredible penchant for growth from?"** Kyuubi said as it opened its eyes to look at Naruto for the very first time since the conversation had started between them. As it looked upon Naruto's slackjawed stare it couldn't help but feel some satisfaction at surprising so thoroughly the shinobi that had made a living out of surprising absolutely everyone else, **"I see you get my point. So now that you've been sufficiently shut up for the first time in quite a while, what did you say about you not needing me?"** After all, who would have expected the Kyuubi to learn how to channel sage chakra?

Naruto snapped his jaw shut in an attempt to regain his composure. He definitely hadn't seen that outcome as a possibility. The outcome being the yellow eyes of the Kyuubi with the tell-tale bar-like pupils in them and the orange pigment around its eyes... total sage chakra, "Okay… I admit that I may have had a bit of a temper problem last time." He said admittedly before pointing seriously at the demon, "But now I'm definitely using the Sharingan when we finally fight."

XxX

(Kaze no Kuni)

With the moon high in the sky basking over the area, a group of Suna ninja came across the bodies of Fuu, Torune, and Kisame, all in the contaminated waters made by Kisame for the battle. By now however, the insects had died without an actual living home, having been caught in the open for too long, thus making the water safe to retrieve the corpses from.

"So what do we do now sir?" A random Suna chunin asked after they had inspected the bodies. It had been quite a struggle from the looks of things.

A Sunagakure jounin looked at the dead bodies in scrutiny. Two of the bodies were the bodyguards of the Konoha Elder Danzo Shimura and the other was clearly Kisame Hoshigaki. But Danzo was nowhere to be found despite the blood found quite a ways away.

Still, people needed to be informed of this turn of events, "Gather the bodies and we'll return with them to the village." The jounin ordered the other three chunin with him, "We need to tell Kazekage-sama about this… Konoha will need to know what has happened here."

* * *

**What's up everybody? Kenchi618 in the house with more sexy story swag for your reading pleasure or disdain depending on who you are. How is this story sexy you may ask? I don't know… I guess that's a question one must answer for themselves.**

**Anyway I hope you dug it, like always there will be more coming. Enjoy your weekend, I've got to go get my brother a birthday present for tomorrow June 5****th****. Little bastard will be 19. I'm so proud… and in two weeks I'll be 20, and watch me not get a present… I'll probably have to work that day too. Fuck getting older.**

**I'm rambling now. Show me your love or hatred. Either way, reading reviews and messages are awesome. Kenchi out.**


	52. Time To Kill

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Because of this fact I _do_ own a lot of anger in my heart. Sadly for the lot of us, anger does not translate over into viable currency in this day and age. I wish I was a Viking… now those were some guys that could turn their anger into some fast cash.

**Chapter 51: Time to Kill**

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"You're full of so much crap gaki." What a way to say good morning. Of course Jiraiya's comment could be understood once he heard what Naruto had told him last night about his little discussion with the Kyuubi, "Are you sure you weren't just having a really specific nightmare?"

Naruto let out a scoff as the two of them walked to the usual training waterfall of oil, not that they would be using it today, it was just where they had been used to training while there on the mountain, "I don't have nightmares Ero-kyofu. And I know the difference between a dream and my mind, especially when I woke up after the talk already with the chakra running through me. The Kyuubi was not lying."

Jiraiya could only shake his head at the thought of what was being presented to him, "How could the Kyuubi even learn to use it?"

A shrug came from his young blonde godson, "I don't know. I learned to use it. You said a massive reservoir of chakra was needed to do it, well that's all the Kyuubi is; chakra. It was stuck in my head with nothing to do but watch me train, it was going to get the feeling of nature chakra down too, same as me. And if you're talking about staying still to gather the chakra…" At this point he switched to giving the older man a deadpan look, "All the Kyuubi does is stay still for twenty hours a day at least. I'm pretty sure it has practice, more practice than me."

"That's really not very inspiring to hear Naruto." Jiraiya said with a grimace, "You're telling me the Kyuubi can use Sage Mode?"

"No!" Naruto said with eyes wide as he actually stopped walking for a moment, "Hell no! Not functionally at least!" He could actually hear the Kyuubi cackling inside of his head at the idea, "If it could do that then I'd say just let the thing loose right now because I can't beat it. It can't because it has to stay still to gather the chakra like me, and I can just take the nature chakra away from it like I was trying to get its actual chakra like normal." He shook his head just thinking about the idea and started walking again, "Are you insane? If it really could then do you think I'd be in this good of a mood right now?"

"Maybe?" Jiraiya answered unsurely.

Naruto rolled his eyes before responding, "If that really happened then I probably would have jumped off of the highest cliff on the mountain… and slit my goddamn throat on the way down. Because there's just no reason to keep on trying anymore."

"That's a really negative sentiment you know." Remarked Jiraiya dryly, but then he thought about actually having to fight the Kyuubi himself… and then to fight the Kyuubi with the ability to use Sage Mode… and then thought about a loose Kyuubi that could use Sage Mode functionally… and figured that he would probably do something similar. But there was nothing he could do but use the advantage that was granted to him and hope that the Kyuubi didn't find a way to make Sage Mode functional for itself, "What if the Kyuubi somehow starts learning how to do Sage Mode properly?"

"Then I'll stop using it. I have a second idea that's less convenient…" Naruto replied with a frown, "Not by much, but if it comes down to it then it's always good to have a backup plan. I had to get some help to come up with it, but that's what a support system is for isn't it?"

Jiraiya gave Naruto a strange look, "What support system?"

Naruto pointed at the communication tattoo on his shoulder, "The best kind. The cute kind of support that has high-level sealing knowledge." He saw Jiraiya nod in understanding before a lecherous grin spread over his face, "I don't like that look. What's with that?"

"So you can talk to your servant sweetheart eh?" Jiraiya said with a pondering inflection in his tone, "Do you ever talk dirty to her with that tattoo of yours? Maybe that's why she's so happy all of the time even when you're not there?"

"Yeah sure, because sex talk in morse code is just so great." Naruto said sarcastically, "You're an idiot sometimes, do you know that? I see why Tsunade-baachan hits you more often than not. You probably _could_ charm the pants off of her if you weren't always acting like… well, you."

A sigh came from Jiraiya, "It's a long story gaki, one that you wouldn't get if I told you so let's save it for another manly bonding moment in the near future." The tone he used sounded serious so Naruto dropped it for the time being, "Now we're here." He said as they arrived in front of the waterfall of oil, "Now show me how this would work."

Naruto nodded and began to turn his attention inward, 'Kyuubi you're on, don't screw me over here.' He thought as he put his hands in the ram seal to help himself focus balancing the chakra that was about to run through his system.

"**I can't screw you over stupid, I'm behind the seal and you can already control nature chakra so what exactly could I do?"** The Kyuubi fired back before it went silent and started generating nature chakra. After a moment, Naruto's face took on the signs of him using Sage Mode; an orange pigment around his eyes, and a yellow toad-like eye with a horizontal bar pupil in the eye that wasn't covered by his contact lens, **"Do you feel that?"**

"Yeah…" Naruto replied out loud as he could feel the power going through him, "Let's play around with this for a bit and see just what we can do…" He turned towards Jiraiya who already had a smirk on his face, "…If you're up for it Ero-Kyofu?" He finished as he deactivated his contact lens, displaying his Sage Mode warped Sharingan.

The response was not only Fukasaku but Shima appearing on Jiraiya's shoulders, all sharing the same looks that Jiraiya had, "Yeah, why not?" He said as his features started to change to that of his own when he took on Sage Mode, "I've wanted to fight you for real for years gaki. Maybe now you can take enough punishment to make it fun."

At a distance on a ridge overlooking the area, Gamabunta, Gamakichi, and a whole host of other toads of various shapes and sizes were watching what they were about to see, **"Are you sure this is far enough away?"** Gamakichi asked his father as he sat on his head, still small enough to do so,** "Naruto-nii is kind of notorious for, well… fucking landscapes up."**

"**This is fine."** Gamabunta insisted, smoking his pipe before an explosion below them threw dust and debris into the air high enough to reach the top of the ridge they were all watching from, **"Alright, maybe we **_**should**_** back up a little bit."**

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

The message from Suna had just been received only minutes ago about what had occurred on the outskirts of their jurisdiction. The bodies of Danzo's two bodyguards were found dead along with that of Kisame Hoshigaki. Danzo and Itachi Uchiha, Kisame's partner, were nowhere to be found, but signs of a great battle were found a short distance away from where the three bodies were located.

This did not give Tsunade an easy feeling as to the fate of the missing delegate. Danzo was not the type to allow himself to be taken prisoner, and he was on his way to Suna to boot, if he had escaped then he would have headed that way. That was rather bold of them to stick their necks out for someone that wasn't even a jinchuuriki like the other times they had been discovered and engaged in combat.

It was probably a personal vendetta of some sort, clearly from what Naruto told her of the black op given to Itachi. Damn it the Hokage needed to be briefed about crap like that when they took the hat… she should _not_ have been told about this three years _after_ she took over by someone that had nothing to do with any of it. Koharu and Homura got their wrinkled butts chewed out the second that clone Naruto sent to her dispelled for keeping that from her. She could understand some things being covered up and buried and kept from people especially like this, but not when there were still remnants of the damn scandal still out and floating around. If Itachi had killed them all, Sasuke included, then maybe he could have stayed… maybe a lot of this didn't have to happen. But Itachi would never have done that from what Naruto told him.

That fight Naruto intruded on was meant for Itachi to die. And with what actually occurred there certainly would have been means for a grudge to be held. The only thing he wanted out of the whole Uchiha Massacre was disrupted.

"I swear the brat needs to get his stuff together so he can take this damn job…" Tsunade muttered to herself as she sat at her desk thinking about what to do next. After a moment she began to write out a return message to Suna for Gaara, "Alright, we're not going to get a better reason to do this now without something catastrophic happening beforehand… Iwagakure isn't going to join the alliance so we might as well set the meeting date now."

Akatsuki could make too many moves and spring about all over the map. The shinobi villages that had come into the alliance propagated over the last few months needed to get together to come up with a solution.

XxX

(Undisclosed Location)

A crater formed in a stone wall as Madara punched it angrily, hearing the news that was just given to him by Zetsu, "Damn it Itachi…" The man was difficult to manipulate even with his spirit broken. When he said he would head to Suna so readily he figured he was back to the drawing board to find a new way to defeat him but would do Madara's bidding in the meantime. He never figured that Itachi was actually willing to go simply because of the man that had granted the go ahead for the mission that ruined his and his brother's lives would be heading that way.

Danzo simply was not a person of interest to Madara. He never had been.

The only thing Root had ever done against his Akatsuki always happened to be inadvertent. Naruto, Danzo's top trainee, was merely fighting for his life as he was a jinchuuriki. The pale boy and the girl he had a run-in with were only meant to back Naruto up and keep him protected, the rather large amount of Root shinobi that had bailed Naruto out of Amegakure were there in the first place to take down Hanzo before he was killed by Pein, getting Naruto out became their main objective when that became impossible and his and Jiraiya's battle became impossible to win.

Danzo and by proxy the Root that he led were of no consequence to Madara. They were to Itachi though… and it was enough for him to go after Danzo himself. He hadn't even taken any time to try his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan before engaging the man, to try and find any of his techniques beforehand.

And now he was out a pair of spare Mangekyou Sharingan eyes. Danzo sealed Itachi inside of his body. There was no way to get him out to get at his eyes and Danzo only had a right arm full of useless ones. He even destroyed Shisui's eye prior to dying… the bastard. All he had to take away from Danzo's death was his right arm that had the Mokuton cells that he could find use for.

Not exactly a victory. Two steps forward, three steps back and all of that.

After taking Danzo's arm he let Zetsu take Danzo's body to Pein. The fool would do his little reanimation techniques and he would have a new Anima Path and would be back at full strength. No need to complain or sulk over the destruction of his spare bodies any longer, because Madara was tired of him sitting on his ass and doing nothing. There were moves that needed to be made and right now Pein and Konan were the only one that could do so.

With Zetsu sending Danzo's body he also sent new orders to Pein from Madara. An order he wouldn't have any trouble adhering to, especially since he would want to test his new body and all in actual combat. Sasuke's little lapdogs still moving around and whining for their master were getting to be irksome, it was mostly that girl though that worked his nerves. Give Suigetsu a sword and he would immediately leap up the ladder in terms of being a threatening shinobi. All he needed to do was hypnotize Juugo and that would solve that problem… if there even was one since if he still wanted revenge on Naruto and that might be enough to get him to work. Karin on the other hand was only good for locating general chakra signatures and healing the others. She wasn't much of a fighter at all and Madara needed fighters.

Maybe he needed to seek out this Kabuto they were so intent on destroying. This man was meant to test them, well in that case they failed the test. They hurried into the fight and were embarrassed by Orochimaru's old right hand man. Perhaps looking to employ the man was a better option than most right now? There was a need to stop the bleeding so to speak. And then there was another option altogether. It was experimental at best, but if it was done right not only would it buy him time to bolster his own forces it would weaken the homes of his final four targets.

XxX

(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)

Konan could tell by now when Pein was in a good mood. It was especially evident today as he had been sulking for the last month since the interrupted battle with Jiraiya and Naruto Uzumaki. When Zetsu presented him with the body of Danzo… well she didn't think she would ever again see the man actually smile before then, but he had put one on when Danzo's body had been lain at the feet of his remaining other bodies.

She thought she would feel better at seeing the man that had conspired with Hanzo to kill them, to see the man indirectly responsible for the death of her dearest friend Yahiko laying lifeless on the ground. She didn't know whether it was because she didn't do it herself or what, but she just felt hollow. It didn't feel like any kind of victory she was lead to believe it would feel like, it didn't feel like anything at all.

And from what Zetsu said it was time to move again. Time to adhere to Madara's will again… but whatever had been ordered by the man didn't seem to upset Pein at all, "Konan." The Pein that looked like her old friend Yahiko spoke to her, "I will be leaving the village for a short while. In the meantime I want you to send out a few messages to the other smaller villages that are sick of playing as the buffers and the whipping boys to the five major shinobi villages."

Konan nodded, "Which ones would you have me send word to?" She asked.

"All of them. Every single one." Pein told her looking over at her with his ripple-patterned eyes, "I want every minor village to be contacted. I want you to tell them to keep their eyes open, and to tell them that the time of the five dominating the many is over. They will see what I mean soon enough. It will soon be time for their pain to finally be reimbursed if they choose to join Amegakure."

Her eyes widened at the implication of what he was saying, "You want an alliance."

"Yes." Pein admitted freely. Of course his closest confidant would be able to tell what he was thinking, "The Five Great Shinobi Villages are doing the same. What they have neglected to do was to include or even consider the thoughts of the smaller villages that populate our world when they did so in the first place." The arrogance of the five nations that did so… of course they wouldn't consider the consequences of what their little alliance would do to the smaller villages, "They are probably already on edge over the matter and willing to take preemptive action. They can see what will become of the alliance and their fates once it is truly consolidated. As the lesser of the equation they will slowly but surely be phased out altogether."

The smaller villages worked in the areas where the larger villages wouldn't tread out of fear of stepping on another major village's toes and starting a major war. Places such as borderlines, countries that stood between the major ones, places like that. It was a considerably smaller living compared to the larger villages, especially since their funding from their daimyos were far smaller than their larger counterparts. But it was a niche that helped them survive once the pecking orders of the villages became clear cut decades ago.

If an alliance took place and there was no tension over operating zones for the major shinobi villages then there would be no use for the smaller ones that were before an important part of keeping the balance of power set.

So with the alliance everyone that started all of the major wars would finally be getting along… that wouldn't do the smaller villages any good at all. No tension meant that the larger villages would have expanded operating zones, which meant that quality and quantity could be taken over mere convenience for the clients out to hire shinobi. And if push came to shove when pressed the smaller villages would be unable to do anything significant about it. After all _they_ couldn't win a war against one of the Big 5. Only one of the five major villages could defeat another as had been proven in multiple past wars.

Other than having fighting take place on their lands there was really no disadvantage to the minor villages when the big villages got into their wars unless they were directly aligned with one of the warring villages in which case they were the cannon fodder for their larger 'ally'. During wartime, missions for minor villages saw a surging uprise due to the fighting between the larger villages keeping them busy. The longer the war, the stronger that the minor villages grew.

Since the modern system of villages first began to take shape, no minor village grew as much as the two strongest, considered to be right on the cusp of being one of the big five. Those two were Kusagakure and Amegakure with Takigakure a distant third. Uzushiogakure used to be right there before the war that wound up destroying them. That put minor village growth in check after seeing what happened to the powerful village of sealing masters. If they could be destroyed then it could happen to any small village that didn't 'know their place' so to speak.

They were more or less bullied under the guise of treaties with the larger villages. No village stepped out of line to 'challenge' the Five Great Shinobi Villages or else they would be destroyed. It had happened already to multiple smaller hidden villages over the years.

But to be bullied you had to have some fear. And bullying wasn't effective without the muscle to back it up, which all the big villages had. Because the lesser villages were all scattered, they were more or less on their own when it came to their relationships with the larger villages around them. The fact that they routinely outnumbered the major village that hovered over them at least six-to-one meant nothing since they never tried to get themselves together. The quality of their ninja was also lacking when compared to the major villages.

They needed the muscle to make them believe that they had a chance.

That was something easy enough to prove when it came to something like this. With the world the way it was right now all Pein needed to do was push it along just a little bit.

"The Five Great Shinobi Villages will fall." Pein asserted with full confidence in this fact, "Their tactics of staying on top of the heap for so long will be what comes back to bite them once the smaller villages believe that they have nothing to fear." He and his amassed bodies walked outside to the ledge of the tower into the rain, "I will give them that belief that there is nothing to fear. Tell them that the man inheriting the power of the Rikudou Sennin is sending out the call for their assistance."

As the six bodies of Pein vanished from the ledge Konan's hands tightened into fists under the sleeves of her cloak, 'So you're going to start a war? Have your truly forgotten the reason we started this in the first place Nagato?'

XxX

(With Naruto – Mt. Myouboku)

The toads that had been observing the 'friendly battle' between Naruto and Jiraiya finally came out of ducking and hiding for cover as the sounds of destruction finally stopped. Hours of explosions and land being upturned finally brought things to a close.

"**Is it over?"** Gamatatsu asked shakily, hiding in the back of his father's vest. The contingent of spectator toads had long since abandoned standing at the edge of the ridge once all of the explosions started kicking higher and higher… since it became clear very shortly that being above the action didn't keep them from being drawn into it.

Gamakichi hopped down the side of the ridge to check on the two combatants that had been fighting below, **"Let me check. I'll be right back."** He walked over a ruined landscape. The only thing that was really still pristine was the waterfall of oil and the statues around it. Apparently the two had made a truce to not fight anywhere near it to keep it from taking damage. Gamakichi eventually came upon Naruto and Jiraiya laying in a large crater with Fukasaku and Shima hovering over them, **"Hey are either of you two dead after all of that because it sure seems like someone should be."**

Jiraiya let out a cough and sat up shakily with the help of Fukasaku, "I… have not had my ass kicked like that in a long, long time… and I'm not really counting the Pein thing… I technically beat half of his bodies."

"And then he ripped your arm off…" Naruto chimed in before a frown came over his battle-marked face, contact lens activated again now that the battle was over and his Sharingan wasn't needed, "And you and the elders still put the boots to my ass for a lot of that fight. You're definitely handicapable for sure Ero-kyofu." He finished, getting a laugh out of Jiraiya.

Gamakichi grabbed the beaten up Naruto and placed him on his back, **"Okay Naruto-nii, I've got to catch up to you after seeing that. Maybe I should try to start training in senjutsu too?"** The young toad mused to himself.

Naruto nodded, not that Gamakichi could see it with him on the toad's back, "Sage Mode is a monster… I think I'm tired… _Me_. I'm actually tired. I never get tired, at least like this. It's not just an 'I got beat up' kind of tired."

"Side effect of using Sage Mode for a long period of time gaki…" Jiraiya said informatively, "That's why it's only for when you need to bring out the big guns." He said, gesturing to the toad elders that looked slightly drained at having been channeling chakra for so long, "You feel the exhaustion when you let it fade."

'How you feeling Kyuubi?' Naruto mentally asked his tenant as the Kyuubi had been channeling chakra for Sage Mode just as long as they had been all by itself, and Naruto's list of ninjutsu only became more and more taxing on the chakra count. He had especially been abusing Haretsu Seigan (Burst Limit) to stay out of Jiraiya's reach when he could. Sage Mode turned that powerhouse into a whole different kind of threat.

"**I'm not weak like you humans are."** Kyuubi stated derisively at his human container, **"Do you really think that your puny amassed ninjutsu could put even a dent in my own chakra reserves?"**

'Yes?' Naruto thought in reply only to get a scoff from his large red inner demon. Ignoring that conversation for the time being, Naruto turned his attention back to Jiraiya, "So am I done? Is my training finished?"

Jiraiya couldn't keep the smile off of his face, "Yeah. You're done. It's time to go home." He then blinked and looked at their current situation, "…Right as soon as we can both stand up and walk in a straight line." He got a thumbs up from Naruto on Gamakichi's back in response.

Shima watched as Fukasaku showed surprising strength for such a little toad as he picked Jiraiya up to help carry him, **"Well in that case I guess I'll make you two boys some home cookin' for the road."**

Naruto and Jiraiya looked at each other and shared terrified looks before pushing themselves off of their toad assistants and used each other to stand up, balancing against each other to make sure they both stayed up, "No, no that's not necessary Shima-sama!" Jiraiya insisted, Naruto waving his hands in a gesture to show that it wasn't needed, "We need to get back to Konoha, who knows what's happened to that place since we've been gone!" They both then rapidly tried to hobble away, trying to disguise their injuries in vain.

Fukasaku just stared with a deadpan face, **"Right… I guess I'll just go on ahead and take the portal to Konoha to get ready to summon them back."** He said, grabbing his confused wife by the hand and dragging her away from the area.

XxX

(Kirigakure no Sato – Mizukage's Office)

Choujuurou stood in front of the beautiful Mizukage Mei Terumi, unable to meet her gaze directly as he did so, 'What on earth could she have called me here for?' He thought to himself, 'I'm all by myself, what's going on?' It was clear that he was fidgeting.

"Choujuurou I need you to focus okay?" Mei said warmly in an effort to get him to calm down. The boy was so jumpy most of the time, nervous about messing up anything, and things got worse whenever he was around her. He was chosen to take on the mantle of current Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist because he was talented, but that would only go so far without confidence. She seemed to be the only one that could make him get his nerve up, "This is important. There are raids taking place all over the countryside on Kirigakure outposts and there haven't been any survivors in nine different assaults."

The young man gulped but nodded anyway, "So you want me to go and search for whoever is doing this?"

"Yes." Mei confirmed for him, "I need you to take a team out to deal with whoever is doing this. I'm asking for you because you're the best of the current crop of potential Seven Ninja Swordsmen. You've already mastered using Hiramekarei and you've been the best at using Kubikiribouchou since it has been returned to the village. You're the most talented swordsman in the village."

"Why is it me that you picked to go?" That was the heart of his trepidation for going, but he would take the mission regardless. He simply wanted to know the criteria for him leading the team, "Do we know anything about the attacker that makes me the right person for this mission?"

Mei nodded and reached into her desk to pull out a file that she put down in front of him, "These are pictures of the wounds inflicted on our shinobi that had been attacked." She watched Choujuurou intently as he looked at the pictures, adjusting his glasses on his face as he started to get the picture as to why he was being sent, "Do you see why you're the one that must go?"

Choujuurou nodded with a stone-like look on his face, "But the man that owns the weapon that did this… he's supposed to be dead. Sunagakure sent word to every village in the alliance that Kisame Hoshigaki was killed in Kaze no Kuni a few days ago."

And Mei knew this. She had already returned a message to Tsunade in Konoha stating that she would attend a meeting in their village to go over the issue of the Akatsuki threat that seemed to be more than just a regional problem. If they were killing delegates and freely taking away jinchuuriki then it was high time something needed to be done, "You know what injuries from the weapon Samehada look like. Even if it isn't Kisame, there is someone out there with one of our swords killing our ninja."

'And as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen it's my responsibility to bring them down and retrieve our weapons.' Choujuurou nodded firmly now that his task was lain out in front of him, "I'll find who's doing this Mizukage-sama. I swear I'll bring them down and bring Samehada back."

Mei smiled at hearing Choujuurou sound confident and fired up to go retrieve what belonged to the group he proudly represented, "You have free reign to select whomever you believe would be best for assisting you on this assignment. You can leave once you've done this. Good luck. I know you'll do a great job."

Returning her smile full-force, Choujuurou bowed before hurriedly making his way from the office to prepare for his mission. After he left, Ao poked his head into the office and looked back at the way that Choujuurou had gone in order to leave, "So do you think the kid's got what it takes to deal with whoever this is? If whoever's doing this is using Samehada then it might be a step or two out of his league. Just to be able to wield that sword… whoever is doing it has to be a monster."

Mei frowned at Ao, "I wouldn't go counting him out just for that. He's the only person in training that has met the criteria to take a place as this generation's next set of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. If there's anyone that can match up with whoever is using Samehada it's him."

Ao sighed as he walked inside of the office and leaned against the doorframe, "I'm still not convinced. For a mission like this you need to send a ninja with foresight; if I had to say anything, it's that a real man is what you need for something like this Mizukage-sama."

Sadly for Ao however, in his little rant/statement only certain key parts of it were heard, 'Send… for a real man… It's what I need?' Mei simply put a pleasant smile on her face as she cut Ao off as he continued to rant, "Ao shut up or I'll kill you."

That stopped the ranting man in his tracks, "W-What'd I do?"

XxX

(Elsewhere in Mizu no Kuni)

"I've got to say… Madara certainly does know how to reward hard work… and Zetsu delivery service is mighty handy." Standing up from a low crouch outside of a recently sacked and destroyed observation point in the northern islands of the nation, Suigetsu sighed and looked around at his handiwork.

Fifty dead Kiri ninja lay all around the area, "Geez, why do these guys always attack first?" Suigetsu asked himself out loud, scratching his head, "All I'm trying to do is send a message that I want the other swords Kiri has in their possession." He said before shrugging, "Oh well. At least I actually get to kill the people I fight again instead of just holding back. If Sasuke were here all he'd say would be 'leave them alive' or some crap like that. It would totally cramp my style, right Juugo?" He asked, "Juugo?"

Suigetsu turned to see Juugo repeatedly punching a downed Kiri ninja with his piston-like right arm, pulverizing the rock underneath the ninja's head, "Die! Die! Die!" He howled in a manic tone of voice as blood and stone flew up with every strike.

The white-haired swordsman gave off a casually deadpan look at the barbarous sight, "Yeah… I don't think you really have to worry about that. People usually don't live when you turn their skulls into slurry." He then noticed Juugo stopped punching and his arm turned back to normal as he hurriedly backed away from the shinobi he had been decimating, "I'll take it you're back to normal now." Juugo nodded slowly, looking at his hands shakily, "Good."

"I don't get why we're out here waiting for your stupid sword-." Karin chimed in as she walked over with her hands on her hips, "You already have one so-." She was then cut off when Samehada was put right in front of her face.

"Don't say stupid things like that okay?" Suigetsu said with a bored look on his face, "Because you were in such a rush to go after Kabuto to 'avenge Sasuke' you got our asses kicked because we weren't ready. Not only am I getting better at using Samehada with all of the fighting we're doing, if I can get one of the other swords then that would be all the better for the next time we fight someone strong."

Karin backed away from the young man holding the creepy weapon, "What if we get killed out here while you're on your little scavenger hunt?"

A feral grin with his shark-like teeth came from Suigetsu, "Haven't you ever heard of trial by fire? If we get taken out by any jabroni that winds up coming after us then what kind of chance do you think we have at fighting a jinchuuriki, not to mention a jinchuuriki like Naruto Uzumaki. He isn't just sitting on his ass twiddling his thumbs."

"I'll kill that bastard!" Karin exclaimed angrily at the mere mention of Naruto's name, "I'll tear him apart for what he did to Sasuke-kun!"

Suigetsu shook his head, "Then you might want to start not sucking in a fight. The way you are, he can kill you with eye contact alone…" He then laughed at his own little joke. If the guy knew any genjutsu then he just might be able to, "…literally." He set Samehada on his shoulder, "I'll take either Hiramekarei or Kubikiribouchou at this point. Both would be outstanding though…"

Karin shook her head at seeing Suigetsu get all caught up in daydreaming about his stupid freak swords and looked over at Juugo, "I think we should get out of here and hide again. Juugo's freaking out at what his other half did and someone's going to be here soon after all of the ruckus you two made."

Suigetsu stuck Samehada to his back with a smirk, "Yeah, _we_ made the ruckus because you never fight." He pointed over at the now docile Juugo, "Crazy serial killer Juugo is more useful than you in a fight." He teased.

"I was the one that cast the damn genjutsu over the people here so the idiots didn't see you coming until you two were right on top of them!" Karin replied heatedly, she was damn sure a useful member of the team, she was just the support. Suigetsu would realize that if he ever got messed up badly enough to need help… but then as long as he lived through it he would just put himself into a body of water and heal there, and Juugo was so unstable that healing him came with a risk of him possibly snapping while you were working on him.

A shrug came from the water-manipulating member of the team before Juugo spoke up, "Maybe we should get moving again now you guys."

Suigetsu nodded, "Yeah sure. We need to find another outpost to set up at just in case the murderous you decides to peek his ugly head out again so we can get some use out of your crazy side." He looked back at the completely ruined outpost they had just run through like a hot knife through butter, "Eventually they'll send someone with a sword knocking once they realize Samehada's the one doing this… and I'll be waiting."

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato)

"**So this is little Naruto-chan's house."** Shima said as she was let into Naruto's new cliffside accommodations by Hamako who had been previously acquainted with the old female toad, **"Didn't get to see much of this place last time I was in Konoha."** She said in passing as she hopped down the stairs from the entrance into the main room that overlooked the whole village due to its placement on the mountainside.

Hamako followed behind placidly, "I'm sorry, there was just so much going on the last time you were here that there was no chance to show you Naruto-sama's home. To be honest he hasn't even been here yet either."

Shima hopped on the middle of the table in the living area, **"Well that's about to change in just a moment so hold on."** And in a matter of moments, a puff of smoke filled the room, clearing to reveal Naruto and Jiraiya standing there, **"And there ya go. Back home."** She waved to Jiraiya and Naruto, **"Feel free to stop on back in anytime either of ya, you're both always welcome."** She said as she disappeared to head back home herself.

"Home my ass." Naruto said, looking around with a confused expression on his face, "This isn't my apartment at all." He hadn't been gone long enough to forget what his own place looked like. It had only been for a couple of months, "First of all this is way too big to be my place, second of all you can see the entire Hokage Monument from my living room window." He gestured out at the sunset balcony view he had of the entire village, "This is like looking at the entire opposite thing… nice view though." He had to admit.

Hamako raised a hand to interject as Naruto kept looking out the window, "Actually Naruto-sama, this is your house." He turned around abruptly to give her a wide-eyed look only to be met with a smile, "You told me to keep your affairs in order… well between the work with the Academy that I do and the sealing tags that I sell and with all of the money you have from Sasori's bounty and the high-level missions that you kept taking we had money. A lot of money. Enough money to easily buy this entire house."

That wasn't even mentioning that he got paid at regular intervals while he had been on this long mission around the bulk of the ninja world as well. Getting paid for an S-ranked mission routinely did not give one empty pockets. Plus Kirigakure awarded Konoha financially for the return of Kubikiribouchou… and some of that went to Naruto's account as payment for his efforts per the Mizukage's request.

Jiraiya draped his lone arm over his stunned looking godson's arm, "Yep, and I live here too… rent free of course. I'm on the cusp of retirement and I'm taking liberties with my social security gaki. I'm a veteran!"

A nod came from Hamako to confirm this, "Oh but there's plenty of space, it's actually no problem at all that Jiraiya-sama lives here as well, honest."

Naruto's facial expression still hadn't gone back to normal, "So let me get this straight… you bought me a house while I was gone and moved all of the stuff in?" Hamako nodded happily to verify, "So this place with all of the space, and the huge view over Konoha, and whatever amount of bedrooms this place has-."

"Eight bedrooms." Hamako helpfully added.

"-Eight bedrooms." Naruto said taking back his last statement, "All of this is mine? As in it belongs to me?"

"Yes." Hamako said cheerfully before being met with Naruto's silence, putting a frown on her face, "Is that a problem master? Did I do something wrong? You're not upset are you?" She asked before she found herself swept into a kiss.

Quickly letting her go after his display of affection, Naruto threw his hands up in victory, "Thank you Hamako-chan! Yeah! I own a house! A _big_ house! Not an apartment, an actual house!"

A smirk was on Jiraiya's face as he looked over at Hamako touching her lips serenely and blushing lightly, "Hey I know you're excited and everything about getting a house, and once you actually look around this place you're going to love it even more, but I'm telling you right now if you try to kiss _me_ I'm going to throw you out of the window."

Naruto stopped celebrating long enough to give a dry look to Jiraiya, "Big deal, I can walk on air remember? Do you really want to start that? Because I know that you can't fly. Now can I please celebrate? I haven't had much to feel good about these days."

"That's another thing that I was meant to tell you Naruto-sama." Hamako said, speaking up in a rather quiet voice as her mood seemed to take a 180. The happiness in her face had disappeared as she couldn't look Naruto in the eye for what she was about to say next, "I don't know how to tell you this so I'll just come out and say it. *sigh* There's some news that came to us while you were gone. I'm afraid Danzo Shimura is missing… Hokage-sama thinks he's more than likely dead."

Jiraiya's eyes quickly panned from the servant girl to Naruto, trying to observe whatever emotion there was crossing the young man's face. There was none to be seen at the moment, 'Come on kid, don't do that freezing up crap you do whenever something's messing with you… say something. Do something. Anything…'

Naruto's eyes turned to the couch where he just went over and sat down. Hamako walked over and sat down next to him, putting an arm around him in a hug. He just sat there staring at nothing until he finally spoke, "So how did he die?" Naruto asked solemnly.

'At least he's willing to say something about it.' Jiraiya thought, thinking that this was at least better than the time he thought he couldn't beat the Akatsuki.

Hamako gave him whatever answer she had on the matter, "His guards were found in Suna; one of them a Yamanaka, the other an Aburame, both of them dead. Kisame Hoshigaki's body was found as well. And then there was the place where it was believed that Danzo had been fighting. Apparently it looked like a mess."

Naruto smirked weakly, "Heh, the old man didn't go down easy I guess." Even if they were all dead at least they took one of his more powerful enemies with them, 'You always were watching my back somehow weren't you Danzo-jiji. At least you went out in a fight. I think it would have hurt me worse if you died in your sleep or something lame like that.' He turned his blue eyes towards Hamako's amber ones, "So how are Sai- kouhai and Maki-chan? What's going on with them?"

"Sai-san and Maki-san need to speak to you." Hamako said with a serious look. Naruto could only guess that there was a power vacuum of sorts in Root now, and he knew that in the event of Danzo's death there was supposed to be a total recall of all dispatched Root operatives. He could only imagine the mess that probably was.

"I'll handle it soon." He told her, patting her on the thigh, "I'm fine though, really." Naruto stood up from his place on the couch and decided to go look for his room. He hadn't slept in a bed that could be considered his own in months and right now he really needed the rest, his mind was tired, "I need to go around tomorrow and get my butt chewed out. I guess that'll just be part of my tour."

Jiraiya had been quiet the entire time. It seemed like hearing of Danzo's death sapped all of Naruto's remaining strength from his body. Rest really was the best thing for him at the moment. He had been on the move nonstop with no downtime for quite some time. It was one hell of a campaign across the continent he had just been running, "Wait, why do you think you're going to get chewed out tomorrow when you meet up with your friends?"

Naruto turned and gave Jiraiya a haggard look as he started to list the reasons, "People thought I was captured after the fight with Pein. I never came home and continued my mission that we had taken earlier without even taking a team of people that anyone knew about. I globetrotted while people thought I was dead in a ditch somewhere. I've got secrets galore that my friends should be suspicious of by now. The team that no one knew about actually met my friends and then escaped from them so I could finish the mission without going back to Konoha with them. And oh, how about this?" He asked, turning his contact lens off to show off his Sharingan, "Keeping this a secret for as long as I can is going to be a pain in the ass."

Yeah, he'd have to run the gauntlet. Between personally reporting to Tsunade, facing down the friends that had gone on the mission to assist him, answering the questions about his fight with Sasuke and Itachi, and everything else he would definitely need to be well rested for that. "I see your point." Jiraiya said before walking past Naruto and putting a hand on his shoulder as the old toad sage went to his room, "Well good luck with that."

A sigh came from Naruto as he continued back, "Hey Hamako-chan, I don't know where I'm going or which room is mine."

"Do you want me to show you?" Hamako asked him, tilting her head inquisitively.

"That'd be great." Naruto said as he waited for Hamako to get up and walk over to him, grabbing his arm against her chest as she pulled him down the hall to show him, "Do you want to take a nap with me? I could use the company." He asked.

"Just a nap?" A delicate tilted eyebrow from Hamako belied a rather mischievous tone behind her words. Spending only a few hours with Naruto in Kumo was not enough to make up for the months that he had been gone for. Talking through the tattoo was a far cry from actually being there with him.

"Maybe when I wake up we can do something then if you still feel like it." Naruto teased her back, using a regular tone of voice so that she couldn't tell if he was kidding or not, "Who knows how long that'll be though.?"

"So mean Naruto-sama…" Hamako pouted playfully as she led him into his room. She could tell he was in one of his moods again though he was doing a much better job of playing this one off. Danzo's death actually did hurt him more than he showed, but out of respect for the man he felt he had to simply move along. He simply wouldn't outright grieve even if she or Jiraiya confronted him directly on it, so the next best thing she could do would be to cheer him up somehow, "Oh well… you can tell me all of the things about your trip that you couldn't recount through our connection. And I was so looking forward to seeing what you thought about your new bed."

"On second thought I might have enough energy for just one shot." With a serious face, Naruto quickly about-faced in his outlook clearly towards the positive after being presented with the same opportunity and having it shoved in his face. He had not had relations with a female in at least two months, give him a break, "…Maybe more than one."

XxX

(Shimo no Kuni)

Shimo no Kuni (Land of Frost) was a buffer nation that sat between Hi no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni. This nation also bordered Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water), and both of these minor nations had hidden villages… so hiding oneself only meant that you had to find a concealed place at the border that others had to get permission to so much as venture anywhere near.

It also helped when there was no one that knew where you were going in the first place, but being somewhere that most others wouldn't readily venture was a big deal as well.

Which is why finding Kabuto Yakushi proved to be a tougher task then most would readily admit. Still, after his run-in with Naruto it was clear that the boy at least was willing to keep him at arm's length instead of just turning him in and reporting to Konoha brass at first sight. If he had then Kabuto's stay in his safehouse wouldn't have been nearly as comfortable as it had been, he probably would have been forced to flee a long time ago somehow. The way things had wound up being, it was more like he helped Naruto for his own gain and Naruto reciprocated the favor by not sending anyone after him.

A smile had to come to the man's face at that. It was strangely akin to Naruto's trainer's relationship with his master Orochimaru, though Orochimaru managed to kill that little working relationship very early on by making clear his intentions to destroy Konoha.

Kabuto had no such impetus to do such. He had other things he wished to do and Konoha had nothing to do with his goals.

This time spent just keeping to himself in the meantime did give him plenty of time to get down integrating the rest of Orochimaru's cells into his system. Even the little intrusion of Sasuke Uchiha's little gang didn't do anything to stop his growth in that department. It was actually invigorating to test himself for even a little bit against the trio. He figured that he had at least doubled in strength since fusing himself with the remains of his fallen master.

Yes, Kabuto considered his little amount of time spent in his safehouse to be something of a vacation. He could even experiment at his leisure as long as he was very selective with the people he took to do so. The thing about the smaller nations was that it was certainly easier to spirit people away with no questions asked, especially if one could do it correctly.

At the moment however, Kabuto was merely basking in the quiet and tranquility of his own company, sitting in his large hooded cloak that kept most of his face out of sight, "You know that even for someone as powerful as yourself, cornering me isn't exactly the best idea, especially on my own turf don't you… Madara?"

From the darkness of the large room that Kabuto walked in from, Madara did indeed step out, "So you knew I was here. That's really very impressive Kabuto Yakushi."

A grin spread over Kabuto's face, "So you know of me. That's not really good. You know enough of me to actually come and seek me out. I don't really like that you see, I'm something of a recluse, not much of a people person honestly." He shook his head seemingly in amusement, "I'm not even going to try and get into how you actually knew where to look for me."

Madara pointed at the sides of his mask, "You've just got to keep your ears to the ground you see… and listen for rumbling footsteps. I made a living out of making a ghost of myself, do you think I wouldn't know how to find anyone that hid like me?"

"And therein lies the question I'm really curious about." Kabuto replied amicably for a man that had just had his location discovered by someone he didn't have any dealings with whatsoever, "The question being; why are you here? Did siccing your rabid Sasuke-fans on me no give you the desired results?"

"They are of no major consequence to me." Madara admitted freely as he observed Kabuto's pale white scaly looking arms beneath his cloak, "You however, are a man of great interest to me. I have a need of skills like yours. They will come to help me in the coming days."

Kabuto let out a laugh and gestured around himself, "Do look like I really care much for fighting and delivering jinchuuriki to you, even for a price? Money? I don't have any kind of need for it. Land? I can just take that, and even then I prefer the smaller more concealed areas such as this." He could take over an entire country if he was bored enough and felt like it, though that was probably just the Orochimaru in him talking. "There's really not much of anything that you can give me that I would actually take in order to work with you. And when I say with you I do mean _with you_, because I won't work _for_ anyone ever again."

Madara's single visible Sharingan eye narrowed behind his orange swirl mask, "You're awfully blunt on matters aren't you? I expected you to at least try to scheme something towards your advantage instead of dismissing me outright."

Kabuto merely shrugged, "You would have expected that, clearly. And who says I'm dismissing you? I never said I wasn't for hire Madara Uchiha… I just said that you probably won't have anything that interests me enough to work with you." He then smirked as he added something as an afterthought, "By the way, fear is not anything that would get me to work with you."

"You have no helpers." Madara noted about Kabuto's workings as he had found his way here and hadn't found a single underling.

"Underlings only get in your way and bring you disappointment." Kabuto noted glibly, "If there were any underlings actually competent enough to work for you and your ambitions then they wouldn't work for you at all, they would work for themselves. I learned that myself under Orochimaru-sama." He was actually a walking example of that. Yep, he and the entire village of Otogakure were both shining examples of opposite ends of both spectrums.

Madara had to agree with that statement. It was why Akatsuki had only been comprised of the very best, and why even when he had gotten it down to its ten main members he had only allowed them to work as Akatsuki openly _after_ he had already lain the groundwork for his plans himself. Large organizations with too many members and too many pawns would end up collapsing around you quickly in a cloud of incompetence without getting a single thing done in the long term.

"You may not wish to work for money or status or even your own safety…" Madara said rather slyly to Orochimaru's former right-hand man and Sasori's former spy, "But you do wish to… discover things do you not? Tell me, how would bodies of the prime clans of the world suit you as a price?" He offered, "Not just of Konoha, though of them I of course have access… no I mean of all villages of all nations around the world. You must have inherited your former master's ambition for power."

Kabuto let out a chuckle, "If that's what you're offering then let's just say that it's a start." He turned his head up at Madara with his glasses gleaming in the low light, "Let's haggle about for a bit Madara. If that's your starting price then I'd love to see what we can actually work out in the end. But I do have to ask or I'd be remiss; what exactly do you need a man of my talents for?" This was something that Kabuto could work with. To play two sides against the middle instead of just dealing occasionally with the one to keep himself out of the line of fire, yes he would have to look into this opportunity that Madara had presented him with.

"Roughly the same reason that I originally desired Orochimaru for Akatsuki to be honest with you." Madara admitted before continuing to speak, "Though you perhaps are more dangerous than he is. You have more talents than just that, I'm certain. And I doubt that any reason you'll actually will yourself to work with me will be on the level."

Kabuto's face twisted in a smile, "I'll take that as the compliment that I'm sure it was meant to be." He then let out one last laugh as he thought to himself, 'About me working with you. Not everything is as complicated as I try to make them seem Madara as you'll see soon enough. Not every man has an agenda to do certain things. Some of us aren't looking for anything logical in the things that we do. We can't be outright negotiated, bought, or reasoned with. Men like me and Naruto Uzumaki are at opposite ends of this spectrum you see. Some of us are this way because they believe in a cause, because they have something that they feel is greater than themselves that they are willing to die for… and then there are men like me, that sometimes just want to watch the world burn.'

Madara Uchiha could bring the world to the brink of ruin. He wanted to see just how far along the man could get with a foil that was growing in strength everyday and had the resolve to do what he needed to in order to end him.

It would definitely serve to be a fun little show as far as Kabuto was concerned.

Sort of like a make-your-own-story kind of book… complete with an ambiguous set of endings to boot.

* * *

**Chapter done, and it has been just over a year since I've began to write this story… and I have to say that I sincerely never saw this coming. I'm going on 6000 reviews for a year of work. All I can say is thanks for the interest. Obviously I've done something right here to get your attention… thought what it is I have no earthly idea. Most of my work is the insane, warped ramblings of the Naruto universe in my own mind that I decided to put to work on a keyboard on a computer screen (And from the sheer amount of it I have to mention that I am quite comfortably out of my mind).**

**There be fireworks about to start up all over the place, but this was quite obviously and admittedly a cool-down of sorts. Next chapter will be the set up for some new stuff. How far into the new things I get will be depending on how many words it takes to get the point across as well as furthering other things. You know what I'm saying people that know what I'm saying! (Psst! I'm speaking to the authors with that last sentence!)**

**I sincerely hope you enjoyed the chapter and I have to say that after being 20 for three days it thus far sucks… other than the binge of debauchery that I was somehow cleared to do for the last two days and nights straight. I hope I didn't use my random mischief card for when I turn 21… that's the one I **_**need**_** to deal with properly.**

**Oh well, the important thing is that I didn't go to jail, and staying out of jail is half the battle… especially when you're a black man in America, but that's a different list of grievances altogether and I don't have time to rant maniacally today. I have a job to get to.**

**Later all, Kenchi out.**


	53. Storm on the Horizon

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Some of us have to work tirelessly doing menial minimum wage jobs for a living instead of writing out a storyline and drawing concept art. Some of us like myself provide a necessary service for the benefit of society. How do YOU give back?

Note: Do not respond to that statement if your job actually contributes to the good of society.

**Chapter 52: Storm on the Horizon**

* * *

The day after his return to Konoha, Naruto went to the only place he figured he would find easy to contact Sai or Maki. He headed to his oldest stomping grounds, the Root hideout he was trained in that served as his mother base back during his fomulative years. He hadn't been in the Konoha base since he had found it abandoned after his first attempts to locate Danzo three years ago when he had first broken the seal on his person.

The gray and colorless walls brought back a wave of nostalgia that he let himself get swept up in. He was even subconsciously striding along silently on instinct. Walking in those halls and allowing Danzo to effortlessly hear your footsteps would get you disciplined. Sadistic old fart… it was going to be weird without him always hovering in the shadows somewhere. Even when he wasn't in contact with him he could always just feel Danzo around somewhere.

He could afford these thoughts now. Danzo was dead and even though the man would have wanted him and the others in Root to move along it was Naruto's choice to think of him and try to keep him in the back of his mind. Even if the man's death never became the major news around the village it should have been, probably the way he would have wanted it, it didn't mean that he should just be forgotten in time. He had done too much for his village to be a footnote at best.

Naruto's feet carried him to the old dimly lit training section of the base and as he walked through the door and stepped inside he let out a sigh as he started walking towards the room that he remembered as his own little personal space. It was actually his and Maki's but it was his first. He trained there mostly alone under Danzo's watch for over a year before he was ever partnered with her.

And since it actually did wind up being their training area it didn't surprise him to find her there sitting down, seemingly meditating. He walked into the room without alerting her or disturbing her serenity and leaned against the wall just basking in the tranquility of the more or less empty base.

One day it would be up and running, and full of life again. Once he became Hokage Naruto would have Root operate the way it was meant to be used all along; as the extension of the village's defenses. The real black ops unit. Only the very top of the food chain in the village would know they existed as originally intended and the operatives would live amongst the populace, some as registered shinobi, others as sleepers posing as mere civilians, all with the same overall goal, to do what needed to be done.

"Do you know how I wound up in Root in the first place Naruto-senpai?" Maki said quietly from her meditative position, eyes still closed, "I don't think you do. We never really talked about how we all wound up here."

Naruto shook his head. He didn't know, but it wasn't that hard to figure out how. Either they came to Danzo of their own will once they learned of him as active shinobi, the way most of his adult forces did when Root was a legitimate branch of ANBU, or they were orphaned and recruited that way. Most of the children that wound up in the Academy had some kind of legitimate family background as a shinobi. Civilian children could of course join the Academy, but it required them to be enrolled by someone related to them. Without a benefactor sponsoring them, parental or otherwise, children couldn't join the Ninja Academy as it wasn't a decision that a child should have been allowed to make on their own.

So the reason that Maki and Sai joined Root was obvious, especially now that Naruto knew that most of Danzo's forces had been wiped out by Pein back during the last great war in a mission along with many of Sanshouo no Hanzo's Ame shinobi. They were both orphans, much like him, with no one to sponsor them in the Academy. With their only route into the conventional forces blocked, Danzo reached out to them and recruited them for training to eventually rebolster Root.

The most talented of the youth were enrolled in the Academy eventually much like Maki and Sai were with Danzo as their backer. This was done to keep some members of Root in with the main forces so that Danzo was kept aware of everyday happenings that he might have missed while keeping his gaze in the shadows. The others that weren't sent to the Academy were kept as Root's go-to force; the ones that accomplished most of the general missions.

"I don't know for sure how you ended up here Maki-chan but I can guess how." Naruto said, still leaning against the wall in the room, "It's not that different from me. It's not that different from any of us around this age. It's how we all joined. We all wanted to join the Academy, we weren't allowed. Danzo-jiji found us and we jumped at the chance." He shrugged his shoulders, "I was four. How about you?"

"Four." Maki replied, "My parents were killed on the highways back when Ta no Kuni was more lawless than it was even now and left me alone when I was barely able to walk and talk. I was just a dirty little orphan when I was blocked from joining the Academy. I can't even blame them for not taking me, I probably looked like I'd keel over any second."

Naruto blocked a cringe as he remembered that all orphans weren't as well off and taken care of as he had been. Even then his pedigree, unknown at the time to him and the vast majority of the village, shone through and assisted him.

Maki just continued to speak though, "I got three weeks of basic introduction and then Danzo-sama threw me to the wolves." She said as she opened her grey eyes and looked across the room at Naruto, "You were very brutal in our first spar Naruto-senpai."

Naruto let out a chuckle, "In my defense I didn't know you were a girl. Actually that probably wouldn't have made a difference anyway. It still wouldn't."

"I was six years old when I joined." Sai said as he entered the room from the hallway, "Until then I just lived at one of the orphanages, the one based on the north side of Konoha closest to the Academy. I wasn't really leaving much behind when I joined. In the end, joining Root allowed me to meet my 'older brother' Shin. I don't know whether or not to be grateful that he died of illness before we were to fight to the death but were it not for Danzo-sama we never would have met in the first place." He looked up at Naruto and Maki and smiled, "None of us probably would have met either."

For once, Naruto returned Sai's smile as it truly did not look fabricated. He had either been practicing with his study on emotions or he had legitimately felt the need to convey the needed emtion for a smile to surface for once, "You're right." Naruto said as he stood off of the wall and began pacing around the room, "Danzo-jiji was a bastard. I'll admit it to anyone. I'll be the first to admit it. He kicked the crap out of me personally, made my life hell more often than not as a kid, and he made sure the rest of you got the crap kicked out of all of you too. He gave us the chance to do what we wanted though, and all we had to give was what was left of our crappy childhoods."

Standing behind Maki, Naruto rested his hands on the seated girl's shoulders, "Rough training… Dangerous missions right from the very start where we were in serious danger... Yeah we dealt with that by choice. But that's the thing; it was _our_ choice." He began walking again and looked over the two Root operatives, "I would have been a ninja no matter what, it's just who I am. But the both of you and the others our age wouldn't have had the chance at all to do what you all wanted to do with your lives. We're an entire generation of shinobi born to parents that died during the last war and everything that happened in its wake, and we would have never been given the chance to do this for a living if Danzo hadn't been there."

As an example, Fuu and Torune had been a younger pair of shinobi older than Naruto who had lost parents in the period between the last major war and the Kyuubi attack. Due to the tumultuous times they were living in their clans had too much to deal with to represent the pair of them, too young to be allowed to make such a decision to become shinobi like their parents, too old to be fully taken in by their own clansmen to be raised as foster children. They might have wound up left behind to wither in obscurity had they not found Danzo.

"He served a purpose." Naruto finished as he began walking towards the open door of the training room and out into the hallway of the training area that was once vacant and now full of every last Root operative, over hundreds of young shinobi and a handful of older remnants left over from its years as an actual functioning part of Konoha's regular forces, "He made sure the rest of us served a purpose. We mattered because we did what no one else could be caught doing for our country. Because we joined Root we were able to do more than just stand on the outside looking in. It was probably dragged out of you in your emotional conditioning, but the fact is this is what we all always wanted to do. So if nothing else I'm going to remember Danzo-jiji for that… because he gave us the shot when there was more or less no other way for most of us to ever get the chance at all. And Root isn't dead just because he's gone; because the rest of us are still here and we can't just stop now."

Sai walked out behind Naruto followed by Maki as they all looked at the crowd of Root ninja and the pale teen spoke after Naruto's last statement, "…If the roots falter and wilt then the tree will die no matter how great it is."

Almost immediately, the entirety of the Root ninja dropped to one knee to bow obediently to Naruto and Sai. After his last meeting with a massive amount of Root ninja he sort of expected it, but as he saw them bow, Naruto noted that not only was the entire hall of the training facility filled, the halls outside in the rest of the base seemed filled with ninja trying to get as close to the training facility itself as they could. It really was everyone.

Someone had to say something to them. It was either Naruto or Sai that was supposed to, as that was the way things were meant to be. If Naruto had to compare the situation to anything it was like a king and his two bishops surrounded by everyone and everything directed to be under them.

Maki elbowed both of them in the back gently to urge one of them to speak. One of them had to say something. Naruto looked over at Sai. He was the one that was supposed to run Root in Danzo's stead in case anything happened. Naruto wasn't supposed to do it, he was still working towards his final mission to become Hokage.

That didn't mean he couldn't show them that he was for them as well as the regular forces.

"Sai's in charge." Naruto said with full confidence in his voice, "Isn't that right?" He said, turning towards said young man.

Sai nodded, "Yes." Sai reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll, "Danzo-sama left me with these orders in the case of his death, his authorization of his direct successor to run Root. Naruto-senpai is correct. It's me." He threw the scroll forward to be caught by one of the Root operatives so that they could verify it for themselves, "…But remember that our next Hokage is among us as we speak."

"Orders sirs… ma'am" One Root member said, asking Naruto, Sai, and even Maki since it was clear she was directly with them.

Once again, Naruto and Sai looked at each other, with Naruto turning his eyes towards the mass of ninja in attendance as if he was indicating Sai that it was his job to deliver the orders to them. Thus that was what Sai did, "For right now there are no standing orders. This will once again be the main base of operations until things get fully up and running again. I'm going to need to talk to each and every one of you to be briefed on what current operations are still in motion so that I am fully briefed to take over. Until then I wish for you all to remain around the village as if you were on leave. For now you are all dismissed."

"Yes Sai-sama, Naruto-sama, Maki-dono!"

The unanimous chant preceded the emptying of the halls in multiple directions once the Root ninja all got out into the main hallways of the base, more than likely to leave from the different exits situated in and out of the village of Konoha.

As the three were left alone in the hall there was only one thing that any of them can say, "…Since when am I -dono?" Maki asked quietly. She was actually quite flustered having been put on the spot like that, not used to being the subject of authority over anyone, let alone all but two of the remaining Root members.

Sai simply stared down the hall that was once filled to the brim with Root Ninja before speaking up, "Do you think we can do this Naruto-senpai?"

"Yeah." Naruto said confidently, "You've got me and Maki-chan to help you, and even more when I become Hokage. Everything's going to be fine."

Sai nodded, "I'll try." He said, only to get rapped on the back of the head by Naruto, "Huh?"

Naruto was looking at Sai with a stern look on his face, "There's no 'try' here. There's either 'do' or 'don't do', so make it happen. It's the mission." He said with finality, "I don't say I'll 'try' to be Hokage. When I accepted Danzo-jiji's mission I said I would do it, and that means that I'm definitely going to pull it off. It's the same here. We don't 'try' Sai, it's a given that we're going to try, its' all we know how to do. We just do or we don't do; because not doing usually meant that we would die."

After taking a second to think about it, Sai realized that Naruto was right. This was no different from any other mission given to him, it was just that it was the most important mission he had ever been given, "I'm going to go check Danzo-sama's office in this base. Perhaps he left something behind?" With that he left to locate Danzo's old office.

"He'll be fine." Maki told Naruto, putting a hand on his shoulder as she could see the stony look on his face as he tried to kick Sai's butt into gear, "I'll be here to help him where I can. It's going to take some time to get things back together before Root can run again."

"I know." Naruto replied with a sigh. A big part of him wanted to be there with them getting all of the affairs in order but that would require him to be gone and out of the open for far too long. Still, that didn't mean he was just going to leave them to their own devices and merely wish them the best of luck, "If you think you need my help you can always come find me. You both know where my new house is don't you?"

A small smile appeared on Maki's face, "It's understandable, you're a public figure." She seemed to be if nothing else grateful for the sentiment that he would assist them, "Even if the Sandaime Hokage couldn't prove this place existed when it was fully up and running you can't risk disappearing without an alibi." Naruto gave a nod, "Then go ahead. Sai-senpai and I need to sift through everything and he needs to get used to being the actual leader of Root."

Even if they were trained to have as little emotion as humanly possible they were still human, and as versatile as many of them were there were just some things that people needed time to adjust to. Naruto was sure Sai would get his stride when it came to running things in Root, he just needed some time, time he was freely getting with all operations halted for the moment. Maybe after debriefing all of the operatives there would be an idea of where to go from there?

XxX

(Jounin Standby Station)

Before he could go and locate anyone of his friends to give them the lowdown on what had occurred on the mission to find Sasuke, Naruto had to first fill out a report on his entire compounded experiences after his and Jiraiya's defeat in Amegakure. It was only when he sat down in the lounge and began putting pen to paper that he realized how long he had really been gone.

Between all of the travel to make sure Akatsuki was off of his tail, the actual mission to find Sasuke and the fight against him and Itachi, the time it took for him to heal from that battle, and his time training for Sage Mode he had been gone for two months.

"Naruto."

Naruto turned his head up from his seat to see Neji standing nearby, "Hey Neji. Good to see you again."

Taking the greeting as an indication that his presence wasn't a hindrance of any sort, Neji sat down in the vicinity, "We almost managed to locate you around one month ago, but your 'team' prevented that from occurring." Neji was still rather sore that Sai and Maki had managed to fool them with an ink clone under a henge. If he had been more suspicious of the pair of Konoha ninja he had never met then it wouldn't have happened, but they had also been escaping from an S-rank threat at the time and Sai and Maki had been assisting them until that point.

"You didn't want to be where I was." Naruto assured him remembering how horribly destructive the entire battle between himself Sasuke and Itachi became. If he ever wound up having kids then the stories of that fight would probably be a bedtime favorite. Even the preceding conflict with Deidara was heavily intense, "How's Tayuya-chan by the way?"

Neji was well aware of the damage that Tayuya had suffered during the mission. Though she was able to continue for a short while longer she had taken some nerve damage from Sasuke's attack that no amount of on the spot healing from Sakura could just get rid of, "She's-."

"-Had a month to heal and think about how your ass screwed us over and left us running around in the fucking woods chasing shadows." Neji's reply was cut off by the voice of said girl as she appeared at Naruto's back behind his lounge couch. Naruto tilted his head back far enough to get an upside down view of her, "Hello Uzumaki. Duck-butt didn't maim you after all?"

"Not for life anyway..." Naruto replied flippantly before a smile appeared on his face, "It's really good to see you're alright. When my clone left you in the woods you didn't look good at all."

Tayuya moved around to the front to sit down with Naruto and Neji, notably right next to Naruto, "Oh come on, a little cardiac arrest can't stop me. Now who was that guy and that girl dressed like you claiming to be your teammates before they ran away from us?"

Naruto shrugged as he split his attention between his friends and his report, "They were my actual team. Sai and Maki are registered. You can find their records." He was trying to make it seem uninteresting so that they would drop the issue. At least Maki and Sai's existences could be proven in the regular forces unlike most other Root members.

Holding a fist in front of Naruto's face, Tayuya growled out threateningly, "I wanted to kick to crap out of you for just running off without ever even talking to us in person, but then again you saved my life out there so I guess that's worth something. Thanks for that by the way."

"Anytime Tayuya-chan." "I'm glad you two are here though. I've got something kind of important to tell you guys anyway."

"Kind of important?" Neji repeated with a raised eyebrow, "What's so important now? Is it more important than you being left for dead by one of the Akatsuki, or running off all over the world and letting everyone think you were dead for two weeks?" He jibed in reference to Naruto's disappearing act after the loss to Pein.

Tayuya let out a small laugh and ribbed Naruto with a good-natured elbow, "Yeah what is it? Did you finish off Uchiha-teme?"

"…Kind of…"

Tayuya's eyes went wide and Neji even had a visible response to hearing that. They had not known the aftermath of Naruto's fight with the pair of Uchiha and only knew that he had survived it. More often than not when strong forces oppose each other, despite the level of danger that exists in the shinobi world, neither opposing force really kills the other unless the difference in power is incredibly noticeable. Death was a part of any battle, but to hear about the death of someone you could put a face to and in some cases could even say you had known was something else altogether.

"You killed him?" Tayuya said, part question, part trying to get the thought through her head as she knew two girls on a personal level that might take that a little too deeply, "You killed your old friend like that?"

"He wasn't any friend of mine." Naruto said, voice full of conviction, "He was a 'comrade' but then he threw that all away by running and nearly killing Rock Lee three years ago. You guys are friends of mine, I have _friends_ in other places. Sasuke wasn't my friend." He said before releasing a sigh, "But I was told when I was in Kiri after the battle that Maki and Sai saw the bodies of Itachi and Sasuke. The last attack sent me flying, and their bodies aren't as tough as mine to deal with so much stress so I guess they just couldn't take anymore."

Neji now really wished that he had been there. If not to fight then simply to watch it himself in person, "You were able to defeat them both." Sasuke was skilled even back before his time training with Orochimaru as far as Neji was concerned, adding Itachi to that equation seemed like a disastrous endeavor to undertake, "That's incredible."

Unable to do so the last time she saw a clone of his, Tayuya took in Naruto's appearance. Through the unzipped collar and upper chest of his sleeveless root vest it was unzipped, and at the exposed midsection it gave him she could see the edges of a tattoo on his person hidden by his clothing, yet she couldn't make out what it was. On his exposed arms she could see numerous new tattoos that were clearly seals. Multiple storage seals on one arm and a strange looking one that started at his elbow and went down to his forearm.

"You've had a shitty few months huh?" Tayuya finally said. No one would put those things on their person if they didn't need them, and from the sounds of things he needed each and every one he had.

'You don't even know Tayuya-chan.' Naruto thought to himself as he merely nodded and kept writing his report, "I want to be the one to tell everyone else myself about what happened to Sasuke. If anyone is upset about it then I'm the one taking responsibility for it, I was the one that took the mission from Kiri to find the sword that he and his team took."

No one out of the entirety of the group of younger ninja would necessarily hate Naruto at all for his clash with Sasuke. One had to do what one had to do after all. Sasuke had professed his intention of severing ties with Konoha and joining its most prolific enemy, going so far as to gravely wound one of them during his escape and leave him for dead. He did not owe Sasuke any mercy or reprieve.

One person that had to realize this as well, and most certainly did, was also in the station elsewhere in the room, out of sight of Naruto as he hadn't gotten the opportunity to come over to the younger pair of male jounin and the female tokubetsu jounin currently speaking about his wayward former student.

Kakashi simply sat off to the side and listened without letting his presence be known, 'So you were able to do it after all Naruto. I can't say that I would have been able to do the same if I were in your shoes.' He wished that it could have gone down a different way, but there was nothing that could be changed now.

As Kakashi thought these things to himself, Naruto finished his report and stood up out of his seat, "Are you guys going to come with me? I'm going to find everyone else and tell them about what happened with Sasuke. The way you two reacted I guess that means that it never really went public and they don't know either."

Both Tayuya and Neji thought that it would be a better idea than any. If all of the people that they knew personally were going to find out about the fate of someone that had been rather prolific in their lives for one reason or another then they couldn't just choose not to go because they had already heard what would have been said. This in mind, both Neji and Tayuya stood up and followed Naruto out to turn in his report and round up their other friends.

XxX

(Hokage Tower – Tsunade's Office)

Jiraiya let out a low whistle at hearing the recent news from Tsunade, "Four out of five in one place isn't a bad little meeting of the minds at all Tsunade-hime."

"Exactly." Tsunade said, sitting at her desk as Jiraiya sat on the windowsill of the office looking out of the window onto much of the village, "It's better than us going about trying to deal with Akatsuki on our own without stepping on each other's toes. Look at what that's gotten everyone so far."

Only four of the formerly nine jinchuuriki around all of the Elemental Nations were left, one of whom was a kage. In the past it had been clearly shown that members of Akatsuki could infiltrate any country and even the hidden villages within almost effortlessly. The leader of Akatsuki, Pein, more or less had an entire borderline top five village of shinobi at his beck and call and now Tsunade had been told that Madara Uchiha was still alive and was the benefactor of the terrorists. Who knew what else could possibly happen?

So the plan was to hammer out some sort of true method to deal with the remainder of the threat. It was no longer just about hunting down a handful of powerful shinobi with treacherous plans, now there was the issue of one nation possibly provoking a war with Amegakure. While the country the village sat in was small the village itself certainly was not. If it was required it was believed that even back during Hanzo's reign the entire country could have been overthrown by his amassed forces. The title of daimyo was more of a formal position in that country than anywhere else in the world.

The power of the ninja forces as well as the population had only increased since that time, and with the smaller outlying portions of the village filled with shinobi as well due to the report received from Jiraiya it was seen that a militarized Amegakure was a threat to any of the other nations, more than Otogakure was back during their invasion by a major amount. The defeat of Jiraiya didn't instill much confidence that Amegakure would be easy to defeat if it actually came to blows either. The secret of Pein's 'six paths' still had a hitch to it that needed to be addressed and then exploited in battle.

Thinking of his loss and the severing of his arm, Jiraiya decided to put his thoughts to a more proactive purpose other than dwelling on something that couldn't be changed, "So what's the plan for the meeting? You're going to let me in on it right?"

Tsunade turned around in her chair to face him as he had been behind her, "The meeting will take place in the assembly chamber. Guards will be stationed on high alert around the entire village since this would be a prime opportunity for our enemies to attempt something. They visiting kage are all allowed an entourage of bodyguards and the like, but as a show of good faith and since the meeting will be taking place in my village I'm only bringing two into the actual meeting room."

The way she said that told him that he wouldn't be one of the ones in the room, "Why Tsunade-hime could it be that you're finally casting me out of your life? How could you?" Jiraiya said dramatically, nearly swooning his way towards a fall out of the window until he narrowly caught himself from doing so, "I keep forgetting I don't have the other arm to keep me from falling out when I lean that far…" He grumbled to himself.

Keeping herself from letting out a laugh at Jiraiya's near catastrophic attempt at humor, Tsunade managed to get serious enough to tell him her reasoning, "You're going to find out everything that goes on in that room anyway after the meeting is over so it doesn't really matter does it?" Jiraiya sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as if he had somehow forgotten his status as Tsunade's closest confidant, "I'm taking Naruto and Tenzo."

"Tenzo?" Jiraiya said in confusion, "The ANBU that ran that mission to sack the Otogakure bases six months ago? Why him?"

"If I brought you it would either put the others on edge since they know who we both are, or they would think us weak since I brought a 'crippled' man as a bodyguard." Hearing that from Tsunade put the proverbial storm cloud over Jiraiya's head, "Oh you big baby, you know you can still run circles around 90% of the healthy shinobi in the world. You're hardly handicapped."

Jiraiya quickly perked back up at that, "You're right, I'm still three times the man anyone else in this village is! I'm the ultimate handicapable ninja and a bonafide bad motherfucker-!"

"-That will not be attending the meeting…"

"-That will not be attending the meeting!" Jiraiya finished, repeating after Tsunade, noticing that he had once he saw the smirk on her face, "*ahem* So… Naruto and Tenzo huh? Why those two?" He asked, trying to switch gears.

This was a question that Tsunade was more than ready to answer, "Every report I got from every ninja that was sent on the mission that ended half a year ago to sack Orochimaru's bases said that they worked like a damn pair of machines. They're familiar enough with each other, and besides that Naruto is famous and has something of an in with every kage at this meeting. If he's there then they'll at least listen to everything I have to say."

"I'll tell him when I get back to his house later." Jiraiya said, getting a nod from Tsunade, "You know he's still dealing with Danzo's death." He commented, getting a frown out of the Hokage, "No matter what you think, the kid holds him in high regard. I think he holds him higher than he does Sarutobi-sensei…" Tsunade's delicate brows arched highly in surprise when she heard that, "Remember what sensei and I did to him… I couldn't be any happier that he forgave me and let me still be a part of his life. He never even got to hear anything from sensei on it."

Tsunade let out a sigh and shook her head, "But it's Danzo. I know those old crone elders loved the old man, but a kid like the brat…" Going with the fact that Hiruzen Sarutobi came very close to ruining Naruto and the fact that Naruto was originally trained by Danzo, those things obviously stuck with the boy. Why wouldn't it? At least he wasn't vengeful over the matter, "So how'd he take the news in the first place?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "He didn't really talk about it. It reminded me a bit of the way he was when he got beaten up in Suna by Hidan and Kakuzu. That little servant girl Hamako is a gift from Kami for the kid though. It didn't take much from her to get him out of it this time." Jiraiya didn't even have to kick his ass into gear this time, "I'd give him some downtime for the moment though. Let him get stir-crazy before you decide to send him back out into the field for something again."

"I'll take that under advisement." Tsunade said, agreeing that after the stretch of the last couple of months getting a second to catch his breath could only do Naruto some good, "I should probably take a minute to talk to him again too."

Jiraiya let out a chuckle, "You can stop by his house anytime Tsunade-hime. The kid adores you like a mother, he'd treat you like royalty if you came to talk to him there." He then looked away somewhat haughtily, "…I think the gaki likes you more than me." His eyes then slowly drifted towards Tsunade again, more specifically her chest, "…I can clearly see where the initial attachment came from though."

Tsunade's gaze darkened somewhat, "Oh really?" She said in a tone that warned Jiraiya that his next words had better be correct or not even having one arm would keep him from getting punted off of that windowsill across the entire village, "And why would you say that?"

Jiraiya began to sweat slightly, wondering if a fall from that height out of the window would be a better fate, "…You're very maternal." He said, blocking his own sigh of relief when he saw Tsunade calm down. But this being Jiraiya, he just couldn't let himself get ahead, "…Yeah, looking at your rack when you first met probably made him subconsciously wish he was a baby again so he could have-."

After kicking Jiraiya off of his windowsill perch for his stupid last remark, Tsunade absently wondered if her aim had been good enough for him to land in the Forest of Death.

XxX

(Root Base)

After clearing out the base, the only thing left behind in Danzo's office were inconsequential things like the desk and chair he sat at, the bookcase for aesthetics, the bulletin boards on one wall that would have housed things currently in operation, things like that. The scouring of the bare office of the former leader of Root led Sai and Maki to eventually wind up looking in the most unconventional places for anything.

With this mindset they destroyed the desk, bookcase, and chair.

One would think this to be unnecessary, but there was no such thing in this case. Anything they thought needed to be seen at this point was prudent to be found.

And this method of thinking was appropriate, because inside one of the legs of the chair it was found that Danzo had hidden a small microfilm to fit in for posterity. One would have had to completely pulverized the chair to even find it in the first place.

It was of course codified so that anyone that found it would be unable to decipher it at first glance, but it was also in the method that Root used to transport written messages to operatives. Therefore Sai nor Maki had any difficulty in reading what they found once they obtained a way to project it in a larger size.

What they found actually directly affected them, although it was far outdated.

It was a series of projected events that would take hold over the course of time with them and Naruto as the main subjects of focus. It had been made during Naruto's year-long stretch of infiltration of Otogakure several years prior before everything placed on the microfilm became useless.

The first few slides covered things that had already happened in a timeline; things like the kids winding up in Danzo's employ, their training, things like that. It was simply recapping what had happened before the actual plans began to take hold.

It was once Naruto left on his mission that the timeline began to plan for things that would occur while he was gone and what would happen once the boy returned.

Maki, Naruto's partner, began to be specially trained to cover the holes in Naruto's game, namely his issue with genjutsu that was a glaring disadvantage at the time. Sai was chosen from the best of the younger recruits to serve as the third man in a squad that would be influenced by Danzo to be formed down the line. After Naruto's return they would be placed in the Academy and would quickly graduate and become a genin squad led either by Danzo himself, or if that were not possible they were to go completely dark and work as full members of the conventional forces until Danzo found a way to contact them.

This still managed to happen though not the way it was intended to. A sealed Naruto was placed in the Academy, and Maki and Sai were conversely entered to keep an eye on him and determine if there was anything of him that could be salvaged. Maki was the only one that was able to truly take the assignment though, and she had determined that there was nothing that could be done. In the meantime, Sai had been placed in a separate class and quickly graduated by age 9 to avoid wasting more useless time in the Academy so that Danzo could 'apprentice' him and he could get back to work. Maki remained back to keep an eye on Naruto.

Danzo's plans did not stop with the entering of the kids in the Academy and their subsequent graduation however.

From that point Sai was to be specifically instructed on the ways of handling Root operations, Naruto would be molded towards outright politics and the like. The reason was that when Naruto became Hokage Sai would run Root and the two could actually work together behind closed doors to maximize the effectiveness of the unit and Naruto's eventual position as Hokage.

They knew that already due to Danzo's declaration of Naruto's 'final mission' months after his unsealing.

What they did not know was Maki's role down the timeline.

Maki and Naruto were intentionally meant to avoid the final test of Root conditioning that meant for one of them to defeat and kill the other in battle, allowing them to keep the bulk of their normal emotions and ways of interacting with others, something else they already knew. The reason why was the real issue however.

The two were meant to rely on the other more extensively than Sai. As Sai was being trained directly by Danzo on his important tasks Naruto and Maki would still be close together at all times when it was allowable; eating, sleeping, the whole nine yards, and especially on missions. The amount of time the two would have wound up spending together would have eventually forced them closer together than they normally would have had Sai been around constantly as well.

As the years passed this reliance would turn to attachment, the attachment would turn to something more… and the something more would eventually end up in Danzo's grand plan of things with Naruto and Maki in an actual relationship. Somehow no matter what they would have wound up married which would have given Naruto's political career a shot in the arm since by then he would have been seen as an important village figure for one reason or another.

Maki would then be Naruto's closest and most important confidant and the go-between for most of the things that he and Sai would communicate with each other for. This was an important role since suspicion of Sai would be high at this point as his 'personal training' from Danzo would be well known and mistrusted by the older guard that knew of Danzo and his philosophies and if the two seemed to be in overt cahoots it could stunt Naruto's ascent to the top. Sai would be the scapegoat for the suspicion cast by the rest of the village's players.

All the while the real pupil of Danzo that needed to be watched would be accepted to the alternative of Sai. Naruto would be free and clear to continue to climb the ladder.

As they continued to read it was actually very impressive how long-term and flexible the overall scope of the plan turned out to be, spanning decades with certain footnotes of things that could have been done at points to improve Naruto's chances of taking the hat one day. There were multiple branching scenarios, but they all lead to the end result of Naruto being Hokage and Sai running Root. There was one branching scenario however of the instance of Naruto dying in the field due to his status as one of the conventional forces' elites; it resulted in the widowed Maki somehow taking up Naruto's place and using his own developed credibility and reputation to become Hokage herself.

It was _very_ impressive.

By the end of the notes, all Sai could do was turn to Maki to see the faint amount of red on her cheeks and that told the whole story. It was probably killing her to try and act so normal during the whole presentation and he knew it. He probably would have been laughing his ass off if he had emotions like that because he honestly found her reaction to be more amusing than if she had gone off on a tangent like a normal person might have.

Well neither of them particularly knew what to say in this instance, but the silence was actually starting to get awkward for even Sai, "So… that's quite something isn't it?" Maki only gave a stiff nod in return, apparently not trusting her voice enough to try and speak through the embarrassment, "Are you going to say anything?"

"What could I possibly say about _that_?" Maki asked quietly in an incredulous manner. She was supposed to marry Naruto had everything gone off without a hitch, and she could say that she could see why Danzo would have planned for that to happen, "I mean I care about Naruto-senpai a lot. I always did, but still… huh." She said, turning away and scratching her cheek, "…I probably _would have _ended up with him if he had never left."

Sai's smile was directed at her full force, "You wish you could marry senpai don't you Maki-san?"

"What?" Maki said, fully red-faced as she stood up from where she had been sitting, "I did _not_ say that at all! How could you even ask me something like that? It's completely inappropriate!"

The smile never left Sai's face, "You haven't said you didn't yet." With that, Maki turned and abruptly left the room, leaving Sai by himself as he collected and prepared to burn the microfilm, "Hm, and here I thought that good natured teasing of one's comrades was a way to build stronger positive relationships…"

XxX

(A Few Hours Later – Naruto's Home)

All of the nine ninja that Naruto had graduated from the Academy with and Team Gai with Tayuya were in Naruto's home, seated all around the living room area. Being a good host, everyone wound up being content and fed as something of a minor 'you-didn't-get-killed-while-you-were-gone' party.

Kiba swore that the get together was just Naruto's way of saying, 'Look at my big-ass house and feel the jealousy.' And he was. He was feeling it full force, especially since Naruto's self-proclaimed servant Hamako was the hostess and was more or less treating this not like a servant but more like Naruto's wife, "Okay Naruto, it's good to see you again dude, but she's really getting to me." He finished pointing at Hamako over in another area of the room, talking with the females in attendance, "I still can't believe she lives with you, lucky bastard. Why can't anything cool like that happen to me?"

"I don't think you could take the karmic backlash that would come with it." Naruto remarked from his place in the kitchen, getting himself something to drink before he walked back into the main party area, "I'll be honest. When life is good it's really good, but when it rains it pours…" He finished, rubbing the back of Akamaru's ear as he spoke to Kiba, "Speaking of just seeing you guys again, I wanted to talk to you about that."

Sakura's attention quickly cut from the conversation she had been having with the others over to her former teammate like a bolt of lightning, "Did you run into Sasuke-kun?" She asked, knowing that was why he had been there in the first place. The tone she used to ask the question got a scoff out of Tayuya, sounding slightly distressed, "That's a legitimate question."

Naruto walked over to Tayuya and put a hand on her shoulder, "It's alright Tayuya-chan, this is the real reason I invited everyone here anyway. You know that." Tayuya begrudgingly nodded in agreement and let the matter drop, choosing to let Naruto deal with it. She still grumbled about it even as he walked away though.

"You invited everyone here at once to talk about the mission?" Shikamaru asked, having been on the mission to assist Naruto and bring him home, "Something happened didn't it?" He was making a statement more than asking a question, "You really did fight him didn't you?"

Naruto leaned against the countertop in the kitchen and let out a sigh, "That… was a rough day. I fought one member of Akatsuki, Deidara… got hurt against him, and then I managed to trail Sasuke and I found where he went off to after beating Tayuya-chan and Sakura. He went to fight Itachi."

Ino nearly jumped up out of her seat, "So Sasuke-kun really did fight his brother after all? What happened?"

"Let Naruto-kun talk." Tenten admonished the younger girl for cutting off the point he was trying to make, "Do you think he'd say all of that and wouldn't tell us what he saw?"

Naruto gave a grateful smile to Tenten and got serious once more as he kept speaking, "Sasuke _did_ end up fighting Itachi… and me. We all fought each other." Even thinking about that fight made him flinch subconsciously. He officially had that filed as the third worst day of his entire career, "We ended up blowing up an entire fortress during the fight. Sasuke was so strong, I almost couldn't believe he could pull off one of the attacks that he did… and Itachi was just as scary as I always thought he would be in a battle." He wished he could describe just what he experienced better.

On the other hand, Sakura was listening to this and was putting the pieces together of what was being said. The tone of speech Naruto was using, the fact that Sasuke was not currently there with them, the fact that Naruto was using past-tense to describe anything. If Naruto had lost that battle he probably wouldn't have spoken about it, "Did you win?" Naruto's blue eyes cut towards her sharply and met her own emerald ones, nodding slightly, "Well, what happened in the end?" She had a feeling in the pit of her stomach about what happened, but she needed to hear it even if she didn't want to.

Well it was definitely moment of truth time now as he had everyone's undivided attention. He might as well tell them what happened, "Sasuke's seal on his neck housed Orochimaru's spirit while his body housed some absorbed parts of Orochimaru's remains. When he fought me and Itachi he copped out first, reached his limit before either of us. That let Orochimaru take over his body and turn into a monster. Itachi and I stopped it, but Sasuke had nothing else left to fight with. I tried to use my best jutsu to finish him off and Itachi jumped in to stop me with his own best jutsu. He didn't want me to take Sasuke out."

"So he blocked your attack?" Sakura said, sounding hopeful, hopes rising further when she saw Naruto nod.

"-But." Naruto said abruptly, "I already hit Sasuke with the same jutsu once before when he had turned into the Orochimaru monster. My attack completely tore apart his chakra network. The fact that he was still moving was something of lasting boost from turning into Orochimaru's monster that turning back to normal hid from me. My last attack was blocked, but my team told me that Sasuke died afterwards. I had done too much damage to him to keep forcing his body to move forward anymore."

Shino took in listening to everything that had been told and just decided that being blunt was the best course of action at this point, "So you're telling us that you managed to kill Sasuke Uchiha in battle." He stated in a straightforward manner, "I see…"

"Yeah." Naruto said, more or less understanding what the sentiment in the room was right now, "I would have at least recovered his body if I could have so that I could bring him back, but I wasn't able to stay awake any longer after Itachi blocked my last attack and it blew up in my face. I never hated him, but I wasn't about to pull punches in a fight like that after what I had seen." Both brothers had been out for his blood from the start.

Silence permeated the room as the information was given time to sink in. Most were of the opinion that Naruto had done what he had to do, Ino begrudgingly admitted such despite the fact that hearing the news was like a punch to the stomach. Still, she most certainly couldn't fault him for doing his job.

On the other hand, Sakura understood. She understood completely. She understood from every angle of the situation and there was a part of her that wished she had been strong enough to do the same when she and Tayuya had been faced with him. That still didn't stop the feeling that someone had stuck a knife into her heart and twisted it as far as it would go. She stayed in there for as long as she could, but her limit was only a minute or so after having the truth dropped upon her.

All that she had actually trained for ended up being for nothing. She had blown her only chance to get Sasuke back due to her own hesitance, and now she would never get another opportunity. He was lost to her forever.

"I'm sorry Sakura." Her tear filled eyes turned towards Naruto again to find him looking at her intently, "I know what it's like to lose someone important to you. Even if it's someone that no one else really feels any sorrow over losing, that doesn't make them matter any less to you." If Danzo hadn't been killed recently then he probably wouldn't have been able to relate in much of a way at all.

The apology was legitimate in what it was trying to convey, she could hear and feel that he meant what he had said. That didn't make it any better at the moment though. Tears were streaming down her face in silent lament before she could get through the room and up the stairs to exit through the front door.

Ino moved to follow after her, but stopped for a moment to spare a few words, "Naruto I'm sorry but someone's got to stay with her right now." And it was clear from Sakura's reaction that she had always felt far stronger about Sasuke than she did. She herself had almost been brought to tears, but that was more along the lines of someone familiar to her being revealed as dead. Sakura's grief was more heartfelt. Apologizing to everyone that she ran past upon leaving the house to chase after her friend, Ino quickly went after Sakura to find her.

Doing things to hurt others close to you even when you believe it's what's best for the majority of the people you desire to keep safe. There was probably a better way to handle Sasuke, as a matter of fact Naruto was sure that there was, but he was on the spot and he made a decision to fight as hard as he could to defeat Sasuke and end all of the potential threat that came with his prolonged survival.

Now he could see where the Uchiha Massacre might have come from, and from where his sealing came from. Those in charge didn't have the time to sit out and think of everything that could come into play to make a better decision. They made the best decision they could in urgent times, and mistakes were obviously going to be made, mistakes that were more important to some than to others. At the time these actions would seem like the best way to go about business. Damage control… and of course in hindsight one could see all kinds of different ways to handle a scenario that wouldn't be visible at the time of certain incidents.

The good cheer that had been abundant before Naruto's telling of events was clearly all dissipated at this point.

Being Hokage was definitely going to turn his blonde hairs grey if just talking to his friends about things like this made him feel like a real heel.

XxX

(The Next Day – Gates of Konohagakure no Sato)

The Mizukage, accompanied by a squad of her elites led by Ao, walked through the gates, sans hat and robes as she took in the sights and delighted in the double-takes she received from male passersby, "Ara? It looks like they're not used to seeing a foreign kage up close like this before." It probably also had to do with the fact that she was very beautiful, but she neglected to verbally state that fact, "This is a very beautiful village though." She commented to the Konoha guide leading the way.

"Yes Konoha is the guiding light of Hi no Kuni!" Maito Gai said as he led the way through the village enthusiastically, "Showing the entire country exactly how to burn with the flames of youth! I'm certain that your village is much the same since your civil war ended."

Ao couldn't help but smirk at the eccentric shinobi. In his own experience, Konoha usually had the weirdest collection of personalities. It sure didn't make them weak by any stretch of the imagination. As amusing as he was, if he underestimated this man for even a second it could be the end of him in battle. Fortunately they weren't here for anything like that. This was purely diplomatic, "The rebuild over the last few years has been steady to say the least. Your own dignitary could have told you that much though."

Gai blocked a frown from coming over his face at the mention of Danzo, not taking this moment to comment on his demise. That would come later if it was prudent to bring up during the kage meeting, "I hope you enjoy your stay here. If you require anything then feel free to ask for Konoha's Infamous Sublime Green Beast of Prey, Maito Gai!"

"I'll keep that in mind Gai-san." Mei said with an amused giggle before switching tones, "You are quite the specimen though." She commented on Gai's obvious good shape. Gai merely turned towards her and gave a thumbs up and a grin, complete with shining teeth effect.

Ao himself even had to comment on it, "I have to admit Gai-san, Mizukage-sama is right. I could say that we certainly need more men like you around in the village."

Mei however, only heard a few certain parts of that statement, 'Mizukage-sama… needs a man like you…' Having heard that from Ao, Mei turned towards him with a deceptively sweet smile on her face, "Ao, shut up or I'll kill you."

"Huh?" Ao said in confusion, 'I can't get away from it! Even in a completely different country! Wait, she can't do that here can she? I really hope not.'

XxX

(Mizu No Kuni)

An extremely disheveled Suigetsu looked down while breathing heavily, "You were tough… but today just wasn't your day my friend." He said, a satisfied look on his face. As if it were an old friend, he held Kubikiribouchou in his grasp as he held Samehada in the other. He had never taken the harness he had fashioned from before out of his usual mode of dress, always knowing that he would get the massive cleaver back one day, "And now I've got three." He said as he bent down and pried a scroll with the kanji for Hiramekarei on it from the hands of a fallen, bloodstained Choujuurou.

"You're finally done?" Karin said, walking up behind Suigetsu. She had some marks of battle on herself, but was otherwise fine. As she arrived, she looked down at Choujuurou and shook her head, "You sure took your time with him."

Suigetsu turned and began to walk away, "The guy wasn't weak at all. He actually knew exactly what he was doing with both swords. It was… really impressive." He said as a smile came on his face, remembering the battle.

"So how'd you win?"

"He didn't have the stamina to keep going." Suigetsu remarked, pointing to Samehada which was somehow stuck to his back over Kubikiribouchou that was back within its sheath. Karin nodded in understanding as Samehada was a terrifying weapon even if you knew what to expect from it, and it had been gone from Kirigakure for so long one would be hard-pressed to know too much about it in this current generation, "He tried switching weapons on the fly too much. Big mistake. He wasn't nearly fast enough to pull that off."

Karin could clearly see that Suigetsu was quite pleased with himself, and the fact that he now had three of the seven swords that he sought to gain possession of meant that the trip was worthwhile. Right now they had to get back to Juugo. They had left him to take down the rest of Choujuurou's accompanying squad on his own. Karin had left him by himself so that she didn't get caught up in the slaughter, "So now what do we do?"

"You still want Uzumaki don't you?" Suigetsu asked, getting an angry growl at the mere mention of the blonde shinobi, "Well then we train. Someone like that isn't going to be easy to beat, even if I do have these weapons with me. You're still all but useless in a fight with the guy." Having almost half of the swords he required, Suigetsu was content for the moment to focus on the wants of his teammates, at least for now.

"I'll break him with my own hands…" Karin muttered darkly. He took her beloved away from her, "I'll never forgive that murderous bastard. Ever!"

"Feel free." Suigetsu said, happy that there was finally something to drive Karin to not attempt to keep to the bare minimum of the shinobi arts, "Madara's going to call us soon enough for something new… and we'll be waiting." By the time they would be summoned by the mysteriously devious Uchiha they would be more than ready for whatever was next.

XxX

(Forests of Hi no Kuni)

Gaara didn't like to travel with an entire entourage. He never got to leave Suna very often due to his position as Kazekage, but when he did all he required for company were his siblings Kankuro and Temari. This was his choice of accompaniment for the meeting in Konoha with the Hokage, Mizukage, and Raikage. The only one he had ever seen in person was the Hokage, Tsunade, but he was more excited than nervous to meet the others for the first time.

As they travelled though, there was something that just seemed to nag at the back of his mind. Temari took notice of this, stopping their movement through the trees to talk about it, "Gaara what's bothering you?" Most people would be unable to decipher any issues with the stoic young man, but then again this was his sister who had been around long enough to pick up on the subtle nuances of Gaara's more restrained moods.

"It is nothing Temari." Gaara attempted to assure her, "It's just something that I'm certain is normal when a leader leaves their village alone." He left Baki in charge, and he knew that the man was a fantastic leader to keep things moving in his stead, but there was still something eating at him for some reason.

He had no reason to think of, but he just couldn't help but have a sense of foreboding about something.

* * *

**Chapter done. Next time around major moves will be made as it is time to get the most important arc in the story moving. Now this would have been out sooner, but my computer had something of a mini crash in the middle of writing and I lost a lot of files. Luckily for me I keep backups elsewhere because my pimp hand remains strong since 1996.**

**No real action today. I can't just throw out fight scenes wildly, there are reasons for the things that I do.**

**Still, I hope you all enjoyed and have a nice day. I must go to work for my meager paycheck… but today's payday, so I've got that going for me.**

**Later folks. Kenchi out.**

**By the way, Phil Brooks is the man. I will remain with this mindset until my dying day.**


	54. No Such Thing As True Peace

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Cry for me, and our tears will all form a river… and I will proceed to poison that river, and Kishimoto will drink from that river and perish, and while the multitudes of his underlings will fight over his position as owner of Naruto like the spoiled princes of Charlemagne's son Louis the allied army of Kenchi618 will march and procure ownership of the Naruto franchise for their paragon of virtue, for the silver-tongued pugilist himself…

Kenchi618…

Thank you for your time. Enjoy the chapter.

**Chapter 53: No Such Thing as True Peace**

* * *

Naruto's new house was cooler than he first thought after he was introduced to the room that was actually carved into the mountain his house sat on the side of. It was large enough to serve an active purpose, such as a dojo of sorts for training, though it had served as Hamako's workshop prior to Naruto's return. Luckily she was neat enough with her research that there was plenty of space left for Naruto to train, not that he needed all that room anyway for what he was doing.

Mostly because all he seemed to be doing was swinging his sword repeatedly at air as if he were waging an invisible war with the ghosts haunting his house.

"I love watching you revert back to your old crazy sealed self as much as anyone…" Jiraiya commented dryly from the sidelines as he watched Naruto continue swinging his sword with his Sharingan active, "…But you've been doing this for two hours and other than looking moderately insane I don't think you've gained much from it. What are you doing?"

"The same thing I was trying to do while we were training with the toads." Naruto informed Jiraiya as he kept swinging away, "I'm trying to see the fucking rip in time/space that's supposed to happen when I swing this sword but nothing works. I even used the Sharingan in Sage Mode and I've got nothing out of it."

"Are you sure you didn't misread what you found on that tablet?" Jiraiya asked, only to get Naruto to stop swinging his sword and turn his head towards his sensei mechanically to give him the dullest stare he could possibly muster, "What's with that look?"

"Even if I did misread it…" Naruto said slowly and deliberately to accentuate the fact that his clone most certainly did not misread a thing, "The tablet is right here in Konoha. I can go back and look it over whenever I want to. And that damn tablet said that this sword cuts through space/time with every swing whether I try or not. It hasn't done anything cool without me trying to do something cool since the day I picked it up so obviously just cutting the tear in space/time doesn't do anything and I can't channel my wind chakra into it. Maybe if I see it I can do something with it?"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, "You mean you don't know?"

Shaking his head, Naruto sheathed the sword, "The tablet wasn't very plentiful with details on the sword other than the fact that it had Madara Uchiha's chakra trapped in it to give it the weird abilities that it has, more like the chakra bends the sword's potential towards the conditions of the user, but that's just the released form. I can't just will myself to notice tears in space and time. When I stab and cut stuff with this thing nothing special happens."

"Other than the dismemberment and impalement of course." Jiraiya chimed in wryly.

"Of course." Naruto said with a shrug of the shoulders, "It's a sword Ero-kyofu, not a hickory stick… though I'm pretty sure if I hit someone with one of those it would hurt too." Naruto looked around at the room that looked like a very well and even cave with pillars and low lights in the ceiling giving the place a dingy feel, "This house just keeps getting cooler and cooler. This room makes me feel like I'm in basic training all over again, just without the feeling of getting beaten up by someone way stronger than you."

A deadpan look came across Jiraiya's face, "Yeah you would wouldn't you?"

"Don't make me kick your ass all over the cave just like I did after my training was finished. You don't have Fukasaku-jiji or Shima-baa to cover your backside this time." Naruto threatened lightly. Both he and Jiraiya smirked at the possible challenge and the one-armed sage even looked like he was prepared for combat before both of them frowned and Naruto's trick contact lens hid his Sharingan from view once more, "Nah, we probably shouldn't… I'm not sure how much punishment this room can take. I know it's sturdy as hell, but there's got to be a limit."

He wasn't sure if he could damage how deeply rooted into the side of the mountain his house was and he didn't want to test it even though he was certain that it was at least as good as the evacuation shelters within the Hokage Monument. The room they were in was for light training only.

Jiraiya settled down from nearly coming to blows with his godson with the looks of a pout on his face, "Yeah… if we kicked it into high gear enough to make it fun we would probably mess each other up too badly, and Tsunade-hime would kick my ass to the border if I injured you before the big meeting today." With that over with and done, Jiraiya and Naruto filed out of the training room back to the main part of the house halls, "Where'd your little servant girl go?"

"You can call her by her name you know." Naruto muttered with a tick mark on his head before he stood in front of the large window in his living room and looked out onto the village, "Hamako-chan has errands to run. She does tons of things all over the village to take up her time. She works at the Academy helping Iruka-sensei, she's Tsunade-baachan's aide sometimes to help out Shizune-neechan, and she does other stuff that she doesn't even tell me about… because I keep forgetting to ask about all of the stuff she does. If I really wanted to know where she was I would just use my communication tattoo and talk to her."

As Naruto opened the window and stepped out onto the ledge, Jiraiya scratched his head curiously, "So that's why she was out and about so much when you were gone? Well I'll be damned… someone keeps busy." Naruto hopped up onto the safety railing in a crouch at that point, "So you're going to head out now?"

"No reason not to. Later Ero-kyofu." Naruto said giving a partial wave to Jiraiya before hopping off of the ledge and using his Haretsu Seigan (Burst Limit) to casually hop his way down to the ground safely, eventually obscuring himself from Jiraiya's view in the trees

"Bring back something alcoholic gaki!" Jiraiya yelled out the window as he was sure that Naruto heard him unless he was actually trying to rush to Tsunade's office. After a few moments of getting no reply he let out a sigh and grumbled miserably, "He didn't hear me…"

"Grab the scroll in the pantry dumbass! We stole like six full cases of sake from Gamabunta's storage before we left the mountain!"

Hearing Naruto's voice boom over a rather far sounding distance, Jiraiya perked back up curiously, "Huh… I guess he did hear me." A grin then formed on his face, "Well seeing as I have no relevant purpose to serve during the meeting time I believe it's high time I get drunk on super-strong sake and pass out somewhere strange!" With a devious chuckle he slammed the window shut and headed towards the kitchen to find his choice drink.

XxX

(Hokage Tower – Tsunade's Office)

Apparently Tsunade had no problems with Naruto's favorite entrance to her office being open as he jumped right through the open window right over her head and landed in front of her desk before turning around to face her, "I'm ready to roll Tsunade-sama." Naruto said, operational mode turned on for the sake of the meeting.

"Down boy." Tsunade joked with a small grin on her face as she shut the window to the office, "Did you have fun showing off just now? You look like you had that move planned out for a while."

A small smile appeared on Naruto's lips at the Hokage's prodding, "No way, showing off is totally unprofessional. Besides, someone else would've needed to see me and pay attention to me for it to be showing off. Nobody saw me jump into here but you."

"I actually saw it too Naruto." The attention of both Naruto and Tsunade turned to the corner of the office where Tenzo stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Instead of wearing his ANBU armor the way he had been the last time Naruto saw him he was wearing the normal shinobi outfit for Konoha forces above the level of chunin; long-sleeved black shirt, black pants, and the flak jacket, "So it kind of counts as you showing off."

"Mokuton no Tenzo (Tenzo of the Wood Release). It's been a while hasn't it?" Naruto said as the man walked over from his spot on the wall and shook Naruto's hand, "Good to see you're still doing alright." Being stuck with the man for months at a time during their mission together made Naruto see Tenzo as something of a friend. He was generally good natured if not a little stiff, but dealing with Sai made dealing with Tenzo seem like working with the friendliest guy ever.

"I haven't been straying too far from Konoha on missions these days so I've been keeping safe. And because I'm technically not an ANBU on this mission I'm not using my ANBU codename, so call me Yamato instead." He requested of Naruto, getting a curious look from the young man but a nod nonetheless.

'But I knew Yugao's real name without even asking for it… she just went ahead and told me after we worked together for several months, you're still all secretive about it.' Naruto thought dryly of his last mission with Tenzo/Yamato when he worked with the purple-haired lady ANBU Yugao Uzuki during the raids on Otogakure bases, "Okay, sure. So are we all set to go?" Tsunade told Jiraiya to inform him to be there by noon, well it was twenty minutes until noon.

Tsunade nodded and stood up from her seat at her desk, grabbing the robes and hat meant to be worn by the Hokage as she put them on, "Let's get this show on the road." She said once the hat was situated on her head, "Alright brat you're not just here to look pretty, you're going to have to listen closely and learn something here if you really want to take this job from me eventually."

"I know, I know." Naruto said as he and Yamato started leading the way outside of her office towards the meeting room, "So no Tsuchikage?" The man didn't seem like one for meetings from what he had seen of him at Suna's chunin exam.

A frown came upon Tsunade's face as she was led through the halls, "He never sent a message back, that old lawn gnome doesn't think that Iwa has any stake in this besides the pair of jinchuuriki that they lost and can no longer recover the biju for. And since there's no real chance of any benefit from actively trying to engage Akatsuki and because he's certain Akatsuki won't do anything else now that the jinchuuriki from their village are taken he isn't going to come out here. He wants to keep the status quo."

Both Naruto and Yamato both frowned. The 'status quo' was a precarious balance of power that only shifted when a few sides of the major players of the shinobi world overstepped a bound, thus leading to war. Naruto personally didn't have any experience with this but Yamato did.

Conservative figures that understood the way things worked out seemed to like this way of operating because it was usually clear when war was brewing. It gave villages time to prepare before something happened to ignite the powder keg, the winners of the war would see a major boon of business if they were able to get through in well enough fashion, and war was almost like a seasonal rain in the grand scheme of things with the peace operating much of the rest of the time. This was how the first two world wars waged internationally began between the villages, the third one came by way of a combination of the aforementioned periods of build-up and the exuberant searching of Sunagakure for their Sandaime Kazekage after his disappearance.

'Too bad that _great_ way of working things won't exist at all if all of the biju are captured.' Naruto thought to himself sarcastically as they eventually came to the meeting room doors. The two random Konoha ninja guarding the door moved aside and allowed Tsunade and her two escorts entrance to the large room that had been specially set up with one very large table for the four separate village leaders and their bodyguards.

Tsunade took her seat at the farthest chair back in the room with Naruto and Yamato on both sides of her, and as the time ticked down to noon the first of the foreign village leaders entered through the doors. The Raikage was the first to arrive, led into the room by Shi and Darui and followed by even more ninja. Naruto raised an eyebrow at that before realizing that Tsunade probably didn't say how many people any of the other kage-level shinobi could bring for security. There were five more that followed him in, but only one of them actually caught Naruto's attention in any significant manner.

"Yugi-chan?" Naruto said to himself quietly once he caught his glimpse of said girl bringing up the rear of the Raikage's entourage. As the Kumo group finished entering the room Yugito managed a healthy smile and wave Naruto's way that managed to get a smile out of Darui and a roll of the eyes and a scoff out of Shi… who then caught an elbow to the ribs from Darui who said 'sorry', though unapologetically.

After taking a moment to glare at Shi for his unneeded wordless interjection expressing his dislike of how Kumo's jinchuuriki liked Konoha's jinchuuriki, Yugito turned her attention back towards Naruto. Her eyes softened on her fellow demon container when she saw him smiling back at her, "We can talk later." She mouthed to him silently, getting a grin and a nod from Naruto as the Raikage took his own seat.

The next to enter was the group from Kirigakure. The Mizukage gracefully made her way to her own seat as she was followed by Ao and her own entire Kiri contingent numbering seven strong. Without a word, but with a pleasant smile on her face underneath her hat she took a seat. Tsunade was rather pleasantly pleased to get the chance to speak with a fellow female kage in person and from just her entering the room and the way she carried herself it was evident that the woman had no lack of faith in her strength.

As far as Naruto could see, Mei was the same as she was when he had first met her. Trying to look the woman in the eyes forced a feeling of trepidation to settle under him. Most lesser people that tried to make eye contact with her probably either found themselves unable to do so, allured by her pretty features or intimidated by the power just radiating from the shine of her eyes. A combination of both would probably be the safest bet though.

Soon thereafter, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro made their arrival and despite the fact that they were rather happy to see their Konoha-born friend Naruto in attendance there was a time and a place for socializing and this was not the time, there would be plenty of that later.

"I'm glad to see that everyone who responded positively to my request for a meeting arrived safely." Tsunade said in an amicable greeting, "I hope your stay in our village has been and will be pleasant, but I believe it's time to get down to business." She looked around the room and brought up something else, "While I left no directions on how many were allowed to be brought along for security purposes I would like to request that only two of your selected bodyguards remain inside the room for the meeting. They can remain just outside and the door will stay locked, but this is a rather privileged conversation."

The mustache of the Raikage wrinkled momentarily before he barked out his order, "Darui stay here. Yugito will stay as well since this meeting partly revolves around something involving her in the first place." The head of A gestured towards the door and his other underlings began to head towards the door.

"Ao and Tsurugi." Mei said calmly, the rest of her group then headed towards the door as well. Ao stayed by her side and another man moved to her other one. Tsurugi was a man wearing the Kiri hitae-ate; he had long dark hair, a beard, a scar over his left eye, and wore clothing that looked similar to Ao's only Tsurugi wore a flak jacket.

Because Gaara only had two with him anyway there was nothing for him to say other than to begin the meeting when the door shut once again, "Well I'd like to say first off that it's actually quite pleasant to meet another fellow jinchuuriki in Yugito-san." He said with the smallest of smiles.

"You as well Kazekage-sama." Yugito said with a slight bow.

"Yes, well anyway…" A said, getting the attention to direct towards him, "I guess it was high time something needed to be done about these terrorists Akatsuki. Uzumaki's intervention in Kumo in keeping Yugito out of their clutches was a wake-up call. They've infiltrated our village to reach Yugito and we still don't know how."

Tsunade frowned and nodded, "Yes, they've done the same here in the past just before I took the title of Hokage, but we believe this could be due to the fact that in the past members such as Itachi Uchiha and Orochimaru were among their ranks, former Konoha shinobi." 'Someone else as well, but we can ease into that bit of information…' She persisted with her original point however, "With that in mind they could have obtained entry to our village that way. I can't explain how your village was breached though."

Gaara pressed his hands together in thought as he attempted to speculate, "Akasuna no Sasori had his own network of spies and sleeper agents hypnotized to only react to Sasori's presence himself… we didn't discover this until after his demise when their brainwashing wore off and agents were found all over our village. He was a missing ninja for around twenty years prior to his death so it wouldn't be that farfetched to assume that he had sleeper agents in most if not all of the shinobi villages giving information to Akatsuki."

The thought of any of his ninja having been possible spies for Akatsuki made A's blood boil, but another subject came to mind, "The thought of a group of criminals with the strength to defeat and apprehend jinchuuriki from right under their village's nose was a hard thing to take seriously until it almost actually happened. Who are they all?"

Tsunade's eyes turned towards Naruto, "Naruto if you wouldn't mind. You've fought the most of them so your input could be used here."

In response to his leader's command, Naruto rubbed his nose and prepared to speak up, "Out of all of the members so far I've fought… each one of them except for one that I still don't know anything about, not even his name or appearance." He started listing names off on his fingers, "You already talked about Sasori, I fought his partner Deidara as well and killed him, I fought Kakuzu and killed him, I fought Hidan and we still have his head in interrogation."

Hearing that, A let out a laugh and all of the others in the room not from Konoha looked at Naruto in a confused manner. Once Naruto's expression didn't change in response to the others, A stopped laughing.

"Seriously…" Naruto said in a dry tone, "His head's in interrogation right now. All he does is curse at everyone and we can't pry into his brain with any ninjutsu. But aside from him there was Kisame who is dead, Itachi Uchiha who I defeated a while back… and then there's the leader and his partner."

Mei listened closely to the entire rundown of Akatsuki's ranks and decided to speak at that point, "All of those ninja are some of the most infamous names in history… who could possibly lead a group like that?"

"A man that can take down Hanzo apparently… and Jiraiya and Naruto as well, at the same time." Tsunade said with a serious look on her face. A shocked reaction swept through the room at that fact. Yugito and Temari had known of Naruto's defeat due to the missing in action notice that had gone out shortly after the botched infiltration of Amegakure, but they hadn't known exactly what had happened. Someone could defeat Naruto and Jiraiya at once, and that was disconcerting news to say the least, because Naruto himself was supposed to be something of an army killer and Jiraiya was a well-known juggernaut.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the reminder of the most crushing defeat of his life, "One of them is named Konan, a kunoichi from Ame with the ability to fight using paper as her primary weapon. The leader himself is named Pein, at least that's what he calls himself, and I don't know what his powers really are. I didn't fight him long enough to get a good look at all. And every single shinobi in Amegakure follow them like 'God' and his 'angel'."

"Thank you Naruto." Tsunade said, placing a hand on his shoulder to get him to step down before she started to talk again, "Naruto didn't fight Pein long enough to take anything from the battle but Jiraiya did. Pein has six separate bodies with their own abilities that range from summoning, to the ability to negate and absorb chakra, to control over gravity and who knows what else? He did learn one thing of importance though. The bodies are all reanimated and under the control of the real Pein who isn't one of the six that would be in actual combat. He controls the bodies from a separate location during any conflict."

Hearing Tsunade's rundown of Pein, Naruto felt a growling inside of his head from his tenant and picked up on what the Kyuubi's issue was on hearing about Pein, "Tell them about the other thing that I know you were told about too. Pein has a doujutsu called the Rinnegan."

A pin probably could have been heard dropping in the room after that revelation. Gaara and Kankuro had heard part of this from Naruto before but he had conveniently left that little aspect out of the short explanation he gave them during his stopover in Sunagakure. Eyes turned to Tsunade once more to confirm whether this was true or if Naruto needed his head checked after taking one too many heavy blows in his lifetime. Unfortunately for them this was not to be as the blonde female Hoakge nodded to back up Naruto's comment.

Mei wasn't a fool, none of the leaders in the room were, and their escorts in attendance knew their history well enough to grasp why this was a big deal as well, especially the jinchuuriki of the meeting. She was the first to speak on it however, "The leader of Akatsuki has the most powerful doujutsu in existence… the eyes of the Rikudou Sennin."

"The eyes of the 'God of the Shinobi World'…" A muttered under his breath, adjusting his hat to hide his view from the others, "…Son of a bitch. So we're fighting the descendant of the greatest man that ever lived, the savior of the world himself. That's fantastic." He said sarcastically.

"He's no savior, he's not all-powerful, and he's no 'God'." Naruto said a sharp growl in his voice as he started to feel just as angry as the Kyuubi in his head seemed to be getting at the moment, "He's just another megalomaniac with a pretty eye-pattern mutation." After saying that, Naruto figured he was really starting to inherit the Kyuubi's outright dislike of any and all doujutsu kekkei genkai… despite the fact that there was a Sharingan planted in his right eye. What kind of hypocrite did that make him?

Temari hadn't remembered seeing Naruto get upset before and it was a new experience. He tried keeping his cool, but the tightness of his taped fists expressed suppressed rage, 'Are you really that angry at this Pein person?' Then again she was more than certain that he left out most of the serious portions of the beating he had taken in Ame when they last spoke of it.

On the other hand, Yugito looked at Naruto in concern after his slighting comment on Pein. The thought of the Rinnegan made even the usually docile Nibi in her body stir attentively so she could only imagine how Naruto's own inner manifestation of anger and hate was dealing with the thought of the eyes, especially since Naruto had apparently fought against the Rinnegan before and had failed. He wasn't shaking in fear, it was anger, "You really want to fight him again don't you?" She said softly as if she was on his wavelength while she thought something else, 'I don't like the idea of that at all.'

Naruto's blue eyes panned towards Yugito's dark ones before he addressed her, "If I do; great, if I don't have to; great. Either way as long as he gets dealt with it's fine… but since you asked me, yes. I'm nobody's stepping stone to 'world peace'." Naruto said 'world peace' in a scathing, mocking manner because he knew of Pein's endgame.

Tsunade decided to take the aim of the meeting into a different direction, "And that's not even the most startling part of all of this." She said, getting Naruto to calm down now that the attention was back off of him and Pein wasn't the main subject any longer, "You people are aware of who Madara Uchiha is are you not?"

XxX

(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)

Konan stood silently in front of a shadowy astral projection of Pein as the legendary Rinnegan eyes looked right at her, "Konan, it is time. Let me speak to my people about what is to come." He said in his usual stoically confident manner, "Let them see and hear God."

"As you wish." Was the reserved reply from the blue-haired woman as she made a small set of hand-seals and the projection of Pein disappeared from her sight.

It reappeared outside of the tower above it, this time twenty feet higher than the projection inside. The attention of everyone in the village was taken by the all encompassing sight of the Deva Path of Pein's concealed silhouette above their village.

"I know that you are all hurting." Pein said to begin his speech in a loud voice that could be heard even outside of the village, "The destruction caused by the Kyuubi jinchuuriki has taken some time to fix, and the loss of life occurred during the same event still leaves scars in the hearts of many of you. But it was a pain that you all needed to experience… now that you have felt that power it should be clearer than ever that a force such as the biju needs to be kept in the hand of those that will ensure peace. Our hands."

A cheer among the more battle-hardened members of Ame's shinobi force went up at the concept of finally having the power to mold things in the ninja world after years of just existing and surviving through the wars and battles of the other villages. Those that weren't ninja cheered at the thought of having battle no longer touch them ever again due to Pein's 'peace'.

"It is time for the world to change, time for the power-hungry and short-sighted fools of the Five Great Shinobi Nations to take consequence for their past actions, and if it is necessary they will feel the wrath of God firsthand." Pein's ripple-patterned eyes narrowed over the village, getting another loud cheer from his people, "The suffering I have received in life has turned me into a being of divine power, and if that is the case then this village is full of the chosen! No other village could possibly show the rest of the world the true pain that comes from war and conflict, and thus this will be the village that will lead the world into the new age of true peace!" Another thunderous roar of approval went up from the Amegakure populace in response.

As Pein's speech continued, Konan stood right at the exit of the upper levels of the tower to listen to the speech and to take in the response from the villagers.

The eyes of Pein closed as he continued speaking, "I would be remiss to lie to you and say that it will be easy. I must be honest to my people. Many of you may die in our endeavor, such a thing will happen in any struggle. But you are the driving force behind the future, and nothing worth doing is ever easy. I can assure you all that peace for the entire world is well worth the effort and sacrifice. We will not be alone. The world will see the power of God, and they will either tremble as our enemies or they will bow and assert a place as our allies."

Pein left his people with one last comment, "Help me bring about a utopia. Together, Amegakure will lead the way."

With that his appearance faded from view and raucous cries of approval went up all over the village, even in the outlying areas surrounding the village. And Konan merely walked back inside of the tower as something of a celebration broke out in the streets below, "War was just declared once again and this is how it occurs… with thunderous applause." She said almost in disbelief.

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato)

As Tayuya walked up the stairs of her apartment building holding a few bags of groceries she let out a yawn, "Fuck I'm bored…" She muttered. Having just completed a shift of patrolling the village to keep it under guard, she was heading home to get some rest. Normally she wouldn't have been requested for that job, but today was the special meeting with the other foreign village leaders.

She reached the top of the stairs and let out a sigh, "Things were much more fun around here when I lived next door to Uzumaki." A laugh of remembrance then came from the girl, "At least the landlord finally got the security seals off of the place… it was funny seeing the prick get shocked when he tried to inspect the place though." Her smile then dropped when she saw someone sitting out in front of her door with her knees pulled to her chest, "Pinky… I don't see you around my place very often."

Sakura lifted her head up high enough to lock eyes with Tayuya's. The news of what had occurred to Sasuke was still rather fresh having only really happened the day before. Tayuya was honestly surprised that she was willing to even leave her house so soon afterwards, "Can we talk? Please?"

'Oh no…' Tayuya thought with a frown on her face, 'Don't tell me she's going to come in and get all weepy and emotional on me. Ugh… why Kami why?' Still though, Sakura was a friend of hers and if nothing else Tayuya had learned enough that friends helped friends during her time in Konoha, thus she pulled Sakura up to her feet and unlocked her apartment door, "Yeah, yeah, sure. Come on in." She said in a defeated voice.

Not even considering turning the invitation down, Sakura did just as Tayuya asked and sat down at a table in Tayuya's kitchen as the former Oto-ninja started putting her things away, "I just bought this shit so don't think I'm going to offer you anything to eat or drink. You're shit out of luck today if you thought that I would."

Sakura just stayed silent while Tayuya set her groceries away. Not wanting to pry, or even really talk about Sakura's feeling in the first place, Tayuya just let her be and let the silence between them stand.

Finally Sakura spoke up as Tayuya was stocking things into her refrigerator, "Are you happy that Sasuke-kun is dead? He was the entire reason that you wound up caught in the first place."

"No." Tayuya said, not turning to face Sakura before correcting her, "Uzumaki is the entire reason I'm here in the first place. I could have beaten the lazy-ass Nara kid and his Akimichi buddy and moved along. I never really liked the prick though, but then again I never really liked anyone I was forced to work with in Otogakure. Heh, I barely like the friends I even have now." She joked before getting serious again, "And I won't lie and say that the bastard stopping my heart with electricity made me like him either. I'm not petty enough to think that a random death would make me satisfied though."

"I really thought I could do it you know?" Sakura said lowly, "I thought I could find a way to bring him back to the village, but he wasn't willing to even listen at all. And when it came to it, I couldn't stop him either. I'm sorry because you got hurt when I was too weak to do anything."

Tayuya let out a groan, "Enough with the apologies Sugar Princess… I already forgave you after I finished healing. If he didn't want to go then I don't think either of us really could have stopped him even if you had fought perfectly. Orochi-pedo probably worked that jerk to the bone training his body up and pumping him full of drugs to get him to the way he wanted to be to take him over. Why did you care so much about bringing him back anyway?"

"I was in love with him… at least I think I was." Sakura tried to explain before shaking her head, "I don't really know and I guess I never will now."

It still wasn't very clear as far as Tayuya was concerned, "Yeah, but _why_?" She asked in a more urging manner, "The guy didn't give you the time of day. I heard that he never said any more than ten words to any girl in this village a day, even you and he was on your squad. I hated my team but at least we spoke. And the lack of interest never turned you off of him?"

Things started to feel akin to an inquisition for Sakura, something she wasn't entirely good with, thus she turned it onto Tayuya, "Oh, and what about you and Naruto? I know you care about him, so why do you feel that way?" She said, hoping that Tayuya would deny it and begin an argument the way she expected she would.

All that happened was Tayuya giving her a small smile and sitting down across from the table with Sakura. She didn't seem to take offense to it at all, she actually seemed happy to talk about it, "Do you think that I have a problem with admitting that I'm into that idiot? Not even a bit. I've had more than three years to come to terms with it."

Well despite being rather brash and violent most of the time Tayuya was at the very least comfortable with herself and who she was. It was kind of a stretch to believe that she'd be in some sort of denial or have some sort of embarrassment about who she had a crush on… plus there was also the fact that she had no trouble mentioning the fact that they had sex in passing, "So, why do you like Naruto that way. He beat you up twice and almost killed you before didn't he? Shouldn't you hate him?"

"It's a part of the job Pinky and we were on opposite sides." Tayuya said dismissively as she pulled at her shirt to show Sakura a scar on his shoulder, "I'm part of the reason he has that nice little scar on his eye and he cut me pretty badly on my shoulder where I still have a mark. But when he captured me he went out of his way to make me feel comfortable, to talk to me and keep me company. When the backlash of losing the cursed seal hit me he was there to try and make me feel better. He was the one that got me out of lockup by putting his name on the line to vouch for me and he helped me get used to Konoha. Yeah, I gave him information on Orochi-pedo to spite the bastard, but Uzumaki didn't treat me like a means to an end, and he didn't just abandon me after he got the information from me."

By this time and even at the time of her arrival in the village Naruto and Tayuya were actually pretty well-known figures in Konoha because Naruto was a jinchuuriki and Tayuya was a defector from Otogakure, thus it was also fairly well known exactly how close the two were… and because Anko had become a friend and training partner of Tayuya's as well as having a big mouth everyone found out when they hooked up the first time as well.

Tayuya pointed directly at Sakura, getting her full attention and getting her to stop musing over Naruto and Tayuya's relationship, "I can even tell you the exact moment where I knew it happened…" Sakura looked at Tayuya hopefully, making Tayuya grin at her toothily for what she was about to say, "But I'll be damned if I'm just going to tell you something personal like that!"

Sakura's head dropped on the table before snapping up suddenly, "You won't tell me this, but more people know about the fact that you two had sex than people know that Asuma-sensei is the father of Kurenai-sensei's baby?"

"I didn't put that out there…" Tayuya said, crossing her arms and turning away, "…That mouthy bitch Anko did. Me and Uzumaki got her back though." She turned one eye back towards Sakura at that point though, "So do you hate him?"

"Do I hate Naruto?" Sakura asked, trying to confirm Tayuya's question, "No… I don't hate Naruto. He's stronger than I am because he can actually do what he has to do as a ninja. I would have to be ungrateful to be that way. He's the entire reason that I got training in the first place from Tsunade-shishou, and right after Sasuke escaped he warned me that he would kill him if he ever got the chance in the future. Besides, he apologized to me for it. Why me?"

"Who else would he have said it to?" Tayuya said with a raised eyebrow, "He sure as hell wasn't going to pray to the Uchiha prick for forgiveness for killing him, and it didn't matter to anyone else the way that it did to you. Do you really want my advice?"

Sakura let off a shrug. She probably would have voiced a no, but she was sort of envious of Tayuya. She seemed to be more thoroughly at ease with herself than Sakura ever was and she hadn't really changed her base personality ever. She knew how to do her job like an experienced vet from the day they had met when Sakura was still a rookie, she didn't need direction in her training because she already had her focus and had gotten stronger by seeking things out herself. Tayuya was tough, it was as simple as that.

"Fine, I'll take the silence as a yes." Tayuya said dryly, "Move on for fuck's sake. Don't dwell on this Uchiha stuff for too long or it's going to crush you… just like it did to your teacher back when her loved ones died. If you stick to the past and what could've been then you won't be able to shape what will be, and then where'll that leave you?" She then waved Sakura off, "Now get the fuck out of my house so I can take a shower and get some sleep."

A tick mark formed on Sakura's head as her eyebrow twitched, "You're such a caring person aren't you Tayuya?"

Smirking in response to Sakura's upset expression, Tayuya answered her, "I don't get paid enough to really care that much."

XxX

(Hokage Tower – Outside the Meeting Room)

"I don't see why we can't be in there too…" Shi complained quietly as the hall was filled with other shinobi from Kumo and Kiri, "What does the Hokage think will happen if we're all in there, a massive fight between everyone?"

Another Kumo ninja spoke up, "Do you really think that isn't so impossible? You know how hotheaded Raikage-sama can be, and Mabui isn't here to keep him kind of in check. You're just pissed off because we're in Konoha."

A laugh came from a third member of the Kumo party, "No, Shi's mad because Yugito likes the Uzumaki kid that's still in there."

"You guys suck." Shi said turning away from his group, "It's not like Kumo and Konoha are friends. We all know about the fighting we've done. I don't trust that guy getting so close to Yugito, even if they're both jinchuuriki."

"And you having a crush on Yugito has nothing to do with it?"

"I didn't say it didn't." Shi said with surprising honesty, "But it isn't the big reason." He then turned towards the large doors, "Right now I just want to know what they're talking about in there."

XxX

(Inside the Meeting Room)

A's hands were gripping the table tightly enough that he was leaving indentions of his fingertips in it, "So you're telling me one of the men that founded this village in the first place is the person that funds Akatsuki… and masterminded it." They were all just lucky that due to Tsunade's own formidable strength and temper the tables were metal.

"That's what Itachi told Naruto during their fight." Tsunade said calmly, having had more time to mull it around in her head and get somewhat used to the idea, "It was something Itachi wanted Sasuke to hear before their battle began, but Naruto was more or less the third-wheel in the conversation so he picked it up."

Darui just had one cocked eyebrow as he listened to everything so far and only had one thing to say, "Is there something in the water around here that makes strong people in this village crazy? Because when it comes to nuke-nin you guys really don't half-ass it… Kami."

A shook his head, "Basically half of Akatsuki came from Konoha, and we believe that Kirigakure was the area of Akatsuki's formation years prior to this… this is just great. And apparently Madara Uchiha is immortal with the strongest Sharingan possible to obtain." He then slammed his fist onto the table, "Then I suggest we march on Amegakure and end this right now. Send in a force to defeat this Pein and Konan and keep the Ame shinobi around them occupied while we do so."

Mei seemed to be thinking this over, "An attack directly on the village. Do you believe it would be so easy?" It was a possible way to handle the situation. Rather brutish in her opinion actually, but it was still something that always had to be kept in mind in case no other options could be determined.

A frown came over Tsunade's face at the concept of invading Amegakure. She had been alive long enough to know just how harshly the Ame forces would respond to such back when Hanzo was in control, "Naruto what do you think? You were the last one there besides Jiraiya and he isn't here."

At the beckoning of Tsunade, Naruto tried to dredge up everything he had gotten out of his infiltration of Ame, "A direct attack even with all four of us wouldn't be easy. I'm not even sure how possible it would be. Amegakure itself is surrounded by water two miles out from land, and that land had villages surrounding it on all sides with tons of shinobi stationed there too. No matter what it would turn into a siege because they would see us coming the second we entered the country. It's locked down tight."

Yugito heard him clearly, "So you're saying we couldn't do it? Not even with all of us attacking together?"

Temari crossed her arms over her chest from her place at Gaara's side, "That's kind of hard to believe Naruto-kun. We would outnumber them four-to-one."

"It would be a siege." Naruto said, explaining himself and his reasoning, "It doesn't really matter how many of us there are because first of all we'd have to fight our way across the landscape to get there and they'd heckle us all the way, we'd have to clear out the outlying villages which could take weeks or months depending on how set on keeping us out they are and if they have any long-range way to pick us off from the real village. Every village has a siege strategy to keep any number of attackers out, and Ame is a cusp 'Great 5 Village'."

That sounded more than reasonable enough for Gaara who personally knew firsthand that Suna was at the bottom of the pecking order of the five villages. The only thing that had kept Ame from taking Suna's spot in the past was the isolationist attitude that the last leader of the village Hanzo held, "If Ame truly is surrounded by water then the only real force that could be assured a real chance to cross the waters to get to the main village would be spearheaded by Kirigakure. Ame's entire ninja population could then focus on defending against just them. Once they rebuke a few advances against attackers it would turn into a battle of attrition that would end up hurting both sides equally."

"We have three jinchuuriki though, not even counting Kazekage-dono." A said, trying to stress that a direct attack could defeat them. He wouldn't let Kirabi leave Kumo to fight a battle on Akatsuki's turf, but none of them knew that yet, "I do not believe that an attack would take that long that it would degenerate into an all-out siege."

'Danzo-jiji didn't think that attacking in Hayashi no Kuni (Land of Woods) would end up being a battle of attrition either, but that campaign took an entire year for us to complete.' Naruto thought, contradicting A's point in his own mind, 'The stronghold there is nothing compared to an actual hidden village like Ame. It's going to turn into a slugfest that we're all going to suffer from.'

Mei interjected with a frown, "Raikage-dono, I think it's been proven at this point that a jinchuuriki doesn't necessarily assure one of a victory. Five of the nine existing have fallen, and you've even said yourself that Yugito-san here would have been taken without the combined efforts of her own resistance and Uzumaki-san."

"An attack on Ame is worst-case scenario completely." Tsunade chimed in with her own experience on the matter, "They will have home field advantage in the purest form. Ambushes in the streets and alleys, house-to-house fighting in the sturdy skyscrapers that seem to make up the entire village… even the civilians would attempt to fight back, and that's even if we get to the main village itself. I've seen it firsthand, and if these people actually believe in Pein as a true God then it could only get worse."

Kankuro's brow furrowed in thought at that point, "Well… if we take out Pein to finish off the real power of Akatsuki then won't that just start a war with Ame once it happens?"

A scoffed before coming up with his own argument against Kankuro's suggestion, "If we keep together and show a united front then Ame wouldn't move on one village without stirring up trouble with the rest of us. Madara Uchiha seems like the real issue to take care of as far as I'm concerned, not so much this Pein character despite his Rinnegan. As long as he doesn't move on a jinchuuriki directly then we shouldn't worry with fighting him until we have to. Many leaders have absurd dreams like this Pein person, and goals of this magnitude can be stopped with a setback. With more pressure we can probably get Akatsuki to cease and desist." He then turned his eyes to Naruto after hearing him say something too quiet to make out, yet loud enough for Tsunade and no one else to hear clearly, "What was you said that Uzumaki? Speak up a bit."

Tsunade nodded her consent for him to repeat himself, thus Naruto did so, "I don't think a guy like that would just stop once we put the pressure on him, I think it would make him shove back harder. Pein really believes all of his own crap, and he's got everybody in Ame taking it to heart too."

Gaara looked over at his friend and fellow jinchuuriki. Despite not being a village leader he had the most run-ins with Akatsuki out of anyone alive. His input was very important, "Why would you say that this man's ambition can't be broken without taking him down directly?"

"According to Konan they were broken by their pain years ago." Naruto looked at his hands and remembered his battle, "The people in Ame threw themselves at me. I killed so many of them, and they knew that they were going to die. They were just trying to slow me down for Konan to get a shot in on me. I think while Pein's the one we can put a face to unlike Madara who's still skulking through the shadows with whatever he's doing, Pein's the most dangerous man in the world because he really thinks he's God, he has the power to back most of his talk up... and he believes he can really get away with anything that he tries."

XxX

(Sunagakure no Sato)

The entire village was abuzz as every active ninja frantically moved about the town. Civilians were being quickly ushered indoors, shops were urged to close up until further notice, and most of the rooftops were filled with Suna shinobi all looking up into the air seemingly ready for combat against a small figure alone in the air, "It's just one man."

"Baki!" One man shouted over to the Suna jounin that had been left in charge, "What do we do? He's just hanging up there in the air. If Gaara was here he could reach him just like that."

By now it was known that the intruder was a member of Akatsuki, yet he hadn't done anything. Still whatever the man in the sky's intentions were it was not in the village's best interest, and anyone in league with Akatsuki had to be brought down.

Baki immediately barked his order to all within earshot, "I want all ranged wind specialists front and center! Anyone with an attack that can reach that bastard fire at will and bring him down!"

XxX

(Skies Above Suna)

"It's time for the shinobi world to wake up and face my reality." The Deva Path of Pein said to himself. The other bodies were nowhere around him because there was simply no need for subtlety or restraint in this instance. This was purely to send a message to the entire world. Their eyes would be firmly on this location after this one moment, "Even the might of one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages cannot measure up to the power of God."

The figure of the Deva Path hovered high above Suna. He was well aware that his presence was noticed and that the forces below were mobilizing for his neutralization. It was just too bad for them that they simply would not get the chance to do so.

"Though my lifespan will shorten… it is a small price to pay for the world to experience a hint of my pain." The Deva Path said as its hands extended down taking aim at the village as a whole, "It is a necessary sacrifice." If Konan were there she would have told him, no she probably would have begged him to refrain from performing his forthcoming jutsu, but he wouldn't have listened to her anyway.

As far as he was concerned it was something far overdue that needed to occur.

"Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God)!"

There was no village defense in place that could stop the direct destruction wrought in a mere matter of seconds as Suna seemed to be smashed under the pressure of gravity itself.

Power of a God indeed… at the very least it was truly the power of an S-rank shinobi.

Amid the rubble and carnage of the village that used to stand proudly in the middle of the desert, it actually began to rain. A rare rain, almost as if the land itself was weeping over the damage that had just taken place, "This is only the beginning…"

XxX

(Kaze no Kuni – A Distance Away From Sunagakure)

Dust, sand and debris billowed up towards the sky from Suna over the domed structure that concealed the entrance to the hidden village. From the sands a man with a large venus flytrap surrounding his body and wearing Akatsuki's black cloak with red clouds rose up from the sands of the desert as he took in the sights from a distance.

"Leader-sama went a little too far this time didn't he?" The white side of Zetsu said as the black and white sides both frowned deeply, **"Went too far? That's putting it mildly. Tobi's going to be totally pissed when we tell him what just happened."** The black half commented as the speck in the sky that was Pein's Deva Path flew off to leave and return to Ame.

"…The world's about to get really screwed up isn't it?" Zetsu began to sink back into the ground as the white half asked the black half the question that one could take as rhetorical. However the black half answered it regardless, **"Gee did the smoking pit of rubble that used to be Suna give you that idea or what?"**

* * *

**Chapter complete. I believe the body of words just placed before you speaks for everything. I don't particularly have much of anything to say, so I'll simply say that next chapter the news will be spread of Pein straight-up mashing Suna into ruins. If you need a scope of exactly how much damage occurred, think of what happened to Konoha in canon… only Suna is situated in something of a valley and is smaller than the other villages. That pretty much sums it up nicely if you can picture it in my opinion.**

**Before the question is asked in widespread amounts, yes the thing that was revealed in the manga about Shisui's other eye has been taken into account and it has and will not impede further plans in the story since if it is neccesary it can and will be explained as to how it was obtained... among other things involving the eye that I'm pretty sure I'm going to be asked about.  
**

**...So yeah, massive amounts of property destruction and loss of life have just occurred by way of Shinra Tensei, Pein just had a rally of sorts to get his people ready for what's to come, and next chapter it's more or less time for war… so game on I guess. Let's see if I can keep this interesting enough to step this story up to something really special.**

**It's worth a shot right?**

**Until next time all, Kenchi out.**


	55. Entry Wound

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Archbastards like me don't really get opportunities like that without stepping on mountains of people in the process. Well guess what, it's my time and I'm wearing steel cleats! You hear me Kishimoto? If I get you in my sights you're getting cleated son! Naruto the series will be mine! Try to stop me!

The world is mine!

**Chapter 54: Entry Wound**

* * *

The first day of the meeting drew to a close and the four hidden village kage in attendance left to return to their lodgings until the next day. In the end it left Tsunade with her two bodyguards for the meetings, Naruto and Yamato, and Gaara along with Kankuro and Temari in her office to discuss amongst themselves.

"So aside from you and myself Naruto…" Gaara said, starting to speak, "There are Yugito-san and the Raikage's brother as the only jinchuuriki left to take. We still have Kisame Hoshigaki's corpse, but we haven't learned anything from it yet. I do not think we will reveal any secrets of an Akatsuki nature from his body so we are planning to release it to the Mizukage to do with him what she will. A gesture of good faith for the alliance."

Tsunade nodded, "Same goes for us as far as Hidan's head goes. Interrogation can't bring up anything from his mind. I knew that such a powerful group of shinobi wouldn't be easy to pull information from, all the same though… we've been stuck waiting for them to make their moves since day one. Orochimaru was easier to go on an offensive against than Akatsuki."

Sometimes Naruto wished it would just be that easy, that there was just an instant win button, but the world didn't work like that and there was no such thing as a glorious march to victory in a war. He wished that there was some place to find and charge down to finish off Akatsuki. Even if he still wasn't able to do so he wished there was one. Amegakure was the only place he figured there was that could be seen as an active Akatsuki stronghold, and heading there even with an attacking force would be a daunting task.

Being reactionary had almost bitten them in the backside repeatedly, having to wait for very dangerous and scary people to make the first move, but there were no real alternatives. The one time anyone tried being active against the Akatsuki Jiraiya lost his left arm and Naruto took the beating of a lifetime that neither of them should have walked away from.

"So there are no known locations of activity?" Gaara questioned, "You haven't been able to pull anything at all from Hidan?"

Knowing enough about this situation since he was the one that brought Hidan's head to Konoha in the first place, Naruto answered, "Nothing but abandoned little hidey-holes with nothing there." All Hidan ever got as far as information went were marching orders; go here and kill that, or go there and take that jinchuuriki. He was never told any plans in advance which was probably for the best since out of all of the members he would be the easiest to take alive due to the difficulty in killing him, "Hidan's a bust on the information."

"Talk about a buzzkill." Kankuro said, rolling his shoulders out, "So now it's like all four of our villages met up at a joining path in the tunnels of a spooky cave… just to face down a big dead-end. Great. All four of us stumbling around in the dark trying to find our own asses. Sounds like fun."

Temari flicked her younger brother in the side of the head to get him to behave somewhat, "He has a point though. All this alliance is doing at this point is just specifying that there's a problem out there we need to work together to solve. No one knows anything that the others didn't beforehand."

That much was evident by the basis of the meeting that had taken place that day. All that had occurred was basically the laying out of the four attending villages' run-ins with Akatsuki, "Still it's better to have each other covered than going forward with a knife always at our backs." Yamato commented, "Even when Kirigakure didn't have to help us. With no jinchuuriki they don't really have a stake to protect in this."

As far as the day's events went it was enough until tomorrow. The talks could resume then. There was no need for Konoha and Suna's leaders to talk amongst themselves as if it were a private conversation, "Naruto, would you mind having the Kazekage and his siblings stay with you until the end of the meetings? It would probably be a more personal touch than letting them stay in a hotel."

"They didn't pay me back from the last time they stayed at my house." Naruto said with a roll of his eyes and a smirk, "Yeah, yeah. No problem. Temari-chan needs to watch out for Ero-kyofu, but I think Gaara can scare him into behaving. Other than that it should be great."

XxX

(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)

"It is done." The projection of Pein said to Konan by way of the communication jutsu, "Suna has been made an example of that the rest of the shinobi world will follow."

Konan's eyes widened. It hadn't been three hours since his little rally with the citizens of Ame. He already finished in Suna. Wait, he didn't. There was no way he used that jutsu to finish in one fell swoop, "Nagato tell me you didn't use that jutsu to-."

"An example _needed to be made_." Pein stressed with eye narrowing emphasis, "The will of God must be carried out by any means necessary Konan. As I speak to you now there is nothing wrong with me. I will return soon, and I will be anticipating the response from our to-be allies in the coming days. This will reach the ears of every shinobi village in the world in a matter of hours, by sundown I would wager. They will know of my power and would be fools to choose not to side with us. This is the opportunity they have all been waiting for."

"You've started a war Nagato…" Konan finally voiced out in hidden concern, "You've brought war to Ame. Isn't war what we were trying to prevent from happening to our people again?"

"Yahiko said…" Pein said, shutting his eyes as he continued to speak, "That if the world is to understand the futility of war they must experience it in its full breadth. In his words, 'If we're to 'understand' each other, first we must make them suffer as we've suffered.'" He spoke with complete confidence and belief in what he was saying, "This is the only way possible. It is the best way. Amegakure will never be harmed. We have far too many buffer nations that will be on our side for them to easily advance on our village. They too must understand the true pain of war if anything is to change, and things will."

"And the jinchuuriki?" Konan asked, almost dreading his answer at this point. No matter what he said it seemed almost guaranteed to sound twisted.

"The plan hasn't changed." Pein said, "As a matter of fact things will possibly be easier now that war will be rampant. And once all nine have been captured we will use their power to end the war and show everyone the horror and desperation that needs to be felt for our goal to be achieved. With the most powerful ninjutsu ever conceived."

There was still nothing reassuring about the current plan of action. And it actually seemed more disconcerting than ever in Konan's mind. Mass destruction was his big answer. Maybe the fact that it was so close at last was the thing that truly gave her pause. But this couldn't have been what Yahiko ever would have wanted. Peace wasn't real peace when everyone was dead by the time it took hold.

XxX

(Kawa no Kuni – Tanigakure no Sato)

Sunset was at this point touching the village hidden well among the many valleys of the river-filled country. The village had the unenviable position of being set between two large nations with an alliance between their shinobi villages, Konoha and Suna, this meant that less work than otherwise for lesser shinobi villages came their way even from clients in their own country.

Due to the lack of easily obtainable missions the Tani ninja became something of specialists in espionage and the more clandestine aspects of the shinobi arts such as trapping and ambush… able to make it seem as if their targets were taken down by very skilled bandits instead of by trained ninja, something they had developed by design to keep from being scrutinized and eventually wiped out. Despite their dislike of their lot in the grand scheme of the ninja system they knew full well their place.

However by the very… strong urging of the clearly perceived as strongest 'minor' shinobi village, a reconnaissance mission was set up to observe something mostly perceived as bluster, until the report had actually come back.

The leader of this lesser shinobi village sat at his desk, hands shaking as he listened to the scouting reports from those he had sent out the day before to head in Sunagakure's direction. He had been sent a message directly from Amegakure, in the strange form of an origami bird landing in front of his village's main building. The combination of the previous message along with the report he was currently hearing brought a sweat to his face.

"You're serious?" The village leader said as if trying to get the entire story straight, "It's gone?"

"I wouldn't lie sir." The random Tani shinobi said, seeming to be shaken up as well, only less so due to the fact that he and his team had an entire day to come to terms with what they had seen, "We made it there and it was a mess. The entire village was destroyed. Ruins. So many of them are dead… I think this Pein was serious."

"Of course he was serious." The village leader said, staring at the note, "Idle threats like this… idle promises aren't made for no reason from leaders in the shinobi world. But to actually have to power to pull such a thing off, in one day." It wasn't even one day, it was more like a few hours if that.

The reconnaissance team in the room all looked at each other, wondering what the next plan of action would be. It was known to them that the message from Ame proposed an alliance of the dozens of small villages to stand against the four allied major villages and one of them were already down. The entire village knew this as well, and they were buzzing. Chomping at the bit as if it was finally their chance to step forward.

"We're joining."

The eyes of the team in the room widened at hearing their usually reactive leader, never really one to try to interject their village into the grand picture no matter what over the years, say that they were going to stand with Amegakure, "Sir?" One of the men asked tentatively. Not out of fear, but out of hopeful optimism, they wanted to do this. They wanted the action, finally, "Are we really going to get involved?"

A nod came from the village leader, "This is… the greatest opportunity that has ever presented itself; the chance to bring down the villages monopolizing business in the regions around us. Suna is fallen, never to rise to Big 5 status again. Konoha can more than pick up its slack though and they will. If this falls on its face then Iwa will just move in on Kaze no Kuni's vacuum of control and they'll simply take over and wind up splitting things with Konoha. We'll be lost in the shuffle again, the same as always. Not again. Tell the village of the decision and have them prepare while I send my answer to Amegakure."

They didn't need to be told twice as they immediately vacated the office and began spreading the word to the villagers. That night Tanigakure would excitedly prepare for war along with their 'God' of a comrade's home village. The same scene could have been cut and pasted and would be cast across every minor village across the lands for their own reasons, all ready to take the brass ring of power with this shift in events. With the power of a man that could wipe out an entire village in less than a day there was no way that they could lose, and they had numbers and positioning. Even without their tactical advantages the Rinnegan was too frightening a power to ignore or doubt.

The last time such a power was seen in the world a revolution took hold that swept up everything and lay the foundation for the way the world was currently, and now it looked like there was time for a wholly different one to take place.

XxX

(Hours Later – Nightfall – Konohagakure no Sato – Forest of Death)

On the roof of the tower that once upon a time housed the preliminary fights of the chunin exams, Gaara and Naruto both sat in the moonlight, one meditating as the other tried to get into the practice, "I do not see why you felt the need to come all the way out to this dangerous place in order to show me meditation." Gaara said with his dark-ringed eyes closed, "There are far more spiders than I remember… and they seem more aggressive, even against me."

"Yeah… I kind of started killing them off when they attacked me instead of running away. It was good training, but it made them stronger, and that caused the other animals to get stronger or die." Naruto explained as he meditated and felt the nature surrounding them in the deadly training ground, "Besides, you can't be touched by anything you don't want to be touched by, it didn't even take an hour to get out here, and you don't sleep anyway."

"That is not the point I was trying to make Naruto." Gaara said, basking in the strange tranquility provided by the forest in the night, "Your home is quite nice. I never would have figured that you would have left that apartment of yours."

A laugh left Naruto, "Girls like status and an apartment didn't really scream that I was moving up in the world. I don't know any kage that lived in an apartment when they took the seat."

"Speaking of women." Gaara said, slowly turning his head towards Naruto, "You seem to be close to quite a few of them, my sister included. Or was the offering of the closest room to yours just coincidence."

Offered nothing, Temari took the closest room to his and who was he to tell her not to? But Naruto felt that saying such would end with a sandy hand grabbing him and chucking him off of the roof like it had the last time he had been in Suna and with his luck he would land right in a spider nest.

"In my defense Hamako-chan is bound to me for life by old clan links and was my fuuinjutsu teacher." Naruto said as a method of defense. Not much of one if he were to be honest with himself. Jiraiya just had to bring up Tayuya, Yugito, and Tenten within earshot of Gaara once Naruto shot him down off of Temari… jealous old man, "Please don't try to kill me."

"I can't kill you." Gaara said in his normal calm demeanor, "I wouldn't be able to blame it on the spiders in the forest." Naruto couldn't tell if he was joking or not and decided not to bring up the issue further. The two merely sat in silence for a while before Gaara spoke up again about something deadly serious, "So you have come face-to-face with this Pein person. Have you seen Madara Uchiha?"

"No." Naruto said, wrinkling his nose in thought, "I only saw him for a bit in Itachi Uchiha's genjutsu… and then my team saw him when they told me who took Itachi and Sasuke's bodies away after our battle, I found out that Sai had fought him without even knowing who he was. I've never actually looked at him before myself." He could feel the Kyuubi in him stirring at the mention of Madara, but not much else than that, "I know it's hard to believe, but there wasn't any reason for Itachi to lie to me and Sasuke. He didn't even have to say anything about it."

"I have no choice but to believe in you Naruto." Gaara responded, "It may sound outlandish to consider that Madara Uchiha is alive, but you would not lie about something like this. Still, I believe the active threat that we can see is what should be focused on first." Both of them then tensed up when they sensed an arriving presence until Naruto settled down.

"No, I know who's coming." Naruto said, just as a swirl of ink appeared right by them, "Hey Sai-kouhai. What are you doing here?" It was kind of far out of the way for Sai to search for him. He could have just waited for him to get back to town or told Hamako who would have then told him.

Sai stood up from his crouch and looked over at Gaara before paying attention to Naruto, "Naruto-senpai there's news. And none of it is good I'm afraid. It's quite important." He blinked with his usually placid expression, "Have you been out here all evening? Maki-san and I have been searching all over for you."

"We've been here for a while just catching up a bit." Naruto said, "What did you need to come find me for? Is there trouble?"

"Yes and no." Sai said to begin his explanation, "Pein has been busy senpai." He saw Naruto's eyes narrow at the mention of Pein being active, "I don't know quite how to say this, and Kazekage-sama will find out the moment you both return to the village thus I feel the need to tell you both out here." The fact that he was addressing Gaara got both Gaara and Naruto's full attention if they weren't giving it beforehand.

"Tell us what Sai?" There was a sick creeping feeling in Naruto's stomach. Anything involving Pein and something important had to be massive.

The normally emotion-devoid Sai even knew the gravity of what he was about to say, but it needed to be said, "Kazekage-sama, Pein attacked your village today during the meeting you had earlier. He attacked Sunagakure and destroyed it with the most powerful ninjutsu anyone had ever seen. The word has just reached Konoha."

Both Gaara and Naruto simply stood, shock clear on both of their faces at the news, "…You must be mistaken." Gaara said, his voice shaking, "H-How could-? The entire village? That just can't be." He said lowly, not willing to fully speak the words himself.

"How?" Naruto felt the need to ask first. He thought he was stronger now, strong enough to fight back against Pein the next time they met. But even so, he did not believe he could destroy an entire hidden village on his own in a day. Rasenshuriken and Rasenriseki were incredibly powerful and destructive attacks that he would wager could take out anything, but to take out an entire village with them was beyond his imagination, "How in the hell could he take down Suna in one day?"

Even six bodies that Naruto knew Pein possessed would not be enough to take out a village full of shinobi. It was hard to wrap his mind around. He just could not do it, it was beyond his comprehension.

"There are survivors." Sai said, getting a small measure of relief from Naruto over the matter, "We were sent a messenger hawk from the remnants of the village. Whatever Pein did it crushed buildings and everything into the ground. The destruction was complete, but the people that were close to the ground were saved by the soft sand they found themselves pressed into. It was the only thing that kept the death toll from being higher. Thousands have been found and pronounced dead, but there are still searches going on for people."

Naruto started pacing around the rooftop, "This is crazy… he attacked a hidden village and he got away with it! By himself!" This wasn't right. Did he attack for Gaara? Or did he already know that Gaara wasn't there?

"This means war Naruto-senpai." Sai said resolutely, "This cannot stand. Hokage-sama is already mobilizing a force to go to Suna to assist, but you know what will happen don't you?"

Of course he did. It was a premeditated attack on a village in the alliance that Konoha treasured more than any other. Not retaliating against Amegakure would be akin to letting them get away with murder, literally, previous issues notwithstanding. This just couldn't be swept away like the allusions of Ame's connections with Akatsuki in the past, now it was clear that Amegakure was the seat of Akatsuki. Their leader was the person that had control of the village, it was blatant.

As Naruto turned to Gaara he then saw that the Kazekage was no longer standing where he had been. As a matter of fact he wasn't even on the roof at all, "Gaara!" Naruto quickly tried to gather nature chakra and reach out in order to sense Gaara only to feel him moving away from the tower at a rapid pace, "Damn it! Gaara wait for a minute!" He made to leave the roof before stopping and turning to Sai, "Sai-kouhai, go to Tsunade-baachan and tell her that Gaara's leaving the village by himself!" Sai nodded and took off in the exact opposite direction from Naruto as the blonde went to locate his friend.

He couldn't just let Gaara head off on his own. This could be what Pein wanted. He could be trying to lure Gaara away as a trap. Three days from Konoha to Suna and there were plenty of points to ambush the distraught jinchuuriki that he would possibly never see coming in his current state of mind.

Even with a minute headstart Gaara was heading out at top speed right out of the gate. Naruto didn't think Gaara would be so fast with his stationary style of combat, but he was a kage, and he had yet to meet a kage-level ninja that wasn't able to move quicker than anyone else he had met before. And now he had a reason to make tracks, 'Come on Gaara…' This was going to be a long night.

XxX

(Shimo no Kuni – Kabuto's Hideaway)

Madara's fist bounced off of the wall of Kabuto's hideout, cracking the wall deeply from the impact. His fist still shook in anger even as it stayed against the damaged surface, "Damn you Nagato… damn you to hell…" This was not a part of the planning. It was not a part of the plan at all. Zetsu's report to him had not given welcome news, "You are becoming more trouble than you are worth."

On the other hand, Kabuto simply couldn't stop chuckling at the turn of events, "Amazing… simply amazing. I can't believe something so splendid is happening when I'm in my prime peak of power. What a stroke of good fortune for me." He seemed downright giddy with what was sure to come, "I was wondering when the next big shakeup would happen. I have a feeling that this will be fun."

The man was depraved, Madara had reasoned a long time ago, not that he himself could judge. He had his own laundry list of schemes and manipulations that he'd hold up against any treacherous act ever committed by anyone else. Still, Kabuto's apparent amusement at his plans being further muddled didn't bring him any amusement himself.

"You find this amusing Kabuto?" Madara asked with a hint of danger in his voice should Kabuto answer incorrectly.

Still, the Orochimaru-integrating shinobi didn't seem to care too much at the chance of threat, "Yes I do, I really do." He admitted freely, "And why wouldn't I? Every era has been defined by the threat of war. The chance to make oneself legend on the battlefield! Each war has caused a shift of society in our world, a turning point if you will. The first war established the separate villages and who was meant to dominate, the second war set up the general distribution of funds and power to those villages, and the third war set the nations into the current stagnancy we have now."

Madara was beginning to get impatient with Kabuto and his apparent ramblings, "And your point is?"

"That this is the end!" Kabuto said gleefully, "That everything we've come to get used to in our system is going to shift completely!" He gestured grandly around them as if there was something to see or they were outdoors, "No matter what happens things will never be the same again! How could anything possibly go back to normal? Every minor hidden village sick of being overlooked will either win or find their livelihood taken from them once and for all, they'll be crushed into oblivion for their insolence. The large hidden villages must choose once and for all whether or not they truly want the world or they will be destroyed for their complacency, and one already has been! It's fantastic!"

"How could something like this excite you?" Madara asked, legitimately curious on Kabuto's mindstate. Maybe Orochimaru's cells were messing with his head? Either way it was strange, "You're talking about something akin to-."

"-Anarchy?" Kabuto finished Madara's sentence for him, "Yes I am! And what's more exciting than that? Not knowing what will come next, always keeping your ear to the ground and your eyes to the sky because anything can happen… It'll be like the neverending clan wars of the past all over again!"

If Madara's face could be seen underneath his mask it would be evident that he was frowning. The days of the neverending wars between the clans were the last thing he wanted to return to. He wanted the world. He wanted the world under his control, docile at last. No one ever trying to step up and change the way things were again. His true peace. And he would do whatever he had to in order to obtain that. But he needed the biju first.

He was sorry to say this to Kabuto, but by the time this war was over there would never be another war again. There would never be another madman like Nagato wishing to morph the way of the world again, because in order for true peace to exist there could be no free will to create such a wish. He would hypnotize the world.

Until then Madara would use Kabuto for what he wanted and he would let him bask in the insanity of the coming days. He would let him enjoy himself since he would never enjoy anything again once his plans were complete. He didn't have to fight this war to have his own stake in it. But he _did_ have an army that he was building up just in case to enforce in his new world.

Nagato had to be disposed of prior to anything however. He was no longer able to be manipulated. He no longer would take Madara's orders, that much was clearly evident from his maverick actions that could not possibly be defended. And he was absurdly dangerous. With his Rinnegan and abilities and Konan by his side an approach for taking him down would be difficult indeed.

Maybe this war would serve a purpose after all; getting rid of one large thorn in his side.

It had to serve someone some kind of benefit right?

XxX

(Daybreak – Northwest Borders of Hi no Kuni)

It had been a harrowing chase. Naruto was still in disbelief that Gaara could move so quickly, but as the sun began to peer over the horizon behind them Naruto eventually took higher ground on the trees he had been chasing Gaara through and managed to cut him off by stopping on the branch he was about to hop to, turning to face his friend, "Gaara wait! Just stop for a minute okay!"

Gaara did as instructed, but he held his emotions on his face in the form of a cold stare directed at Naruto, "Move out of the way Naruto, unless you are coming to help me."

"Of course I'm going to help." Naruto said, taking the time to catch his breath. He had been chasing Gaara since before midnight the previous evening and it was now sunrise, "But you could have waited for the group that were coming to help Suna as well. It's dangerous to be on the move all by yourself Gaara, it could be a trap."

"That's not the kind of help I'm talking about." Gaara said, crossing his arms over his chest, "Have you not been paying attention to the direction we've been moving in? This is not the way to Sunagakure. We are heading towards Amegakure. I am going to destroy them and this Pein character on my own."

"Y-You're going to…" Naruto let that statement mull around in his head for a moment, "Gaara don't be stupid! You can't go to Ame, especially all by yourself! Just sit aside and think for a minute! Calm down, we can sit and talk about-!" Before he could finish, Gaara's sand emitted from his gourd and slammed into him, knocking him from the branch to the ground below.

Gaara just looked down at him and put his sand back inside of his gourd, "Talking got us into this in the first place Naruto. We took far too long to act on what you had told us about Ame." He said resolutely, "If you are not going to help me then either go to my village to assist them or go home. I must do this." He began to jump through the branches on his way to Amegakure's country once again until he was stopped again.

"Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"

A highly pressurized wind burst hit the branch that Gaara was jumping to, forcing him to avert his movements to the trunk of the tree where he jumped from one trunk to another all the way to the ground to come face-to-face with Naruto, "What are you doing Naruto?"

The blunt attack from Gaara's grains of sand opened up wounds on Naruto's face, but other than the cosmetic damage he was still raring to go, "I can't let you go to Amegakure Gaara, you can't win there by yourself. You just can't!"

"Just because you were defeated doesn't mean that I'll lose in the same way." Gaara said, sand billowing out from his gourd.

"You're right, it'll be worse!" Naruto snapped back, trying to convince Gaara to keep from going, "You don't know how lucky I was to get out of there alive, and you won't have my backup! He'll take you the way I was supposed to be taken and he'll rip the Shukaku right out of you! What kind of Kazekage will you be when you're dead?"

A shake of the head came from Gaara as a tear slid down his face, "What kind of Kazekage am I alive… when I wasn't even there to protect my village? This is all I can do for them now Naruto, get their revenge."

"I understand Gaara." Naruto said, a sad look on his face as he really didn't want to deny Gaara the chance, but he knew exactly what would happen if Gaara went. Nothing good would come of this and he would never let it happen if he had the power to stop it, "And we will, but this isn't the way. You can't beat him in Ame. He beat me and Jiraiya both." That seemed to make Gaara go still and Naruto thought he had gotten through to him, "Now come on. We can go to Suna. Your people need you there."

"Fight me."

Hearing Gaara's authoritative voice put a pause in Naruto's step, "What?" Naruto said, raising an eyebrow at Gaara.

"If you want to stop me…" Gaara said, forcing more sand out of his massive gourd, "…If you want me to listen to you then beat me, and prove that I can't win."

"How is a fight going to prove anything?" Naruto argued back.

"If I can beat you then that will prove that your warning holds no grounds for me because I am stronger than you." Gaara explained calmly, though Naruto could see his fingertips drumming on his biceps impatiently, "When I win I will go to Amegakure uninterrupted. If you still wish to follow you can, but you probably will not be in any condition to do so. I want your word otherwise I will still keep going and I will keep you away until we reach that village."

Naruto grit his teeth and clenched his fists, "Gaara…"

"Give me your word."

"Fine." Naruto said, gritting it out. If he hadn't answered immediately then Gaara would have continued to go. At least now there was a chance that he could get him to stop before they were too far gone.

But right when he consented to the deal, sand rushed at Naruto hard enough to smash down a tree that had been behind him before he managed to avoid it. Gaara took notice of Naruto standing on the trunk of another tree sticking to it with chakra and one hand for his own balance purposes, "You are faster than you used to be. Even faster than when we fought together in the desert. But this is not like the first time we fought Naruto. You cannot get past my sand."

The sand wasn't going to do him any good in Ame. The second he set foot in the general area Pein could command it to rain so by the time the man himself even sent out his six paths to fight Gaara himself the Suna leader would already be at a marked disadvantage.

"It's not me getting past your sand that you need to worry about Gaara." Naruto said as another wave was sent his way, "But if I have to I'll find a way!" Gaara's sand was far faster than when they had been younger and it was also more durable due to the time training. The rush of sand sent at Naruto missed as he sprang off the tree that was hit with the sand hard enough to take a chunk out of it.

Gaara had yet to move since the fight began as his sand took up a position in front of Naruto as if he were taking aim at him, "Rendan: Suna Shigure (Successive Shots: Sand Drizzle)!" Multiple bullets of sand flew at Naruto as he tried to fire at him.

The repeated shots of sand forced Naruto from jumping to and from tree trunks, dropping down to the ground to attempt an actual attack in response once he finished his hand-seals, "Raiton: Kaksen no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Livewire Jutsu)!" From Naruto's hands flew lightning that trailed along the ground towards Gaara, "If I can't go through or around your shield then I'll go under it!"

"That can't be your best." Gaara said as he proceeded to use his sand to lift himself off of the ground to render the electric attack useless, "If you're not willing to fight me the way you're supposed to fight then I'll just end this now and move along. Did you know that I can make more sand no matter where I am?"

As he asked that question the ground began to rumble before it swirled around like a massive sinkhole towards a center. Naruto felt his balance disrupted as he saw sand beginning to file up from the swirling sinkhole as if it were a mixer.

He was not about to risk getting sucked underneath the ground by Gaara's sand even if Gaara wouldn't finish him afterwards, he was not going to let himself get buried. Kazekage or not he was going to find a way to fight against his friend if it would keep him from walking off to Ame to die.

"You are not safe Naruto." Gaara said before actually using his hands to try and guide all of the sand he had been creating under the ground at once, "Ryuusa Bakuryuu (Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall)!"

The sand proceeded to tower upwards and crash towards Naruto like a tidal wave. He needed a diversion to avoid a buried alive fate, "Fuuton: Kamikaze Hashira (Wind Release: God Wind Pillars)!" Naruto spun around swiftly to kick up a quartet of steadily growing tornadoes that began to move together just as the wave of sand hit the combination of tornadoes. From the tornado, Naruto shot up into the air, avoiding the sand wave as it broke through the wind jutsu he had created.

Gaara looked up from the destroyed forest area, looking more like a desert now that his sand had knocked so many trees down and had manipulated the landscape. He raised a nonexistent eyebrow as he saw Naruto just standing there in the air, "You can fly?"

"Kind of." Naruto said, staring down at Gaara with his strange eyes, one yellow and toad-like with orange pigment on the outside while the other one remained as blue as the sky, "It's my Haretsu Seigan (Burst Limit), but I have control over the air bubbles I stand on while in Sage Mode so that they don't burst from my body weight. So it's really just walking on air as long as Sage Mode is active." He didn't know if the Kyuubi had a limit to how long it could keep taking in nature chakra for, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

"I see you are getting serious." Gaara said as the sand underneath him began to rise into the air, "This Sage Mode seems powerful. And you're here fighting me instead of helping me sack Amegakure to put an end to all of this." A motion of Gaara's hand had the massive amounts of sand below him that had transformed the battlefield stirring up towards Naruto in a method of attack.

"Going to Ame won't do anything! That place is a fortress even when war wasn't coming! I had to sneak in last time and I did a crappy job of doing that! I was found out the second I entered!" Naruto said as he jumped from his place in the sky to another in an effort to evade the imposing flying desert coming after him. There was no way they were going to get anywhere close by themselves in wartime.

Naruto was literally running on the air. He had the exact same ability to move as he did on the ground, step by step, only he had more options while in the air to move up, down, all around, whatever. Still, Gaara's sand could find a way to trap him even in the sky, especially with the massive amount of sand he was using.

Sick of being on the defensive, Naruto had to find some way to get to Gaara directly, something he was hard-pressed to do without resorting to overkill measures. If he had to throw a Rasenshuriken or Rasenriseki at an ally there was something wrong with him.

Massive tendrils from the sand in the sky flew out at Naruto in an attempt to grab him, but he darted around them like a gnat, moving in and out and avoiding capture while steadily moving himself closer to Gaara who struggled to catch Naruto out of the sky, 'He's so fast. It's difficult to surround him with sand, he knows to watch his back as well to avoid getting caught.' He was getting closer as well, something that Gaara was not going to ignore, "You can't make me stop Naruto! Go home!"

"Not without you!" Naruto yelled back at Gaara as he continued dashing through the skies, avoiding the sand as he got closer. His awareness while in Sage Mode was absurd. He would have guessed that if he had his Sharingan active he'd be damn near untouchable even by Gaara's substantial sand abilities. Still, he hadn't landed a single blow yet. Gaara's absolute defense was stronger than ever.

As he thought this the sand began to materialize around Gaara. At first Naruto thought it was a thick defense preparing for whatever he had up his sleeve but then the sand turned into a massive replica of Shukaku's head, **"Go home Naruto!"** The massive head said in a distorted version of Gaara's voice, **"This is your last warning or I'll show you exactly what I'll do to Ame once I arrive!"**

Seeing this got Naruto to twitch his scarred brow in irritation, 'I swear I am the _worst_ jinchuuriki in the entire world!' He wished he could partially transform any body part of the Kyuubi just like that.

The mouth of the Shukaku head opened and a ball of pure chakra began to form in from of it, growing steadily larger.

"Oh Gaara you've got to be kidding me." Naruto said to himself as he stared at the forming attack. It wasn't the bastardized version that he used when in the Kitsune Trigger, it was the real-deal Bijudama (Tailed Beast Ball).

Well at least they weren't on the ground or else the landscape would be getting rearranged.

XxX

(A Distance Away From the Border of Hi no Kuni)

Despite looking like she had been crying for hours, Temari was running as fast as she could to follow and find Gaara before he got himself hurt. She, Kankuro, and a small contingent of Konoha shinobi had broken off from the main group meant to assist Suna so that they could find where Gaara had gone.

Her village had been destroyed, but there were multitudes of survivors and she still had her family. At least she would when they found Gaara and were all together again. And he was the Kazekage, she could only imagine how he was feeling about everything that had happened.

Naruto had gone after him first and she could only hope that he was able to calm him down or at least let them get there themselves. The hard look on Kankuro's face didn't do much to disguise the fact that he felt like crying until his makeup ran. Kankuro's eyes suddenly snapped skyward off in the distance, "What the hell is that?"

Temari looked up as well to see a giant Shukaku head, even as far away as they were the features of that nightmare's face were indistinguishable, and it then fired a Bijudama (Tailed Beast Ball) even higher into the air with a booming explosion, "Oh my Kami… That's Gaara."

"What's he shooting that monstrosity at?" Kankuro asked. Gaara had trained that attack out in the desert where no one could be hurt in case he lost momentary control over the attack or the Shukaku, but the devastation that could be done with only a few seconds of control was clear. To use it in the countryside of a foreign nation was a big deal.

What he was fighting wasn't clear, but whatever it was they turned up the speed double-time to reach their brother and find out what was going on.

XxX

(With Naruto and Gaara)

The sand that comprised the Shukaku head transformed back to regular sand and fell back to the normal sand defense that Gaara used to fight. The effort it had taken for such an attack was clear on his face as he breathed heavily, 'That was not a good idea. It takes a lot of chakra to force the Shukaku into cooperation for that attack.' It wasn't even as strong as it could have been since he fired it so quickly.

But where did Naruto go?

He looked stunned and dumbfounded when Gaara started forming the demon-natured jutsu but there's no way he would have just stood still in the sky and let Gaara hit him. There was nothing but air and opportunity to shoot at and Gaara wasn't really aiming at him, it should have been easy to dodge, all he had to do was jump down from the sky and let gravity do the rest.

"A Bijudama (Tailed Beast Ball) Gaara?" Naruto's voice yelled up from below him getting the Ichibi jinchuuriki to look down at him, "You really are strong… stronger than when we were kids." There seemed to be a sense of longing in his voice that Gaara picked up on, "It used to be way easier back then didn't it? I mean, you attacked our village but we fought it off and nothing too bad happened, not like now right?"

"It was… easier back then, yes." Gaara admitted quietly, though Naruto was still able to hear him, "But I was weak back then as well. I only fought for myself. Only after that I found that true strength came from fighting for your loved ones. From using your abilities to defend others the way you fought me for your village's sake."

"Then why are you running off half-cocked to Ame Gaara?" Naruto said with a hint of desperation in his voice, "That's not going to do anyone any good. Lead your people. Go home. You're their Kazekage and they need you, they're hurt and scared. Going to Ame is just so you can fight and make yourself feel better trying to tear them up. But that's what Pein wants. Right now you're being selfish."

"I failed them Naruto!" Gaara screamed down at him before the dam broke and tears started streaming down his face, "I hate myself more than I hate Pein, more than I hate Amegakure right now, because if I was there it never would have happened! I would have stopped him! He wouldn't have touched a single person if I were there! And I'm going now because if I can't do to him what he did to them I'm not worthy to be their Kazekage!"

"Killing him won't bring anyone back!" Naruto shouted right back up at him, the sun bathing the both of them in the light, "Killing him won't bring back a single building, and that's if you even get it done, he'll beat you Gaara! He's got your weakness in his back pocket!" What were the chances Gaara would enter that country and it _wouldn't_ be raining? Not good if one were to study Amegakure's meteorology, "But you're half-right about something though, if you do this then you're _not_ worthy to be their Kazekage, because you're just going to run off and destroy shit all because you're mad! That's not going to help anyone and it'll get you killed!"

A heated glare came at Naruto from Gaara as the sand began to whip around his body angrily before turning into one cascading wave that was meant to crash down on top of Naruto altogether, "Give up on trying to stop me Naruto!"

Hearing the manic tint in Gaara's voice snapped something in Naruto. It was as if Gaara wasn't even trying to listen to reason any longer. Maybe Danzo had been right; emotions were a pain, "Fine! Run off and be stupid just like Sasuke did!" Naruto shouted up to his friend, "Go ahead and go to Ame to get what you want! Forget about the people that need you and your own responsibility just to go off and kill some asshole with a god-complex! That'll make you just like your name says you are, a self-loving carnage!"

That remark made Gaara's impending attack stop in the air as he looked down with a shocked expression on his face. It wasn't wrong of him to want revenge was it? It was human nature to wish to harm the person that hurt the ones you cared for. Didn't Naruto understand that? It seemed like Naruto had always been someone that could understand, so why didn't he understand this?

"I wish I could tell you I knew how you felt Gaara." Naruto said honestly, "I'm not a kage, and Konoha's never had anything happen to it like what happened to Suna. But don't do this. The people come first, and they need you more than they need revenge right now. We'll get it, I promise, but it's not the time and Ame definitely isn't the place."

Gaara's hands shook as he tried to battle with himself over whether to go or whether to stop, "I shouldn't have to be told things like this..." Gaara said, visibly struggling with the decision, "I'm the Kazekage, I should already be able to make the right decisions without being advised, especially by a foreign shinobi."

With that being said, the sand dropped to the ground and Gaara took care not to drop the sand on top of Naruto himself. Able to sense that Gaara's chakra was no longer controlling the sand, Naruto gave the cue for the Kyuubi to cease sending him chakra for Sage Mode, turning his changed eye back to normal, 'You alright in there Kyuubi?'

"**I have had an itch on my nose for the last ten minutes… I don't know how you can sit still for as long as you do to gather this crap for your training."** The Kyuubi griped as it shut down the connection between their chakra networks, **"You should have blown that sand-rat to hell since he wanted to challenge Pein and go so badly."**

'Whatever.' Naruto thought back, ending the conversation as Gaara drifted back down to the ground, his sand back inside of the gourd now that the scuffle was over, "Are you okay now?" He asked the seemingly docile Gaara.

"No." Gaara said honestly, "But the Shukaku was influencing my state of mind at the time and tried to take advantage of my desire to tear Pein asunder. I am still angry and I still desire his death, but right now I will go to my village… or what's left of it."

"A village isn't a bunch of buildings Gaara." Naruto said as they began to walk in the direction of the Hi no Kuni/Kaze no Kuni border, "It's the people that live there. And there are still supposed to be a lot of them there that need you."

"I know." Gaara said before looking at his hands that were still shaking, "I just want to kill him so badly. There was a moment where I just wanted to crush you and move along. I'm not entirely sure I can even blame that on Shukaku either." He shook his head and let out a desperate sigh.

"Gaara!"

Both Temari and Kankuro came into sight, yelling for their younger brother upon sighting him. As they got close they noticed all of the sand that was definitely out of place in that area of Hi no Kuni's geography, "Whoa." Kankuro said as he looked around, "What happened here?"

"Anger management." Naruto said, patting Gaara on the shoulder a few times before shifting the sword on his back and walking away from the young kage.

Temari walked over to Gaara and wrapped her arms around him in a hug as Kankuro walked over to do the same. Deciding to give them the moment that they hadn't been allowed together the previous night due to Gaara's impulsive flight from Konoha, Naruto just sat off to the side while the three siblings grieved together over the fate of their village. They would see it up close and personal for themselves soon enough.

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower – Tsunade's Office)

Sai knew that it wasn't the best idea to go to Tsunade on his own, but it was an order from Naruto to inform her that Gaara was gone to head off by himself. But when she asked him to stay after sending Shizune off to mobilize a squad to head off with the siblings of the wayward Kazekage he knew there was something up.

So there he sat, right in front of her as she had her own place at her desk just appraising him. A normal person would probably have been intimidated or at least somewhat unnerved, but then again Sai didn't feel emotions like that. Or so he said.

It had been hours and the ever patient shinobi had to wonder just what Tsunade wanted with him at a time like this, even though there was not much she could do at a time of duress such as the one currently taking place.

Tsunade finally opened her mouth to speak after quite a while of saying nothing, "I'll just cut to the chase and say what I need to say. You don't seem to be the type to beat around the bush so I'll just get right to the point. I know of your connections to Danzo just like I am aware of Naruto's and your other teammate." Sai said nothing, something that Tsunade would have guessed as much about, but she continued, "Are you able to speak for yourself, or has Danzo done something to keep you from doing such? This is an order from your Hokage you know."

Sai blinked but nodded, "Yes I can speak, but only because Danzo-sama is truly dead. If he were alive then the seal he placed on all operatives would have kept us from speaking freely of him or Root. He believed it was for the best that our existence isn't known by all, the less the better. I am willing to cooperate though."

"What is your purpose?" Tsunade asked.

"To protect Konoha from threats both foreign and domestic in the most complete and discreet manner possible." Sai said with a practiced ease that had to have been drilled into his head years ago, "We are not your enemy Hokage-sama, but it was better that our existence was merely speculation to you and yours… at least until Naruto-senpai took the seat."

That caused Tsunade to raise her eyebrow at his words, "And then what? Root would be Naruto's private army, his bodyguards?" It was hard to consider that he would do such a thing, but Danzo had called Naruto his greatest success in the past so it wasn't that farfetched was it?

"Of course not." Sai said, getting a slightly perturbed look on his face at the mere thought. Naruto had more sense and honor than to use Root like that, even if Sai didn't run their day-to-day operations, "Like I said, we handle the problems that could threaten Konoha, problems that most of the time you as Hokage are never even privy to."

Somehow Tsunade took that as him referring to her as incompetent, "Not privy to eh?" She said with a slight growl in her voice that Sai only smiled at her pleasantly in response to, only increasing her ire further, "You've got quite the tongue on you don't you?"

"It was not a manner of disrespect." Sai said, waving his hands in front of himself, "We simply solved the problems before they became big enough to catch your attention. The same for your predecessor Sarutobi-sama. If everything was brought to you there would be more work than you would be accustomed to, and you would be so concerned over things abroad that you would not be able to focus on what was important near our borders."

"So…" Tsunade said, trying to wrap her head around what Root was, "You're like some international attack squad? Like some army without borders." What a rudimentary way to describe them.

The smile fell from Sai's face as he tried to register a way to explain, "Not particularly. A lot of us stay around Konoha. Some of us are a part of your normal forces like Maki-san, some of us just… aren't. If you need a way to rationalize it then consider us Konoha's version of Kazekage-sama's automatic defense. We will act in the village's best interests whether you are aware of our actions or not." He noticed her narrow her eyes at him and sighed, "Not a threat Hokage-sama…"

"How can I trust you?"

"Do you trust Naruto-senpai?" Sai asked in return to Tsunade's question, "Because we will always answer to him if the need for his input arises. We will actually obey you as well, but we are not yours to command as if we were conventional forces. We're not meant to go on your normal missions, we're not normal shinobi."

"How many of you are there?"

"Enough." Sai said before letting out a sigh as he heard Tsunade's fingertips drum on the top of the desk, "Our numbers are decent, but there aren't nearly enough of us to usurp any kind of control of the village from you if you are still paranoid."

Knowing that Danzo had created a paramilitary group underneath the nose of the village and actually finally finding out about it firsthand after his death was like a splash of water in her face, a wakeup call. The fact that it was established enough to try and continue operating without him was something else altogether.

As loathe as she was to admit it though, for the coming war there would possibly be a need for Root, "Are you prepared to place forces towards assisting in the war effort?"

"We already were." Sai said matter-of-factly much to her surprise, "Danzo-sama has kept eyes on multiple minor villages around the borders of the country for years. Spies have sent some very concerning news." He had Tsunade's full attention since she had actually sent Jiraiya out for a quick trip to pick up some word on the rumblings in nearby areas, "Every minor village in Hi no Kuni's immediate vicinity are preparing for war… and it's not against Ame."

"Our allies-."

"Don't particularly exist anymore." Sai said before she could question the loyalty of the allied minor villages, "This is their chance. They don't want to sit under Konoha's thumb any longer and get the scraps of our business. Takigakure and Kusagakure were among the first to line up and throw their lot in with Amegakure after news of the attack on Suna broke, and many others nearby fell in line right along with them."

"Are you serious?" Tsunade questioned in disbelief before massaging her temple, "Damn kid if you're right about this then you are seriously useful." Yes, she might need them after all. They seemed to work just fine as a stand-alone group and hadn't gotten Konoha in any trouble in over twenty years of operating so why end a good thing when it was so necessary for the coming days? There was no reason to issue a cease and desist order… especially since they would probably pull a Danzo and keep doing it anyway, "Fine… just keep up the good work I guess. And if you do anything that would endanger the village-."

Sai stood up and began to walk towards the door to leave, "We would never Hokage-sama. Maybe one day we'll prove how useful we are to Konoha, but until then we'll just keep working." He opened the door and turned back one last time, "It was the promise we all made when we joined in the first place, we'd do what we had to in order to keep the village safe from the shadows." He gave one more of his pleasant-looking smiles, "You'll pick up some rumblings from us here or there." He said before shutting the door behind himself.

With that little meeting over, Tsunade turned around in her chair to look out the window at the village in the early morning, "Every little bit helps I guess. A tree can't really thrive without strong roots in the end." She would need to wait for word from Jiraiya to confirm what she had just been told, but with their allies turning to take their shots at Konoha's throats there was no reason not to take on a comrade like Root, especially since they were technically already on the same side and their foreign 'friends' seemed to be prepared to fight them for the lion's share.

The treacherous ungrateful fools didn't know what they were getting themselves into. But they would sooner rather than later.

A part of Tsunade wondered how many wetwork operations Root had planned even at that moment. She hoped there were enough to make those turncoat bastards pay. No loyalty among the thieves, murderer, and spies in the end it appeared.

It was a good thing the other kage decided to leave a few delegates behind once they decided to head out for their own villages at first light, just in case something similar would happen to their villages in their absence. There were plans that needed to be drawn.

* * *

**Concussions are fun for those of you that have never had any. If you have never suffered such a head injury I highly recommend you attempt to do so to yourself in the future… and that was sarcasm. Don't actually try to get a concussion you idiots, it is not as cool as it seems on TV (I don't even know if anything on TV makes concussions seem cool, but just in case…). Getting my bell rung by several knees to the head (I wasn't exactly counting by the end) was a refreshing experience that I will be looking to not repeat again in the near future. Better to have it happen during training though than in an actual fight because I don't feel like taking that kind of loss.**

**Plus I re-broke my hand that I never got surgery for in the first place so I got that going on too! Still didn't get surgery for it either, but I did get it reset the right way this time so it shouldn't happen again for a while.**

**Taking tests and working on TV and radio projects with a concussion aren't the best ideas though, but without any alternative what are you going to do? Professors don't care.**

**But enough about me, you don't care why I haven't updated anything in forever despite my splitting headache, inability to form a fist, random bouts of anger, and short-term memory loss.**

**Kenchi out. Later.**


	56. Up in Smoke

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or do I?

(No… I don't. I think you all knew that though.)

Enjoy the chapter.

**Chapter 55: Up in Smoke**

* * *

It had only taken one more day for the Suna party out to collect Gaara, including Kankuro and Temari, to make it back to Sunagakure itself. With his own role in stopping Gaara from rushing off to try and rip Amegakure into ruins, Naruto was along for the ride and thus he bore witness to the devastation that Pein was capable of.

Buildings were rubble, not a single thing in the valley that the village sat in was untouched. Many shinobi, chunin rank and higher, had been killed with Pein's one Shinra Tensei. Luckily many civilians were able to reach safe points in the valley walls before the catastrophic attack was launched. There were still a great number that hadn't made it however, and the death toll had reached upwards of seven thousand and was still climbing as more bodies were being discovered even then.

Naruto himself had been helping with the unearthing process and had seen his share of disturbing sights in Root, but the sight of several dead children and one Suna genin probably on their way to an evacuation safety point was what that stuck with him for the three days he had been in Suna trying to do what he could for the time being.

It hadn't taken too much longer than one day for Konoha to mobilize a relief group to head to their ally's aid to try and assist any way they could. Copious amounts of medic-nin were sent along with a few doton ninjutsu specialists and a lot of genin to assist in trying to bolster what they could of Suna's defenses in the meantime while things were being sorted out.

It had also come with a message for Naruto himself; to get his ass back to Konoha at the earliest convenience so that they could begin preparing for the war appropriately. He would head out in the morning as it was then sundown in the ruined desert village and he hadn't received his marching orders until that afternoon.

He was currently sitting on a crate outside of one of the medical tent that had been set up as a makeshift hospital until the grounds could be cleared and another hospital could be built soon. Inside he could see all of the medics from both Suna and Konoha, including Sakura and Shizune, both of whom were sent and had been invaluable for their skills in healing injured survivors.

Barely paying attention to the footsteps coming his way, Naruto turned his head to see Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon walking up to him, all three of them frowning deeply and looking rather haggard from the work they had been doing since being dispatched to help, "What kind of person could do this Boss?" Konohamaru asked, "I heard it was done by one guy."

Udon chose to follow up on his teammate's statement, "From the sky… he squashed everything down here with just his chakra. How are there people like that in the world?" They had been around for two days and had borne witness to exactly what certain people were capable of. It seemed more like the work of monsters or a sort of divine punishment than the acts of a man. Of course the fact that they had never personally seen exactly what lengths a ninja's skill could reach also added to this.

The fact of the matter was; with enough chakra, the right hand-seals, and the appropriate blood running through one's veins… pretty much anything was possible.

"I wish I could tell you." What was Naruto supposed to say to a bunch of kids about what they were observing firsthand? They weren't him. This was the first any of them were seeing of the actual destruction that could be wrought by a man that was powerful enough. Hearing the stories and seeing them firsthand let them know that most stories of shinobi legends were not exaggeration, "Some of us can cut through a bolt of lightning with our jutsu, some of us can create an entire forest with a single move, and then there's things like this."

The sorrow on Moegi's face, he wished that he didn't have to see it. But he knew that she wasn't the only one and she wasn't the worst off at all. There were kids her age all over Suna that had one hundred times the anguish that she did, "What's the point? What did Sunagakure ever do to Amegakure?"

"I wish I could say…" Naruto said, his blue eyes gazing straight ahead into the tent in front of him with a thousand-yard stare, "…I wish I could say that that you're never going to see anything like this again. But I'd be lying to you if I did. You all know that we're going to war right?" All three genin nodded, "Unless you get promoted you're probably not going to see the frontlines, but you're going to see battle aftermaths just like this. Worse than this actually."

Genin would not be openly used in engagements. It was commonplace because in an actual conflict most genin would be little more than cannon fodder and would cause more deaths then their presence would prevent. Thus those that weren't used to keep things on the homefront settled and actually saw the fields of battle were stuck with jobs like rear echelon work unless the line broke and then all bets were off.

At least that was what had been gleamed from Danzo's teachings… maybe protocol changed since the last war, but he doubted it. For all of the advancements in ninja life over the last twenty years, pitched combat in general didn't change much at all; still following the same blueprint that had been lain down in the times of the clan wars from centuries past.

Konohamaru's eyes panned down before he looked back up at Naruto who was still staring listlessly into the medical tents, "I want the guy that did this to pay Boss." He said lowly, "People can't be allowed to do this for no reason. What about peace? What's so wrong with that?"

"The fact that there's really no such thing." The matter-of-fact, deadpan tone of speech that Naruto used got the kids to stare at him in shock, "We're ninja. Our entire job is to fight. It's what we're all taught and trained to do. If there was ever true peace where everyone got along then where would that leave us? Taking down bandits and random criminals? The entire system is based on war."

He had been thinking about it for a long, long time. Ever since he learned of Jiraiya's desire to bring peace to the world and since he had heard of Pein's ultimate goal of doing the same with his own massively destructive goal. Actual peace would be the end of their way of life. Everything that the ninja world was based on was the prospect of eventual conflict with another village, every breakthrough meant to give one village a leg-up over the other.

It was actually funny in a morbid kind of way, the thought of ninja being against actual fighting. He didn't crave combat, but he was far from a pacifist and that much he had always been aware of.

If peace came and all of the shinobi wound up getting along that would just create a void that would be filled by another enemy. Probably the samurai of Tetsu no Kuni, or maybe all of the daimyo of the nations? Hell there were other continents out there somewhere and they would definitely have some kind of standing armed force, maybe they'd go and fight them?

The point was, there was no clean ending. Not as long as the ninja existed.

He turned his gaze towards Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon and saw them looking at him in shock, "But… maybe I'm just rambling. This whole thing is probably just all in my head." Being cynical around the kids _before_ the battles ever even began wasn't going to do anyone any good. He stood up from his place on his crate and gave Konohamaru a pat in the head, "Just make sure that you're ready when you have to fight, alright runt?"

All Konohamaru could do was nod dumbly, getting Naruto to take his hand off of his head and walk away from the scene. Naruto felt he had to go as he had nothing reassuring to say or anything inspiring to put into their heads. All he could do at the moment was tell them the truth as he saw it, and that wasn't going to drive anyone with their mindset to believe in the war about to be waged.

Ever since getting to Suna he had not seen Gaara, Kankuro, or Temari at all, due to all three of them working feverishly to do what they could from the moment they arrived in Suna. He didn't even think they had been sleeping, not that he blamed them for that in the least.

Well for the time being he needed to link up with his escort back to Konoha and let them know that he'd be ready to leave at first light in the morning. In the end there was nothing else he could do for Suna, which was really a whole lot of nothing in the first place.

One thing was certain though. While Pein may have had a rather big stick in the form of his Rinnegan and all of his powers, he was going to be stopped one way or another. If Naruto had to fight an entire war to get to him that was all well and good, because he didn't start it.

Pein started it, but the alliance would finish it.

Naruto proceeded to find Sakura sitting by herself on a supply crate outside of one of the other medical tents, taking her time to rest up and get some water to regain some energy after working nonstop for most of the day helping to heal the injuries of the Suna ninja and citizenry.

He hadn't really spoken to her since telling her that he had been responsible for killing Sasuke what with everything that had transpired since; the meeting with the Mizu-, Rai-, and Kazekage and the attack on Suna for instance.

Well then was as good a time as any since neither of them were going anywhere anytime soon, and who knew when or if they would meet up again, "Hey Sakura." Naruto said as he walked over to her.

The pink-haired medic-nin had her hair put up in a work ponytail and wore a white garb over her usual clothes. Naruto had called her name while she had been taking a sip from a water bottle and turned her eyes towards him, swallowing her drink as he got close, "Naruto… how's it going?"

Not feeling like trying to make a joke or anything with the circumstances they both wound up meeting in Suna in, Naruto just took a seat next to his old teammate since she didn't outright seem to want to gouge his heart out for taking Sasuke's life, "Honestly… it feels like every time something good happens, there's always something bad to balance it out."

Just as recent examples; he beat Deidara, he lost an eye. Sasuke was finally brought forward for deserting and he brokered a deal to ally with Kiri by giving them Kubikiribouchou back, but Sasuke was killed in the battle and afterwards Danzo went missing in the desert. He learned Sage Mode and seemed to have Akatsuki reeling, with the alliance setting up to drive the stake through the criminal organization's heart once and for all, then Suna got attacked by the only person to decisively defeat him in a true battle in eight years and a whole war was now set to begin.

Sakura nodded, understanding the sentiment in her own way, "I'm sorry." He looked towards her in confusion, getting her to explain further, "On the mission to help you get Kiri's sword back, I hyperfocused on Sasuke and got myself and Tayuya hurt… almost killed. I think… if I had been able to support her better we could have stopped him, or at least lasted long enough for your clone to get to us and maybe help."

All Naruto could do was shake his head, "Don't apologize for stuff that people are already over. As long as you don't let anything like that _ever_ happen again then it's okay. Tayuya-chan's okay with it and I got over it too. So are you still upset with me?"

"No." Sakura said, clasping her hands together in her lap as she looked down, "I was never angry to begin with… just shocked. I never wanted anything like that to happen, but he was a missing-nin and you weren't… and it was either you or him in the end. You said you didn't try to kill him but things just kept escalating, you showed remorse, and you told us yourself what had happened. If I had really gotten stronger then it wouldn't have even had to happen in the first place so I'm taking responsibility for it too."

The two just sat in silence for a while. After Naruto's unsealing they had become estranged for a while and had only begun to seem to repair a part of their acquaintance after Sakura began training with Tsunade.

Things had finally seemed to be fine just before their mission to Yuki no Kuni when Naruto had just become a jounin, with them hanging out with the other ninja of their generation and having a good time. Despite all of that the Sasuke episode was supposed to be what had broken it once and for all, and Naruto was fully expecting just that, but Sakura was proving to be stronger than she herself gave her credit for. She wasn't getting into some whole kick on getting him back for Sasuke's sake, and she wasn't making any arguments for why he would have been in the wrong for taking his life.

"So are we okay?" Naruto finally decided to just flat-out ask, sick of the tension that neither of them could pinpoint between them, "You and me?"

Upon hearing his question, Sakura gave him a light smile and nudged his side with her elbow, "Yeah. I thought that you were the one that might have had a problem with me, but if you don't then yes, we're fine."

"Good." Naruto heaved a sigh and ran one of his black-gloved hands through his spiky locks, "Because it would suck if I was on one of Tsunade-baachan's apprentices' bad sides when we're about to go to war. I need a medic-nin or two as my best friend right about now." He tried to joke now that the tension had broken.

"Oh please…" Sakura said as she rolled her eyes at the melodramatic statement, "If I had a bone to pick with you and tried to kick your ass Tsunade-shishou would murder me in public and Shizune-senpai would probably reanimate me just to do it again herself… and then there would be Tayuya…" Come to think of it, Hamako wasn't a ninja but she'd probably do some pretty evil shit to her in response for maiming Naruto too, "Ugh, I'm going to get back to work."

Both Naruto and Sakura stood up with her break time almost over, "I'll see you Sakura." Naruto said as said girl started stretching out to prepare for more medical labor, "Help them out okay? You can do more here than I can."

Sakura nodded with a smile and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder in good faith, "I will. Just be safe on the way home alright?"

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Meeting Room)

"Why am I here?" Shikamaru whispered to himself, sitting next to his father in the room full of upper level shinobi set to listen to a briefing with Tsunade on the current situation, "I must be out of my mind for wanting to show up here. I could be doing something else right now."

"Like sleeping?" Shikamaru's father Shikaku said, knowing his son's tendencies, "Listen, I don't know why you decided to come either. The summons was for me, not you. I think you're too young to be sitting in on a meeting like this when you haven't even experienced an actual war yourself."

So the invasion that occurred three years ago didn't count as a war?

"Yeah I know, I'm just a brat to all of you old people." Shikamaru said, not really caring who else in the room heard him and possibly took offense to the 'old people' remark, "But if we don't try and take things over for ourselves what will that leave for the future? We can't have you all fighting our battles for us forever like we're still kids. That's why I'm here I guess."

Nearby from his own seat in the room, Shikamaru's sensei Asuma smiled at hearing Shikamaru declare in his own way that he was going to try and take some sort of responsibility and initiative in the coming days, 'Way to go kid. I knew your lazy ass had it in you.'

At that point the doors to the room opened and Tsunade walked in followed by Jiraiya, and the elders Koharu and Homura. Taking a seat at the head of the room she gave time for silence to settle over the room and the chattering of those in attendance to fade out before beginning to speak, "As you all have heard by now, Sunagakure has been attacked by the leader of Amegakure. The village was destroyed and reports since the event revealed that Suna lost over 30% of their active force from the incident."

"That's not all though." Jiraiya said, following up with a grim look on his face as he began to explain the situation, "We've got trouble on all sides here. It's not just Ame even though that would be bad enough. Now we've got Kusagakure, Takigakure, Tanigakure, Hoshigakure, Getsugakure just to name a few… and dozens more bordering us seeing this as their chance. I've gotten word that the same is going on in places all over the map. Mizu no Kuni is probably the safest from any kind of attack due to being out on the ocean, but them getting forces to the mainland to assist is going to be a problem in itself."

One of the jounin in attendance decided to speak up on what everyone else had been thinking at the moment, "So we've got the two villages that were just a breath away from being one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages against us and pretty much every smaller village in the entire region ready to jump on us like wolves."

Another ninja spoke up, "Damn it, Did any of our old allies decided to actually stick around with us?"

"It doesn't seem like it." Asuma said fighting his own urge to grab a cigarette at the unnerving situation.

Not one to sugarcoat seemingly grave situations, Jiraiya decided to follow up that initial hit with another one, "Well Suna's going to have their share of troubles too. Villages that border Kaze no Kuni and Tsuchi no Kuni are going to jump all over this opening."

"What about Iwagakure?"

"What about them?" Shikaku said in an 'are-you-stupid' tone of voice, "They're not with us, they aren't even bothering to answer back even now. The smaller villages aren't going to try and provoke one of the villages that don't think they have a stake in this. That would be asinine."

Tsunade herself could feel her own ire for the Tsuchikage's indecisive bullshit increase with every thought she had on the matter, "That old fence-sitting bastard is probably going to let things run their course until there's definitely little left of Suna to defend. Then he'll just march his merry ass south and mop up whatever's left for the spoils. On either side, both ours and theirs… he'll just take it all after Suna and the smaller villages sitting between Suna and Iwa tear each other apart."

It was an obvious plan of action, and yet there wasn't much anyone could do to stop it other than to divert a significant fighting force to that battlefront, and that would leave Konoha lacking in manpower for their own situation. Surrounded on all sides was not the time you wanted to try and send a relief force to assist a separate nation.

Kumo for the most part could handle themselves because they had been the most ready for war to break out, and if that failed then it would be easier for Kiri to assist them than anything else. Still, Kumo decided to keep a delegate in Konoha to keep a voice of sorts in the military affairs of their ally just in case something came up on one front or another.

"We're going to be stretched thin…" Hiruzen's old kunoichi teammate Koharu said informatively, "With Suna reeling Konoha is the dominating power in not only this region, but theirs as well. This is more complicated than the last war… where the other villages lack our direct ability to deal with the threat we pose they are defensively dangerous. The terrain will be chosen mostly on their terms and the villages themselves are highly defensible.

In the case of villages like Takigakure the exact location of the village itself was still unknown. Several of the enemy villages gearing up for war had this advantage and would not be sloppy with how they dispatched their forces for combat. Still though…

Tsunade had a contingency plan for situations like this however, one she was fairly confident in after a recent meeting.

"What about Naruto Uzumaki?"

Many eyes in the room turned towards the person who had asked the question, "What about Naruto?" Tsunade said in a way that told the ninja to explain what they meant by bringing up Naruto.

"Well isn't he the goal of the Akatsuki… just like the Kazekage or even the delegate that Kumogakure left here? We can't just be thinking of sending him out into the field to fight with that knowledge are we?"

Instead of Tsunade speaking up, this time it was Jiraiya, "That boy is stronger than me even if he doesn't acknowledge it yet. Each member of Akatsuki that stepped forward to face him hasn't been able to defeat him, and I doubt any of the smaller villages have any other ninja strong enough to face him one-on-one and defeat him. That means that only another member of Akatsuki would be able to defeat him. That or a ninja of that level."

And with Pein and Konan as exceptions there weren't any ninja that Jiraiya knew of from any smaller village that could beat Naruto. Yeah he was definitely going to fight. Other than that, if Kumo was going to keep Yugito with them as delegate in a gesture of good faith then they couldn't keep Naruto off of the battlefield or else it would look terrible and would more than likely cause a rift in the alliance, something that couldn't be allowed to happen with what was currently taking place.

"What's the first course of action Hokage-sama?"

Hearing another question that seemed more prudent at the moment, Tsunade immediately answered it, "While we properly mobilize we are going to need to send a force to watch as much of Hi no Kuni's borders as we can. This means that we need a lot of tracking specialists prepared to embark in a hurry. Hyuuga, Aburame, and Inuzuka clans should be prepared to send quite of few of their ninja to bolster the rest of the border force."

It was foolish to think that there were no enemies already inside of Hi no Kuni. There were scouts and small squads already on the land from the moment the treacherous bastards knew war would be declared, but they wouldn't be large bodies of troops at first. While they could send information on weak spots in the patrol from behind Hi no Kuni's border line this simply meant that Konoha needed to get their defense and counter-offensive prepared to go.

XxX

(Ta no Kuni – Otogakure Base)

Kabuto walked through the place as if he hadn't just run out on them a while back after Orochimaru's death. Every ninja that managed to catch sight of him could do nothing but stare at the smirking hooded man as he walked through their halls.

He had not planned on coming back, but at the request of Madara he chose to return, the prospect of having his own role to play in the interesting days that lay ahead too much for him to try and ignore. The scattered forces of Otogakure needed to be consolidated in some way, and he was more than dominant to assert his control over the situation.

He was the second-in-command after all, which meant that he was now the official number one of all of them.

As he walked past a few men, a pair of them brandished kunai in the dark of the corridor and leapt out to strike at Kabuto for his past transgressions, but faster than any observer of the incident could see, they were cut down with Kabuto appearing to not even turn back to face them as he kept walking.

Instead of addressing the fact that he had just been attacked, Kabuto eventually stopped in the hall and turned to face the packed base with copious amounts of Oto shinobi looking at him, "Sorry for that unannounced sabbatical of mine. But with Orochimaru-sama gone you all know that I'm the one who's in charge… _right_?"

With that statement, Kabuto pumped enough killing intent into the room to bring those closest to him to the point of fainting and collapse. He felt quite a measure of satisfaction watching some of the masked Oto ninja hit the ground and begin convulsing just from his presence alone.

Needless to say, there was no one that disputed his claim as the remainder all bowed to him, "That's good…" Even though things had gone pretty much the same for the other several countries he had visited bases in to let them know that he was still in charge he was slightly dreading one base in particular, 'Guren's probably going to try and cut a piece out of me for letting Sasuke kill Orochimaru-sama… oh well. She's necessary for this ship to run right.'

XxX

(Umi no Kuni)

"Well, well, well…" Suigetsu said, sitting in the sand on a beach near a hut as Madara appeared in front of him from his space-time migration technique, "I knew you'd come knocking sooner rather than later. So what do you need now?"

"Just a bit of a side mission." Madara said as he saw Karin and Juugo heading outside from the hut upon getting sight of him, "By the way how goes your training with the three swords you have?"

A grin came over Suigetsu's face, showing off his shark-like teeth, "I already had training with Kubikiribouchou and Hiramekarei… it was Samehada that most of us never got to touch. And the training is going good… very good."

"Then you can take some more work." Was the succinct reply from the masked man as he turned to gaze out at the ocean, "The good news is that you can stay here for as long as you feel you need to. But I'm going to need you to do something for me." He turned back towards them as he continued to speak, "War is here."

A war? Karin didn't exactly see what that had to do with them in particular, "Between who?"

"Everyone."

That answer put looks of shock on the faces of all three members of the cell, "What do you mean 'everyone?'" Juugo asked, "How could everyone be fighting?"

"Because that idiot Pein has decided that now is the time for the _downtrodden hidden villages_ to rise up against the other great villages." The disdain for Pein's little crusade was evident in Madara's sarcastic way of identifying Pein's side of things, "Now he's gone and picked a fight with the alliance of four of the five. All except Iwagakure." That little notion that Pein had of being God was going to come back and bite him in the ass with a vengeance… but not yet.

There was still something that could be gained from such a war. There was quite a bit that could be gained indeed. All it would take was a little nudge in the appropriate direction.

Suigetsu didn't really care one way or the other though. He simply wanted to get back to the task at hand, "What do you want from us?"

"Nothing more than to keep an eye on the seas." Madara said matter-of-factly, "I want you to attack any ship that Karin can sense coming from the direction of Mizu no Kuni. I will procure you some help in this of course, you will not be doing this alone, but the bulk of the work will be done by you three." He decided to add something to the pot in case Suigetsu didn't care to partake in the mission, "You can consider it more training with your weapons and new techniques."

With what Suigetsu now knew as a strength of Samehada, and his own abilities that made aquatic combat ideal that was all he needed, an excuse to use his skills that he had been training for the past few weeks with in actual combat.

Being locked in that tank by Kabuto for so long made him cherish being able to be out and fight to his heart's content, and he hadn't been getting enough of that for his tastes lately. It had also been a while since Juugo had killed anyone as well and his homicidal side would be overdue sooner rather than later.

Suigetsu grinned and pointed at Madara, making a gun-like motion with his finger, "If that's all you want then you've got it."

XxX

(One Day Later – Kawa no Kuni)

The escorts for Naruto to head back to Konoha were Neji and Kiba plus Akamaru, something Naruto was grateful for at a time like that one, some familiar faces in a rather trying time. The three fell into a silence as they travelled through Kaze no Kuni and Kawa no Kuni, fully expecting to be blindsided at any moment by an enemy ambush. A part of Kiba actually wanted to use the opportunity to scout the country and locate one of the well-hidden ninja villages in the country on the way back but Neji proceeded to smack him one and the two jounin, one chunin and ninja hound proceeded to travel home.

"Naruto." Kiba finally said, getting the blonde's attention as they continued to move in formation, Naruto in front, Kiba and Akamaru in the middle, and Neji at the back, "That Pein guy that destroyed Suna… do you think you can really beat that? I mean, I've heard how you want to fight him again. He beat you once and you want a rematch?"

The blonde frontrunner didn't risk looking back, knowing that Kiba's hearing was good enough to hear him even if he wasn't facing him, "Yeah I do. Ero-sennin can't beat him, we already proved that and now he's crippled. If I don't try then who's going to? I can beat that guy, I know I can. It won't be like last time, not even close."

"He smashed a whole village Naruto." Kiba stated firmly, with Akamaru whimpering at wondering how powerful a person that could do that really was, "How are you going to beat that?"

"He didn't get everyone did he? It wasn't even close to killing everyone in Suna." Neji said before Naruto could give his own answer, "Not even all of the shinobi out to actively fight the threat directly died in the attack. There is a chance Kiba. There's always a chance."

The abilities of the enemy were getting more and more powerful. In his last four real opponents Naruto found Deidara who could destroy an entire hidden village with his explosions, Itachi with the ability to burn down an entire forest with unquenchable black flames that he could conjure with the blink of an eye, Sasuke with the ability to destroy an entire massive hill and sturdy fortress meant to endure years of combat with a single bolt of lightning, and Pein with the ability to flatten an entire village in one move.

But Naruto's own skills weren't exactly lacking these days with the Rasenshuriken that could penetrate nearly any defense (not even counting the improvements he had made on it since perfecting Sage Mode) and Rasenriseki, which could vibrate intensely enough to grind and reduce anything to rubble and subsequently dust. And those were just a few of his attacks. So he was very confident that in a second engagement with Pein he could take him down.

Especially knowing what he now knew of the man's abilities from Jiraiya's deduction. Jiraiya had even managed to take down one of his bodies so he was down one already.

"There's a town nearby."

Naruto's thoughts were disrupted by Neji's report by way of his Byakugan keeping an eye on their surroundings over a distance, "It's not the hidden village Tanigakure is it?" Naruto asked, taking note of the excited expression that Kiba had. He'd probably insist on trying to spy on the place if it was.

Looking at a map that he had pulled out to determine where they were, Neji shook his head, "No, we're close to the border. This is a mining town." Neji's bloodline activated eyes then narrowed at seeing something else, "And they have sensors because they know we're coming. Half a mile out."

"They already have villages set up for border patrol stations?" Kiba said in disbelief, "How fast did they mobilize for this war?" He then switched gears as he had another thought, "Wait, are we actually going to fight the first battle in this thing?" The prospect of firing the first shot put a grin on Kiba's face despite himself. He might wind up being a part of a question on an Academy exam if that were the case.

"Not if we can get away." Neji replied, his eye twitching at Kiba's groan of disappointment but other than that he kept his cool, "They outnumber us twelve to three and the number is still growing."

"They are _not_ going to outrun us and catch up." Naruto said rather heatedly. All three of them were the fastest out of the Konoha 11 and the comparison wasn't even close with the exception of Rock Lee. While stopping and fighting was an option, there would be no point in getting into a fight. He remembered the last time he was chased to the border by someone… it wound up with the Sound Four catching him and engaging him, ending with Kimimaro scarring his eye with his bone attacks and the tainted chakra of the cursed seal.

The trio kicked up their travel speed towards the border and wound up leaving the attempts of the enemy sentries to flank them in the dust. As far as stamina went though, they couldn't keep the quickened pace up for too long due to the fact that Kiba and Neji didn't have Naruto's nigh-infinite gas tank and would tire moving at the advanced speed sooner.

But before they even got close to reaching the friendly grounds of Hi no Kuni, Neji got sight of more ninja moving directly towards them from the border, "They were able to get a communication with a forward team that turned around to face us and cut us off!" The Branch House Hyuuga said as he began to sweat at the situation.

"Are we seriously pinned down behind enemy lines here?" Kiba asked as the trio brought themselves to a stop on a tree branch, "The damn war isn't even on yet and we're going to be KIA right off the bat." Akamaru then proceeded to bite Kiba's hand for being so negative, "Ow! Damn it boy!"

"Thank you Akamaru." Neji said with a smirk and the dog let go, wagging his tail and panting happily. The moment now done, Neji's face turned grave once more, "What is the move we make here? We can keep going and run headlong into a squad seven deep that will be ready for us or we can sit here and prepare the area for battle with said squad but risk the team behind us catching up and joining them."

So the options were to either jump into an ambush and hope for the best or to sit and set their own ambush but risk it being overpowered by significant manpower.

"Both of those options suck so bad I can't pick which one I want." Naruto chimed in, pulling his hitae-ate tightly on his forehead in case it would fall off during the forthcoming skirmish, "It's like choosing to be drowned or strangled."

A growl came from Kiba's throat as the scents of both sides crashed into his senses unmercifully, "We are about to get fucked with no lube here. Please pick one or the other before the choice is taken from us. Flip a coin for fuck's sake!"

Naruto and Neji both looked at each other before the blonde jounin of the pair spoke up, "Best defense is a good offense?" He said questioningly, getting a shrug from Neji before all three took off towards the border and the squad meant to cut them off again, "This would be a lot more useful if we knew which fucking village we were about to fight."

"How many are in this country anyway?" Kiba asked as he began to mould his chakra for his Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Jutsu), curious at exactly how many hidden villages could coexist within the same borders.

"Three." Neji said, tensing and flexing his fingers out to prepare to use his clan taijutsu in combat, "Tanigakure (Village Hidden in the Valleys), Hayasegakure (Village Hidden in the Rapids), and Ashigakure (Village Hidden in the Reeds)."

"Never heard of 'em." Kiba said with Akamaru barking in agreement.

"That's because they're minor and they're not allies." Naruto said, debating the merits of drawing his heirloom blade for the battle or not. The only reason he knew of the villages was because Root had done a lot of work in Kawa no Kuni due to the country being more rough and tumble than most others. He and Maki had a run-in with Ashigakure once, "Ashi ninja have weird, indirect ninjutsu so watch out for that if it's them."

"Incoming!" Neji said, as he had the exact locale of the advancing enemy down.

Kiba had been ready to go for quite some time and was the first to spring into action, "I'm on it! Come on Akamaru! Gatsuuga (Fang Passing Fang)!" Kiba channeled chakra for both himself and his dog as they both leapt at the several enemies ahead.

The enemy ninja saw this coming and planned to evade Kiba and Akamaru's attack, but the attacks weren't aimed for them directly. Kiba and Akamaru slammed into the trees they were jumping on hard enough to break out significant pieces of the trunks, felling the trees and forcing the enemy to misstep and fall to the ground below.

Three of the seven attacking enemy ninja fell to the ground, one of them badly injuring their leg during the fall. The two that had fallen as well slogged back to their feet and jumped to their injured comrade's defense as the other four waged an attempt to attack Naruto and Neji, two per Konoha ninja.

Neji's sharp eyes took notice of the headband that their attackers were wearing, the insignia on the metal plates had a 'V' with horizontal lines heading out from the peaks of the letters, making it look like a valley, "They're from Tanigakure!"

"Good eyes Hyuuga." One of Neji's opponents said as he and his partner brandished a very large and flexible saw between them that they had aiming to cut through Neji.

"The best." Neji replied as he jumped over the long saw and landed right on the flat of it, driving it into the ground before thrusting both of his hands out in opposite directions at his opponents, "Hakke Kuushou (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm)!" From Neji's hands he fired an invisible blast that hit both men and blew them off of their feet away from him.

The two Tani ninja flew away from Neji, reeling from the internal damage dealt, but not done yet as their saw detached at the middle and became a pair of saw-blades, one per ninja. With their new weaponry in hand they attacked Neji again only to get a smirk out of him, "What are you smiling at you-?"

"Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven)!"

Neji spun around, releasing chakra in a blue swirling dome that defended him from the two-pronged attack and threw the Tani ninja away violently, both of them bouncing bonelessly off of nearby trees with sickening thuds.

With Naruto, his opponents pelted him with kunai and shuriken only for his body to turn into a log signifying a Kawarimi. The two enemy ninja looked around for him only to eventually look up and see two Naruto's falling from the sky with their swords brandished. They jumped apart as the two Narutos stabbed into the ground and missed them, both detonating in relatively tame explosions to signify an attempted Bunshin Daibakuha.

"You see that!" The ninja with the injured leg said as two others tended to him and his wound, "We can win even without the God of Ame! Konoha isn't as good as they think they are!"

"_God of Ame? You're actually calling that jackass Pein God?"_

Naruto's voice echoed out from all around the combat area with no indication of his exact location being given, "Come out and fight you Konoha coward! I thought you were supposed to be the strongest village of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, but I guess that's an overrated standing!"

"_You're the ones that make a big deal out of that title and live and die by it."_

While Naruto distracted the five remaining living Tanigakure ninja by talking and causing noise in the trees, Kiba took advantage of the distraction and he and Akamaru made the most of their opening as they too had been skulking around since their first move in the battle. The ground beneath the injured shinobi and the two men assisting him began to give way and they picked him up to jump away towards the other two men as Kiba drilled through the topsoil with the Tsuuga.

Once he surfaced, Kiba glared at the enemy with a growl, holding on to a pair of smoke bombs in his hand, "So if you want it so bad, why don't you just come and take it?" He let the two smoke bombs fly and covered all five of the men that had moved closer together due to being corralled by both himself and Naruto.

With a smirk, Neji and his active Byakugan charged directly into the smoke cloud with his ability to see that just had him hammering chakra and vital points with mere taps of his fingers, taking three lives until the other remaining two realized that there was a force in the smoke cutting them down, "They're leaving the smoke!" Neji shouted in warning to his teammates as witnessed it happening,

Of the two remaining Tani ninja, one was the man that had injured his knee in the beginning being helped with his arm over his remaining partner's shoulder, "We've got to hook up with the pursuit team! They're still headed this way!"

In their haste to escape the onslaught of attack that they hadn't expected from three ninja, even if they had expected the three Konoha ninja to be stronger than chunin, they were caught unaware by one figure dashing down from the trees behind them, apparently zig-zagging on air until it was too late for any kind of appropriate reaction, "Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!" Naruto drove the Rasengan downward and smashed the sphere into the back up the mobile Tanigakure ninja, sending him into the ground with authority.

There wasn't any walking away from that attack. Blood flew up from the point of impact and Naruto knew that his enemy was dead, or at least he hoped he was for mercy's sake. He had severed that unfortunate bastard's spine with the Rasengan, and that only left the original wounded man alive.

Neji and Kiba walked over to Naruto as he turned his head towards the final ninja. Seeing that he was the last man standing (so to speak), the final Tani ninja drew a kunai and hurriedly tried to wrap an exploding tag around the weapon, but this only ended up with Naruto using the Sen'nenki no Ken to cleave the hand holding the weapon off.

A yell of pain obviously followed as the man clutched the bleeding stump that his hand used to sit at the end of. Naruto grabbed the collar of the man's village flak jacket and jerked him up eye-to-eye to just glare at him, "You just heard my friend say it, and no one else is going to say it any better. Tell your friends if they want our spot, or anyone in the alliance's spot they can come and get it."

XxX

(A Short Ways Behind)

The dozen or so pursuit troops weren't about to give up in their pursuit of the intruders that had managed to break the line on the Suna side of things. It hadn't been perceived as vital to build up that side of the border so there were still gaping holes in areas of more difficult crossing, places where Kawa no Kuni's natural barriers such as wide, rapid rivers craggy plain areas sat to slow people down.

The reason they weren't giving up on the pursuit of the obviously far faster squad that had been leaving them in the dust from the outset was because an advance team meant to watch the border had sent out a response group to try and head them off. That would beget a battle and would provide more than adequate time to catch up.

Or at least they had figured until the saw the site of the very short conflict that had just transpired, complete with the bodies of their deceased comrades. The large squad landed and stopped to survey the scene only to see one survivor among them; one man sitting against a tree with his arm bleeding through a few bandages hastily tied around the stump that was his forearm.

His head was low, but they could still see life in his eyes as they all ran over to figure out just what happened, "They got through you that fast?" The first man to reach his injured comrade said as he dropped down to his knees and began checking him over. His knee was dislocated in addition to his missing right hand, "Which way did they go?"

"The blonde kid said…" The injured man said softly and sounding slightly confused, "…If I saw any of you to say; if you want it come and get it." His eyes turned up towards them full of concern and fear as he reached to slowly unzip his flak jacket, revealing a trio of exploding tags pinned to the inside of it, the kanji for 'explode' staring them all right in the face, "Please get them off." He whispered in a shaky voice.

Shock and horror rolled through the eyes of the amassed Tanigakure ninja as all they could do at that time was try to scatter away from the blast radius of the obviously forthcoming explosion.

XxX

(With Naruto, Neji, and Kiba)

BOOM!

Kiba's ears picked up the explosion from behind them loud and clear when the tags Naruto planted went off. He had told the man that any move to touch the tags or any loud, abrasive sounds would trigger the explosion prematurely. If it had been Kiba stuck with a scenario like that he would have just triggered the blast and been done with it instead of holding on to hoping that someone could come and help him. From the amount of time it took for the explosion to go off he had clearly let the timer of the tag run down to the end, and he had probably taken a few others with him by making that choice.

"That should slow them down even more." Neji said as they continued to put distance between themselves and the battle site.

With the trouble over for now, Kiba let a grin slip onto his face, "That was so easy! If the rest of the war is like this we'll stomp their asses in no time! Maybe if I kick enough ass I'll get sent straight to the Hokage seat?" He said hopefully.

Unfortunately there was a chance for Naruto to burst Kiba's bubble, "It's not going to be like this for the rest of the war Kiba." Yeah, that battle was easy because all three of them were talented in direct combat. It was usually how Konoha fought their wars, thus it was a very important thing that was stressed during a young ninja's development in the village, "A lot of others aren't like us to get out of being boxed in like that. They're not stupid enough to take us head-to-head so ambushes like that are going to happen a lot."

Smaller villages didn't go to war nearly as much, nor did they find themselves in battle with other major village shinobi to the extent that Konoha ninja did. They specialized in other focuses. Each village had their own strength to bring to the table, and the war wouldn't be fought in pitched battlefields for the most part, that kind of a war was for the powerhouses like Konoha, Iwa, or Kumo.

There would be a lot more skulking about. A lot more strikes behind Konoha's lines, a lot more sabotage, a lot more indirect conflict until one side was worn down enough to go for a knockout.

That wasn't to say that the little villages didn't have heavy-hitters. Amegakure, Kusagakure, and Takigakure would more than likely be the direct combatants out on the battlefield in bulk to fight head-on whenever it was set to do so. Other villages would provide fighters to do so as well and there were a few minor villages that were well-known for their powerful direct fighters, but they would be the general shinobi of the conflict in open fighting since they were the closest to breaking through the glass ceiling separating the minor villages from the five strongest.

Fighting on so many different fronts would be a pain in the neck to say the very least, and the portion where they would have to divert forces to keep Sunagakure settled until they could work out their problems enough to watch their own perimeters freely would make this war an all new challenge for Konoha.

Kumo had the easiest part as they could begin their own combat processes whenever ready, especially since most of Kumo's enemies would either have to inevitably march through the isthmus (a land mass surrounded on two sides by water) that was Shimo no Kuni. Or they would attack from sea, and Kiri would have their backs in case of a seafaring attack from the east which meant they only had to look out for the west.

Kiri had it somewhat worse off as well as they would have to ship troops over and land them ashore before they could even take part in the fighting. Though this also meant that they wouldn't be obligated to send as many in the early-going and expend so many resources right off the bat transporting bodies and supplies, and all naval battles would be dealt with by them.

"To hell with that!" Kiba protested vehemently. He was not about to believe that there was an actual chance this war would be anything more than a walkthrough and he didn't believe that someone else like his sister or mother couldn't handle what they had just dealt with themselves, "Why don't we just walk right up to these fuckers and pop 'em in the mouth one good time? That'll handle it."

Neji rolled his eyes at the brash Inuzuka, but his question warranted an answer and Neji gave him one in a quite sarcastic manner, "Yes… because we certainly know where Takigakure's village is and how to get inside, or where Tani is. And let's not forget that getting an attack force into Amegakure with the man that can flatten a village with one jutsu is going to be simple." Kiba had the good grace to look embarrassed at that, "Stop believing in our own hype. Yes we're good, but war is war and we're going to have to take this seriously. When we get home we have to crack down harder than ever before."

At that moment Naruto wondered how Neji would have done in Root. Then he tossed that thought aside, because Neji might have ended up like Fuu or Torune; being one of Danzo's elite pets. Still, he had a good outlook on the whole thing. He didn't believe they would lose for a moment, but he knew he and many others would have to work hard.

If he and Neji weren't both jounin and therefore on the same level of the totem pole he'd have definitely been requesting him for whatever force Naruto ended up with once he got assigned a duty during the war, "Neji and me are probably going to end up leading missions, probably to a bunch of different fronts, and Kiba you and Akamaru are probably going to be ending up getting posted at one of our defensive borders. We've all got our jobs to do… because other people won't have a Hyuuga and an Inuzuka in their teams to watch out for ambushes like that one."

The thought of someone without an Inuzuka's hearing and smell or a Hyuuga's eyes to warn them of an impending sandwich of death from an enemy attack squad brought a scowl back to Kiba's face, "Definitely…" Because that meant that in the end he'd have his own huge responsibilities to the whoever was stationed with him and he wouldn't let them down, "What happened to Suna isn't going to happen to anywhere else again."

XxX

(Iwagakure no Sato – Tsuchikage's Office)

The old Tsuchikage Onoki, diminutive in stature, sat in his own office going over reports that he had received of tensions in the region, most specifically the affairs going down south of Tsuchi no Kuni altogether towards Kaze no Kuni and Sunagakure.

His thoughts on the matter were cut short as his eyes suddenly darted upwards to see a body come out of an orange swirl that turned out to be a man's mask. The orange-swirl masked man had on a black cloak with red clouds and simply stood with his hands sunken into his pockets, "Ah, Iwagakure. I don't think I've been in this village for quite some time."

Onoki didn't move to immediately smash the intruder, because if he were an assassin he wouldn't have let himself be seen or used his teleportation jutsu right in front of him where it was easy to sense and react accordingly to, "And you are?"

"Madara Uchiha, but this is not important." Madara said succinctly.

Of course it was important that the man was Madara Uchiha. But something felt wrong to Onoki. He had fought Madara Uchiha before in the past, something that still terrified him when thinking of the man's power. He would never forget it, and this man did not carry himself with the same air that Madara had. Even so, the man was someone to be wary of if he had no fear of reprisal for infiltrating his village and his office.

"Very well then." Onoki said, keeping his head level for the time being until all of the chips were on the table, "What is it that you want? I should warn you that it had better be good, or else your efforts to get here were quite foolish." He said with a threatening tint, "Especially wearing that Akatsuki cloak. You have quite a bit of nerve showing yourself here after taking Han and Roshi."

Madara began to pace around the room before making a flippant hand gesture, "Well Akatsuki… I guess you could say it is fractured. The one you should blame for that isn't me… but that's something else altogether. I trust you are aware of the events taking place all over the Elemental Nations?"

"War." Onoki said, having not had to talk about such a topic in almost twenty years, "A war that Iwa has nothing to do with and no reason to take part."

"Even with Konoha being involved?"

What kind of game was this man running? Trying to influence him to enter the fray of the other villages. He had to think he was dealing with some kind of prideful fool, "An eye for an eye in this case is not our concern. The best revenge Iwa could take was the refusal to even hear out the alliance of the tree-huggers trying to save their own asses and that of their Uzumaki-jinchuuriki. Let them burn and lose their own blasted jinchuuriki if they can't hold on to him for themselves, just like our own."

"I don't think you should so readily dismiss the prospect." Madara said in a chiding tone of voice that could have been taken as condescending, speaking again before Onoki could take offense, "The whole world is at odds and ignoring poor old Iwagakure. An opportunity in my opinion."

"An opportunity to what?" Onoki spat, drumming his fingers on his deck, feeling more and more in the right to try and turn that masked fool Madara into dust.

Madara turned back towards Onoki and slowly pulled his fingers of his left hand into a fist, "An opportunity to take… everything. Everything south of Tsuchi no Kuni… and beyond." He could see Onoki's eye widen at the thought and felt a sense of satisfaction that one got when a seed of thought was firmly planted and taking root, "I'd personally rather see Iwa stand above the rest… it would certainly make the world more interesting than just seeing the meatheads in Kumo or boring old Konoha do it again just like always. So just think on it Tsuchikage-_sama_. All you have to do is just play every card right… and the entire western region will belong to Iwa and then some."

The eyehole of his mask then proceeded to apparently suck his entire body into it, last taking the swirl mask and once again leaving Onoki alone in his office. The look on Onoki's face seemed to be wrestling with just dismissing Madara and thinking about the fact that there just might be an opportunity at hand here to just as Madara said… take everything.

* * *

**Chapter complete and I hope you enjoyed.**

**About some things: **

**I knew that Madara with the mask wasn't the real Madara from the jump, so I felt vindicated on that front, and apparently the real Madara Uchiha is the greatest man that has ever lived, third greatest maybe behind Hashirama and the original Rikudou Sennin, or at least that's what the latest chapter of Naruto would have you believe (I expected that much as well, because how else did the Valley of the End get ripped open? It takes two to tango, three in the case of the Kyuubi summoning… and it kind of makes me wonder how strong Hashirama's ass was to win that fight in the end.), I understand that he's a total beast, but that's where the understanding ends. **

**So Sharingan evolves to Mangekyou Sharingan. Cool, I totally understand and Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu are awesome anyway and Kamui is kind of sweet to boot. Then Mangekyou Sharingan to Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Okay… the other one was badass enough, now there's Susanoo too, we get the point. Sharingan is awesome. Even then I still understood because, well going blind for all of that awesome would suck.**

**Now it's apparently Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan to Rinnegan.**

***sigh***

**Now please take note that I was still a little drunk from breakfast when I read this, so I had to sober up and do it again… and it still said the same thing. I'm confused, and not in the good way that makes me want to find out what the hell's going on. So technically every Uchiha that has ever lived has had the capacity for Rinnegan. Great… and I mean that with the utmost sarcasm.**

**I still want to believe. I want to believe because of one heavily overlooked side of things that never gets any spotlight at all and I want to believe that it is by Kishimoto's mad genius design to swerve us all in the end when all hope seems utterly lost. He made Naruto show off some cool new attacks and had him singlehandedly beat the Third Raikage and that was pretty awesome. That means something to me and shows me that there is something, especially since Naruto's sheer chakra seems to make the Zetsus and Mokuton trees grow out of control.**

**I want to believe that even though Naruto still can't make a Bijudama (Which doesn't seem that strong anymore after seeing all of this other stuff in hindsight) and doesn't seem like he can even beat Sasuke at the moment, let alone touch fake-Madara (and we're not even talking about badass real-Madara) there's some super-secret Senju thing that Hashirama had besides growing trees that made him enough of a BAMF to beat the real Madara, because when you summon an asteroid from the atmosphere the size of a village that's way bigger than Nagato's Chibaku Tensei… that's it dude (How would that thing **_**not**_** destroy the entire continent if it hits? Are the ninja going to go out like dinosaurs?).**

**This has got to be close to the end. After the war there can't be anything else, otherwise we're dipping into Dragonball Z levels of power here… and there are no aliens to justify the absurd boosts of world-smashing power…**

…**That we know of.**

**But if it did go down like that, I just have to wonder… would Sasuke end up being the Piccolo to Naruto's Goku? Jesus, how would that work out? I'm completely getting off of the original topic at this point so I guess I'll call it a day on this one.**

**Okay, that was a long rant but I'm done. Thanks for reading the chapter and for possibly bearing with my maniacal rant at the end of said chapter. I'll see you all next time hopefully.**

**Kenchi out.**


	57. Lucid Haze

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I don't own anything at all. This is because I am not a professional-anything-that-makes-actual-money. Fighting professionally gets you all of jack-shit unless you're well sponsored and well known (if ten people actually know my name I would be stunned), and getting hit in the head for peanuts does not particularly make you an awe-inspiring novelist or artist… thus I technically suck at all of my side interests outside of the actual career choice of television production.

I can see why people drink, because that was one depressing thought. Should a 20 year old even think of something like that?

**Chapter 56: Lucid Haze**

* * *

Things began falling in place as far as the Grand Shinobi Alliance (Konoha, Kumo, Kiri, and Suna) went when it came to the opening days and weeks of the international war against the Continental Ninja Federation (Ame, Kusa, Taki, and the other minor villages).

As the days dragged forward, waking up in his own bed did not have the same calming effect that it usually would have for Naruto. It had been a week since his return along with Kiba and Neji and it had been a little over two weeks since the destruction of the desert village altogether.

Since then he had been stuck at home, and while being Kumo dignitary/jounin/jinchuuriki Yugito Nii's personal contact for things she needed in Konoha for the duration of her stay was an easy-going responsibility and allowed him to hang out with one of his closest and loveliest friends he was not particularly considering himself good-fortuned. He felt guiltier than anything else.

Konoha had already sent out shinobi to begin keeping the borders locked down tight and to also begin setting traps and choke points in case of an attempt to invade or infiltrate and there was still the matter of the large task force that already sat in Suna to help them until further notice. Now it was just a matter of a waiting game for him. Every time he woke up he imagined furious knocking on his door or window prior to someone informing him of an emergency window or a message when he went into the village telling him that someone had died in the field.

He had yet to truly deal with that yet despite the death of Danzo and the fact that Sasuke had died after battle with him. Now it was only a matter of time until it actually did happen. For all he knew it could be him whose life ended miles away from home, away from anyone that would know or care.

No way. Not a chance while he had anything to say about it, and as long as he was around none of his friends would die on his watch either. But he didn't have much of a watch as he was.

A knock came onto his door. Damn, how did she know he was awake? He hadn't made a single move since opening his eyes.

"Naruto-sama, breakfast is ready."

Well there was no need to lay there and act like he wasn't already up, and if he didn't get up then Jiraiya would just eat all of the food and then taunt him for being too slow, and then they'd both get to fighting and tear part of the house up, and then Hamako would somehow slap a chakra sealing tag on both of them and then hit them (how she managed to get that close to the both of them without them feeling it they would never know). He didn't need that drama that early in the morning. He had things to do today.

So with that, he hopped out of bed and threw on a pair of pants and a shirt before exiting the room to head to the kitchen. Once there he found his food set out with Jiraiya and Hamako already eating their share, "Good morning Naruto-sama." Hamako said with a smile after swallowing her bite as he took his seat.

"Good morning Hamako-chan, and thanks." Naruto returned with a grateful smile that the white-haired girl nodded to. After eating for a bit in silence, Naruto turned towards Jiraiya, 'It's only a matter of time before Ero-kyofu has to do something in the field again.' He knew Jiraiya was powerful, but he had to think back to when they fought after he mastered Sage Mode. If Jiraiya had both arms available to him he doubted he would have fought to a draw with him, the hellified beatings lain upon him for years before reaching that point were evidence of that.

Jiraiya noticed Naruto's eyes locked onto him and grinned wryly at the young man, "Hey, I know I'm sexy and I'm your awe-inspiring hero and all gaki but you might as well have that special eye of yours active if you're going to be looking at me that hard. Apparently Naruto hadn't known how hard he was staring because he blinked and turned his gaze down to his food at that point, "You know you're going to be dispatched any day now don't you?"

"What about you?" Naruto asked. He had in fact known that it was only a matter of time. Kiba was already gone with the rest of Team 8 to watch over the northern border of Hi no Kuni, sans Kurenai for some reason. It wasn't particularly Naruto's business… and if it really came down to it he supposed he could find her and ask since she was still in the village. As a matter of fact he hadn't seen her in a while, but that was neither here nor there, "There's no way Tsunade-baachan is sending you out like you are… or is she?"

Jiraiya frowned and lifted his single remaining arm as a method of showing, "Even with one arm I'm still enough to whip you kid. You know that. And I'm going out by my own choice." Tsunade actually tried to coerce him into staying and Jiraiya said he would under one condition; the condition wound up with him getting kicked halfway across the village. But that was by design. Even if Tsunade told him to stay in reserve he still wouldn't have. He wasn't some damn genin that needed to be protected, and there really wasn't anyone in the entire village that could honestly force Jiraiya to do anything he didn't want to.

But he was not going to deliberately piss off his Tsunade-hime in such a blatant manner. He would stay… he'd stay until it was prudent that he leave to reinforce somewhere. There wasn't a need to let Naruto know that though. The kid worked better when he didn't think he had a safety net in waiting.

"What about Hamako-chan? Are you really going to leave her here alone? I'm depending on you Ero-kyofu." Naruto said in an effort to justify Jiraiya staying. A very weak attempt at justification in his opinion. It must have been because he had just woken up that he came up with such a lame reason.

And Hamako herself didn't seem to care one way or the other, "I will be fine by myself. Really. I have many important things to do around the village anyway so I won't be too terribly bored or lonely at all."

"There you go." Jiraiya said with an air of victory about him after getting Naruto's flimsy excuse shot right down out of the sky, "And that settles that."

"You should worry more about yourself at the moment Naruto-sama." Hamako said, sitting her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands, "You've never fought a war before have you?" She herself had lived in wartime conditions in the past, but she wasn't a shinobi so she wasn't able to give him any actual advice, not like Jiraiya could, "You should enjoy the time you have because once it begins in earnest you won't know when you'll get to rest again."

It was a good point she made though. Despite the fact that he was no stranger to conflicts of all kind he had never engaged in open warfare before. It was something that had been avoided for the entirety of his generation.

As he thought about that he wondered just how Root was preparing for the coming days, 'Maybe I should check in with Sai or Maki when I get the chance again. I know they'll have everything in order. Sai knows how to handle things.' Since Sai had been groomed for just this moment to take over the day-to-day running of Root there probably wasn't that Naruto could do that Sai wouldn't be able to do more efficiently.

Naruto's attention was returned to Jiraiya when a piece of food was flicked at him and bounced off of his forehead, eliciting a growl from Naruto as he prepared to wing his entire plate at Jiraiya's head in retaliation. That was until he saw the look of seriousness of Jiraiya's face, "I do have a little sliver of advice for you that I don't think I have to tell you. When you do find yourself in a fight, make sure you end it as fast as you possibly can. It might be redundant to say to someone like you, but if there's no need to waste chakra don't do it. These battles can go long. I'm not sure just what'll change from the last time though."

It went without saying that Jiraiya didn't have to tell him not to prolong his fights, but that gave way to another question from Naruto, "How will Ame fight?" He asked before he began to quickly eat again.

"A lot of genjutsu… a lot of ambushes… especially around minuscule bodies of water." Jiraiya said, digging through his own memories from the Second Shinobi World War to come up with a good answer, "Don't ever take a river crossing, a stream… hell, don't even take crossing a fresh puddle after a rain for granted. They can wait there for days without having to move, and they _all_ know that damn technique that lets them blend into water. As a matter of fact if you see a dog's dish filled with water in any village you come across I want you to kick the shit out of it just in case." A joke to end with… or was it? He couldn't even tell anymore.

"It's not just Amegakure that there is to worry about." Hamako said with a slightly worried expression on her face, "Konoha's forces will be spread thin as it is… and we don't even know all of the villages that are prepared to fight this war against us."

Jiraiya chewed his food angrily before responding to that, "It's even more now. There are five more villages that my network dredged up as mobilizing for war while you were away in Suna. They aren't located anywhere near Konoha or Hi no Kuni in general though, so that would be a silver lining around this particular cloud."

So it was four, or three if one were to count out Sunagakure, against dozens. It was like a bunch of hyenas fighting against a lion. Of course the lions were better equipped for combat and would tear through the hyenas when going one on one or even two on one, but eventually with a numbers advantage the way it was the hyenas had an advantage that could not be overlooked. Dangerous enough to do damage on their own however unable to finish the lion, but with enough numbers they could overcome the superpower.

Naruto looked down at his plate to find that he had absently finished his food while thinking things through as best he could. He didn't know why he was thinking about his potential orders and whatnot. He wasn't going to be a general when he fought even if he was going to be leading missions so he didn't have much of a place trying to rationalize orders of even try coming up with them. His job was to take whatever mission he was given and finish it. That was it.

"Shouldn't you get going by now?"

He had been staring down at his empty plate for long enough to make it weird for the others sitting there. It got to the point where Jiraiya had to prod him verbally to snap him out of things. How long had he been sitting there?

All he had in the manner of response was a nod as he got up from his place at the table and started walking back towards his room to get ready for the day. He seemed to be moving like a ghost, and it didn't necessarily sit well with the other two denizens of the house, "I don't think I've ever seen Naruto-sama like this. Is he just overthinking this whole scenario again like he did a few months ago?" Hamako asked.

Jiraiya shook his head. This whole thing wasn't anything like when he was stressing out over how to fight the Akatsuki members. War was a whole different animal and if nothing else it was clear that Naruto seemed to be aware of that, "No, he's fine. It's normal to feel that way when things are calm and he's expecting insanity… it's like the calm before the storm. He's just walking around in a dull fog. He'll snap out of it once he actually fights again or gets a mission. Everyone does."

"That doesn't sound like such a good thing to be honest."

XxX

(Later That Day)

Tayuya had been dispatched to one of the mounting fronts in the northwest, as had Neji and the rest of Team Gai. All of Team 8 was out. Sakura was still in Suna as a part of the relief team. Kakashi had been sent to the obvious hotspot of the western borders of Hi no Kuni where the bulk of the fighting was expected to take place, either to the border of Kusa or Ame. Team 10 was in the village because of Shikamaru's mounting responsibilities to wait on base intelligence, he was to later be dispatched with Ino and Chouji to one of the established fronts once things had been set as to how the war was going to go.

So why the hell was he still sitting in the jounin standby station for hours on end waiting for some kind of order? He didn't want to be 'that guy' that wound up sitting back doing nothing except for specialty missions. He didn't want to say he was necessarily bloodthirsty, but he was getting stir crazy knowing that his friends could all be fighting at that very moment. It just didn't sit well with him.

A tap came on his shoulder from his spot on a couch and Naruto turned to find Sai smiling at him, "Sai?" He looked around the room only seeing two other jounin in the room before returning his attention to his partner, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm technically an ANBU ranked shinobi Naruto-senpai." Sai said informatively, "I can go anywhere I want to." He motioned for Naruto to get up and leave the building with him which they both did, getting a distance away before he then reached somewhere and grabbed a scroll, handing it to Naruto, "Your first war assignment; handed to me by Hokage-sama directly."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and received the parcel from Sai, slightly confused, "Why didn't she just call me in to give it to me herself?" He opened the scroll and looked at it before quickly shutting it with wide eyes and looking at Sai again, alarmed at what he had just read, "Are you telling me she knows about-?"

Sai nodded, "I felt it was a prudent first step to inform Hokage-sama of the subsistence of our group. She will have an eye on me to make sure our actions are for the benefit of Konoha but other than that it is business as usual. There's more if you were to just look at it."

A deadpan look came over Naruto's face at Sai's urging to keep reading. Just reading that Tsunade knew of his continued relationship with Root wasn't exactly a marching order and he had just been alarmed by the first portion of the scroll, "Smartass…" He muttered before doing as Sai suggested, "Okay, it looks like I leave tomorrow to… the border with Kusa. No team, and I'm supposed to meet up with the shinobi in charge there for my actual mission." A frown came over his face, "No team? Huh, I usually don't run solo."

"Do you want reinforcements?" Sai asked as they continued through the generally deserted streets, "There are always one or two operatives that can be spared if you would like."

"No, it's fine." Naruto assured Sai casually, "Keep them for when they need to be sent out. Don't bother wasting manpower on me just to get to the border." There was a very small chance of him being attacked this deeply within the country and Root were not meant to be bodyguards. That was misappropriation of force. It seemed to be more of an offer for personal reasons other than logical professional reasons, "Sai… are you worried I'm going to get killed or something?"

"Not me, it's more for Maki-san than anything else. You know that I don't have any feelings like that." Sai's response got Naruto to roll his eyes. He could only keep on using that tired old excuse for so long. He couldn't keep using Maki as a scapegoat even if it was true, "I do see us as friends though, and it would be unlucky if you did die in the field."

Wow, what a friendly thing to say. Unlucky for who exactly, and why? Unlucky for himself obviously since he would be dead, but other than that…

"How would it have been for Maki-chan?" Naruto decided to ask next as they seemed to be making their way back towards Naruto's home. He hadn't even noticed that Sai had been directing them that way, "I haven't even seen her in a while. What's going on with her, is she doing okay?"

Now that question from Naruto actually elicited a minute laugh from Sai, "I believe it isn't my place to say." Ever since stumbling upon Danzo's microfilm detailing his plan for all three of them, Maki had been acting strange whenever Naruto was brought up. He'd even suggested going to see him at his home since there was nothing keeping her from doing it, but she was skittish over doing so. And Naruto didn't even know why, "She's fine though. You might see her sooner than later."

Naruto nodded, "Good. I need to prepare to leave for my mission and tell Yugi-chan I'm going to be gone for a while, but when I come back, definitely." In the back of his head, he was chomping at the bit to get out and into the action and he was confident of his chances after the extreme amounts of training he and Jiraiya had been doing since his last big fight, "It won't take long for me to get back. Count on it."

"And if there is ever a time when you need help, remember that we're still there Naruto-senpai."

"…Hopefully it won't come to that too often."

XxX

(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)

A rare time of rain not pouring down in the village and there wasn't even any time to enjoy the happening. Pein had just finished using an astral projection of himself to inform the higher-level Amegakure shinobi of how forces would be distributed across the lands for future combat efforts.

This was the chance of Ame to get a semblance of payback from villages like Konoha with no chance of later reprisal somewhere down the line. All he needed were the last four jinchuuriki. _He_ had the Rinnegan, _he_ had the Gedou Mazou statue with the currently captured biju trapped within. Once the war ended, and he didn't even need it to end for his final plan to come to fruition, there wouldn't be any more retaliatory warfare. His ultimate ninjutsu created from the nine biju and their combined chakra would see to that.

The Deva Path and Konan stood in front of a light projection of a map of the Elemental Nations to survey the scene, "Suna is of no consequence to us. The smaller opportunistic villages will use this as their chance to finish them off for good to take control of the region. Our focus will be mainly on Konoha, and we have several villages not including Kusagakure in the same frame of mind."

"Perhaps a joint operation of some sort?" Konan ventured as to how Ame would go about dealing with that. It was something to think about if nothing else. As much as she didn't want to contribute to this entire situation it was still her village and Konan was still going to go to bat for her people when it came to it, "What about when Kirigakure begins landing ninja to take part in the battle?"

"They will assist Kumo first due to proximity. I have a feeling that will come with issues of its own."

Konan nodded in somewhat agreement. Kirigakure had been isolated for decades and had not fought in any of the previous great wars since its inception. It mostly had to deal with its own domestic incidents from island to island even before the civil war that had befallen them in the past. Then there was the fact that they would be vulnerable during their landing period. That was a completely different major problem altogether.

"Our village is the most secure in the Elemental Nations." Pein said confidently. The fact that the village was surrounded by a massive lake on all sides and had skyscrapers to get a good view of anyone trying to cross would have been daunting enough, but Pein's rain had the ability to find any intruders once he found their chakra signature, "And your trump card jutsu is set as well, correct?"

"Yes. In case it is needed my most powerful technique is prepared." Confirmed Konan. It was something she was rather proud of and would have prevented the village from being invaded by a massive force. Her own way to protect the village she pledged herself to bring peace to… although now it would probably be used for full-fledged war.

How ironic.

The Deva Path of Pein simply accepted what Konan had told him, knowing that as his most trusted and closest confidant she was perhaps the only person he could know without a doubt was on the ball, "Until a moment arises we will keep annexing territory around Ame to shore up our defensive borders. Traps and team ambushes should be the bulk of our combat until an opening is found."

"Kusa will be more aggressive with their approach." They were among the most self-assured that they could compete against the larger villages and had a body of work over the last twenty years to stack up to that thought.

"Let them." Pein said with finality as he walked towards the balcony to look out on his village, "Perhaps they will be the ones to bring about the opening we are looking for." It was sunny outside for once… if only for a moment or so.

XxX

(Two Days Later – Northwest Border of Hi no Kuni)

This was the nicest base camp that Naruto could have ever figured he'd see. It looked like a whole miniature village on its own. A little bustling town thrown up at the border with wooden homes that looked like they belonged there. The only thing that would have let him know that it was the base of operations was that the guards had Konoha hitae-ate on their foreheads and Konoha flak jackets on.

It reminded Naruto that he had yet to put his on. Maybe later if he felt the need for it.

His curiosity of where the hell all of the buildings came from gave way to a bit of joy when he spotted a familiar face stationed at the desk of the armory, issuing basic weapons to those that did not have their full supply, "Tayuya-chan!"

The redhead's bored brown eyes panned in the direction of Naruto's voice, thinking that she finally found something to do in the form of her verbally tearing into one of the meatheads running around the base for using her name with such a suffix. She didn't know them. But she did indeed know the person that she saw walking over to her desk, "Uzumaki? Well what do you know? I thought they were going to keep you on lockdown in the village until the shit hit the fan. You're stationed here too?" She said with a toothy grin.

"For now until my mission is done." Naruto said with a shrug as he made it over to the desk and leaned against it, "When I'm done with whatever mission I have here I have to stay here as if I were a part of the division until I get assigned something else."

That was how quite a few ninja would be operating. Not many in the grand scheme, but Naruto's situation wasn't that different from others so it wasn't outlandish.

"Well due to being bored as hell because I'm doing a job that doesn't need four people working the fucking supply desk while everyone's fully furnished, I'm taking it upon myself to show you around the northwest command post." Tayuya hopped over the desk and smoothed her purple skirt out. She wore her full-body mesh suit, hat, and skirt like the last time he had seen her, but she had on her flak jacket instead of her tan top, "Let's roll then. Where are you looking for exactly?"

"Wherever the division commander is." As Tayuya began leading him around, Naruto fell in step with the shorter girl. His eyes panned about and saw a lot of tension on the faces of the shinobi he could see outside of the buildings, "So how are things around here? Anything gone wrong yet?"

Tayuya shook her head with a frown adorning it, "It's one of those fucking 'glass-half-full/half-empty' things. There's a river not too much further west of here. That's basically no man's land; nothing much ever happens as far as attacks go over here, but if you set one foot in view of the other side then you're fucked. That's where the forest that we're used to ends and where the weird forests begin."

"Weird forests?"

"Yep." Tayuya said, intentionally popping her lips for added effect, "Weird as hell. Different from anything you see in Hi no Kuni, ever. Forests made completely of bamboo and mushrooms… shit like that. Then there are ones made of tall grass that are completely impassable. You can't see shit in those fucking things. Those are the worst. They're fucking death traps."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "All those are just across the river? That sounds like a whole country full of terrain to me."

That point being given, Tayuya stopped walking and blushed as she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "Oh, well it is. I kind of know the rest of them because Oto had a base in this country back in the day. The only one that's right across the ravine and the river is one made of bamboo. You can see it as clear as day if you go to the cliffside of the ravine. I wouldn't get that close though."

"So we can't even get a force across the river?"

"I _think_ we can." Tayuya continued as they kept walking through the base camp, "But it is just not worth it. They have sensors… awesome sensors. Any time we tried to get an expedition force across they were repelled with big losses before they could even get up the other side of the ravine, no matter how we tried to cover them. Anything that gets across would be totally ineffective and wiped out altogether. We just stopped trying and are holding the line here for now. Stalemate style. Everyone's pissed."

There was a good reason for being pissed. Kusa wasn't trying to fight them directly, they just had the border covered well. So there would be no direct approach, but the border was mostly comprised of the ravine and river that cut through it. It was deep all the way through and there were only two good bridges that had ever been constructed to cross. One of them had been destroyed during the last war.

Eventually Tayuya led him to one of the smallest buildings around and began to lead him up to the guards at the door, "Here's the place that you want. The commander's inside. Come on." The guards let Tayuya past and Naruto as well without any hassle.

There was only one room in the small place and at a desk was the man that Naruto perceived to be the commander, "Tenzo?" Naruto said questioningly as he and Tayuya walked up to the desk.

"I told you to call me Yamato from now on Naruto." The wood-manipulating shinobi said as he looked up from the multiple maps on his desk, "So you finally made it out here I see. Welcome to deadlocked hell."

Both Naruto and Tayuya pulled up a chair to Yamato's desk and took a seat, "You called for me to come out here?" Naruto asked, getting a firm nod from Yamato, "So that means that you think you needed me. What's up?"

Yamato beckoned both Naruto and Tayuya forward to get a better look at the map on the table that had his main attention before they had come in, "The river and the ravine. We can't cross that thing. No one can. We've tried in multiple places and we just can't. I can't even construct a bridge across. Anytime I try they bombard the hell of our side once they find us."

Tayuya felt it prudent to point out one particular time for illustration purposes, "You did get close that one time. Remember when you set up that little one that let us try to get a few across to hold the area until you had time to make a bigger bridge?"

"I'd rather not remember that incident." Yamato said with a grimace before explaining to Naruto, "They blew up my smaller bridge and trapped the force on the other side of the ravine. It was like a school of piranha… twenty-five men died that night." He narrowed his eyes angrily before sighing and rubbing his temple, "And they have control of the only constructed bridge that would readily be available for use. Tenchi Bridge." He then pointed that spot out on the map, "And at the other end of that bridge they have a fortress close enough to retaliate against any crossing attempts."

Tayuya smirked at that point though, "They can't blow it up to cut us off though. We won't let the fuckers get a demolition team near it and we just keep fighting over it. No one has any claim over it at the moment."

Yamato stroked his chin and pointed at a different border a little further north, "They'll probably look to head through the land held by Takigakure to try and flank us and rush us from the north. It's pretty obvious, but they have a chance at getting us and dealing some damage. And then their force over the bridge could attack us from there and we'd have double trouble to deal with."

Naruto looked between the map and Yamato and scratched his cheek, "Now what do you want from me?"

Placing his finger on the point where the camp was, Yamato dragged his finger to the northern border held by Takigakure, "I want you to get into Kusa's land holdings through the three way border shared by us, them, and Takigakure. From there I want you to move back southwest towards the bridge and the fortress. Take it down and we can cross the bridge to get a foothold into their ground."

"Walk back behind enemy lines and take down the fortress by himself?" Tayuya said with a dry look on her face, "Is that all you want from him or do you want him to march straight to Kusa and make the higher-ups surrender as well? How about a souvenir?" She then blinked and remembered who she was talking to, "…Um, sir."

Yamato blocked a quirk of his lips that would have made an amused smile and instead glowered at Tayuya with a creepy expression on his face, "Is that a touch of insubordination I hear from you Tayuya?" He felt a touch of satisfaction when he saw both Tayuya and Naruto both stiffen in alarm. Tayuya shook her head rapidly and readjusted her disheveled hat back onto her head properly, "Good. And Naruto can handle it. Trust me, I've seen him walk into total rat's nests and get out. He has an entire border to work with now."

The entire final reason that he was promoted earlier in the year to jounin came due to the long-term mission he had been dispatched on to assist in the location and eradication of as many Otogakure bases as possible. This was just like that only there would be way tighter security around the fortress. If he screwed it up he was going to have one hell of a time getting himself out.

"I can do it." Naruto said with conviction, "Let me go for it. I'll get in, blow it up, and get out. That'll get rid of the fortifications around the Tenchi Bridge keeping us from getting across it, right?"

Tayuya gave Naruto an incredulous look that he seemed to be okay with such a mission, "Are you out of your fucking gourd? It would take you four days to get up and around travelling at normal speed, and now you have to be careful of getting caught up in patrols and not to mention the fucking three way border to boot. You need a whole goddamned squad just to have a fighting chance at getting to the other side."

"Are you volunteering?"

That got Tayuya to blink suddenly for the second time in the conversation, this time in confusion, "Huh?"

Unlike the first time, this time Yamato's amusement couldn't really be hidden as he managed to crack a small smile, "You heard me. Are you volunteering to assist Naruto on this mission?"

"W-Well not really." Tayuya responded, not knowing exactly how to respond to that. She turned towards Naruto in a demure manner that was unlike her usual guise, "Do you actually want the help Uzumaki?"

Naruto looked at Tayuya and thought on it. He hadn't planned on getting help and she didn't sound 100% convinced that the mission was worth taking with such a small group (namely him). Before he could finish thinking on it the voice in his head chimed in, **"She's scared."** The Kyuubi seemed to sound amused at the fact, **"Isn't this the same girl that stormed into Konoha and left with the Uchiha, only having her other three teammates to help him?"**

But that was after the invasion when Konoha was relatively weakened. Sasuke came with them willingly, and it wasn't a wartime state around the countryside. This was nothing like that, and even then she had experience with terrible things befalling her when the mission went to hell; she was the only one that survived that clusterfuck.

He wasn't going to take her since he wasn't even sure how things would go. No, he was enough to accomplish the objective. Just because he felt comfortable playing with his own life didn't mean he felt alright with doing it using his friends' lives.

Naruto shook his head and put a hand on Tayuya's shoulder, "I don't need the help Tayuya-chan. You don't have to go. I can pull this off just fine."

"I wasn't going to let her go anyway." Yamato suddenly chimed in, letting the two have their little moment so that he could possibly tease one or the other later. He had to take what he could get as far as amusement at a time like this. He ignored the incredulous looks on both Naruto and Tayuya's faces at that revelation, "Tayuya is the leading genjutsu specialist of the division, both in casting and breaking them. She's stopped several night raids from the bridge area basically on her own because of this already."

Tayuya grit her teeth and glared at Yamato heavily, "Then why'd you just let us go through all of the beating around the bush bullshit we just going through doing about the whole giving him backup thing?"

"Well, because I need something to mess with you both about later Little Miss Smitten."

Naruto tightening his grip on Tayuya's shoulder to hold her back kept her from trying to do something hotheaded to their division commander, 'Jeez, I might as well be sitting in front of Kakashi-sensei if this is what Yamato-taichou's going to do.' "Right… well I guess I'll head out tonight if it'll take four days to get up and around to the other side."

Yamato nodded, "Good. You should get some sleep if you're going to be travelling at night. Head to the barracks and grab an empty space to rest up until sundown. That's when I'll give you the lay of the land along our side of the line." Naruto stood up and proceeded to leave the office, Tayuya following him on the way out, "Good luck."

XxX

(Seas between Kaminari no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni)

"Incoming vessels sir!"

Onboard one of a series of ships carrying the first of the Kirigakure forces towards the mainland to assist their allies in the war, a man in the crow's nest yelled down to his captain once said vessels came into his sight.

The lead shinobi of that ship took a pair of binoculars and looked out towards the horizon where the ships were coming towards them, "Which village's colors are they flying?" He wanted to know which particular village was planning on trying to cut them off with a naval battle. There were quite a few villages on smaller islands between Mizu no Kuni and the main continent of the Elemental Nations.

"They don't have any village markings on the ship anywhere at all!"

That got the main ninja's attention as he looked up to the crow's nest in disbelief prior to looking back out through his binoculars, "Are you telling me that we're getting attacked by pirates?" What kind of pirates would be attacking them outright, and why? As a matter of fact, how did they even find their exact location with enough warning to prepare a fleet of ships?

XxX

(Onboard a Pirate Ship)

An evil looking man with a goatee dark messy hair that could be seen under a red captain's hat and three red markings on his face, one under each eye and one going down the bridge of his nose, stood out observing the forthcoming Kiri ships with a grin on his face. He wore a red captain's coat, brown pants, grey gloves, and had a rapier tucked into the sash around his waist, "So what's to stop me from taking all of the money that masked person paid me with and killing the three of you right here?"

Suigetsu sat on the deck of the ship leaning against a crate while Karin sat on the very same crate and Juugo stood off to the side, "The fact that we'll just kill you instead if you try it and destroy all of your ships except one… or do I need to give you more of a demonstration like we did on Battleship Island?" He stood up and cracked his neck, "Listen up Gataro. You can take the money and whatever loot you can salvage from what's left of the ships. I just want the practice." Before he made his move he turned towards Karin, "Are those ships all that are coming?"

Karin nodded and adjusted her glasses on her face, "Yeah. Those are the only ones on their way at the moment."

"Good." Suigetsu said as he unsealed Samehada from its scroll and held the violent weapon in his hands, "Juugo, stay with Karin and if any of these idiots even look at her wrong you can kill everyone on the ship. I'll be right back." With that, he jumped over the side of the ship and into the water.

The ship's pirate captain Gataro watched Suigetsu jump into the water and shook his head, "What's that fool doing? We were about to prepare for battle and he just jumps overboard."

"You don't know that much about what ninja are capable of do you?" Karin commented in a bored manner with her hand in her cheek before pointing out at the Kiri ships that were coming closer, "This is the worst place possible for anyone to try and fight someone like Suigetsu."

"Suiton: Oni Sakana (Water Release: Demon Fish)!"

A titanic tidal wave rose up from the water in front of Gataro's fleet of ships and pushed them backwards as it rose high up over the surface of the water and took the form of a demonic fish with an open mouth and sharp teeth. The wall of water was enough to encompass the entire width of the path the Kiri ships were on.

It then proceeded to smash the smaller vessels into scraps in one forceful crash that carried the debris and the men that had been onboard away, allowing the water to calm once more as if nothing had ever happened. The only signs of the swift violence that had occurred was the wreckage of the ships and the motionless bodies floating on top of the water.

As the entire pirate crew looked on in shock and horror at the entire group of Kiri ships being taken down in one move, Suigetsu scared the living hell out of them by blasting right out of the water and landing back on the deck, "So how'd that look?" He asked Karin and Juugo as he grinned with his sharp, shark-like teeth.

Karin chuckled slightly before answering, "Samehada is bolstering your chakra reserves after not even two months. It's amazing." It made her wonder just how deep were Kisame's reserves before his death, having hauled that blade around for well over a decade, "Are you even tired yet?"

"Not even close." Suigetsu said, laughing to himself as he held Samehada in the air, "Three of the swords made me this strong… I can't wait until I get the other four. I'll be the strongest sword-using shinobi that ever lived."

"And then we kill Naruto Uzumaki, right?" Karin's voice sounded dark and hateful as she referenced Naruto. A person she had never met or even seen before elicited such anger and hate from her. It was inconceivable.

"Sure." Suigetsu said in order to appease her, though he was indeed going to help her achieve her goal. He would never admit it out loud, but Juugo's bouts of insanity and Karin's bossy personality had grown on him, "The masked boss-man will come and get us soon enough when we're ready. Until then we keep these waterways good and shaken up. It's just damn good training too."

XxX

(Northwest Border of Hi no Kuni – Konohagakure Northwestern Front Command Post – Nightfall)

"Are you all ready to go?" Tayuya asked him, her hands adjusting his Root top as they both stood outside of the security fence around the camp. She hadn't particularly left his side all day since he had shown up, and she seemed to be fussing nervously over him. She even slept with him in his bedroll and scared off anyone that would have bothered waking him up just to chat with the jinchuuriki of Konoha while he was in the field with them, "You've got everything, you're not hungry, and you're sure you can do this by yourself, right?"

It was kind of funny to see her mothering him. Maybe being in an active war for the second time since the invasion of Konoha scared her more than she originally let on. It wasn't like it was a one and done attack the way that one was. There were plenty of chances of someone close to her getting killed. All it took was a sliver of dumb luck in this sort of situation, and Tayuya actually had friends and people to care for now.

"Yes. I'm as ready as I'm going to get." Naruto, grabbed Tayuya's wrists to keep her from messing with his clothes or equipment any more, a smile on his face when he saw the lost look she gave him, "It's going to be fine. I'll be back here before anyone even misses me."

A wry look came over the flute-wielding kunoichi's face, "I'm thinking about the experience that I have with you sneaking into bases and into enemy lines eight years ago. You fucking got caught and chased to the border. You can't get away with that shit this time."

"It wasn't my fault and I was there for months before I got caught." Naruto defended prior to just standing there, leaning against the fence with the closest friend he had at that base.

The seemingly comfortable silence that sat between the two came when Tayuya turned her eyes towards him, "I really, really don't trust this bullshit mission Uzumaki. Why would Yamato-taichou call for just you to do this?"

There was just something about this whole thing that Tayuya did not like. It was like she spent the entire day trying to wrap her head around the whole situation. He didn't like seeing her like that, "I can do it Tayuya-chan, just trust me." Naruto said, not getting much of a reaction before he continued to speak, "Well how about this? It'll take four days for me to get up and around to the other side with the route I'm taking. Give me five days. If you don't see or hear about me running across that bridge from the other side back towards our camp then you have permission to beat the crap out of me when you see me again."

"If you die I'm going to find a way to bring you back just to make sure you make good on that and let me kick the shit out of you." It hadn't escaped Naruto's notice that when he had let go of Tayuya's wrists she hadn't let go of him and had been holding both of his hands. She eventually sighed and let go of him, "Yeah, yeah… get the fuck out of here already."

"You're going to stop all of that cursing around me one day."

"Bite me."

"Already did."

Tayuya gave him a hard punch in the shoulder and took a step back to let Naruto begin to walk away. Once he moved past her though, she grabbed a hold of his forearm and quickly turned him around. Before he could even register a question to ask her as to what else was up, Tayuya grabbed his collar and pulled him into a rather rough kiss.

A sober Tayuya had never initiated a kiss with him, and the only time Naruto had ever felt comfortable doing so himself were the few times when he and the girl had sex. It was just what he did to assure her that he cared and that his attention was firmly on her and her alone and she never seemed like she enjoyed them.

But now she had attacked his mouth with her own with complete abandon and her tongue was pushing his around in a rather one-sided duel. He was too stunned to kiss her back for the ten seconds that it managed to last when she roughly shoved him back and gave him a look that showed she was quite pleased with herself once she saw his stunned look, "Well did you see that coming?"

Naruto opened and closed his mouth repeatedly trying to think of something to retort with but came up with nothing, "I… didn't. I thought you hated kissing."

"I did. I still kind of do actually." Tayuya said with a shrug, "But I used to hate you too. Do you think I still do now?" A smile broke out between the two of them before she then shooed him away, "Now go on and get moving jackass, you're burning moonlight."

Giving her one last wave, Naruto turned and took off heading away from the base to his northern destination to reach the three way border.

Still feeling quite pleased at throwing Naruto off with her actions, Tayuya leaned against the gate and stayed there until she couldn't feel his presence in the area any longer.

Once she actually started to make her way back into the camp she heard the sound of slow clapping and saw a cheerful looking Anko sitting nearby on top of the fence lining the outside of the base, "Ooh how cute. Just wait until I tell everyone how adorable little Tayuya was out here having her little romantic moment with her hero." She then rolled backwards off of the fence to dodge projectile snakes that were sent flying at her from Tayuya's mesh sleeve.

"You're so dead bitch!" Tayuya jumped over the fence, forgoing the usual method of entering through the gate so that she could pursue the madly cackling Anko angrily, "And just who the fuck told you it was cool to watch?"

"But I like to watch!"

XxX

(One Day Later – Kaseki no Mori Landmark)

After one full night and morning of travelling, sleeping during the light afternoon hours and beginning again at sundown, Naruto made it to the place that marked the triple border of Hi no Kuni and the lands held by Kusa and Taki respectively. The Kaseki no Mori (Petrified Forest) that served as the natural barrier between the three would be Naruto's point of infiltration.

Large and fossilized trees and other assorted plants stood over the landscape and would have made passing through difficult during the day due to the astute guards, but due to the fact that it was wartime, and even in peace the place was watched over by all three hidden villages that held a claim of some sort over the land things didn't change much at all. It was actually projected to be the mellowest front due to the fact that armed hostility was the status quo for the region and the sentries were like hawks anyway. Now things had changed since Taki and Kusa were working towards the same goal of winning the war, so instead of watching each other they could both look in the same direction towards Hi no Kuni and any moves made by Konoha.

Nothing was supposed to be able to get through. Not a significant attack force anyway.

A significant attack force did not mean one person, it meant an entire platoon or even a company intent on taking that particular land.

There was a catch when it came to Kusa and Taki's defensive measures. They could keep an eye out for an attack force or an ambush easily enough, but looking for one person within that forest was like looking for a gnat flying around in one's kitchen, especially when you had no idea that the person was even there.

This was what Naruto was taking advantage of when he slipped through this place in the dead of night and began heading back south, this time on Kusagakure's side of the borderline.

'That was way too easy.' Naruto thought to himself as he ran using the branchless petrified trees as points to move to and from to obscure his movements from anyone that might have somehow spotted him, 'But that kind of system is supposed to be able to stop groups of ninja though, not one person.'

For one person to try moving and surviving behind enemy lines in wartime was suicide. Henge was useless for trying infiltration or sabotage missions in villages and towns due to the fact that any half-decent sensor could detect a transformation. But this was simply Naruto making tracks to the Tenchi Bridge as fast as he could and blowing it up. It was no real infiltration. There would be no espionage here. It was a hurried demolition mission and he needed to finish it before his trail could be picked up on.

And someone was already suspicious. Naruto had not been discovered, but there was some suspicion. He could feel the stillness of the dead forest broken by not only his movements but by the movements of others coming his way. He wished he had a sensor ninja of some kind with him because he may have picked up on such a thing sooner.

'Okay, let's fight and get this over with.' With that thought, Naruto stopped and drew his sword, anticipating the time it would take for the enemy to catch up with him. It turned out to be far faster than he thought, 'I need to make this fast. I don't care if these people see it. None of them are surviving this to tell the story anyway.' Channeling chakra to his right eye, Naruto activated his implanted Sharingan to see dozens of shuriken flying his way from directly in front of himself.

With the ability of the eye to slow down what Naruto was seeing, he was able to use his sword to block all of the shuriken with his sword before jumping into action in the direction they came from. Quick as a flash, Naruto cut down one of the attacking shinobi, a man larger than him with a blade head, a strange light purple flak jacket, and a purple hitae-ate with a star on it, 'Hoshigakure… what the hell? Is anyone _not_ going to try and take us down?' With a glare, Naruto turned to face the nine other remaining ninja in the vicinity.

"It's a Konoha ninja! Take him down!" At the shout of one of the men all of the ninja made the bird hand-seal and initiated their jutsu, "Kujaku Myouhou (Mystical Peacock Method)!"

Naruto didn't wait to see what the jutsu did, not even allowing three of the nine Hoshigakure ninja to begin their technique as he formed eight Kage Bunshin to help him kill them before they could even finish the jutsu and take advantage of it. Of the eight remaining, only five were able to finish the jutsu fast enough to defend themselves from Naruto's clones, dispelling the ones they fought against.

All five remaining Hoshi adversaries had purple chakra emitting from their body, with the appearance of peacock feathers billowing from behind them, "He can't take us all down… we're all jounin here."

Naruto's three clones returned to his side as they all faced off with their opponents, "So am I. But that's the thing. All jounin aren't created equal!" Naruto antagonized them all into attacking his clone force head-on while he jumped out of the fray to observe as best he could. With his eye he could see clearly just what constituted their strange chakra, 'That is not natural in any way.'

"Kujaku Myouhou: Kemono (Mysterious Peacock Method: Beast)!"

The purple chakra radiating off of their bodies all formed some sort of four-legged animal that dispelled Naruto's clones. They tried to cut through the chakra beasts but there was nothing doing on that front for the clones, "Surrender or die here Konoha ninja!"

"Better idea." Naruto said, making a series of hand-seals ending in the half-tiger seal, "Let's test a little something out. Fuuka Houin: Kai (Fire Sealing Method: Release)!" As the black flames of Amaterasu came from his glowing seal tattoo and covered his left forearm, 'Kyuubi, turn it on.' At Naruto's behest, the great chakra beast began drawing upon nature chakra and Naruto siphoned it to enter Sage Mode, "Let's finish this."

"Gladly! Kujaku Myouhou: Gou (Mysterious Peacock Method: Join)!"

All of the five chakra beasts that had been created by the Hoshigakure ninja joined into one demi-summon looking creature that was the size of a house. Still Naruto merely narrowed his orange-pigmented eyes and did not cower or falter in his own belief of his chances.

He then shut his eyes and took a deep breath before setting himself in a stance and making a half-tiger seal with his right hand, cocking his left flame-covered one back for a strike, "Senpou: Yami-En no Ryuu (Sage Art: Dragon of the Darkness Flame)!" Naruto heaved a haymaker of a punch and used his control over his entire body's chakra and anything chakra-related that was in contact with him to form a massive dragon from the Amaterasu flames.

Naruto's first successful result of training with what he had managed to absorb from Itachi Uchiha's attack on him, it took Sage Mode and the malleability of nature chakra for him to be able to mould the flames in the ways he needed them to for any kind of ranged attack.

It was smaller than the conjoined chakra beast ninjutsu of his enemies, but Naruto's dragon was absurdly stronger as it punched right through the center of it and forced the purple chakra to burn into nothing. The jutsu continued on and hit the stunned, frightened, and screaming Hoshigakure ninja, incinerating them in a matter of thirty seconds as the immediate petrified forest was engulfed in black flames.

"That… was… awesome!" Naruto yelled, though his voice didn't get any louder than the crackling and harshly burning black flames. He then quickly formed his hand-seals and retook the Amaterasu fire into his left arm, "Fuuka Houin (Fire Sealing Method)!" Once all of the flames had been taken from the petrified trees, Naruto was glad that the wood was so tough and that he could take Amaterasu back into himself or else it would be the charcoal forest.

He figured that the battle was quick and low-key enough for him to leave since there weren't even corpses remaining of his enemies on the dead forest floor. No harm no foul since nobody would know which way he went by the time they discovered the scene of the battle, at morning by the earliest.

"It was rather impressive Naruto-senpai."

Before Naruto began to run off again, he heard the familiar voice and in a swirl of leaves appeared his raven-haired, grey-eyed childhood partner Maki, kneeling on the ground with a smirk on her face, "Maki?"

Maki touched the ashes of the Hoshigakure ninja on the ground and let them fall between her gloved fingers before standing up as she dusted her hands off, "You can control the fire you sealed into your arm now. You must have been training hard when you were in Kumo."

Naruto looked around in the now quiet night before settling on Maki as his Sage Mode faded, "Not that it's not good to see you here… or anyone that won't kill me for that matter, but what are you doing all the way out here?"

"I came to back you up." Maki said, shifting the tanto that she had on her back to a more comfortable position, "Neither Sai or I were really comfortable with what this mission entailed. So I came to catch up with you. I've been following you since you left the northwestern front command post."

Naruto nodded before thinking about something, "Wait, that means you were around when I was sleeping? Why didn't you show yourself then?"

Maki was not about to tell him that she had also seen Tayuya kiss him and that she was angry at it, which was why she did not reveal herself sooner, instead choosing to follow him until she managed to cool down. Watching him fight and handle the Hoshigakure ninja without even needing her help did just that to calm her down, "It's not like I'm supposed to be here at all. Root may be known of by Hokage-sama, but if we're actually caught in progress with our black op missions then she can and will deny any knowledge of us or our activities; we're not sanctioned. You stopped at three different Konoha encampments on the way to your sneak point."

Naruto gave her a deadpan stare before letting out a sigh, "Okay, you've got a point. But now you don't have to worry about being seen by any Konoha ninja anymore… because the next people that would see us will be from Kusa or some other C.N.F. village." He then pointed in the direction they were to be moving in as he began running deeper into enemy territory.

As Naruto ran off to continue moving before the sun came up, Maki looked after him with a twitching eye due to his last comment and took off running after him to follow, "That isn't a very reassuring point at all Naruto-senpai." She said as she began tailing him.

* * *

Jutsu List

Senpou: Yami-En no Ryuu (Sage Art: Dragon of the Darkness Flame). Ninjutsu, offensive. Using Sage Mode and its properties that can enhance Naruto's own useable chakra as well as the fire restraining Fuuka Houin (Fire Sealing Method) he is able to manipulate the shape, form, and sheer amount of Amaterasu flames available to him for ranged attacks. In this technique the flames take the shape of a dragon, engulfing anything it makes contact with in the unquenchable black inferno. Unlike Amaterasu, it cannot appear anywhere within the user's sight in an instant due to how it is stored and used. This makes its attack slower in nature than the default Amaterasu jutsu. The destructive force the dragon provides however can allow it to smash into and damage what it hits as well as burning it to ashes.

* * *

**The world… she is a tiresome and strange mistress filled with wonder, heartbreak, and toil for the little guy. **

**Good news; my hand is officially fully healed again and I'm medically cleared. Bad news; there is no real bad news, but my striking skills have atrophied since I haven't trained in forever. Now I've got to build up from scratch and put in double-time again just to get back to normal.**

**And this has absolutely nothing to do with any of you, thus you don't care.**

**So on to what you do possibly care about. My update speed as you may have noticed is slowing from the days when I would update back-to-back every single day, and that is because as an adult I have responsibilities and they don't involve sitting in front of a laptop all day no matter how much I wish it to be. Still, I don't see many authors I care about updating either so there is that too. For only being able to get in a max of four hours a day doing this I still think it's pretty fast… especially since I do this for fun and not to get paid.**

**My point is; to please bear with me. I write at least four times what I actually get to read on this website these days… and also I'm playing the new Call of Duty a lot and I'm typing this shit in the online lobby between matches and cursing at my friends to shoot straight and stop running through the map with the riot shield on regular team deathmatch (that thing is only cool to use in hardcore game modes).**

**That's all I've got for now. Next chapter is the end of the mission and the first directly major event of the war arc will begin taking place so don't get too restless.**

**Until next time everybody, Kenchi out.**


	58. Eyes Straight Ahead

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I demand justice from the universe. Make me overlord… of something. Something cool. I've got ruler tendencies and I'm a great leader with a savvy mindset. I deserve to have greatness thrust upon me! For I am Kenchi618!

**Chapter 57: Eyes Straight Ahead**

* * *

It took another day after leaving the camp on the Konoha side of the Tenchi Bridge for Naruto to reach the other side, well within the country he planned on assisting the northwestern troops with getting through, Maki tagging along to make sure he didn't die namelessly somewhere along the line. The company was definitely nice though, and Maki kept up with him throughout the trip despite the murderous pace he was cutting to reach the fortress guarding the Kusa side of the bridge before the stalemate could be any further set.

"Naruto-senpai." Maki eventually said as they were traversing through the wild territory a few miles past the enemy side of the ever widening and deepening river that separated Konoha's line from the side held by Kusa and the other smaller villages of the region, "I was wondering if we could take a rest for a short bit?" She sounded quite a bit out of breath, but it was the afternoon and they had been running since she had revealed herself to him the previous night.

Naruto drew them to a stop in a decent little spot within the vast bamboo forest and allowed Maki to take a knee to catch her breath, "Yeah it's okay." He said, taking that moment to double-check his supplies as he heard her let out a sigh, "We should make it there before sunset anyway and we'll scope it out until dawn tomorrow."

That sounded right to her. The travel times that had been established to most places were set with a normal person's travelling pace in mind, not the pace of a jinchuuriki physically conditioned to never tire without even tapping into their demon's chakra. If Maki was visibly breathing hard that was the equivalent of a normal person huffing and puffing on ones hands and knees since she was never supposed to show a thing.

Sitting down next to her, Naruto put a hand on his formulative training partner's back in a soothing manner letting her know that he was aware of just how rough the entire trip from the three-way border had been on her. Turning her grey eyes towards him she saw Naruto give her a small smile that she couldn't help but return, 'Naruto-senpai _would_ be a good leader.' He was able to convey thanks towards a subordinate's efforts without even saying a word. It was those eyes of his.

Naruto's eyes were the most expressive part of him. When he was ready to get down to business of the gravest of natures you could see it. It was like you were drowning in that stare, head held full-on under the water with no relief. When he was excited or happy… even if he was amused, if it didn't show on his face which he would still do often, those eyes still lit up. They always did, even back in the dimly lit training facilities that had populated their youth.

Ugh, why was she fangirling? She was past that years ago.

Then again that was when he wasn't around.

'Damn you Danzo-sama…' Maki thought to herself, quelling a blush back, 'You knew what you were doing this entire time.' It had to be inappropriate for her to feel that way about her captain, but it was hard to help. A children's crush she never quite grew out of, and also factoring into Danzo's plans was the fact that Naruto didn't seem to perceive it. Thank goodness for that. She would have died of embarrassment if it had come to that. Root kunoichi don't crush on anyone… even when they're supposed to.

At that moment, Naruto sneezed as if his body was aware that she was thinking intensely of him, but his mind didn't catch up to the instinct as he instead brought up the mission at hand, "Alright Maki-chan. Whenever you feel up to moving again we're going to go ahead and do this. We'll be attacking by tomorrow at sundown."

"You mean _after_ sundown don't you?" Maki asked curiously, running a tired hand through her dark hair, "Yes, a full day to get down the nighttime guard rotational patterns. That sounds right."

Naruto looked befuddled at her question at first, "No. We're not attacking at night. We're doing this at sundown if even that late."

That sounded insane. Maki had never done any wetwork during the light hours. It was too risky for a Root operative to do so since discretion was the most important thing. Konoha couldn't be linked to the things that they were busy doing.

But then again, there was no reason for that kind of operating method here. War was already upon them, and of course Konoha would be the ones held responsible even if they had never been seen by a soul destroying the fortress on the C.N.F (Continental Ninja Federation) side of the line. No other power in the Grand Shinobi Alliance would be able to do so as Kiri had yet to make a landing to the mainland, Kumo was stuck up in the northeast trying to move down through the countries with multiple lesser villages littering the lands without incurring massive losses, and Suna was in no condition to wage any sort of offensive at all.

"Why attack in the light?" Maki asked him aloud, wondering what his reasoning was. Naruto wasn't the heroic, suicidal type, and even if he was, there was no personal reason to go out into the open and take on a stronghold, "Wouldn't attacking at night give us more maneuverability?"

"No matter what they're probably going to know we're coming anyway." Naruto said, checking the sharpness of his clan heirloom sword and frowning at it. He was going to cut through damn space and time somehow. It was just too much to let go. The applications to such a technique would be incredible. But right now was about the mission and nothing else, "Kusa traditionally has the most kickass sensors in the world. Otherwise someone else would have done this mission a long time ago. And I'm a walking throbbing beacon of chakra."

That and attacking at the end of a prescribed guard shift meant that they would get the worn-down, ragged end of one half of the ninja and the barely woken up, not ready for action half that were meant to take their places on the night shift.

That didn't sit well with Maki though. None of what was actually said aloud sounded positive whatsoever to her, "Then why did the division commander send you for this mission? You're Konoha's jinchuuriki. You're the village's trump."

"That's why Yamato asked for me and they sent me." Naruto said with a shrug, "I can get to the fortress itself and if I can't get rid of it without being discovered I can take the whole place down on the way out and fight my way back to Konoha's side of the bridge. If I knew I could get through that easily I would have just skywalked over the chasm instead of taking the two day way around."

But starting a whole big battle without even reaching the fortress would have been too much risk and too bull-headed. The mission was slated as a distance infiltration for a reason. The moment he used his special technique to cross the river he would have been felt by even the shittiest sensor shinobi and the entire force would have come right at him before he got even half a mile into their territory.

He needed to get close so that he didn't get bogged down fighting his way to the fortress to give them time to reinforce its defenses. This way all he really needed was to take the fortress in one fell swoop even if they did sense him when they got close. Better to be safe and sure than to be impulsive. It wasn't overthinking it either, it was just standard procedure.

"If you don't want to come with me you can go back home." Naruto told Maki, surprising her as he resheathed his sword, "When the fortress goes down they're going to be coming out of the woodwork to get us back for it. It's really going to go south quick." He had done something like that recently when he had been clearing out Orochimaru's bases almost a full year ago. Maki wasn't the clear-cutting type the way he was, "You came with me this far and I didn't ask you to so I can't have you finish the rest of my mission for me too."

Maki stood up and drew her tanto from her back before pointing it at Naruto, seemingly offended somewhat by his offer to cut and run, "Naruto-senpai I am not one of your regular friends. I'm Root, and a Root ninja doesn't cop out on their work… even if it's guaranteed to kill them. That's what we're supposed to be used for."

"Well you're still my junior Maki-chan." Naruto said, crossing his arms over his chest and facing her down not budging, "And you don't ever go on a mission thinking you'll die, that's stupid. Always believe you can make it back… it gives you another reason to try harder. I am not having any of my close people die in front of me when I could do something about it."

"It's not like it'll be any better if you get yourself killed trying to protect me or someone else because you think we can't do it." Maki replied, giving him pause and forcing him to take a moment to think, "What do you think I'd feel like if you went and sent me home and did this mission but somehow got killed? It's the same thing. So if you think you can send me home just remember that you suck at genjutsu and I've got a million of them."

The two continued to face off, but with Naruto's will to argue broken by Maki's point, that there was no reason others wouldn't feel the way he did after he died that he would if they died, he had no senseless fight left in him, "You've got a lot of bite in you. I'm really glad that Danzo-jiji let you keep that, because I always did like it."

Maki let him see a ghost of a smile as she sheathed her tanto before putting on a plain white Root mask and holding up another one for him, "Mask?"

"No thanks." Naruto said before pointing at the eye that didn't originally belong to him, concealed by the contact lens, "Last time I wore one of those things in a fight I kind of lost something important." He reached up and took the mask off of Maki's face, "I don't think you should wear one either."

"You don't want me to get hurt because of an equipment malfunction too?" That wasn't a useful concern though. Maki was a trained medic and could take care of herself if she needed to. How many times would she fight someone with precision explosives that could turn her mask into deadly shrapnel the way he did anyway?

"Well there's that." Naruto said with a shrug before choosing to hook the mask onto his belt just in case since she brought one for him anyway, "But I really just want something pretty to look at before all of this gets ugly." He then had to stop and think about what he had just said. That was so lame. Damn it, living with Jiraiya was messing with his daily banter. And now Maki's face was red. Great. She was going to hit him and the team dynamic was going to be screwed for the next hour or two.

Maki's face wasn't red out of anger though, more like embarrassment. But then she realized that there wasn't really anything to be embarrassed about. This was Naruto, the person that the cosmos apparently had slated her to find herself attracted to, and there was no one there but him. She'd be damned if she was going to be all tentative and hesitant about it. That was kid stuff.

The intensity she stared at him with kind of unnerved Naruto since he had never seen her look at him like that before. She usually tried to avoid direct eye-contact altogether, and it got him to back up until he hit a bamboo tree where she trapped him, "What's the matter Maki-chan?" He asked her, wondering if inheriting one part of the curse from Jiraiya also meant he could talk his way out of trouble.

"How much time do you think we can allot to taking a bit of a break?" Maki's voice was not giving him any tells as to just how upset she was, as was her intent. Her cloudy grey eyes were meant for bluffing, not like his bright blue ones.

"As long as we get there by nightfall to start checking things out it doesn't really matter I guess."

A nod came from the Root kunoichi who then let out a sigh of seeming relief, "That's good. This won't take nearly that long then." Maki said, confusing Naruto before she pressed her smaller body against his and kissed him.

Over ten years of pent up tension around Naruto melted away just like that for her. Maki tried to get up on her tiptoes just to get at him a little bit better as she threw her arms around his neck, and he more than let her do so, pulling her close to him and returning the kiss. Maki _was_ a very pretty girl, and he knew her very well. It wasn't like this was illicit, though couldn't she have picked a more secure time for it?

Or somewhere indoors. This was rather new.

Lemon Start

Maki's heart thumped harshly in her chest as she eventually ended the kiss and pulled back from Naruto, taking his hands from around her to rest one on the zipper of her top that she had him zip down for her, "I'm sick of trying to act like I don't wish for this to happen." She tried to explain to him, "This is my best chance to get you alone, so if it doesn't bother you…" She trailed off, letting the top and her sheathed tanto fall to the ground to leave her in her mesh tanktop.

How would it have bothered him? Maki could have tried to jump him and it probably wouldn't have mattered one way or the other to him. She was still his original kouhai and she had grown up to be very beautiful. It was evident that she cared about him, and he cared for her too.

"Did you seriously think that I'd say no?" Naruto said as he made several Kage Bunshin that scattered off to watch the area for them, "Maki-chan I've got to say that your timing sucks. But it doesn't really matter right now." He kicked his own sandals off and to the side and took off his gloves, placing them in his pockets

That was a yes as Maki saw Naruto begin to take off his sleeveless Root-issue top and she quickly shimmied out of her pants as if she wasn't a hardened assassin of more than a decade. Before she could get too excited, Naruto kissed her again, this time guiding her to the ground, but instead of laying her on her back, Maki pushed him onto his.

There wasn't really any turning back for her now, so there was no reason to be all demure. She had started it and she was going to go all the way with it. It was what she wanted and it was going to be done her way. Her senpai's eyes were fully on her just like she always wished. And he seemed to be waiting on her too, sensing this as he had allowed her to guide his pants and boxers off.

Pinning him to the ground, Maki kissed him once again, putting her tongue into play this time as Naruto simultaneously slid her panties off and began to use his fingers to play with her pussy. She bucked towards the feeling slightly and let out a moan into his mouth. Maki grabbed the wrist of the hand that was pleasuring her and forced Naruto to extend another digit to fill her up further. Seeing no reason not to return the favor, Maki began to use her hand to work Naruto's shaft slowly, intent on trying to drive him crazy for her.

After a short while she could feel Naruto growl into the kiss at her slow and arduous teasing and to momentarily placate him she sped up a bit. By this time Maki was downright straddling Naruto's hand as he continued to piston it in and out of her and she found that her strategy to make him mad in lust was backfiring. She was the one all heated and bothered and wanting more from him and inexperience was her ultimate downfall. Unlike her, Naruto had had sex in the past, Maki had not. And so far she thoroughly loved what it was about; being as close as possible to the other person, her partner, her Naruto-senpai.

"Senpai this isn't enough…" Maki whined as Naruto's fingers continued stimulating her pussy. She didn't ask, she didn't simply flat out state it, she whined to Naruto over it. Did Maki really feel that much for him? It was very touching in more ways than one, "Can… can we go further? Please?"

Naruto gave her a nod and pulled his fingers from her now dripping wet slit. He idly sucked his own fingers clean of Maki's fluids and smirked when her cheeks turned red from embarrassment, "What? You taste good Maki-chan. It's alright. Here." He sat up and gave Maki a deep tongue kiss that almost made her collapse were she not already on her knees and he gave one of her breasts a good squeeze through her mesh shirt, running his thumb over her pink nipple, rubbing the skin of his finger and the fabric of the shirt against it to get it to perk up, "See?" He said as he broke the kiss, "You like it right?"

Maki couldn't help but nod with her eyes closed blissfully as Naruto guided her back on top of him, with her sitting on his pelvis right in front of his fully erect cock. She wondered at first why he didn't just place her on top, her impatience shining through until she realized that she was a virgin and he was either assuming this or was fully aware of this. How sweet. He didn't wish to introduce her to the shock of popping her cherry without preparing her first.

Before he could even say anything, Maki moved herself up and back, taking a short breath before getting the worst of it over with and setting herself down on top of his cock and relieving herself of her own virginity. Instead of letting out any sort of cry of pain of alarm, Maki just focused on breathing steadily while waiting for the discomfort to fade away.

Naruto watched her handle the process curiously with his hands on her hips waiting as she adjusted to the new sensation. Did she pick that up somewhere or did she just decide to do that all on her own? His tough little Maki-chan was trying not to make it seem like a big deal. She was really trying to impress him by showing that she was more than just a reliable kunoichi.

"I've been thinking…" Maki said as she felt the sharp pain slowly turn to a feeling of warm attachment as she slowly started rocking her hips experimentally, trying to find what she liked out of this position, "I think I should tell you what Sai and I have found out recently. Danzo-sama had positioned us as children for me to become your wife… or at least the directed kunoichi to bear your heir in the worst case."

Naruto cocked his scarred eyebrow and let out a slight chuckle as Maki smiled slightly, "So that old man was going to make sure we hooked up when we were old enough and never let us know? Danzo-jiji's a dirty old bastard." Maki giggled slightly in apparent agreement, running her hands up and down Naruto's chest before placing them firmly in the middle to steady herself as she began to move up and down his full length. Naruto let out a grunt and started assisting her by lifting her up and down, "I wouldn't really have had a problem with that either."

'Neither would I.' Maki finally allowed herself to admit with a rather beautiful smile on her face. The prospect of having his autonomy taken from him to be arranged with her didn't bother him that much. They were close then and would have been even closer had he never been forced to leave Root, 'But I have you now senpai, and I'm going to enjoy you.' With the admittance that being Naruto's previously arranged wife was something she liked thinking about, Maki finally audibly began moaning as Naruto kept bouncing her on top of him. She let a smug smirk cross her face when she heard Naruto let out a moan beneath her.

Not missing out on a chance to tease him even while getting off, Maki slowly slid Naruto's cock out of her all the way to the tip and slowly lowered herself down, taking her time with each up and down motion. The slow process of finally reaching her feeling of being filled, while progressively blissful for her was probably tormenting Naruto. Well it served him right for getting her this way over him. She saw him glare up at her and started speeding up again before he decided to do something to punish her. She didn't want to know what kind of pace he would set to get her back.

Naruto sat up and placed his back against the nearby bamboo tree so that he could comfortably make out with Maki while she continued to vigorously ride him. One of Naruto's return thrusts forced her to arch her back in a soundless scream as it literally took her breath away. With his loss of Maki's lips to kiss, Naruto kissed his way down her neck and collarbone before rolling the bottom of her mesh shirt up and pulling it over her head to gain full access her bare breasts.

Maki cradled Naruto's head to her chest possessively the moment she felt his mouth latch on to one of her nipples as Naruto rolled the tip of his tongue over the nub teasingly, making audible sucking noises that got her to grind in Naruto's lap, eliciting a loud groan from the two of them, "…My Naruto-senpai… it took long enough."

Pulling his mouth away from Maki's bosom, Naruto smirked up at her, "Well let's make this worth your wait then." He said before moving forward to put Maki's back on the ground with him situated on top of her. Naruto placed Maki's ankles up on his shoulders and leaned on her, getting her to gasp at being completely filled to the brim with his dick.

The only thing that kept Maki from crying out at the top of her lungs in pleasure was the fact that they were not in friendly territory and a loud yell the way she felt like doing might get them discovered somehow even though they were nowhere near any encampments. The risks of an outdoor quickie apparently, and she really kind of liked it.

Naruto felt Maki's fingernails digging into his shoulders and picked up the tempo of his fucking her to the point where she was gripping tightly enough to draw blood from his arms. She was such a tight little virgin and feeling her soft breath pant in tempo on his ear as he mercilessly drilled the petite kunoichi for her previous agonizingly teasing pace was addictive. Maki's toes were curling in her sandals repeatedly with each and every pump he gave her.

Capturing Maki's lips again, Naruto pushed the cool metal of his hitae-ate against her forehead as her tongue beckoned for permission to play with his, permission that was granted. It was cute how little Maki knew about kissing, and apparently she was eager to learn as she tried to mimic the motions his tongue made. He found that she was lost when he stopped leading and sucked a gasp right out of her mouth when he renewed his efforts to drill her into the ground from above

A groan came from the blonde jinchuuriki as he felt Maki's pussy clamp down on manhood. Her entire body let off a powerful shudder that caused her to whimper and guided Naruto to his own orgasm, forcing him to shoot his seed inside of Maki with a low growl at the explosive feeling of release. Maki moaned softly as she felt Naruto fill her up and held him close to her when he set her legs back down around his waist where she wrapped them around his body to keep him close. She didn't want him to pull out yet. Not quite yet.

"So…" Naruto said, still hovering over her and trying to figure out something meaningful to say while they were coming down from their emotional and physical high, "…Were you really supposed to hook up with me if I stayed in Root?"

Maki chuckled a bit and ran a hand over Naruto's whisker-marked cheek fondly, "A Hokage needs a spouse for credibility purposes later down the line. It just helps with the overall image to be in a stable relationship. Being married makes you seem more trustworthy to the masses."

"Would you have been okay with that?"

"What did we just get through doing in C.N.F held territory? Does that tell you what you need to know?"

Nodding in understanding, Naruto grinned down at her as she continued to stroke his cheek softly, "You know we'd have been the coolest looking kage couple ever. I'm not really sure what my mom looked like, but I think we'd have had her and dad beat."

"You think you're more handsome than the Yondaime Hokage Naruto-senpai?"

"Not really handsome... I think I'm more rugged. Now that I've seen him in person, dad honestly looked kind of girly. Too much of a pretty boy." He should have told him that when he came face to face with his old man's soul imprint inside of his seal, but the deathmatch three-way slaughterfest against the Uchiha brothers kind of held precedence to any kind of witty remark that he happened to miss out on at the time. Damn. The only chance he had at getting that rip off at Minato now would be using the Shiki Fuujin. But he had to learn it first, and then there was the whole thing about getting trapped inside of the Shinigami's stomach.

The Kyuubi within Naruto which had respectfully been silent and kept to itself while Naruto and Maki had their moment couldn't help but snicker at hearing Naruto call the blasted man that had sealed him into his current container girly.

Despite her best effort to hold it back to keep her stoic Root kunoichi composure, Maki's melodic laughter eventually slipped out and filled the forest as she had just heard her Naruto-senpai call the most gifted Hokage on record 'girly-looking' out loud. Only him…

End Lemon

XxX

(Sunagakure no Sato – Far West Front)

Everyone that could be up and about in Suna happened to be out trying to reconstruct the village, as the vast majority of the shinobi populace were down to assist, all the way up to many of the jounin that were left after Pein's attack.

To help with picking up the slack left by Suna's losses during the grand-scale Shinra Tensei, Konoha had left a division in Kaze no Kuni inside of Sunagakure to take over the village's duties of watching its own perimeter just in case of attack from an opportunistic enemy. The large amount of medically trained ninja from Konoha that had been working around the clock to fix up the injured desert dwelling citizens were by this point utterly exhausted, but were safe to rest by this time with the knowledge of a job well done.

Other than routine check-ins by those more gravely wounded initially than others there were really no more victims that needed healing. That was good because from that point the focus could be placed on rebuilding. There was a lot of work to do if Suna wished to bring itself back from the sand dunes it had almost been returned to permanently.

"All of this hard work and camaraderie…" Maito Gai said with a shaking fist and manly tears spilling down his face, "It's got my flames of youth burning brightly!" Gai shouted at the top of his lungs, actually startling some of the Suna genin that were bringing large loads of building supplies into the village through the front opening in the dome that surrounded the valley village, "Lee! We must take it upon ourselves to assist our Sunagakure allies in their spirited endeavor to rebuild their home!"

"Yes Gai-sensei! It is the affable thing to do!" Lee agreed also spilling rivers of tears from his eyes, "You are so sensitive to the plight of our friends!"

"It doesn't make you less of a man to be emotive Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

The two met in a hug as a blazing sunset appeared over the horizon of the cliffs of Suna, getting the attention of one of the contracted foremen who were rebuilding the once great village, "What the hell's with this sunset? We've got five hours until the sun should be going down, we're not losing light today!"

Tenten walked over and punched the two taijutsu-specializing men in their heads to get them to break apart lest they offset more people than just the young genin and small children of Suna that they were scarring for life with their overeager actions, "In case you two forgot we're supposed to be heading to the top of the outside walls to keep watch." She said, pointing to the designated area where Neji already was as both Gai and Lee got up off of the round, "Not moving supplies in and out of the village."

Up on the wall in question, Sakura was sitting and looking down, shaking her head at the antics of the namesake of Team Gai. She then turned her attention to the nearby Kakashi who was with Neji, "Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei kind of has a point. Why aren't they letting us help them rebuild their village? We're here to help and wouldn't a Suna ninja know better how to keep watch over things?"

"Well we do have genin doing that." Kakashi said to Sakura in explanation as he walked over to his pink-haired student, "And do you think you're going to be any help in rebuilding? You're not exactly spry and ready for full physical labor." He took note of the bags underneath Sakura's eyes and that she was slightly pale. Symptoms of chakra exhaustion and over-usage of military rations pills, "So first and foremost you need to rest."

Choosing to interject, Neji nodded within sight of Sakura, "Everything is handled here. Luckily I'm something of a scouting specialist. If anything comes from the side of the wall I'm on I'll see it before it ever reaches the village." This was why Neji and the other eleven Hyuuga Clan members dispatched to Suna operated in each cardinal direction on the wall in three separate shifts with the teams they usually worked with.

Kakashi nodded in Neji's direction and turned back to Sakura, his eye shutting to reveal that he was smiling, "You see? So you can let yourself get a bit of sleep. You look like you need it more than anyone here." Despite that, Sakura still looked apprehensive to doing nothing, "…If you don't get some sleep I'll put you to sleep with a genjutsu. Don't lie to me and tell me you have the energy to fight one off right now. This is a direct order from a jounin."

"Two of them." Neji added, his Byakugan eyes scanning the sea of sand before him.

"Alright, alright." Sakura said, standing up to walk herself away from the top of the wall, swaying slightly on her feet and giving more credence to Kakashi's point, "I'm going back to the barracks. But the second I wake back up I'm coming out here again." She finished as she walked away, trying to make it seem as if she had some kind of autonomy over the whole situation.

As they watched Sakura walk away, Kakashi commented to Neji with a sigh, "Maa… Not even my student anymore and she's still giving me headaches, just like the other one. Apparently Tsunade-sama passes down being stubborn to her apprentices as well. Hmm, but that would mean that Jiraiya-sama passes down…" He let out a small giggle but shook it off, saving such a thought for later when he had free time to read.

Neji's eyes seemed to squint as he picked up something on the horizon, "I believe two Sunagakure shinobi are on their way back from a patrol."

Two Suna shinobi? That wasn't right. At the time, every outgoing squad sent to do anything C-rank or over would have two Konoha ninja with them to supplement the force that was lost due to injuries, death, and rebuilding purposes of the village, "There's no one from Konoha with them?"

"No." Neji said, feeling the same sinking feeling in his gut that he assumed Kakashi felt as well, "And they seem to be very injured. We should summon some medics to meet them at the entrance." There was a terrible sense of foreboding setting in his heart as Kakashi summoned Pakkun to inform the other shinobi on watch of the incoming wounded.

XxX

(Yu no Kuni – Past the Northeast Border of Hi no Kuni – Northeast Division Front)

"We're glad you're here Jiraiya-sama." Genma Shiranui said as he accompanied Jiraiya through the buzzing battalion camp. Konoha ninja were all over, many of them dirty and a few coming into the camp were covered in dirt and grime and blood. Signs of battle, "The dozens of hidden villages in this region had working relationships to keep from stepping on one another's toes for business before the war broke out."

A nod came from the grim-faced Jiraiya, "I'm aware of that. I've been reporting that for years." It was relevant information, but it had never really applied to Konoha, as the village that these villages had the main problem with was Kumo, whose military might raised tensions in the area due to their never having demilitarized like many others, "And that's the major problem here isn't it?"

Genma rolled the senbon around in his mouth as something of a nervous tic and took a map from the other shinobi escorting the VIP, the scar-faced Raidou Namiashi. He pointed out the stretch of smaller countries between Hi no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni, "The entire region is choked with enemies. This entire battle that we're in as we speak… we're only fighting one village right now."

Jiraiya's face twisted in a frown. It was a basic geographical advantage, pure and simple. Once one travelled northeast enough and tried to venture towards Kumo, the amount of land wound up bottlenecking, making passing through more difficult for an army. It was a basic stalling tactic; to use the landscape to keep Konoha from moving north, defending with one smaller portion of their force while the main bulk of the army dealt with the isolated Kumo further north.

It was the best choice this portion of the C.N.F, could make while surrounded and Konoha wouldn't distribute its full force to this front since it held no major threat towards them. The enemy wasn't invading Hi no Kuni, they were dug in well within their own territory so not only did they have strong defenses right in front of Konoha, the invaders from the south were already in turf that they didn't know as well as the invaded did.

For all they knew, there were tons of enemies within the territory that they held in order to sabotage them behind the front line.

Raidou sighed and ran a grimy hand through his hair in exasperation, "Fuck, I wish Kiri would make a landing already. We're stretched thin enough as it is and we could use the extra firepower. What's taking them so long?" The first landings should have occurred two weeks ago, but nothing was happening from the coast. Logistics across the ocean were a pain in the ass.

"We can't worry about that right now." Jiraiya said, leaning against the outside of a medic tent, "All we can worry about until we're told to do otherwise is our own situation here. Trust our allies to come through, and be prepared, because if something is wrong trust me we'll know soon enough. Now tell me what's happening elsewhere other than at the frontline. It's pretty self-explanatory there."

Genma nodded and pointed back somewhat towards the west, "The back of the line is getting pestered. Supply routes being jumped with some ninja being captured or killed. Guerilla ambush style. We thought it was maybe Taki, Kusa, or even Hoshi, but in one raid they were able to procure a body before the enemy could retrieve it and retreat or just destroy it on the spot. It's Oto sir."

An explosion rocked the ground but no one really paid it any mind. Blasts from a ways out were routine signs that the battle was still raging. Shimogakure and Yumegakure were holding that line fiercely, and invading the latter village was going to be a pain and a half.

But Oto? Orochimaru was dead and there wasn't a real hierarchy of command established past him. That was something that was well noted by Jiraiya and the strike force that had taken down so many bases in search of Orochimaru himself. There were no strong enough leader personalities to take control of the cluster of rats' nest bases the snake-man liked to refer to as villages. The best that could have occurred were several ninja stepping up and calling themselves leader, leading to infighting between the different factions. Either that or Otogakure would simply be scattered to the winds.

But this didn't seem to be the case. And whatever this turned out to be did not look to be very promising for Konoha's northeastern front. Not only did they need to deal with the sniping shots coming at the division's infrastructure from Oto, they would need to break this line to get north and assist Kumo, or vice-versa to get assistance from Kumo, "*sigh* I'm getting too old for this crap." Jiraiya said, using his one available arm to rub his temple.

He'd much rather be a few miles behind the lines, back in the tourist village Yugakure, soaking in a nice hot spring being attended to by a bevy of beautiful ladies, but here he was leading this division, currently the most embattled one out of all of Konoha's fronts. Damn him and his sense of patriotism…

XxX

(With Naruto and Maki – One Day Later – Late Afternoon – Northwest Front – Behind Kusagakure's Main Line)

Naruto and Maki couldn't safely get any closer to the fortress without possibly alerting any attentive ninja with sensing ability. They had to take their chances staying in the booby trap laden woods surrounding the stronghold, out of view of any sentries until it was time to launch the attack.

They had to make it count too, as there were sounds of battle coming from the east. It sounded like there was a full-scale battle taking place across the river. So did that mean that Taki had sent reinforcements to flank Konoha from the north the way Yamato had said it had been anticipated to be? The cost of getting bogged down; you're left a sitting duck for counterattack. And it was too valuable a position to just move and give up to the enemy.

Domination of that river meant domination of the northwestern front. With a hold on that river and with a strong foothold into Kusagakure held lands Konoha could funnel feeler forces south into land held by the ringleader village to all of the chaos, Amegakure, and they could continue advancing west towards Kusa to knock them out of the war. That all wouldn't happen if the back of the northwestern division was broken in this battle and they were forced to fall back into Hi no Kuni. That was too much open land to give to the C.N.F. who would just spread out across country and attack deeper into the country from different angles.

So far the only two of the four members of the G.S.A. that seemed to be fighting the bulk of the war seemed to be Konoha and Kumo who both seemed to be fending off the barbarians from the gates.

Well it was time for a little change as far as that went. The fronts were established. It was clear who Konoha would be fighting and where the battles would occur. It was time they stopped playing rope-a-dope and started hammering away and letting these bastards know just who they were messing with in case they forgot over the last seventeen years.

To say the least, it was time to scare the hell out of these clowns. People used to be afraid of Konoha. No one set foot over Hi no Kuni's borders without looking over their shoulder every seven seconds. Because Konoha had people that you were legitimately afraid of. Tsunade, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Sakumo Hatake, Danzo Shimura, Itachi Uchiha and the entire damn Uchiha Clan that everyone seemed wary of to say the least abroad, not even counting the might that the respective Hokages all had to their names. And Kumo had terrifying legends of their own.

But in times of peace people thought that Konoha was soft. Untrue. There were just as many twisted bastards in Konoha in peacetime as there were in times of war, there was just no need for them. War actually made other countries aware of these particular psychopaths.

Well by the time the sun set on this day Naruto would be one of these psychopaths. An outright devil among the living to his enemy… a hero to his homeland; that was what a Hokage boiled down to being.

"So how are we doing this Naruto-senpai?" Maki asked Naruto as they sat in the branches of a normal tree half a mile away from the fortress, "Your small toad summons brought us the intel on enemy movements during shifts and we've got the battle on the Konoha held side of the river to keep full attention away from keeping watch over the fortress."

"It won't matter. We aren't sneaking in without a fight." Naruto said, hand to his chin as he weighed their options. They _could_ try sneaking onto the premises, but the second they crossed the fence line all bets would be off. It didn't take much to fix a proximity barrier the way Konoha had around it, so there would be no sneaking in either above or beneath ground.

So a preemptive strike from the outside was a decent bet. Do something else that was bigger than the Takigakure-centric battle across the river to draw attention away from two simple ninja that you may or may not be seeing trying to use that as an excuse to sneak into your fortress. It had to be something that one simply could not ignore as well or else it wouldn't work.

"I've got an idea…" Naruto said aloud to Maki, "We need a massive distraction. Something that'll make these guys panic. So all I've got to do is choose a move to make… because I've got like five different things I can do right now to do that."

"No Rasenshuriken." Maki told him with a stern finger, "…Maybe Rasenriseki though. I need your arms intact."

"I fixed the Rasenshuriken thing the last time I trained with Ero-kyofu." Naruto responded, rolling his eyes. But he wasn't about to launch a gamebreaker kinjutsu. He needed something that could and would let them know just how screwed they were. With one of his Rasengan improvements they'd barely have time to register what happened. No he needed something more than just a flash of violence. He needed something PTSD inducing.

And just what could cause more mental trauma and night terrors than a toad the size of a biju terrorizing and attacking you and your comrades full-tilt?

Naruto stood up from where they were sitting and motioned for Maki to follow him as they got a bit closer. Close enough to get full sight of the fortress. It was a large stone structure surrounded by tents that were probably supply facilities. People were bustling around well within sight of the two Konoha ninja while Maki brushed Naruto's elbow to get his attention, "What is our plan for getting in going to be?"

"Make them shit their pants after they see this." Naruto said, biting his thumb and rolling through the hand-seals for a summoning, "You'd better stay close to me and hold on Maki-chan." Naruto advised her, giving her time to grab a hold of him before he slammed his hand onto the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

From a massive puff of smoke, out stepped a massive magenta horned toad in a black kimono with a sasumata in its hand and a large shield on its back. Both Naruto and Maki were on top of his head, though Naruto stood next to a larger than him Gamakichi and Maki was sitting on Gamakichi's back.

"**Naruto-nii what's up?"** Gamakichi asked Naruto, glad to see his familiar before noticing that he was standing on Gamaken's head… and there was a human woman on his head… and underneath Gamaken there were tons of shinobi freaking out at the sight of him, **"…What did you just summon us into?"**

"A fight." Naruto said, patting the orange toad on the side of the head, "Are you and Gamaken ready to get down to business? I'm counting on you guys."

Gamaken heard Naruto's voice and addressed the newest master of Sage Mode, **"Naruto-san. You require our assistance?"** He asked the young blonde man.

"Yeah." Naruto said, pointing down at the fortress and everything surrounding it, "We're destroying that, then we're heading east… and we've got to raise hell the entire way. You're up for that right?"

Gamaken nodded and readied his weapon and his shield, prepared for battle and focused on the coming combat. Meanwhile Gamakichi's eye was twitching, **"So you want me to go down there and fight all of those ninja right now? You'd better treat me to one hell of a drink after this is over."**

"Just pretend that it's like the Forest of Death and the spiders." Naruto told him before pointing to Maki who was peeking over the top of Gamakichi's head, "And Maki-chan's a genjutsu user so she can confuse the hell out of them while we're cutting them down."

"…**I hate fighting those stupid spiders…"** Gamakichi grumbled in return as from inside of his vest he pulled out a tanto, resigning himself to helping Naruto out with his battle. He didn't want to grow all apathetic and grouchy like Gamabunta did every time he was summoned. He then noticed the girl sitting on him and noticed that she smelled faintly like Naruto, putting a smirk on the toad's face, **"Go aniki."**

"Shut up." Naruto said, shutting his eyes to look inward so to speak, 'We've got to make this one fast Kyuubi. Do you have my back for this one or am I on my own?'

"**Yes, yes, I'm on it you hairless monkey."** Kyuubi growled, channeling nature chakra in Naruto's stead to transfer it to him, **"Make it quick so I can go back to sleep."**

'Trust me, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to either.' Naruto thought to himself as his eyes took on Sage Mode traits and he allowed his Sharingan eye to come into use from behind the contact lens, "Maki-chan, stay on 'Kichi and do your genjutsu thing to screw these guys up. We're going to be clear-cutting. Gamaken, just flat-out raise hell and stay with us."

"**Got it. You can count on me!"** Gamaken said, driving his shield into the ground to smash the enemies below and stir up trouble, **"Go now Naruto-san!"**

His body reinforced by Sage Mode, Naruto jumped directly down from the top of Gamaken's head, not even using Haretsu Seigan to slow or stop his fall, but instead forming a massive Rasengan in his right hand, "Senpou: Odama Rasengan (Sage Art: Great Ball Rasengan)!"

Landing right in the middle of fleeing and retreating ninja trying to scramble back to the fortress, Naruto pulverized them and the ground around them with his greatly enhanced Rasengan. The smoke cleared but before it ever even could, he was already out faster than they could keep up with, cutting them down with the Sen'nenki no Ken.

From up on Gamaken's head, Gamakichi and Maki looked down at Naruto cutting a path of wanton carnage through the hapless Kusa ninja who were finally reacting to the smaller ninja's presence instead of just Gamaken's, not knowing which was the bigger threat but still assuming it was Gamaken, **"So you and Naruto-nii huh?"** Gamakichi said teasingly.

Maki just placed her white porcelain mask over her face so that the toad didn't see her reaction to him bringing such a topic up, "Let's go already. Naruto-senpai could use the help to make sure he doesn't get blindsided." A poor excuse. With his awareness and reflexes in Sage Mode combined with the perception of the Sharingan eye she really doubted there was anyone here that could catch him off guard without using a genjutsu, and even then with the eye active he could see through it.

She had to save face with Naruto's favorite summon though.

"**Okay. Hold on tight then."** Gamakichi warned her as he jumped off of Gamaken's head to follow in Naruto's wake as he continued to bulldoze his way through the Kusa shinobi with practiced ease. Just like fighting the spiders only people were smarter, **"Why aren't you using your Kage Bunshin Naruto-nii?"** Gamakichi asked as he cleaved through three Kusa shinobi upon landing safely on the ground with his powerful legs.

"I can only make five when I'm in Sage Mode." Naruto said as the fight continued, "If I try to overload what Kyuubi can handle he could lose full control and I'd still turn to stone. Five isn't enough to make much more of a difference in this case anyway."

"**Oh. Well do that move of yours that messed that mountaintop up."**

"Shut up! I'm gonna, just give me a second!"

"**You shut up! Hey, girl on my back, tell Naruto-nii to shut up and fight!"**

"Both of you shut up and fight…" Maki said, still sitting on Gamakichi's back as the toad continued to fight. Focusing on her own contribution to the battle, Maki made two hand-seals and held the bird seal, "Suiyou no Aichou (Mournful Melody of the Weeping Willow)."

As Gamakichi and Naruto eventually stood back to back and started fighting off enemy after enemy as Gamaken advanced on the fortress itself, the dozens of Kusa shinobi in the vicinity found themselves bound by what appeared to be weeds appearing from the ground until large trees started growing up to reveal that they were the leaf branchlets of weeping willow trees. While some were merely caught around the ankles and held in place by both arms, some were held around one single wrist and could merely 'cut' themselves free. Others were wrapped up entirely around the body and some around the neck where they were choked lifeless and some dropped to the ground as if a noose had been tightened around their necks.

Man that was a nasty genjutsu.

"'Kichi let's mop these clowns up before too many people break it." Naruto said, placing a hand on Gamakichi to channel wind chakra through his partner, "Let's not have Maki-chan hold these guys here for nothing."

Gamakichi nodded and his cheeks puffed out while Naruto momentarily unsealed the Amaterasu flames in his left arm. The deadly black flames were released in time with Gamakichi releasing a steady jet of toad oil from his mouth that Naruto dropped a spark of the Amaterasu flames onto, "Senpou: Yami Gamayu Endan (Sage Art: Dark Toad Oil Flame Bullet)!"

The jet of oil from Gamakichi's mouth, fueled to spray with more force and speed by way of the wind chakra Naruto had been channeling through him, ignited with the otherworldly black fire that took the oil like the accelerant it was, dousing the enemy in a powerful dark blaze that Gamakichi guided in a complete circle around himself, Naruto, and Maki.

The cries of those caught in the flame were those that had been freed from Maki's genjutsu… too bad there was an even greater pain for them right behind it. At least there was no pain after that point, because their suffering gave way to their deaths.

"But Naruto-senpai, we're trapped now." Naruto just smirked at Maki and she remembered what he did with the black flames upon seeing her. He could reseal them back into his arm no matter how much he managed to manifest and how much came from the spread of the fire, which he did right in front of her at that moment, "Okay... but now what?"

Naruto looked forward at the fortress and the setting sun in front of them and then behind them towards the east, "Gamaken! Go east and cross the bridge! I want you to help out the Konoha shinobi that are in battle right now!"

Gamaken stopped his unbeatable rampage on the Kusa shinobi who were trying to dredge up some kind of way to bring the big toad down as even their powerful ninjutsu would just end up being stopped by his shield, **"Are you certain?"** Naruto's response was the formation of two Kage Bunshin at his side as he held his right hand above his head, this got Gamaken's jaw to drop for a moment before he nodded,** "Very well. I'll do my best Naruto-san!"** And with a great jump he started heading east as directed.

As Maki saw Naruto's clones begin to form a wind shell around the Rasengan core in his right hand she let out a gasp before fully preparing to turn on the medic-nin in her to scold him, "Naruto-senpai, what did I tell you about using that jutsu? You'll tear your arm up for life!"

"I told you I fixed it already Maki-chan, it's cool!" Naruto shouted back at her just as the wind shuriken coated Rasengan began letting off its high-pitched whine that showed that it was ready. But he didn't charge forward with it to ram anything the way he did when he fought Itachi and Sasuke. Instead his clones dispelled with their jobs complete and Naruto actually threw it, "Fuuton: Rasenshuriken (Wind Release: Rasenshuriken)!"

It flew through the air smoother and straighter than an actual metal shuriken would have, the wind chakra comprised blade spinning all the way at a speed no lesser shinobi could have dodged. And when it touched the wall of the fortress it cut right into it before expanding into its destructive wind sphere, disintegrating the lesser materials of the stronghold and bringing what was left of it down around the foundations.

Maki stared in awe at the destruction wrought by a perfected Rasengan variation. And just like Naruto said, there was no damage done to his arm whatsoever. But what was left of the Kusa forces grew a backbone once Gamaken left, and seeing Naruto take down their fortress with one jutsu only made them desire his head as compensation.

Naruto started blocking projectile weapons with his ninjato after hearing them whistle through the air and Maki jumped back onto Gamakichi as the toad hopped away from some weapons thrown his own way, "Tenchi Bridge?" Maki asked, her tanto drawn just in case it was necessary.

"Bridge/**Bridge."** Naruto and Gamakichi replied, as the blonde made five Kage Bunshin to surround Gamakichi's backside to make sure he was safe for their retreat back across the bridge, "Come on 'Kichi! The clones and Maki-chan'll have your back. You're with me because we're cutting our way out of here!" He barked with authority as he rushed headlong into the enemy barring their path from the east, Gamakichi right on his heels, both human and toad cutting the enemy down before they could even reach any sort of apex with their weapon swings or finish any hand-seals for their jutsu.

That was going to be one long two mile run.

XxX

(Hi no Kuni side of Tenchi Bridge)

The bridge was in full sight for the currently embattled platoon as not only were they being attacked by Takigakure ninja, they were taking it from across the bridge from Kusagakure as well.

Tayuya's flute was working overtime as her steady stream of notes gave wordless directions to her three large summoned demons who were moving about the forest, assisting the other Konoha ninja in her combat group as best she could, 'Fucking Yamato-taichou was right. Even setting up measures to stop it didn't do that much, they pushed through our original defensive position north and drove us back.'

The battle had turned into a team deathmatch in the forest around Tenchi Bridge and on the same bridge, as they were fighting to keep Kusa from destroying the bridge so that they could eventually advance over it after it became known that Naruto had destroyed the fortress on the other side and had crippled Kusa's defensive efforts.

In another place, Anko was trying to pick off enemies throughout the forest with weaponry, riding on a large boa constrictor that devoured and smashed anyone that got in its way. Crazy bitch could really fight. And being stuck in a glorified staring contest with the Kusa force across the river for at least the last week or so had her chomping at the bit for some old school bloodshed.

Meanwhile Tayuya smirked as she saw a Nara Clan member capture several Takigakure shinobi with their shadow technique, allowing her to take advantage and use her Doki that possessed the club to deliver sweeping smash that ended their lives in one swing. From behind she heard the sound of metal clanging and turned to see that both Kotetsu and Izumo had her back with their dual kunai blades that were connected by a chain for teamwork fighting.

She gave them a nod of acknowledgment that they both returned with smirks as she continued playing her flute and they all carried on with the fighting.

As the battle continued, the ground shook with a thunderous crash. The northern portion of the battlefield forest where Taki reinforcements were slated to continue appearing from wound up being cleared from the earth with a swing of a massive sasumata that ripped up lots of the actual topsoil to boot. Over the top of the treeline, it was seen that a large magenta toad was there with a vengeance as it was helping them destroy enemy troops with a vengeance like it had something to prove.

'Only two fuckers I know summon toads.' Tayuya thought to herself as the Takigakure ninja started freely retreating back north and the Kusa ninja started falling back to the Tenchi Bridge to escape to the fortress across the river, 'And I don't hear any loud-ass, annoying yelling about how great the awesome toad sage is. So that means that it's the other one.' She thought to herself with a smile as she chose to join in with many of the others set on chasing the Kusa attackers back to the bridge, set on turning their retreat into a full-on rout.

Upon reaching the bridge and seeing the shinobi that were running away, Tayuya smirked at seeing a larger than human orange toad fighting off the head of the retreating Kusa force.

XxX

(With Naruto)

Naruto and his five clones were busy fighting off a wave of Kusa troops that had come storming across the bridge as if the devil himself were chasing them. Able to see Gamaken terrorizing the enemy a little bit north in the woods, they could tell why they'd be scared with reinforcement like that from Konoha. It wasn't as if either village had a jinchuuriki or a grand summoning contract that could go toe-to-toe with a boss-level summon.

"**Why did your cute partner run away when we got to the bridge Naruto-nii?"** Gamakichi asked as he swung his blade with a practiced deadly precision. He'd be better at kenjutsu than Gamabunta once he got as big as his dad at that rate, **"Your comrades are right over there. I can see them."**

"Maki-chan isn't supposed to be here 'Kichi." Naruto explained, jumping on top of his toad brother's head to throw some shuriken into the sky and form some hand-seals to rain down some hell, "Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Release: Lightning Shuriken)!"

Jolts of lightning fell sporadically from the sky, striking at the enemy just as the Konoha contingent reached them and a pincer attack was waged to eradicate the remainder of the unfortunate enemy ninja. The ones that didn't fall by the hand, blade, or jutsu of Konoha's vicious counterattack took their chances with spilling over the side of the bridge to fall all the way to the rapidly moving river below.

It took less than five minutes to finish them. Kusa didn't allow a single one of themselves to be taken prisoner to their credit, and that meant that no one walked away on the C.N.F. side of the defeat. The wood of the bridge was red and utterly slick with blood by the end as the last dregs of sunlight seemed to be fading towards the west.

The other portion of the battle had ended as Konoha had allowed Takigakure to retreat in exchange for rushing full-tilt across the bridge and clearing out the forests of that side to assert a solid foothold on Kusa's landholdings. Gamaken had dispelled in a massive puff of smoke that could be seen for miles.

From that point, Gamakichi and Naruto just watched as the division seemingly picked up and moved a significant portion of their operation right across the bridge like clockwork, barely an hour after the bulk of the battle ended. Not a moment was wasted, not a single beat was missed. Effiecient as all hell. Danzo would have been smirking at that sight if he were still alive. He knew for certain that the Kyuubi within him approved of the domination shown by its jinchuuriki.

"**Smells like blood, death, and defeat Naruto-nii."** Gamakichi commented as he and Naruto started walking past the other ninja heading across the river to advance to the new base point to the command post back on the original Konoha side for some rest.

"Right… smells like victory." Naruto said, Sage Mode long since faded away due to having no further need for it as he rubbed away a stray bloodstain on his cheek and noted that his clothes were more or less coated in it. He seriously needed a shower and a change of clothes like nobody's business, "I've still got an adrenaline rush, but I'm going to crash like a Nara when this fades." He gave the toad a pat on the back as they kept walking, "Now let's go get you that drink buddy."

"**Don't touch me with those hands until you wash 'em."** Gamakichi said, faking disgust as he himself had just as much blood on him that he was going to wash off first thing after taking himself home, **"Do you know how many people we killed today? It had to be more than 200."**

"If your and Gamaken's kills count as my kills since I summoned you both, I think I killed like 500." Naruto said, remembering the conversation he had with Jiraiya a long time ago about the bodycounts of the most powerful shinobi of their time, "I'm not counting taking down the fortress. I have no idea how many people were in there."

Gamakichi let out a low whistle and tried to estimate just what his contribution to the battle had been, **"I got more than you."**

"My ass you did." A playing punch to Gamakichi came from Naruto as the two shared a smirk, "I saw everything I did in slow motion, remember?" Naruto said, pointing at his replacement Sharingan eye before he allowed the contact lens over it to hide it again before it started significantly draining him, not that it would occur anytime soon. Gamakichi rolled his eyes as the two continued on across the bridge.

At the end of the bridge, leaning against one of the main massive beams that held the absurdly large rope suspension bridge up was a battle-weary Tayuya who had apparently been waiting on Naruto to come back that way.

Seeing her in the growing early darkness of the evening, Naruto gave Gamakichi a pat on his vest-covered back, "Hey, go on ahead and get yourself your sake. If they don't already get it for you when you ask just say that you're with me. I'll catch up in a minute."

Not really making Tayuya out at that point from that distance away with all of the ninja coming their way to cross the bridge and the fact that he'd seen so many humans with flak jackets on that day that they started blending together for the orange toad, he nodded and hopped off ahead of Naruto as he started lagging a bit behind.

Eventually coming to a stop in front of Tayuya, the two gave each other a once over, frowning at what they both saw of the other's haggard-looking appearance and speaking simultaneously, "You look like hell/shit." They said at the exact same time, blinking at one another for the comments in stereo.

Naruto let out a chuckle and held up one of his black gloved hands to scratch at his blonde hair that also had blood in it in flecks, "Wow, I try to be nice and just say hell and you go right for the throat and say I look like shit. Thanks. I needed that." He finished sarcastically, getting a knock to the shoulder for his trouble.

"I was being nice. I could have said you look like something worse than shit, believe it or not." Tayuya said with a toothy grin despite how exhausted she looked otherwise.

He honestly had no other choice but to believe her. He had legitimately heard Tayuya angry at someone before instead of just how she normally spoke, and her cursing got far more liberal and creative when she found someone to hone in on like a pit bull, "I guess. So was this fast enough for you? Three days instead of four like you thought. That's what I call results."

"I guess so…" Tayuya replied in a voice of false pondering, "Still kind of slow though. You really made us work for that one Uzumaki, but at least you showed up for the party altogether. I knew you wouldn't get your ass killed while you were over there."

Naruto was able to see that Tayuya's body was rather weakened by her lack of useful energy at this point and put her on his back piggyback-style as he started walking back to the command post, "Oh, you figured I'd be back because nobody's stopping me until I become Hokage like I said right?"

Instead of fighting it and telling him she wasn't some fragile bimbo that needed to be carried, Tayuya just let it happen and decided that there were worse ways to be treated by someone like Naruto, going along with the ride and wrapping her arms around his neck to hold on, "No that's not it. It's because I thought you'd have made this whole fucking thing work out somehow, even if you had to find a way to tame the goddamn plant life over there to help you out. You're a fucking nutcase, you know that?"

Naruto just shrugged as if to say 'so what?' as he was already aware of that to a certain extent. Tayuya just settled into keeping her hold on him as he walked her back to the base to get some rest, 'Man where did Maki-chan go? Did she really just cut out and go home? The mission _was_ done I guess… and she can't really be caught away from Konoha like this so I guess it fits.' He then turned to the side and had to do a double-take as he saw Maki walking next to him, 'Damn… well there goes that theory.'

"I am not Maki Naruto-senpai. She locked you in a genjutsu so she could say this to you without anyone seeing her. Please don't speak out loud or someone will think you're crazy or they're under attack."

Whoa. She got him with the Sharingan off, 'Damn. Did you know she did that to me?' Naruto asked the Kyuubi in his head.

"**Yes, I did. Now shut up and listen to the girl already so I can go back to sleep. All of that hapless slaughter makes me sleepy…"**

Not waiting for a response as she wasn't programmed to respond to remarks, genjutsu-Maki spoke her predetermined words, "Root is about to begin their own black-ops behind the scenes of this war and it was made easier for us to begin because of this mission. We'll still be helping you when we think it's prudent and we might be able to do it freely as well because for the moment we have Hokage-sama's silent blessing to go ahead with our operations at least until the end of the wartime conditions."

Naruto's eyes widened, but he nodded to himself almost imperceivably, 'Good old Tsunade-baachan. Yeah, give 'em a chance.' That was good. That was very good.

"So until we can meet again Naruto-senpai… I have one more message to give you." Genjutsu-Maki said before turning to glare at Tayuya on his back and smiling sweetly at him himself, "Don't get yourself killed being stupid, and don't you forget about us either." The message was her 'subtle' way of saying, 'Don't forget about _me_.' No problems there.

And just like that, the genjutsu ended with Naruto still walking through the forest as if the illusion had never settled over him. Tayuya didn't notice and apparently neither did any of the other ninja walking through the woods towards the bridge and also heading back to the command post. He let himself smile a bit with a short chuckle that got Tayuya to stir a bit on his back, wondering what was so funny.

XxX

(Sunagakure no Sato – Temporary Command Area)

Gaara sat at a table inside of a large tent that had been set up for the Kazekage's day-to-day business until the Kazekage Mansion could be rebuilt, but that wasn't as important to Gaara as the rest of the village, thus these conditions were fine for the moment. Instead, the news he was hearing from two of his shinobi that had been met at the outskirts of the village were the pressing issue as far as matters of importance went, "And you're telling me this for certain?"

"Yes…" One of the two turban wearing Suna chunin said. Their injuries were light, but their news was very, very grave, "Ishigakure, Tanigakure, and Amegakure forces are being led through the desert towards our location at this moment."

The other Suna chunin looked extremely shaken not just by what they had learned but what it had taken to get back, "Those Konoha ninja… when we were discovered by the enemy and were pursued they held them back for us while we ran here to give you this information."

Also in attendance to hear of this news, Kankuro and Temari showed a bit of surprise at this news, "And you just let them without a fuss?" Kankuro said with some discontent.

The first of the two chunin rapidly shook his head, "No… we said that they should be the ones to rush to the village since we knew the terrain better than they did and might have been able to fight better even against the numbers. But they said that this was why they should stay behind, because we knew the terrain better and would have made it back here faster. I lost count of how many days we ran for."

"They said that Suna had lost enough for the time being…" The more visibly affected of the two said, "And it was three days. We had run for three days before coming back here. They're coming from the northeast. Ame's direction."

"This is not good." Temari said, shaking her head and adjusting her war fan on her back uncomfortably, "Gaara. What are we going to do?"

Instead of giving his older sister a definite answer, Gaara sat in his desk, his hands clasped underneath his chin with his seafoam green eyes hardened in thought, "What else do we do?" Gaara asked rhetorically, "We stop them. This is when we show the world that even weakened as we are, one does not merely invade Sunagakure." He stood up from his seat and for the first time in years, everyone in the tent felt a measure of fear when looking at the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku, "Send a messenger hawk towards Konoha, but do not prepare as if reinforcements are a definite possibility."

For some reason this time though, the fear they felt when looking at Gaara made them all feel good. Maybe it was because this time it wasn't a crazed demon container that despised life? This time it was because it was the Kazekage talking.

…And he just so happened to be that same demon container.

The more things change…

* * *

Jutsu List

Suiyou no Aichou (Mournful Melody of the Weeping Willow. A-ranked genjutsu. Supplementary, offensive, close-to-mid range. The jutsu creates the illusion of a killer weeping willow tree that will ensnare an enemy. The severity of the ensnarement depends on the susceptibility of the foe to genjutsu. The weaker against it they are the tighter they will be initially caught. Can range from having an ankle or an arm stuck to having one's throat constricted to the point of strangulation and death.

* * *

**And that's what I've got for you all. So ever since I've gotten out of school for the break in early December I've had a virus on my computer that kept me from getting online. So that meant that all I could do was really just type without any real research sources to use… and I had to use other things to upload chapters. That's why this took longer than it should have.**

**But who cares? My problem apparently solved itself yesterday evening and that ain't a bad thing. I'm not looking this gift horse in the mouth ladies and gentlemen. I just hope this gift horse isn't of the Trojan variety.**

**So anyway, all kinds of war scenarios are set up with all kinds of drama in the different theaters of combat set to kick off at my discretion. Should be a good old-fashioned time.**

**Also, fun fact: Don't ever Google your name or alias for fun if you're easily upset or have low self-esteem, especially when you do stuff like write these stories in the volume that I do. It just is not ever going to end well. I had no idea how many people hated me enough to bring it up elsewhere. Thank goodness I can take a little constructive criticism and I only do this in the first place so that I can improve on my leisurely writing because some of the stuff I read about myself... whoo! Didn't see that coming.**

**It was actually kind of fun… man I'm sick.**

**Alright whatever. Hope your Christmas or whatever winter holiday you celebrate didn't suck, and I hope your New Year's doesn't bite either. I'm going to go to work now.**

**Kenchi out.**


	59. Unconditional Surrender

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. What a heartbreaker. Okay, now that I'm over that we can begin this chapter.

**Chapter 58: Unconditional Surrender**

* * *

A new mission. This had been what Naruto had received barely one day following the fall of Tenchi Bridge. For once the Konoha forces were able to sleep easy knowing that as they slept their own side were pouring forces over that bridge and preparing for an all-out offensive on the traitorous Kusagakure to end their ambitions. While they would need to be prepared for brutal deep forest fighting in order to reach the village it was nothing that Konoha hadn't already anticipated.

Meanwhile Naruto himself would not be taking part. Much like he had been told would be his responsibility during his briefing with a select few shinobi in his shoes, Naruto would be shuttled from front to front, used where he was the most needed and where his presence wouldn't result in him effectively killing himself in the process of completing his mission.

Thus he was called away from the northwestern command post and back to Konoha for the specifics of his next mission.

The very peaceful trip back across the countryside of Hi no Kuni belied just how intense things were at each border of the nation. The only truly safe border of the country happened to be further towards the southern coast, as everywhere else the nation happened to be surrounded by enemies on all sides. Even the enemies between Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni could focus their efforts all on Konoha, because Suna would certainly not be launching any offensives.

However the northwestern theater of the war seemed to be proceeding nicely. With the fall of the Tenchi Bridge the advance into the wilder territory of Kusagakure could begin. It would be a grueling campaign, but no matter how hard Kusa fought on their strange and various terrains they would eventually fall. This Naruto believed with all of his heart. With Yamato there, it was just too much of a benefit to the invading Konoha forces.

So he could sincerely focus on whatever his next mission was scheduled to be.

After a quick stop at home to replenish his wares and to check in on his lover/servant/former fuuinjutsu teacher of course. And he hadn't contacted her to his position through their shared communications seal because he wished to surprise her.

What he wasn't expecting upon walking into his Hokage Monument mountainside home was a guest. Actually, that wasn't it at all. It wasn't that he wasn't expecting a guest because Hamako had friends (of course she did, she was a wonderful young woman), it was that the person that was the guest in his home was greatly unexpected.

"Yugito?" Sitting on one of the couches of the living room the moment he walked down the chamber stairs entering the home was the jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Nekomata, Yugito Nii. She was also the representative of Kumo's stake in the alliance with Konoha and since those two villages were the two primary mainland forces of the Grand Shinobi Alliance they each had a rep in the other's village, "What are you doing here?"

Said young woman was simply calmly sipping a glass of milk and looking at the view of Konoha from Naruto's window. It really was magnificent scenery. How he managed to secure a home like this she would wonder for quite some time. In the meantime though she found nothing wrong with addressing him, "What am I doing here? And here I thought you would be happy to actually see me after your time in the field."

Naruto rolled his eyes and entered the living room choosing to take a seat on the couch next to the foreign kunoichi, "Don't even be like that. It's kind of weird that I get home for a bit before my next mission and you're right here. You'd be suspicious too wouldn't you?"

"Guilty." Yugito chimed in, continuing to drink the milk she had been provided free access to as a guest in this home, "But for now let's just catch up. So what have you been doing since you left Konoha?"

Turning towards her with a deadpan look on his face, Naruto's lips quirked only momentarily in amusement before he answered, "I've been dealing with people trying to kill me. It really isn't that different from any other time yet… except for the fact that I've got to fight more than usual and they usually know I'm coming."

"Smartass." Yugito remarked with a twitching eye before deciding to try and get one over on him, "And here I was going to tell you all you needed to know about your next mission. It looks like you're making that long, long walk to your Hokage's office to get your next assignment."

That put Naruto off a bit, but he then simply stood up and got directly into Yugito's face for effect, "Our villages are allies right now, and we're pretty close, but why in the world would you know what my next mission would be? If you want me to stop being all snarky you've got to try better than that pretty kitty." He then stopped when he felt something sharp directly underneath his chin and looked down to see an extended fingernail from Yugito pressing underneath his jaw, "…That's new."

"Not really." Yugito chirped calmly, satisfied at the thought that she had won that round, "Now… let me finish my drink, then I'm going with you to the tower to get your next mission."

She allowed him enough space underneath his chin to nod and then retracted the claw of a nail while Naruto rubbed the underside of his chin, glaring a bit at Yugito. He seriously didn't know she could do that, "Right. Well I'm going to check on Hamako-chan and see how she's doing. I kind of wanted to surprise her with my coming back."

"You can do that at the tower." Yugito said as he started to head towards the hallway that led to the other rooms of the house, stopping him in his tracks, "She's taken up a place in village defense so she goes for meetings every day now."

Naruto mumbled to himself about stupid Tsunade-baachan putting Hamako on village defense when she couldn't fight, but accepted this and decided to see if he could grab a bite to eat of something that wasn't rations while he was home. He might as well enjoy what luxuries he could get while not in the field since it seemed he was going right back there.

XxX

(Sunagakure no Sato)

Standing at the opening of the dome that surrounded the outside of his village entrance, Gaara simply stared off into the sands with his arms folded over his chest. He walked out into the desert and pressed his hand into the ground shutting his eyes. He had sent his own specialized sand out to monitor the area around Suna in preparation for the coming invasion he was told would be coming, "Suna no Kanchi (Sand Sensing)."

But he couldn't feel anything.

A frown was clearly visible on Gaara's face. He had been told an attack was coming, an entire squad was decimated for stumbling upon the attack force in the very direction he had sent the sand, and apparently they weren't close within meddling distance… yet

The attack had to be coming from the direction of Konoha though, because two messenger hawks were not able to reach through and relay this to Konoha.

This just meant that the enemy was smarter than most shinobi from the five major villages would give them credit for. Being smaller villages, separately they all had to tread lightly around the bigger ones to ensure that they did not step out of bounds and find themselves on the bad side of one of the dominant ones. Of course this would mean that they would know how to deal with a situation like this.

'They know better than to get close enough for me to see them.' Gaara thought to himself. If they were fool enough to camp within sight of the walls of Suna they were labeling themselves the ignorant fools out for nothing more than the glory of finishing off a wounded hidden village. If Gaara could see them throughout the endless rolling sands of _his_ desert he could handle them accordingly.

A siege would backfire for this reason. They would be the ones being sieged upon by Gaara's sand, and over the years he had prepared enough of it to distribute around his village to shield it entirely and raise hell of the ninth level to any fool that was seeking to do it harm.

Because he was the damn Kazekage for a reason.

If that weren't enough, he always had the option of showing them why having a biju was ever so important in the growth of the five major villages when he would transform into the Shukaku to run roughshod over them.

But that was a last resort. His control over Shukaku had improved, but a full-on possession was always at risk when he did that, and Shukaku wouldn't distinguish friend from foe, because it had no 'friends' in Suna. It would probably trample over what was already being rebuilt just for shits and giggles and he knew this.

"Kazekage-sama."

Gaara, due to his use of his jutsu to sense through the sand didn't need to turn around to know who it was standing behind him, "Kakashi Hatake. I have a dilemma." He said as the masked man in question walked up to his side, "Attack or defend. That is my question. If I ventured out on my own I am quite certain that I could break the back of this invasion in one day. But it would kill me. I am not concerned with this however. However my death would leave the gates of Suna open to the enemy." He turned towards the man and stared into his single visible eye, "I do not wish to subject my people to more suffering."

"And the problem with simply defending?" Kakashi said, wanting to hear the young man's take on it. This was the Kazekage of course, but a part of him always liked seeing just how these younger shinobi saw things. He liked watching them develop and grow, "You are Gaara, the man with the absolute defense. I'm certain you've got counter-measures for this scenario."

"Of course." Gaara said with a nod, "But it would turn the invasion into a siege. A siege that would inevitably cost lives. Many lives. It has been proven in the past, even now with all of my improvements upon it, that my absolute defense is not as absolute as many believe. But of course you would know this." It would make an already miserable experience of having the village destroyed even more miserable when the citizens and surviving shinobi were faced with hiding and periodically dying off.

The older Konoha ninja merely listened intently. As Gaara was the leader of Suna he himself was the leader of the Konoha forces that had been sent to help Suna out. There were a few jounin about like Gai or Neji, and quite a few chunin as would come with any foreign assignment, however there were many, many genin. Genin with experience, but genin nonetheless, "Your village still has a force of around 6500 shinobi. With the 1000 that were sent from Konoha to assist that gives us over 7500 in all within the walls."

"2500 of which are genin."

"I know."

It was a far cry from the number that it used to be of over 10000, but it was still most definitely something.

Both of them merely stared at each other before turning back to look at the desert as the wind howled, "The weather will be on our side for now. This is good." Gaara commented, shutting his eyes and letting the strangely cool air hit his face. Normally it would have been harsh, but it was a cooler front moving their way, "A storm is coming."

"Won't rain make your sand techniques weaker?"

Gaara's lips quirked in amusement and he turned to begin walking back inside of the village. There was nothing more he needed see out there with the shift in the weather of Kaze no Kuni's deserts, "I never said it was a rain storm." Kakashi's single visible eye widened but then he nodded, understanding what Gaara was talking about, "Come. With the village the way it is we should retire to the fortifications until it's over. The desert is quite harsh during wind storms."

One does not merely invade Sunagakure.

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)

Naruto walked through the halls with Yugito and Hamako in tow after retrieving the white-haired fuuinjutsu expert from where she had been advising Konoha's defensive leaders… about what, Naruto had no idea, but when he was allowed into the chamber they seemed to have been listening to her very closely, "You could have told me you were a defense advisor." Naruto grumbled, only getting a bright smile from the chesty servant girl in return, "What are you advising them about anyway? You know how to defend a whole village?"

"No." Hamako admitted with no shame in doing so, "…But there are some things that I am good at. I did live through a previous invasion of a very strong hidden village… even if I didn't see most of it." She didn't really have anything to do with no Naruto to take care of at home so she needed to do something productive, "I'm not as helpless as I seem Naruto-sama."

Well he knew that much. But in a fight against an actual ninja she would be killed. Hamako didn't know anything about fighting outside of the application of fuuinjutsu. She wasn't fast, she wasn't strong, she wasn't combat knowledgeable. She was one step away from being a regular person, she wasn't any kind of soldier.

But he was just being paranoid. Even if Konoha was somehow overrun she wouldn't be on the battlefield. And if she was he would probably kill the person that allowed her to be there himself once he found out.

"Just let her do it if that's what she wants." Yugito said, coolly walking on one side of Naruto through the halls towards Tsunade's office, "You can't honestly expect to go off to fight a war and have her just sit on her hands to wait for you to come back."

"…I wasn't going to tell her to stop." Naruto defended weakly, panning his eyes between the two women on both sides of him, "Hamako's really my servant just because she wouldn't let me turn her down when I brought her to Konoha with me. She can really do whatever she wants."

Hamako nodded in agreement, "Master's so good to me." Even after the amount of time they had been living together Naruto still never got used to that.

Yugito simply looked amused though. Watching Naruto in his own home village was way more interesting than watching him walk on eggshells in Kumo the way she had been used to seeing him, "Naruto-kun's just a sucker for women."

No, he was a sucker for women that mothered him. He didn't bend his will for any women or anyone in general other than Tsunade, Shizune, and Hamako. The first one due to the fact that she was his kage and if that weren't the case she was still the closest thing to family he had in Konoha… and if _that_ weren't the case she could throw him from the top of Hokage Monument straight over the village gates, the second because she was like an aunt or a sister and disappointing her made him feel terrible for some reason, the third because she had been taking care of him and his home for years and was his closest confidant.

There were other reasons that Hamako in particular could get him to do whatever she wanted. Physical reasons… loving reasons that didn't involve threatening him in any way… but that was an entirely different matter altogether that bringing up in the presence of another lady (as potentially violent as Yugito) would have been frowned upon.

Speaking of one of the female devils of his life, the mish-mashed trio entered the office of Naruto's mother figure and overseeing commanding officer Tsunade was sitting, seemingly waiting on him, "You know, I didn't expect you to get back so soon." She told him with a dry look on her face as he entered, "I gave you free reign to return at will because I was hoping you'd take a furlough in Shukuba Town." A shrug of Naruto's shoulders elicited a sigh from her, "...That's what I would have done, but then again you've got a few screws loose brat."

"Love you too Tsunade-baachan." Naruto remarked as he walked towards the desk and got professional, standing at attention, alertly staring straight ahead, "You have another mission for me Hokage-sama?" In the background Hamako giggled at how quickly he was able to switch over to business-mode. Yugito idly realized that this was more akin to the Naruto one would see when he was away from Konoha.

Tsunade herself quickly shifted herself to complete kage-mode as well and intertwined her fingers in front of her mouth as she fixed Naruto with a serious stare, "Your next mission is a very important escort assignment. I know it's not what you're expecting as far as a wartime mission, but this one is really important Naruto. A VIP escort, S-rank."

"If you picked me for it I can't turn it down no matter what it is. You know I wouldn't anyway if you think I'm the man for the job." Naruto replied, crossing his arms over his chest, "So who am I taking and where am I taking them?"

'Well… she did say he wouldn't turn it down. I guess that's why she waited for him to come back just so I could send him on this one.' Tsunade thought as her eyes bolted towards Yugito. She nodded to the Kumo jinchuuriki as if to give her free reign to take over the briefing.

Which she did, "You're taking me home Naruto-kun." Yugito said, sauntering into Naruto's line of sight between him and Tsunade to get her fellow blonde demon container's attention, "It's time for me to go back to Kumo. There's nothing more I can do here to forge the bond between our two villages anymore than the trial of battle can. I need to get back. I'm Kumo's strongest kunoichi."

"She wanted you for security." Tsunade added on, getting a nod from Yugito to confirm this to Naruto, "I figured it was a good enough idea. There aren't that many jounin in the village and you were to be used for missions of all sorts on many fronts. This one is especially dangerous though as you will have to go straight through the lines in Yu no Kuni held by the enemy. After returning Yugito-san to her people you'll take Konoha's representative home to Konoha."

Naruto frowned as he raised an eyebrow in a bit of concern, "That's the worst front right? The one with no way around except straight through?"

He had heard that the enemy hadn't even bothered to begin an offensive against Konoha, merely choosing to hold them off with their unflankable positioning as they terrorized Kumo on the other side. Being pincered in seemed to be working in this case because the land grew so narrow between the two bodies of water, there was no way for Konoha to advance past the choke point.

"Yes, that's the one." Tsunade said, knowing full well how horrible that place would be, "Are you choosing to reconsider accepting the mission?" She had been involved in war. She had seen her lover die in a rat's nest of a battlefield like that. A large part of her did not want to send Naruto off into that hell of a place. The same fate could befall him as well, just as it did Nawaki, just as it did Dan.

No she couldn't think like that. It was a clear insult to Naruto who had worked his body to the breaking point for the village to prove himself as capable of doing such missions. He wasn't Nawaki, nor was he Dan. Thinking like that was bad luck all around.

"No, I'm not dropping the mission." Naruto said, sharing a smile with Yugito who mouthed a 'thank you' to him, "But I don't know much about that place other than the rumors I heard at the northwestern front." And nothing he heard was good. Letter to others from the Northeast Division were never full of any good news, "If I'm taking Yugi-chan through there I'm gonna need a good briefing."

Nothing less could have been expected. Going through there blind would get a good shinobi killed. It had already more than enough times to feel comfortable with. Volunteers for that battlefront were only the most hardened ninja Konoha had to offer. Nothing less was accepted to be stationed there, enthusiasm of the recruit or not.

An enthusiastic rookie chunin would be an enthusiastic corpse by the end of the week.

"You'll get all the information on the lay of the land and the enemy at hand that is available considering who's the division commander." Tsunade said, handing Naruto his mission scroll out of formality, "When you get there tell Jiraiya to keep himself safe. I don't care if he's the leader or not. If he gets killed I'll bring him back just to wring his neck myself."

Naruto's eyes lit up upon hearing that Jiraiya was the man in charge, but his stomach also flipped a bit at thinking of his disabled sensei standing in the middle of a warzone. He then figured that if Jiraiya could hear his thoughts he'd kick his ass for thinking he was weak just because he was missing an arm, "I'll make sure to tell him."

Yugito shifted her shoulders and turned around to bow to Tsunade, "I think it's time to prepare to leave. Thank you for the hospitality your village showed me for the last few months. I appreciate it."

"It was no problem." Tsunade returned with an affable smile, "Give my regards to Raikage-dono upon your return. Naruto will get you home without a scratch on you." She turned towards the young man in question who was still standing ramrod straight, "Won't you Naruto?"

'I do _not_ make promises I can't keep.' Naruto thought to himself immediately after before turning to Yugito and clearing his throat, "Yugi-chan…" He started, intending to be as straightforward as possible, something that got her full and undivided attention, "We are going to get scratches. We are going to get a lot of scratches and probably a lot worse than scratches."

A palm smacked off of Tsunade's forehead of her own volition, "Way to make the client feel safe before departure brat… I just now remembered why I stopped sending you on these." She then waved Naruto off with a dismissive hand gesture.

XxX

(Ta no Kuni – Otogakure Hideout)

"Kabuto-sama." A nameless Otogakure shinobi said from outside the shut and locked doors of a laboratory that had been taken over by the Konoha defector as his main office and place of work, "The Konoha forces at the Yuki no Kuni border are aware of our raids against their reinforcements and supply transports."

"It took them long enough." The hooded, snake-eyed ninja said to himself with a hint of amusement at the report, "How many prisoners have we taken just since they've stationed themselves at that border?" He mused aloud. Goodness it had to be around one hundred or so. The Konoha ninja came like clockwork to bolster the front line and his ambush squads were getting better and better.

"Orders?"

"Until they actually start reacting to our presence, nothing." Kabuto replied flippantly. He didn't care about his underlings. He merely needed them so that he could procure subjects to continue his research. By the time this war ended he would have achieved the most powerful, perfect ninjutsu that had ever existed. He would surpass Orochimaru's wildest expectations for what a shinobi was capable of and he would become a legend of the shadows.

No one had made a career out of staying out of the crosshairs of others the way Kabuto had. Even Danzo Shimura would have been jealous at the subtle and unannounced ways that Kabuto had gained his power, both politically and in the ninja arts.

Orochimaru had been going about this the wrong way entirely. He _already_ had access to every jutsu ever created. No Sharingan was necessary to tediously run them all down and view them to copy them. No need for physical modifications to give one's body the advantage needed to perform certain jutsu. Yet still he could have had every ninjutsu in the world that had ever existed at his command.

Then he would never have made an enemy of Akatsuki by going after Itachi Uchiha. Then he never would have died at the hands of his 'apprentice' Sasuke Uchiha. He could have had it all years ago… and he still could have had his perfect immortal body.

And now all of those things would belong to Kabuto.

"Orochimaru-sama… for all your brilliance you yourself were too shortsighted to realize the answer to your own question." Kabuto said to himself, busy at work at his lab station, a dark grin spreading across his face as everything was seeming to come together, "You had the perfect ninjutsu to achieve both of your ambitions in one fell swoop. And now I do as well. Only I have the deduction skills to put the clues together."

Orochimaru was too obsessed with the individual jutsu itself. The merits and properties of each individual ninja technique. He never looked at the simple prospect of combining them, but Kabuto had the thought of using two of his most potent ninjutsu together in conjunction.

But there was still the matter of 'Madara Uchiha'.

Just thinking of that masked man got a laugh out of Kabuto. He believed that he had Kabuto under his thumb. That he had the upper hand in their 'partnership' to ruin the shinobi world. He believed that when the time came to act he could simply take what he wished and that Kabuto would be easy to dispose of. That fool. Kabuto didn't want to ruin the shinobi world. Nor did he want to make it his own.

He wanted to be the ultimate catalyst. The catalyst for whatever he wanted. Kabuto wanted to be the man that changed the eras at a whim, the man that brought about the winds of change whenever he felt. The man that could live a lifetime doing nothing more than playing chess using the shinobi of the Elemental Nations as his pieces, changing the rules of engagement whenever he saw fit.

The true orchestrator of chaos. The living embodiment of just what was so dreadfully beautiful and simultaneously atrocious about the shinobi arts. A figure that even Orochimaru himself would have bowed down to and begged to learn from.

While 'Madara' thought he was strong enough to keep the demented scientist shinobi in line in truth he had nothing. He figured that in straight combat if it came down to it he could exterminate Kabuto. Well Kabuto held a trump card over 'Madara'. A trump card he was willing to play if the man got too fresh before his ultimate plan was complete. It would be the trump card he used when his preparations were complete regardless because afterwards it would all be over even if no one realized it.

Because after that point… well the masked antagonist could try to do whatever he wished. It wouldn't matter at that point. Kabuto would have him and the entire ninja world in checkmate.

Because he finally had all the answers to every question. Even the ones he never dreamed of asking.

This northeastern front of the war between the Grand Shinobi Alliance and the Continental Ninja Federation would be the perfect testing ground for his new power. The proving area for his brilliance.

And much like in everything else he had ever done in his career, no one would know it was him until it was too late to do anything about it. Just the way that Kabuto liked it.

Because in war while glory can be found in battle it could also be found in complete and total victory. No showing of valor necessary, just cunning and the ability to finish your work.

XxX

(With Western C.N.F. Forces – Outside of Sunagakure no Sato)

Beneath the ground in Sunagakure lay many underground chambers meant to house the citizenry for safety in case of invasion, something that seemed to be inevitably forthcoming. At the moment it housed the majority of the genin rank shinobi as well, as only the best volunteers remained above in the few safehouses along the village's outer walls in the raging windstorm above to monitor the scene and keep the village as safe as could be.

The intensity of the sandstorm above could tear into flesh and rip right through any flimsy tent set up for temporary housing by the Konoha visitors. This was the reason that Sunagakure homes were comprised of such tough and hardened material, because twice a month random intense windstorms hit the village as something of a natural defense. It was a reason why this area in the desert was originally chosen for the site of the village, because it was extremely difficult to invade.

The enemy waiting out in the deserts of Kaze no Kuni were feeling nothing but hell at the moment. At least within the walls of Sunagakure the dome structure built around the entrance and the fact that the village sat inside of a valley provided very good protection from the harsh weather. There was no such reprieve in the middle of the desert around Suna.

However, this also forced their hand. Sitting out the sandstorm would only result in casualties and losses of valuable supplies. Suna already knew that they were coming, thus sitting on their hands and waiting would only hinder the invaders at this point.

The three villages that comprised the strike force were Ishigakure, Tanigakure, and Amegakure were not particularly short on manpower, even with the minor villages and the population problem of their shinobi forces compared to the larger ones that were their enemy on this day. Mostly because Ame had the population of one of the five major villages. Their overall force numbered out to be just under 8000, with 2000 of them being supplied by Tanigakure and Ishigakure and the rest being provided by Ame, thus they were in lead of the operation.

There was a stark contrast between Tanigakure and Ishigakure as compared to Ame. The latter had no nerves. As if this was what they had been waiting their entire lives for, and for many of the Amegakure ninja in attendance it was indeed the case. Decades of finding their families torn apart, caught in the crossfire of pitched battles fought between the major villages that seemed to have no concern for them.

Their God wouldn't allow them to lose. Not this battle.

With many of them using their sturdy weaponized umbrellas as shields against the harsh winds and sand, and their breathers on their faces they marched forward and led the way to the points they were meant to begin from. Even in the sandstorm that had wounded many of their foreign comrades who did not get ample preparation from their villages they stood confident.

"Comrades!" One of the Ame elites shouted before pointing in the direction of Suna. The dome of which could barely be seen through the sand whipping about, "There is the enemy! The job was left incomplete because the God of this new world wanted us to have the closure of walking into one of the five sources of our despair ourselves! To shape the world with our own hands! By the time this storm ends it'll be as clear as day that everything changes after today!"

The raucous and confident cheering from the Amegakure contingent actually managed to catch on with the others and in a matter of minutes the ranks were rocking and ready to go. Were it not for the howling desert winds drowning out their cries the sound would have reached Sunagakure for certain.

But as it stood no one within Suna's walls bore witness to the battle cries coming from just outside the view of their walls.

With the exception of course of the single very large all seeing eye hanging directly above the village. High in the air, able to look down through the sands that could not obscure its sight from above, it watched them get into position.

XxX

(Sunagakure no Sato – Gaara's Command Safehouse)

One entire battalion was about to get a very rude awakening to refresh their memories and remind them just where they were and who was leading the village they were trying to invade. Gaara had to choose wisely though. He would get one shot to cripple the attack force because once the attack began he would never get the chance to rid Suna of this many enemy ninja at once again for the duration of the battle.

They would scatter and become far more difficult to direct his attack against. This would lead to a direct battle, but of course he had people for that as well.

So in his quiet wartime quarters, Gaara sat calmly with one of his eyes shut, trying to maintain focus from his place as the main giver of orders on the battlefield. His ability to sense with his special sand distributed throughout the desert and his ability to see the battlefield from a bird's eye view even in the sandstorm via his use of Daisan no Me (Third Eye) would have made him a commander anyway even if he weren't the Kazekage.

"Do Kankuro and Chiyo-obaasama have the close-range squads in position?" Gaara asked aloud to the only other person in the room, his genin sensei Baki, "I fear that now is the best time to thin the enemy ranks in one fell swoop and when I do they will retaliate in kind." He felt that he needed to act now before they finished surrounding the village.

The man with a turban and a veil over half of his face nodded in response to his student and superior, "They've been in position for two hours now Kazekage-sama." Baki replied, "They're ready to react when the battle begins. Temari also has the long-range fighters prepared, and Hatake-san has the Konoha squad ready to act accordingly. We are all waiting on you."

Gaara nodded before speaking again to one of his closest village advisors, "Baki-sensei… do you believe I am handling this correctly?"

"The only other option is to surrender Gaara." A small smile came to Baki's face as Gaara's expression grimaced at the thought of surrender, "Yes. You know exactly what would happen if we surrendered. Even if you turned yourself over to Ame to deter the attack so that Shukaku could be extracted and we stood down the village would be massacred."

It had been clear for Gaara to see that their enemies had a lot of hatred for them. They wanted blood more than they wanted victory.

With his optic jutsu above the village Gaara could firmly see the targets he had chosen to attack first; the ones that had already stopped and were in position, simply waiting for the others to reach their own positions for the attack to begin.

"No that wasn't what I meant Baki-sensei." Gaara said as he began to use his hands to guide his personal sand around the target battalion that he had selected to attack first, "I meant, do you think I should ask for the terms of the enemy's surrender now to prevent so many of them from dying today?"

Wow… where did that come from? Baki blinked in surprise at a statement that could be perceived as pure confidence from the calm Kazekage, "I don't believe so. What would your terms have been?"

"They would have received no terms." Gaara said as stoically as ever, "Complete and total unconditional surrender or suffer total destruction for assaulting our home." While Konoha might have let Suna disengage without pursuit or risk of a rout during their attempted invasion of their village years ago, Suna could not and would not claim to be as merciful. Flattening the village wasn't enough for them, they wanted to come and destroy every other bit of it? That was all well and good.

But he'd wish them the best of luck trying to get away in one piece.

"…I don't think that would work too well Kazekage-sama." Baki said aloud.

A shrug came from Gaara before he returned to focusing on creeping his sand into position. Things were almost ready, just a few more moments, "How unfortunate." For them… because to be quite honest he was still stinging from what Pein did to his village over a month ago, and as petty as it was he was about to take it back out on a lot of people, "You know how much I despise needless violence." He said before clapping his hands together and beginning a chain of hand-seals.

Saying that five years ago would have been funny. Actually, saying it now was still funny… if there was something to laugh at.

"Remember if it comes to the point where I am needed on the battlefield itself Baki, you are in charge." Gaara's hand-seals ended with him clapping his hands together one more time to get his sand in position to make its move, "Ryuusa Bakuryuu (Quicksand Waterfall Flow)!"

XxX

(Outside the Walls of Sunagakure no Sato)

At first they assumed it was the sandstorm just getting more intense, until the more attentive shinobi in the battalion could feel the ground begin to move their way, and it wasn't the wind doing it.

"It's the Kazekage! It has to be!"

"He isn't even out here! He can't be! What kind of kage steps onto the battlefield first?"

"You know what to do! Don't stay stationary!"

The cries of instructions from the Amegakure ninja that were the de facto leaders of the entire attack force were heeded for the most part with the exception of a few Tanigakure and Ishigakure shinobi that weren't sure what was happening until they found themselves buried underneath what was a massive tidal wave of sand. Despite being prepared for it better than any others, quite the large amount of Amegakure ninja couldn't escape either.

The ones that were able to dodge then bore witness to their trapped comrades being lifted in the air in cocoons of sand by the dozens, by the hundreds. If Gaara's hands were touching the sand that they had been originally trapped in he could have ended it quicker with less pageantry than what he was about to do. He could have just crushed them beneath the sands of the desert and that would have been that for the caught enemies.

But for visual effect, nothing could really compare to, or scare the living daylights out of the enemy any better than having them watch their fellow shinobi be crushed in midair like grapes, their liquefied remains dropping back down to the ground in a literal rain of blood.

Talk about a morale killer.

And this was the fate of hundreds of captured ninja. Right before a rain of dozens of kunai spiked the ground and killed/wounded almost everything they hit as far as the distracted enemy went.

"Welcome to Suna!" Kankuro yelled over a distance with a smirk on his face as his puppet Karasu stood right by his side, "How are you liking the weather so far?" Despite the fact that he stood in front of around 2000 remaining ninja in this particular area of the battlefield he didn't seem to be intimidated at all, "I mean, it's probably pretty crazy with the sandstorms, the raining blood, and the kunai falling from the sky and everything. But you get used to it!"

From the dunes of sand came multiple puppets of all kinds of makes and kinds with all sorts of abilities that began rushing forward over the range between Kankuro and the enemy. It was as if the puppets were the soldiers because they came by the hundreds like a mechanical unit.

It was a part of the infamous Suna Puppet Brigade. And they weren't alone, as from dunes all over the defending Sunagakure shinobi that did not know any puppet ninjutsu came out to engage in the battle directly.

Metal flew and ninja of different nationalities leapt into battle against each other all over the sand-blasted desert grounds. Every so often to assist in the battle, from a distance Gaara who could still see everything happening would force his sand to act against any negligent Ame, Tani, or Ishi ninja that didn't find it prudent to adhere to the previous advice given to keep moving at all times.

It was as good a start to the battle in this vicinity as one could have hoped for on the Sunagakure side of things. Hopefully in Temari's section of the battlefield and in Chiyo's things were going similarly.

XxX

(With Naruto and Yugito – Hi no Kuni Countryside – En Route to Yu no Kuni/Shimo no Kuni Border)

At Hamako's behest and to Naruto and Yugito's quickest approval, both jinchuuriki left Konoha armed to the teeth. While neither of them knew much about the situation at the northeastern front because correspondence from there to the rear line was very sparse in comparison to the northwest, they could only imagine how grave the scenario could be.

The story of just how nasty the situation happened to be was the entire reason that Yugito was to go home in the first place. A summons was sent to Konoha via a very special technique to transfer objects over a very long distance quickly informing Kumo's allies of the situation on their side of the battlefront.

Kumo had managed to get into the country of Shimo no Kuni from their side, but from there it was a harsh scene. Instead of being held back at the line by natural land formations assisting the enemy the way Konoha happened to be, Kumo was allowed to enter and move through to a certain extent since they were unable to be prevented from doing so.

The enemy ninja villages of the C.N.F. in that region had another method of dealing with them. Disciplined, well thought out ambushes using their own knowledge of the terrain to do so. And invading one of the villages in the alliance was a total no-go. Even though they had borne down in the vicinity of the village of Hoshigakure in a side country called Kuma no Kuni (Land of Bears), they couldn't get near the village itself due to its surroundings of a canyon filled with poisonous gas.

Hit and run tactics to the Kumo ninja stationed nearby were the norm in that area.

Either way, Yugito needed to return, and with haste as she had only been willing to wait for five days after the request for her escort was sent out before setting out on her own. Luckily Naruto came back two days early and by her standards they were making fantastic time.

At the moment, the two very energetic shinobi were moving swiftly through the trees that populated the vast majority of Hi no Kuni's landscape, on the move towards the northwest, "How are we going to get through in the first place?" Yugito asked Naruto as the two of them kept hopping from branch to branch, "I want to get back to my comrades, but if we wind up getting killed trying to get me there it kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it?"

"Don't worry Yugi-chan." Naruto said, keeping his eyes on the woods around them. This deep within Hi no Kuni there wouldn't be any ambushes, but one could never be too paranoid during wartime conditions, "We just have to get to the camp and get briefed, then we can figure it out from there. There has to be something we can do to get past. There always is." No matter how inherently suicidal it would be.

"Any half-assed sensor could find you or me." Yugito replied. It was true though. Both she and Naruto were walking chakra beacons even when they controlled their chakra to suppress it. It was a big shock to find out that one of Naruto's specializations happened to be infiltration. Jinchuuriki did not sneak up on people, they bulldozed through them, "Even if we find a weak point how are we going to sneak through the line?"

"Let me worry about that." A smirk slipped onto Naruto's face, one of the sly variety if Yugito had learned his facial expressions by now. Those eyes of his could tell you exactly what he was feeling even if his face didn't, and his eyes were confident, "Trust me, it'll be okay."

"It's not like I'm scared Naruto-kun." Yugito stated with a deadpan look on her face, "My training might have been totally despicable, but it got me ready to handle anything I was needed to do. You don't need to protect me."

"Well that's why I'm here." Naruto replied turning his head towards her with a cheeky grin, "It's my mission to keep you safe and get you home Miss Yugito. Not just because I was told to, but because you're precious to me." Hearing him admit that got her dark eyes to widen substantially, "And I remember a certain pretty kitty telling me around a year ago that if you protect something you just don't let it die. So I'll protect you even if you don't want it."

Huh? Well who would have thought that a Konoha ninja would have gotten her heart to jump like that?

The bastard. He knew exactly what he was doing. Someone like him saying such sappy things like that. It was like some kind of talent or something. It was a strange way to rouse affection indeed, but damned if it didn't work on her.

Naruto himself had no idea that he had picked up Danzo's silver-tongue, and he also had no idea that it was good for more than simply coercing political action. He had yet to realize that girls liked the verbal influence as well.

Below, closer to the forest floor though while the two continued to move towards the hottest zone of the entire war, a plant-like figure emerged partially from the trunk of a tree, his body half black and half white, "Ooh, Tobi's really going to like this one." The white half of Zetsu said, quite amused, "Isn't that where he was planning to test out the-?"

"**Shut up you idiot."** Zetsu's black half interjected, heatedly cutting off his other personality, **"But you have a point. He already had plans for that part of the continent, but maybe he can add something new to his plans with the two jinchuuriki heading that way?"** The musing gave way to him sinking back into the tree to return to his masked leader.

XxX

(Northern Side of Outskirts of Sunagakure)

"Keep supporting the close-range fighters and do not fuck up and hit the wrong people!" Temari shouted as she swung her fan and kicked up a large amount of wind to cover the advance of the aforementioned close-range fighters. Along with her, spread out a good distance between each other were other fan-users like herself following her orders more directly than even the other Suna shinobi, "Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Sickle Weasel Jutsu)!"

Temari launched a cyclone of wind that swept up several enemy ninja inside of it and administered dozens of cuts, carving up their bodies, before they dropped to the ground no longer able to fight to say the very least.

A very large sphere with kunai welded into it and an explosive tag attached flew through the air towards the enemy forces, "A little help with that?"

Blinking at the request, Temari did as requested and carried it a bit further with the wind jutsu from her fan only to watch it detonate on the ground, exploding in a blast that sent out shrapnel and the embedded kunai to take out a good amount of ninja.

Next to Temari, Tenten kneeled down with a sigh as she wiped her brow, "Ugh. This sandstorm is murder on my aim." She said as she unsealed more of her unconventional weaponry to play distance support, "I can't see that far, and I keep getting sand in my eyes."

"Bet you never thought this would happen did you?" Temari said with a grin, "You're fighting with me instead of against me like in the exams. How's that feel?"

Tenten shrugged in confusion, not really knowing how to answer that question as she threw a quartet of kunai. The velocity of the weaponry was enhanced by a swing of Temari's fan that sent them out faster to bury them into the chests and heads of more enemies, "…Actually, I've got to say, it works a lot better for me this way."

"Konoha Gouriki Senpuu (Leaf Strong Whirlwind)!"

Like a shadowed green blur, Gai flew towards a group of shinobi and delivered a spinning back kick that took out five men with one move before he began laying out others using brutal bone-breaking taijutsu against those that tried to attack him after he finished the motion, thinking it to be a moment of weakness.

"Waah! 21!" Gai shouted as he punched an enemy in the chest with enough force to completely destroy his sternum and propel him backwards like a cannonball, "Where's Kakashi? I want to know his score! Today is the day I win yet another challenge between us!"

"Gai-sensei, focus!" Tenten scolded as she unsealed yet another piece of her weaponry; a bow and a quiver of arrows. Not the best in case anyone got close, but with who she had with her there wasn't a big chance of that unless they were overrun, "Count in your head! Hearing how many people you beat is going to make me tired!"

Hearing that from his sole female student, Gai pointed over not too far from where they were to where Lee was battering foes much in the same manner as Gai himself would have. It was like looking through a time machine at himself fifteen years ago. Not that Gai was saying that he was old or anything… because he wasn't.

He was still bursting with much youth.

"Tired?" Gai said questioningly as Lee seemed to be able to fight off four attempts of the enemy to overwhelm him at once, "Tenten if something like this tires you out so quickly I fear that I haven't done my job as your leader. Look at Lee! He could keep at this all day and night!"

"Good for him." Tenten muttered, taking aim at an easy target and picking him off with her bow and arrow, drilling him in the side and watching him fall, "Let's see how long he can keep it up when someone gets smart and uses a genjutsu on him." Then she'd have to run over there and break it just like she always did, "Crap, look up!"

Several umbrellas had been hurled into the air and began spinning rapidly to shoot countless senbon all over the battlefield at the Suna and Konoha ninja, "Jouro Senbon (Senbon Shower)!" Many of the ninja shouted as their ninjutsu began working.

Tenten quickly unsealed a very large metal shell to take cover underneath as Gai and Lee took refuge along with her. The quick acting wind fan users reduced casualties by blowing the senbon away and knocking the umbrellas from the sky, "Man, that is a seriously dangerous jutsu!" One of the fan users said aloud, relieved that they were able to get rid of the attack. Still, over a dozen ninja suffered from the wide-scale attack.

And this man would be the next to suffer as in the confusion and panic that the previous offensive strategy from the Amegakure ninja created he found himself cut down. The hum of the glowing yellow sword in his killer's hand went mostly unheard in the wild winds of the wind storm.

A man with chin-length green hair and a sleeveless grey and dark jumpsuit walked over the sands with a yellow, glowing sword in his right hand, the weapon letting out a low hum as it moved through the air, "Oh, I've been waiting for this for quite a long time."

"I'm sure you have."

The man stopped and turned towards where he saw perhaps the most famous Konoha ninja stationed at Suna standing in front of him with a hand on his hip in a somewhat nonchalant fashion, "Kakashi Hatake." The man spat a bit angrily at the sight of the cool, calm, and collected jounin, "What are you doing all the way out here rutting around with the sand rats?"

"Oh you know… this and that." Kakashi replied very casually before pointing at the sword in the man's hand, "Ah, the Raijin no Ken. You wouldn't mind giving that to me would you Aoi? You know, with it being something of a Konoha national treasure and all."

The man, Aoi, merely smirked and held the sword up for Kakashi to get a good look at it, "Sorry. But the Raijin no Ken is the property of Aoi Rokushou. Has been for a long time. Don't you know? I'm an unbeatable jounin of Amegakure with this weapon. It's invincible. I haven't been touched by an opponent in four years."

A nod came from Kakashi, "You know, I've got a 'lightning blade' of my own if you'd like to see it. I think it's pretty effective if I do say so myself." He said as he pulled his headband up and revealed his Sharingan eye.

XxX

(Above the Skies of the Battlefield)

A blue-haired figure with paper wings flew overseeing the battle at hand below. Despite being outnumbered, the Sunagakure ninja with their Konoha reinforcements were more than holding their own, actually taking control of the battle below. Amegakure had come prepared for anything, but the other two villages simply believed incorrectly that they had been ready for a war with one of the great villages. At this point they were really only good for decoys and shields.

Konan could only imagine what it was like down there. Just thinking about it was enough to almost make her cringe. Wasn't this what they had been trying to keep from happening all along? But Nagato didn't see it that way. He said it was all a means to an end. As long as it led to a world that was free of war, this pain was necessary for the time being.

What a contradictory way of thinking.

But she still had some faith in her oldest friend and ally. She still believed that Nagato knew what he was doing. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki that she had fought in Amegakure all those months ago had only been trying to speak philosophically in order to save his own behind from being sacrificed for the greater good. People would say anything to save their own skins.

As she continued to look down on the battle below she refrained from entering the battle. Not yet. Save that morale boost for when the true paradigm shift was near. She would be the omen to mark the end of Suna.

Nagato said he was finally back to full strength and now that his paths were finally back to six it was time to remind Suna just who was the most powerful man in the world.

What better way to do that then to appear and take their Kazekage and the jinchuuriki of Shukaku right in front of their faces?

Above her head a grey cloud started to form that looked full to bursting.

This meant that Nagato was on his way.

* * *

**And that's chapter folks. Naruto's next mission escorting Yugito back home through the top hotspot in the Elemental Nations has begun, with Kabuto preparing himself for the near future and with Tobi cooking something up as well. The battle for Sunagakure is underway, and pulverized village or not the desert dwelling shinobi are pushing 'em back! Whoo!**

**For now…**

**Yeah.**

**You know, I get a lot of reviews on how I changed people's view on Danzo. I get more of those than I expected when I decided to write this story the way I did, and the thing is that I've always seen him like something akin to the Naruto-version of J. Edgar Hoover. **

**-Both had their own entire division of underlings that they had free reign to order about, mostly used for more serious and possibly sensitive shadowy matters; Danzo had Root, Hoover had the F.B.I. back in the brutal old-school days when it first came out as the dominant federal law-enforcing body in the U.S.**

**-Both of them had a considerable amount of power and secrets that kept them insulated from political enemies, keeping them in their positions and whatnot.**

**-They both had an intense focus on their own ideas of justice and country loyalty and amassed power. Many perceived them as fanatics towards power and control and it was this that kept them from ever reaching the pinnacle of their political fields, but it was done to more or less affirm their own places in keeping their home countries secure.**

**Stuff like that.**

**Now I'm rambling again damn it.**

**Sigh… I'm just sad because I lost my last fight. A three round decision. I guess that's why I'm still a lowly part-time I guess, toiling away in grappling tournaments and amateur fights like this. But this is just a minor hiccup in the life of me. I'll be back with a vengeance… after I learn some new stuff.**

**And one day years from now after countless costly battles at the expense of my youth, health, and dashing good looks my name will finally be shouted from the rafters by Bruce Buffer… right before I am led to the slaughter via the hands, feet, knees, and elbows of Anderson Silva as is the duty of the number one contender for the UFC Middleweight Title.**

**They will cheer and cry for my blood like the ravenous animals people truly are at heart.**

**And I will give it to them… because I am being paid handsomely for my physical sacrifice. Both in capital and in glory.**

**And you will all love it.**

**Later. Kenchi out.**


	60. World Up in Arms

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. And neither do upwards of six billion other people. Hey we should all get together and just take it, and share it equally between us… so that I can take the rest of my life to trick everyone out of their share and become majority owner of Naruto… and then all will be right with the world.

I can die in peace, with a legacy left.

**Chapter 59: World Up in Arms**

* * *

In the desert outside of Sunagakure no Sato, the battle between the G.S.A. (Grand Shinobi Alliance) Suna forces combined with the Konoha relief teams against the C.N.F. (Continental Ninja Federation) invaders, led by Amegakure, continued to rage across the sands.

And currently, one of the more advanced Konoha representatives in the fight found himself going head-to-head with an old acquaintance.

The open space for both Kakashi Hatake and Aoi Rokushou wasn't very roomy for the dance number that the two of them were cutting, but with the dangerous electric sword in Aoi's hand everyone on both sides were giving them a wide berth; Aoi's comrades because they knew he had no problems with cutting them down if they were in his way, Kakashi's comrades because this was Kakashi Hatake they were talking about. He was the very last person that needed help against any opponent.

After seeing him thus far in the battle, Suna observers would have to say that for once it was grand to have him on their side instead of against them.

"Use your famous Sharingan already Kakashi!" Aoi taunted as he slashed away at a dodging Kakashi who didn't even bother having a kunai out to defend himself. If it were hit it would only serve to electrocute him in some way, "If you don't you won't last even five minutes against me!"

Swaying out of the range of the Raijin no Ken's tip and ducking swings aimed at his head, Kakashi returned verbal fire, "You're sort of right about that… because this fight isn't going to last five minutes either way." He didn't want to risk breaking out his Sharingan for no reason in that environment either. Savvy combatants like Aoi could play very dirty and take advantage of their environment to gain an advantage.

Aside from that, the sandy composition of the area was a liability. Grains of sand could fly into his eye without warning and handicap him. It was just an unnecessary risk all around at the moment. Until it was deemed necessary he wasn't taking the risk.

Having felt as if he had backed up enough from Aoi's assault, Kakashi lashed out with the throwing of several shuriken. Much like he had anticipated, Aoi blocked them with a wave of his sword, "I'm insulted Kakashi. You think that something so simple would beat me while I'm wielding the strongest weapon in the world?"

"A weapon's only as good as the person using it." Kakashi commented before he saw Aoi stab the sword into the sand and unleash a shockwave of electricity along the ground, "Get away from him now!" He yelled for the benefit of everyone around, not just his own Suna allies if he had to be honest.

It mattered not for more than a few on both sides as Aoi's reckless attack took down more than a few from both sides, something Kakashi found despicable. The silver-haired ninja narrowed his visible eye at Aoi before pulling up his hitae-ate to reveal his Sharingan eye.

If he wanted to be a nuisance that wouldn't just use precise attacks and would thoughtlessly use wide-range ninjutsu at the cost of even his own shinobi it was high time Kakashi just put him down before he injured more people that weren't even fighting him.

A quick motion of three hand-seals built powerful white lightning chakra in Kakashi's right hand as Aoi was still pumping electrical chakra into the ground, grinning at the mayhem he was causing. He looked up and dropped his grin in exchange for a determined look once he saw Kakashi forming his signature jutsu and beckoned him forward confidently, brandishing the Raijin no Ken once more.

Without warning Kakashi dashed forward, and likewise Aoi timed him and swung his weapon. However he hadn't accounted for the fact that Kakashi's Sharingan let him see this coming in well enough time to react. Not only did the swing of his sword not work, it ended with Kakashi driving his hand straight through his chest, "Raikiri (Lightning Cutter)!"

Aoi's face twisted in pain as his grip on the Raijin no Ken slipped from his weak and deceased hand. The arc of it flying through the air took longer to hit the ground than Aoi's body did. By the time the hilt of the sword stuck upright in the sand, his blood was already staining it not too far away.

The battle continued to rage around it until a feminine hand reached down to pick it up in between drifting towards another fracas. Tenten lifted up the hilt and looked at it curiously before unknowingly activating the yellow glowing blade from it. Her eyes lit up and she quickly put it to work, using it to block two C.N.F. attackers that tried to attack her with kunai. A bad move as they were shocked by the electric blade, allowing Tenten to finish them off, "Who in the world dropped this?" She asked as she moved towards another fight, "Whatever. It doesn't matter because it's mine now!"

XxX

(Western C.N.F. Forces Rear Line)

It was something of a madhouse a ways away from the front lines of the ongoing battle at hand. What happened to Suna being crippled, depleted, and tired? At first things seemed like it would only be a matter of time until the lessened number of defenders would have given up hope after the destruction of their village and the mounting invasion, but not only had the Sunagakure will to fight not faded in the slightest, they were standing strong.

And then there was the fact that at random times the ground itself would seem to shift and take down dozens of C.N.F. ninja with extreme prejudice. There wasn't even any time to save those that got caught by the 'living sand'. Thus was the power of one deemed to be a kage it seemed. Sabaku no Gaara's epithet wasn't just hyperbole. In the desert it seemed that there was none greater, even without him being on the battlefield at all.

"The med tents are running out of room!"

"What? We brought so many tents though! Are you seriously telling me we can't find and space for our wounded at all?"

"The sandstorm destroyed most of the others that we could have used! Even the ones meant for troop barracks got torn to shreds!"

An invasion of Suna was a logistical nightmare even before the fighting came into play. The desert was vast. Too vast for supplies to be easily funneled out from the partaking villages. It wasn't that they had wasted their supplies like food and medicine, it was that things like clothing and the shelter of tents… things like that, they wound up being shredded by Kaze no Kuni's intense seasonal sandstorms.

The very cold desert nights and the blazing hot desert days screwed with many a ninja's head even though they all knew most of what to expect (freak sandstorms notwithstanding). But knowing what to expect from a briefing and knowing what to expect from experience were two totally different things, and most of the villages had never partaken in a war. The ones that had done so had only fought within their own borders before. A battle in Sunagakure held territory was like nothing anywhere else in the Elemental Nations.

It was a big reason why holding the chunin exams there was never really popular in the past.

Losses were of course mounting no matter which side of the battle one looked at, but while the whole thing was for survival on the Suna side of things, thus there was no choice, the invasion didn't seem to be worth the payoff even if the C.N.F. side won. From that point how would they manage to turn their attention to Konoha after it was over with such a broken fighting force, victorious though they may or may not be by the end of things.

This was the way it was starting to be seen as the fight had raged for hours by this point. The only ones with morale that hadn't shaken an inch from where it had been at the rallying outset of the conflict were the Amegakure ninja, diligent in how they sent in more and more of their force, leading by example, assured that they would somehow win.

Their reason for never losing heart; they had 'God' on their side.

Their 'God'. The same reason that the dozens of villages had all united to begin with.

A shadow began passing over the heads of the people at the rear line and some looked up. Upon doing so, those of Ame origin dropped to the ground in a bow, much to the confusion of the others. Many of them stopped their frantic pace altogether just to bow.

The unasked question went answered very quickly by the mumblings of Ame ninja, as if their ongoing confidence was finally being returned by this figure flying above them, "Angel… she's here. It's finally our time to end this battle."

"What?"

"Pein-sama is coming."

The jaws of many dropped at that declaration, because they all knew exactly who was being referred to. The man himself that was spearheading this whole anti-Five Great Shinobi Villages movement. He was actually coming to the battlefield?

As the speculation began, the paper angel Konan herself landed amongst them, looking around at the ragged masses of the embattled fighters with an impassive look in her eyes, "Do not falter yet. Keep the pressure going forward. Pein will deliver the blow that will break the backs of the opposition. This I can say with certainty." Her form then burst into many sheets of paper that scattered off around the area.

With that, the Ame listeners stood up, revitalized that their glorious leader was coming to end everything. With renewed vigor everyone returned to their tasks, be it moving supplies closer to the front, to moving the wounded and dead, to preparing to reinforce their comrades.

Everyone wanted to be a part of their soon-to-be monumental victory.

XxX

(Gates of Sunagakure)

No one knew where these things came from. First a gigantic orange and black centipede with a large piercing through its head came out of absolutely nowhere and was currently terrorizing the Suna and Konoha forces, and then it was soon followed with a massive giant ox with piercings in it as well.

"How did these get this far through the line?" An embattled Suna ninja yelled in concern as he narrowly avoided being smashed beneath the skittering centipede. Not only was it massive, it could crawl extremely quickly, making it doubly dangerous with its sharp legs and large mandibles.

"I don't know!" Another ninja pointed out the charging advance of the huge ox that was barreling towards the protective dome of Suna, "How are we going to stop that thing?"

"Lee!"

"I am with you Gai-sensei!"

"Konoha Tsumuji Senpuu (Tree Leaf Coiling Whirlwind)!"

A pair of swiftly moving green-clad figures rushed towards the ox, dodging the lowering of its head and the plowing of its horns through the sand before getting underneath it and kicking its front legs out from beneath it, stopping it as it crashed face-first into a dune. Many people breathed a sigh of relief, even as the beast bellowed and tried to stand back up with the multiple defenders of Suna surrounding it and preparing to subdue it for good, holding it down with dozens of uses of Cloth Binding Jutsu.

As this was occurring, the sharpest and most attentive set of eyes in Konoha were perusing the visible battlefield from his place keeping watch over his portion of the gate.

"How were out lines almost broken?" Neji wondered aloud as he took a moment to activate his Byakugan to see if the defense faltered anywhere else due to the multiple strange and very large pierced summon creatures that came out of nowhere. Enemy forces were nowhere near the location of the gate, but he did see a shimmering lifeforce that had actually not only gotten past the lines, it had not engaged in battle at all, "Damn it! How could I have missed that? Come with me!"

It could have been nothing really, but the chances of that were slim to none and he knew it. Thus he took a small unit of Suna ninja left under his temporary jounin command as they ran back through the gap in Suna's protective dome to follow the fast moving figure that Neji's eyes had spotted, crawling along the walls of the massive structure, "What do you see sir?" One of the Suna ninja asked him.

"…I'm not sure." Neji responded in kind. But he definitely knew that it was nothing good. Nothing heading back into the village was good. That was only for the wounded that needed to be ferried away for emergency treatment. Well this invisible creature didn't look anything like a ninja, but it had instincts like one apparently, because it knew it was being pursued and abruptly turned an about face to lash out with something from it, "Move!"

The barking of his order saved the Suna ninja with him along for the ride, but Neji himself got snatched up by an exceedingly long and fast pink tongue that picked him up off of the ground and reeled him in. Neji found himself bound tightly, unable to move as he was held up off of the ground.

"Sir!"

Neji heard the worried cries of his men but tried to keep a cool head as he was able to get a good look at the creature that had a hold of him. Like the other creatures outside it had piercings in it and strange ripple-pattern eyes. It was a very large chameleon with a snake for a tail. Now that was an interesting summon. It would be even more interesting if it didn't look like it was about to kill him.

"Hm. If I had known that Konoha had been willing to dispatch Hyuuga Clan members, especially one as talented as yourself, I may have planned my approach differently." That voice sounded somewhat familiar to Neji. But it wasn't one he was inherently familiar with.

From within the mouth of the large chameleon, an older-looking man emerged wearing a black cloak with red clouds adorning it. Much like the chameleon he had ripple pattern eyes and piercings all over his face, but this man had shaggy orange hair and an Amegakure headband that was slashed out. The most noticeable trait aside from the eyes and the clothing happened to be an 'x' scar on the man's chin.

Now Neji knew full well that Rinnegan meant that this was Pein. He also knew that this was just one of six bodies that Pein possessed as it went hand in hand with the information that Jiraiya returned home with after the mission in Ame that nearly killed him, but he never forgot a face, and Neji had seen this man before. He was actually a very powerful Konoha ninja back before his disappearance, which hadn't been too long ago as a matter of fact. Ironically he had also disappeared on the way to Sunagakure on a mission of diplomacy.

"Danzo Shimura?" Neji ventured to say as the tongue of the chameleon squeezed him tightly, "Pein took your body and used it for one of his paths…" He mused rhetorically. It wasn't like Danzo could actually answer the question for himself. He was a reanimated corpse. At least they knew what happened to the man's body now.

"You know of my abilities." Pein said through the reanimated Danzo's body, "Well… you know of a few of them anyway. Jiraiya-sensei managed to make a bit of a victory even in his defeat. I'm really regretting not being able to finish him off."

"That creature is how you got in the first time isn't it?" Neji questioned, still trying to struggle, "How you slipped past sentries and got within the limits of the village to wage your attack." Reports said that it was a different body of Pein that managed to deal the damage to Suna though.

"Animal Path is a very versatile and powerful aspect of my abilities." Pein said. It was still so creepy to hear the man speak through the body of someone that he actually knew, "But I'm through talking with you."

"As am I." Neji said before channeling chakra to his body, expelling it forcefully in one great burst, "Juukenpo Ichigekishin (Gentle Fist Art One Blow Body)!" It was powerful enough to break the tongue's grip on him, allowing Neji to free himself and fall away.

Not willing to get into a fight at this moment apparently, at Pein's direction the chameleon continued to skitter off into the limits of Sunagakure as Neji and his troops continued to pursue until there was no more dome left to run through.

They were back at the village itself. What had been rebuilt of it anyway. And even then Pein had to muse that despite anything else these were very determined people to keep going and rebuild after what he had done just over a month and a half ago.

But he wasn't here to destroy it directly again anyway, he was here for something more important. Something he needed more firepower for. After jumping off of the chameleon and sending it to deal with the Suna contingent and Neji to keep them from interfering for just a moment longer, a few hand-seals later, and the former body of Danzo slammed his hand directly on the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

Neji dodged a few lashes of the chameleon's tongue before getting sight of Pein's summoning jutsu, and a cold shiver rolled down his back as through the smoke he was able to see not just one, but six figures similarly dressed but different in appearance. All with piercings and all with Rinnegan, "All Six Paths of Pein…" If Jiraiya couldn't beat them how could he? Especially on his own.

He had to try though. With that, Neji allowed his comrades to deal with the summoned chameleon while he brazenly set himself in his clan taijutsu stance in order to do his best to deal with Pein, 'All six of them can share each other's vision between them, and they all have strange powers that come with the Rinnegan.' He thought to himself, trying to drudge up the briefings that had taken place on the most dangerous ninja in the world since the war had begun.

The first option given when put in such a situation was to run. Not even to fight. Just to get away, away, away. Not to even think about fighting back. Well that wasn't a choice when public enemy number one was right in the middle of the village of their allies. The same village he had already destroyed once.

"Well this is interesting." Pein said from his Deva Path, "You're still choosing to stand against me even though you know who I am. Is this bravery, or is it just more of the misplaced bravado from Konoha?" His tone was one of sarcasm laced with disdain for the idea of facing an enemy from the most hated of villages in his point of view.

With that, the large and imposing smiling Asura Path, the body with the strange mechanical attachments, the one that had done the crippling damage to Jiraiya who was one of the finest ninja ever to hold a kunai in his hands stepped forward to deal with the taijutsu specialist. The Asura Path quickly cast away its black cloak to show six arms instead of just two, two different faces on the sides of its head (one impassive and one angry) and a serrated blade around its waist peeking up over its back as a weapon.

This inherent danger was not the first threat to Neji's person however, as the long haired Human Path got itself past the Asura Path and launched a direct attack against him that he backed out of the way of, slipping a punch and getting himself back out of range as the Asura path launched a strain of missiles from an extension of its arm.

"Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven)!" Neji spun around rapidly, simultaneously releasing chakra from his body in a protective dome around his body, defending himself from the explosions that erupted off of the chakra shield. He came to a stop in a small crater that had been carved with the intensity of his chakra spin, "You may be able to see me from six different perspectives, but there isn't a single angle you can come at me from that I can't see. Hyuuga Clan members are meant to fight multiple enemies at once."

The cry of the Suna fighters that he had with him being felled by the chameleon directed Neji's attention back to the creature as it made to attack him once more as well, its previous job being complete. It charged directly at him and snapped its tongue out to harm him, though he was able to see it clearly despite its invisibility with his Byakugan and jumped over it on top of the creature's head.

Its snake of a tail struck at him but missed and bit the top of its head. Things seemed to be going just swimmingly for the genius of his clan, but Pein was sick of letting Neji struggle. Futile though it may have been, it wasn't amusing to see him fight as though he had some hope. The Animal Path dispelled the summon and the Deva Path made his presence known with one move.

"I do not have the time to waste to deal with you Hyuuga." Pein said before reaching a grabbing hand out at Neji, "Bansho Ten'in (Heavenly Attraction of All of Creation!" Neji abruptly shot towards the Deva Path that had the destructive Asura Path standing in front of him waiting for the incoming enemy with the deadly saw blade poised to run him through and kill him.

Before he ever reached the end of the line however, a plume of sand came between them, catching Neji and preventing the attractive properties of the Deva Path from signaling the end of his life at the hands of the Six Paths of Pein.

While a face full of sand wasn't the most pleasant thing to receive, it was taken as a godsend by Neji as he was lifted over from the part of the village around the entrance where he had been fighting, over to where Gaara was, standing on the roof of the tallest reconstructed building in the village. It was quite the sight as the sky was pretty shaded with the ranging wind and sandstorm that the village dome protected Sunagakure from.

Being set on the ground safely, Neji stood up and stared back over at all of Pein's bodies, something that he could clearly see from where he was with his Byakugan, "Thank you Kazekage-sama." Neji said in regards to being protected, "Shouldn't you be at your safehouse?"

"The enemy isn't at the gates any longer." Gaara stated with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn't have a discernable look on his face, but he was wishing nothing but death on the man that had destroyed his village and had the audacity to come right back in, "This is officially my problem to handle personally."

"This is good then." Neji said, still fixing Pein with a scrutinizing glance, "We can fight them together. I have my misgivings on dealing with the large one with six arms, but with you fighting from a range and me engaging them up close I believe I can be of quite a bit of help to you."

A nod came from Gaara, "Agreed." With that seeming endorsement Neji prepared for another run-in, until Gaara spoke again, "But you won't be helping me." Ignoring the look of surprise on the Konoha jounin's face, Gaara kept making his point, "You're going to go to where the medics, the genin, and the villagers are, and you're going to make sure they know of this and are prepared for what is about to happen. It's going to be very loud."

Now Neji was well aware that Gaara was the Kazekage, but he still had his doubts that Gaara could handle all six bodies of Pein. While he would never say it aloud to the redhead, he saw Jiraiya as a more powerful ninja than the leader of Sunagakure, and even Jiraiya was unable to do anything more than defeat one body before succumbing to Pein's overwhelming might that also crushed the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, the good friend of both of them and an exceedingly powerful ninja as well; Naruto Uzumaki.

But this was an order from the top, as far from the top as he was going to get an order from without being back in Konoha, and Neji was not going to engage in insubordination during a pitched battle. He could otherwise feel that Gaara was in no mood to joke about or to mess around. He was deadly serious.

And he left in a manner that Neji could not follow, "No one is to fight this battle but me. It's too dangerous for anyone else." Using his sand as a platform, Gaara levitated himself away to quickly confront Pein without ever touching the ground. Quietly gnashing his teeth, Neji left to adhere to his order and chose to trust in Gaara's judgment to battle Pein alone.

XxX

(With Naruto and Yugito – Yu no Kuni Countryside)

After hours and hours of travel, the jinchuuriki pair crossed the border from Hi no Kuni into the last bastion of calm that one could say there would be heading northward from that point. There wouldn't be any stopping in the hot spring resort that was formerly a hidden village of Yugakure. Not with things the way they were.

At the rate they were going they would reach the lines by tomorrow morning at the latest. From there they would prepare their approach to get through and return Yugito to her comrades in Kumo per the instructions of Naruto's mission.

"Getting tired yet?" Naruto asked Yugito as they continued to jump through the trees. The feline biju-containing blonde woman had been silent for quite a while. It was making an already tense trip all the more stress-inducing.

Yugito's eyes flicked towards him before giving Naruto a smirk, "Not a chance. We don't need to stop at all, you should know that. No rest until we reach the camps. I've got to get home in a hurry." She then decided that a chance of topics was in order because she didn't want to think about how nasty the situation was that they were about to walk into, "So that training you did with your sensei… did it help you to improve your control over the Kyuubi any?"

"It was for something else…" Naruto admitted, as he actually hadn't improved any in regards to his biju control during the time he had spent learning Sage Mode, "But it's something that Kyuubi can help me with in battle. It's a pretty good setup actually… and it makes me way stronger." In Naruto's opinion, Sage Mode was a better option for battle than his potentially unstable chakra connection with the Kyuubi. Too much of that and he could lose control. To use Sage Mode all he needed to do was maintain a balance that the Kyuubi generated the natural energy for.

"For a jinchuuriki you really try fighting as if you aren't one." Yugito commented. She had seen it even back during the fight with Hidan and Kakuzu. He only really used the Kyuubi's chakra to help him power his stronger ninjutsu that needed some extra kick to them, "If it works for you then it works. I'm just saying that it's weird."

It wasn't his fault either. The Kyuubi's chakra was too strong for him to safely train with as a child, otherwise it would have hurt him before a physical tail of chakra had even formed. He only got to use it when he was in physical dire straits in combat. So Danzo forced him to work his basics and his conventional ninja arts to death until he got old enough to use the bare minimum of Kyuubi's chakra. From then he was able to train it, but he didn't have much time to before his sealing.

So yes, he was used to fighting straight up even when using the Kyuubi's chakra, allowing it to merely enhance his fighting style's speed and strength. It was just how he was. But it wasn't that simple. Using more than his share of it would make him more barbarous in battle and would cloud his judgment, especially when he used his transformation. Amegakure could attest to that. So there had always been a give and take, for he would need to sacrifice finesse for force and vice-versa.

No longer with Sage Mode though. It was his new chosen method of enhancing himself in battle and would be for the foreseeable future. His perfected Sage Mode was devastating. Even Jiraiya said it was better than his own. That was some serious praise.

"Why do I have to fight like every other jinchuuriki?" Naruto asked Yugito, "I like to think that the reason I haven't been caught yet is because I don't fight like other jinchuuriki. The only ones left are you, me, Gaara, and Kirabi. And we're all weird except for you… mostly."

Between the insomnia, former homicidal tendencies, and sand control in Gaara, the rapping in everyday speech and the eight swords from Kirabi, and all of the things wrong with Naruto not even counting the Sharingan eye (not that any more than a select few knew about that), yeah… they were all weird. Yugito _was_ normal in comparison.

For some reason that didn't feel like much of a compliment. Who would have thought it? Not being called weird could have been taken as a compliment.

But Yugito ignored it with a frown, the only thing showing the comment had irked her a little bit. She was plenty weird. Eventually though, her eyes caught figures from where they were running through the trees, "Naruto-kun, look."

Both of them came to a stop before feeling a touch of relief at what they saw, making their way in that direction as they caught sight of a squad of two dozen Konoha ninja on the road through the forests, "Hey!" Naruto called out to them, getting their attention as he and Yugito landed on the ground behind them, "You guys wouldn't happen to be heading up towards the line would you?"

The Konoha ninja looked amongst each other before nodding and shrugging nonchalantly, "Sure. Come with us. That's where we're going right now as a few squads of reinforcements." This sat very well with Naruto and Yugito, as travelling in a group kept them feeling more secure than moving on their own. The two of them were noted high-priority targets as jinchuuriki and that was the way it was.

With that, the blonde duo fell into step, running with their new escorts towards the Yu no Kuni and Shimo no Kuni border where their destinations lay. Naruto and Yugito were unable to see the smirks of some of the ninja that were out of their fields of vision as they looked at each other smugly.

XxX

(Sunagakure no Sato – Gaara vs. Pein)

"How brave of you to face me outright." Pein commented, his bodies in their battle positions as Gaara stood a distance away from them on flat ground, "I take it you know who I am, what I plan to do with you, and you're still here to fight me yourself instead of fleeing. Thus comes with the title of Kazekage…"

"No." Gaara replied emotionlessly in return, "This isn't about me being the Kazekage and you threatening my village here today. Look around you. There isn't anything left to destroy. This is about me, and my anger towards you. A friend of mine kept me from foolishly storming straight to Amegakure to try and end your life, and here you bring yourself right to me. I'd thank you if I weren't about to end your life."

Without warning, the Asura Path raised a hand and fired off its fist like a rocket, complete with propulsion from behind, "Kaiwan no Hiya (Flaming Arrow of Amazing Ability)!"

Like clockwork, Gaara's ever-strengthening sand defense got up and blocked the fist, keeping it from ever getting through to harm him. In return, Gaara sent out a testing wave of sand directly at the Deva Path which seemed to be the main body since it was the one that Pein spoke through most of the time. Instead, the burly-looking Preta Path jumped in the way and seemingly absorbed the chakra from the sand, rendering it useless.

Gaara wordlessly clicked his teeth in exasperation, 'So that's the one that can negate all chakra techniques.' What a terrifying ability. It turned his sand useless whenever it touched the Preta Path, 'This is not good.' No hand-seals or anything were required. When anything chakra-related touched it, the chakra was absorbed. What in the world was he going to do? His entire battle style centered around using his sand control.

Without missing a beat, the other Paths of Pein were not about to give Gaara any time to analyze his situation and think of a plan, attacking the stationary ninja. The Human, Asura, and Animal Paths began trying to plow their way through Gaara's defense, but the sand was simply too fast. Gaara's ultimate defense was alive, well, and had never been stronger. Threatening away the Human Path and swatting back the Asura Path, Gaara noticed the Animal Path trying to summon within the confines of his defenses and did not allow this to happen by snatching the man formerly known as Danzo up.

His only hope was to hit them hard and fast. Picking off any weakness left open for him to take advantage of, and that was just what he did, "Sabaku Sousou (Sand Waterfall Funeral)!" The Animal path was crushed by the sand and tossed aside as useless as Gaara turned his attention to the Asura Path that was charging him again, ever dangerous with its destructive power.

It was a feint though as the Deva Path was able to sneak a good peek at Gaara's adjustments to try and do his best to ignore the Preta Path that would merely shrug off anything he could do to it with his sand. Picking off the other Paths first was not a bad idea at all, but he couldn't let him just do as he pleased, futile though it may have been.

In a rather gutsy approach, the Deva Path stormed forward directly towards Gaara's range of sand protection and allowed it to cloud his view and surround him just close enough for him to make his move, "Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God)!" The sand was suddenly forced away and this left Gaara clear and open for an attack before the Deva Path stopped short, "Nice try with the replacement technique, but I can see anything that you do."

Three other paths, the Human, Asura, and the Preta Paths, bore witness to Gaara switching himself out with a sand clone when the Deva Path had blown his sand away. Showing no holes in their overpowering attack, they went right for Gaara, with the Preta Path leading the way and negating all of the sand swarming at the two of them with its mere presence.

Gaara focused intensely on their approach before reaching his hands up into a ram seal, "Gokusa Maisou (Prison Sand Burial)!" A sinkhole instantly appeared beneath the two paths, and despite the Preta Path and the ability to negate chakra that came with it, at that point it didn't matter as they still fell into it, it was a long way down, and even if Gaara couldn't crush them underground to finish them thereafter. They were nonfactors in the battle as far as he could see. Perfect. Three down.

"So young and so skilled." The Deva Path of Pein commented after watching Gaara handle the conundrum of the Preta Path's ability in his own way, "You managed to defend yourself even with the abilities of the Preta Path renting space in your mind, and then you put that plan into action."

"I don't need your praise." Gaara replied, swirling sand all about his body. Without the Preta Path to block any offense he tried there was no need to hold back any longer. From what he had seen from the Deva Path, it had been the body that had pulverized Sunagakure with one move. He needed to take great care as he focused his fury on it. Like a snake coiling to strike, Gaara's sand formed a band in front of his body before it began firing dozens of shots of sand, rapid-fire at the Deva Path, "Rendan: Suna Shigure (Successive Shots: Sand Drizzle)!"

The Deva Path's instant reaction was clear, "Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God)!" Another force of repulsion sent the sand projectiles flying away, but Gaara refused to let up, continuing on with his barrage to try and force Pein into dire straits.

This forced Pein to actively dodge the attacks once the Shinra Tensei faded. As he observed Pein avoid his best attempts to peg him with a shot or several, Gaara idly wondered why he didn't try another Shinra Tensei again to rid himself of the attacks.

"Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God)!"

There went another one. But why didn't he do it any sooner? Why then? He didn't maneuver himself into a better position to try it. He hadn't gotten any closer to chance hitting Gaara with it. He was just dodging until he decided to try it again, and he waited for a few seconds to do so, not willing to follow up immediately with another to protect himself.

"Bansho Ten'in (Heavenly Attraction of All of Creation!" Again, he waited for more time to pass instead of following up immediately with his attraction jutsu. Gaara was pulled off of the ground and started to move towards him until his sand caught him like a glove and blocked the jutsu well enough so that when he was pulled through the thick wall of grains he landed on his feet as it had faded by then.

Again, no follow up.

Gaara didn't have that problem.

But before he could even finish his chain of hand-seals to literally try to bury his opposition, he heard something that he thought he had put a stop to earlier in the battle, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!" Gaara turned towards the sound of the jutsu call to see not only a fully functional Animal Path, but the only Path that he hadn't engaged in battle, the Naraka Path, and a large, demonic-looking head that was sinking into the ground, its job apparently finished.

It was healed? But he had crushed it like a grape and now it looked as fresh as it had at the start of the fight. And the newly revitalized Animal Path had just summoned the Asura Path, the Human Path, and the vaunted Preta Path from where he had buried them, as if he had never submerged them underneath the ground with that tactical sinkhole.

"Do you see now that you can't defeat God?" The Deva Path stated as the Six Paths of Pein got themselves back into their standard battle formation, "You can destroy my bodies, but they can always be resurrected in the end."

"Restoration ability doesn't make you God." Gaara said, sweat caking his brow as this battle was testing him in multiple ways. He knew without a doubt now that if he had attacked in Amegakure he would have been defeated. The rain would have only made things so much more difficult on him. But now he was learning so much more. No wonder the Naraka Path hadn't fought him thus far; the healers in a battle didn't ever fight directly. That was day one stuff.

The Asura Path stepped forward and proverbially flexed its muscles again as its head opened up to reveal a cannon that blasted pure chakra at Gaara.

His sand defense held up in a smoky explosion that Gaara slipped out of swiftly, his sand armor singed and pieces flaking off of him. The Preta Path used that opportunity to try and grab him, but instead of allowing his sand defense to kick in, which would have been useless in stopping the Preta Path, Gaara took to the air with a platform of sand beneath him.

Distance was what he needed. To get as far away as possible; out of the range of the Deva Path and his attractive and repulsive capabilities, and the other incredible abilities of Pein. But Pein didn't seem to be willing to let him go so easily. The summoning of a large and odd looking bird with a drill of a beak was used to carry the Animal Path and the Asura Path into the air.

A brutal assault of the Asura Path, being ferried by the Animal Path, occurred with him firing blast after blast of chakra through the air at the Kazekage. It was hard for Gaara to focus on his countermove, flying and trying to coordinate his attack efforts while dodging his enemy's ranged aggression.

Eventually though, he felt the pull that he needed and lifted and moved his arms around accordingly in the motions that he needed to make things work. With the viewpoints of the other Paths from the ground, Pein was able to see that Gaara had managed to bring up an extraordinary amount of sand from the ground and had maneuvered the Animal Path and the Asura Path so that he could encase them on all sides with no room for escape as it closed in, airtight, "Sabaku Rou (Sand Binding Prison)!"

Keeping a wary eye on the ground and the other Paths as he secured his capture, Gaara saw the Preta Path disappear in a puff of smoke. The Animal Path had summoned it within the prison. He would never crush them within now. Any sand that got within enough range of the Preta Path to do so would be rendered useless. So he did the next best thing.

With all of the might that Gaara could muster with his control, he turned and swung his arms, violently casting the sand prison over the valley walls of Sunagakure and out of his domain before the Preta Path could allow them to escape.

Breathing heavily at the effort exerted in hurling the large sand prison away, Gaara directed his attention back down to the Deva, Human, and Naraka Paths. Three against one seemed like a dream compared to the six against one conflict he had started with, "Next…"

Without warning, two of the Paths dropped to the ground as they seemingly deactivated before vanishing in puffs of smoke, summoned away to wherever the Animal Path had landed with the others, leaving the Deva Path as the remaining entity to face Gaara, "How clever of you… it seems Jiraiya-sensei's information was useful enough to allow you to work out even more on my abilities."

"Like I said… you won't take Shukaku from me today." Gaara stated firmly, "And Sunagakure will not fall. No matter if you destroy the buildings. No matter if you take some of our lives. Our village is like the land that surrounds it itself; harsh when it is supposed to be, yet unconquerable by those that do not understand its nature. Trying to deplete our forces is like trying to take each grain of sand from the desert."

The Deva Path narrowed its eyes at Gaara from its place on the ground, "This is far from over. Do not consider this to be your victory. I will be back." Pein threatened, "Sunagakure's sands will be stained red once more. You haven't felt true pain yet."

Gaara simply stared down at him, unshaken by the attempt to intimidate or infuriate him further, "Get out of my village, get out of my lands, and take your army with you… what's left of it that you can retreat with that is."

Glaring at Gaara with those chilling Rinnegan eyes, the Deva Path finally vanished in a puff of smoke as well.

That fight, while exceedingly difficult was not as cataclysmic as Gaara thought it would turn out to be. He was exhausted because of the huge amounts of chakra that he had expended to eject the massive sand prison far outside of his village, and that wasn't counting his constant interference in the real battle going on outside of his village's walls. Speaking of which, it was still going on. He might have been feeling the strain of combat, but now was the best excuse possible to interject himself directly alongside his comrades.

He hoped that Baki could deal with running the battlefield for a bit longer, because he wasn't going back until the invasion was repelled.

XxX

(Pein's Temporary Battle HQ)

A massive tower comprised of Konan's paper ninjutsu that resembled his control tower in Amegakure housed Pein for the time being as his forces attacked Sunagakure. Damn Gaara. He couldn't use excessive force and kill him or else he would lose Shukaku until it reformed elsewhere, and who knew how long that would take? He had almost made the mistake of killing Naruto back during his intrusion into Ame.

It was actually lucky that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was infamously absurdly difficult to beat down or else he would have ended his life and his plans would have been set back for years.

"Konan." From his mechanical chair in the tower where he could clearly see Suna and the battle going on in the distance. The tide had steadily been turning. Had he been able to capture Gaara and make a show of exiting Sunagakure with the Kazekage visibly in hand, the spirit to fight would have been lost. When the Sandaime Kazekage had disappeared at the secretive hands of Sasori almost two decades ago Suna had notoriously almost fallen apart. That was not going to happen here though, not today, "Signal for the retreat."

Well aware of the fact that Nagato was in no mood to converse at the moment whatsoever, a simple nod came from the blue-haired woman as she formed a set of origami birds that took to the skies all over before bursting in large, bright red colors; the signal to withdraw.

Nagato formed the ram seal from where he was sitting in his chair to allow him to build up chakra as the astral projection outline of the Deva Path and his Rinnegan eyes appeared across the sky wide and large, _"This is not over Sunagakure. You and the other villages like you will pay for the pain you've inflicted upon the smaller of your ilk for decades. We outnumber the 'Five Great Shinobi Villages' ten-to-one, and unlike our comrades who stand beside us as brothers in our cause… you are all about to face the true wrath of God."_ With that the image fizzled out of existence.

It took a moment before figures from the rear line were spilling back across the desert in full retreat mode as the front line tried to hold them back and move away as well, trying to avoid as much of a rout as possible. This was made all the more difficult when a gigantic colossus comprised of sand in the form of Gaara rose up and began stomping forward, terrorizing the retreating C.N.F. ninja.

Konan prepared to go down and assist in helping out with the retreat by destroying the Gaara colossus if nothing else, but Nagato's calling out to her kept her from doing so, "No. Let's return to Ame immediately. There's no time to waste and this war isn't close to being over yet. Suna is still weak and won't attack anytime soon if at all. We should be more worried about Konoha's force in Kusa held grounds. Prepare to dedicate a division to help them deal with that."

How much had Nagato really changed over the years? Did he even see what was occurring anymore? What was the eventual goal worth if they were so far gone from their original values that they seemed like completely different people? So much so that he was unwilling to allow her to assist in helping their own shinobi retreat safely? He would rather let them leave on their own so that he could have more time to plan his next move, even if it would only delay that planning by mere minutes that could have saved dozens if not hundreds of lives.

Still, he was the leader. And she broke the paper tower down into multiple sheets of paper as she created a large paper bird that proceeded to carry them both off into the distance back north towards their lands through the sandstorm that in a way despite its harsh nature covered their retreat.

Battle-weary and emotionally strained to their limits after the last few weeks, it was like a valve was released and emotion spilled out freely as Suna was allowed the time to cheer and shout and cry. There was still much work to do in regards to their home, but for the moment the knowledge that they had held strong alongside their Konoha comrades was more important to them than anything else.

XxX

(Later That Night – Wilderness of Yu no Kuni)

Travelling with the Konoha contingent to the Yu no Kuni/Shimo no Kuni slowed them down despite the added security it provided. Naruto and Yugito were forced to pretty much stop with them for the night as they didn't share the speed and the stamina of the two blonde demon containers, that and they already had a beaten route they were taking instead of trying a straight shot through the forest the way they had been doing. Apparently ambushes occurred because of that easy to predict method of travel which was why the squads had been taking roundabout routes.

It ground their gears, but ridiculous stamina wasn't commonplace amongst most of the ninja in the world. Thus they stopped and made camp for the evening.

With Yugito being Naruto's client for the duration of his mission she stayed in his tent along with him, for security's sake of course.

Said young woman sat on her side of the tent rubbing her neck as she tried to calm down and relax. There were over thirty Konoha shinobi outside and others were keeping guard of the premises along with Naruto's clones that were secretly created and distributed about. If anything went wrong she'd know about it in well enough time to react accordingly and get herself back into emergency battle mode.

"We made such good time on the first day… even if we did get slowed down when we found your Konoha comrades. Do you know any of them very well?" Yugito asked, trying to spark some conversation to alleviate some boredom.

Naruto shook his head as he perused the seals that adorned his arms and torso through his open Root top, each with their own uses and purposes for being on his body, "I don't know any of them actually. We've never met until today. It's really hard to realize just how many people in hidden villages are or used to be ninja."

Yugito let out a hum of agreement before smirking as she made a comment to try and raise his hackles, "Kumo has more shinobi than Konoha." She teased, trying to spark a debate or a mindless argument as she took off her headband and let her hair out of its bandaged bindings for the evening.

"Do you know how many Kumo ninja I've kicked the crap out of?"

"Do you know how many Konoha ninja _I've_ kicked the crap out of?" She returned, grinning at getting the better of him thus far, "I'm older than you, remember dear?" She didn't get another verbal rise out of him and chuckled silently to herself as she sidled up behind him, setting her chin on his shoulder as she noticed him taking stock of the seals on his body, "What do all of those do?" Applying fuuinjutsu to oneself was incredibly dangerous.

Relaxing himself around Yugito, Naruto set his head against hers as he continued to more or less run inventory on himself, "Some of this and that. Storage, one for communication." Those were just the ones that everyone knew about though.

He had one for storing the Amaterasu he had sealed away during his battle with Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha, one worked into a contact lens that covered his Sharingan eye from anyone's view… oh, and he had a dead man's switch somewhere on his body to activate in case he was captured and was conscious to do something about it. _Nobody_ needed to know about that one though, because they would just bitch him out over it and try to get him to remove it.

Yugito found it rather interesting to use her fingers in order to trace the seals that were actually visible for her to see on his arms and chest, trying to deduce what they could be with what limited information she knew about sealing techniques for fun. It seemed to calm Naruto down too, so that was an added bonus. She seemed to have a bit of a knack for that apparently.

Back when he was freaking out over how prepared he may or may not have been in regards to truly battling against Akatsuki, she was the one that actually got him to settle down and ease his mind better than even Jiraiya's advice happened to. They got along very well, even before the war started or Akatsuki became an issue to them both, "Matatabi thinks you're a weird kid, but it respects you for some reason."

"Matatabi?" Naruto said questioningly, finding himself feeling more and more peaceful in Yugito's presence, "Who's that?"

"Oh, that's the Nibi's name; Matatabi." Yugito explained casually with a shrug, "Nibi's just easier to say." That made some sense to Naruto. The Ichibi was called Shukaku interchangeably because one wasn't any more difficult to say than the other. Wait, something about that didn't make sense. They both had names? But then Yugito continued, "Yeah… I can only imagine what the Kyuubi's name could be if you'd rather call it Kyuubi instead of its name."

"Kyuubi has a name?" Naruto asked with his eyes jolting back to being wide awake, "Kyuubi doesn't have a name." 'You don't have another name… do you?' He asked inwardly, hoping that the Kyuubi was not asleep from the boring run from Konoha.

Yugito wasn't aware of the questioning thoughts going on in Naruto's head though, finding more satisfaction in making herself comfortable with her bodyguard, "Of course Kyuubi has a name dummy. Do you really think the Rikudou Sennin was that much of a lazy-ass that he didn't name them when he made them?" She finished with a yawn, "Calling all of them by their number of tails is a terrible way to address them directly."

"I thought he was dying when he broke up the Juubi and made them." Naruto returned verbally as he let Yugito snuggle against him, allowing her to do so as he mentally called out to his chakra beast of a life partner, 'You have a name? Why the fuck didn't you tell me you had a name? I thought we were at least partners.'

"**You never asked genius! In eleven years of knowing of me you never asked, so I assumed you didn't care. And I was right… because you never asked."** Just like every other human he'd been saddled with or had come into contact with since the Rikudou Sennin died. Aside from the people trying to capture it and use it, after people realized that the nine biju were all related they just labeled them by tails more often than not. Very few people took to care about their names. No one knew the Kyuubi's name at all.

'Because I thought I knew your name already you big orange jackass! You never said your name once! Ever! How is that even possible?' There were all of those times when it knowingly referred to itself by its title instead of this name that he was just now hearing about, so that made the Kyuubi a facilitator, 'So what's your name?'

"**Screw off kid… I'm going back to sleep."**

'Don't ignore me goddamn you, we aren't done with this yet!'

"**What are you going to do, Sharingan it out of me?"**

'You know I don't know how! Besides… I told you I wouldn't ever do that even if I found out how I did it.' He didn't hear any response from the Kyuubi except for intentionally exaggerated obnoxious snoring which pretty much told him that conversation was for all intents and purposes over. And it was timely too, because Yugito started pulling on his cheek from behind, "Ow. What Yugi-chan?"

"You were spaced out and ignoring me." Yugito deadpanned, still draped around Naruto's back, "I asked you how bad you think the battlefront will be when we get there. I've heard some things about it… nothing nice either. I don't understand how this could have happened."

"Pein did it." Naruto said, glaring a bit at recalling the man in question, "Everyone is scared of those eyes of his, and the powers they've heard he can use. For the minor villages they could either fight us together or fight him alone. And after what they've heard that he did to Suna… and me and Ero-kyofu at the same time when we fought him."

A frown crossed Yugito's face at hearing Naruto's tone of speaking change, "You're not afraid to fight this guy again are you? We've been through this already back when you were stressed about Akatsuki the first time."

"I'm not afraid to fight anyone anymore." Naruto assured, keeping her from fretting over him or admonishing him, one or the other, "I want to fight him again. That guy really pisses me off, talking out of both sides of his mouth like some kind of divine hypocrite. I'll show him God if that's what he really wants. Cult-leading piece of-."

Yugito's hand covered his mouth before he could finish calmly cursing Pein out from hundreds of miles away, "Shush already. Pein's not here. I'm here. Focus on me. I'm your mission right? You're supposed to be keeping me safe until you get me back with my own village."

With a roll of his eyes, Naruto pulled Yugito's hand from his mouth so that he could speak, "I am focused on you." He then found that Yugito had maneuvered herself from sitting behind him to sitting directly in his lap.

"You are huh?" She was teasing him again. The look on her face was an absolute dead giveaway; playfully predatory in its manner, "You're not as focused as I want you to be. So if you don't mind Mr. Big-Bad-Jounin-Man… I'll ask you again. Focus. All. On. Me." With each of the last four words she said she edged her head closer to his until their noses touched, "…Don't get me killed tomorrow either."

"Right back at you." Naruto returned fire in the little verbal spar before finding his face moving forward of his own volition towards Yugito's lips. He could actually feel her grinning through the kiss. It didn't take too much longer for Naruto to shift the little impromptu make-out session with his fellow jinchuuriki to laying her down on the ground covering of the tent as they continued to duel tongues.

Yugito had a hand running through Naruto's hair as she held him down on top of her and shifted herself beneath him to anticipate things going further. She started guiding him to grope her, but before things could progress any further Naruto abruptly jumped up onto his knees, looking around suspiciously.

A very confused and flustered Yugito simply remained laying on the ground, blinking in surprise before tilting her head towards Naruto who had a grave look on his face, "W-What's the matter?" Was it her? They'd done something like that before, but they'd been interrupted the last time before anything more could happen (thankfully because it was in a hospital). Maybe he was having second thoughts this time?

It wasn't her at all though. It was something his clones keeping watch in hiding picked up on going on outside of his tent. And he had just received another one. Naruto suddenly covered Yugito flat with his body, pressing her to the ground as many light green spikes stabbed through the sides and the top of the tent, intending to cause great harm to the two of them if not to kill them.

"Tobi said not to kill them!"

Outside of the tents, what looked to be a multitude of Zetsus stood around the thoroughly punctured canvas structure as it fell to the ground, its foundations destroyed from the attack, "If you kill the jinchuuriki then its biju dies with it. It takes time for them to resurface in this plane of existence so take them alive!" They rushed the tent that they saw fall on Naruto and Yugito only to find a pair of wooden dummies in their place from use of a Kawarimi.

Having been unseen the entire time, Naruto's shadowy clones in the branches and leaves above dropped down with their swords held in downward stabs, mercilessly running those that had attacked the original Naruto and Yugito through from sky. The threat ended for now, the clones dispelled in puffs of smoke as Naruto and Yugito appeared from where they had been hiding.

The Kumo kunoichi kneeled down by one of the dead Zetsus that happened to be solid light green in color instead of half and half. They had never seen Zetsu though, so they wouldn't have recognized this as being important, "What the hell… What are these things, plants or humans?"

"They bleed like humans." Naruto observed as their life fluid stained the ground. Maybe if they hadn't been bickering about having to capture him and Yugito one of the several around would have noticed that they weren't alone, "…I had a clone dispel when he saw them drop some kind of transformation jutsu. These are the Konoha ninja that were with us today. They were going to slip into Konoha's camp behind the lines and terrorize us once we got there. Then they saw us and went to capture us."

So that's why they weren't around at that moment. In the heat of the ambush there was no time for Yugito to really think about that. But now that there was, she had something to point out, "But no one's Henge is _that_ good. Even if they got that far, any half-baked sensor ninja in your ranks or anyone that knew the real person that they transformed into would know that they were fakes."

Unless there was something different about the transformation, something more advanced than a Henge that wouldn't register to a sensor. Otherwise those plant men were just going to get themselves turned into salad.

That still lent curiosity to the question of what the fuck these things were.

There wasn't any time to deal with that at the moment though, as there was still the fact that the entire squad was comprised of plant-men bodysnatchers of some sort and they were still in danger, "Alright, remember we need one of them alive to interrogate." Naruto said as he drew his own heirloom ninjato from his back. They could hear more coming their way as he continued to speak, "This whole thing really stinks."

"Uh huh." Yugito's fingernails grew into long and dangerous-looking claws for her use in melee combat, "You capture one. I'm not really the capturing type." She was the pissed off type. They couldn't have waited a few minutes to try and kill them?

Naruto chose to edge a few more steps away from the angry Miss Yugito Nii as he could feel that she was rather angry, and he could imagine why. It was kind of ironic that the only mercy any of these plant-men were going to see on this night was going to be from someone originally trained in Root.

* * *

**So seriously, I want to know… how many of you actually saw Kabuto having Sage Mode coming? I'm not even mad at it because it makes a pretty good amount of sense to this guy. It was a pretty good swerve I think. Props to Kishimoto for not letting that power-up wither and die on the vine within 160 chapters.**

**Chapter complete everyone. I've got nothing worth anything to say on this given afternoon so I'll simply bid you all adieu. No failed attempts to be witty or make you chuckle with mishaps from my own life… I've got nothing going on this week. Hope you all enjoyed.**

**So until the next time, Kenchi out.**

**YES!**

**YES!**

**YES!**

**YES!**

**YES!**

**Later days.**


	61. Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Step one of my five-year plan is to learn how to draw on a professional level within the span of the next twelve months. Step two is to create physical character templates because I have a storyline already set for my new cash cow. Step three is to blackmail Kishimoto into giving me a shot with my own fantabulous manga idea, because if he won't give me Naruto, who needs it? I'll make my own damn riches! A self made man!

I'm an entrepreneur! Feel my wrath!

**Chapter 60: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing**

* * *

The following morning found quite a sight for those stationed at the base that sat just a stone's throw away from the front lines of the Yu no Kuni/Shimo no Kuni border. A pair of rather disheveled looking, bloodstained young shinobi walked into camp dragging a captive just before dawn.

Now this by itself admittedly was not abnormal at all. They were after all sitting on the front line of the most dangerous battlefield of the ongoing war between the G.S.A. (Grand Shinobi Alliance) of four of the five major hidden villages and the C.N.F. (Continental Ninja Federation) comprised of every other upstart hidden village in the Elemental Nations. Every single day people came walking into their camp looking like crap.

The people that came slogging into camp looking like crap were never a pair of male and female jinchuuriki from both Konoha and Kumo respectively. Nor did most people walking into camp come walking in carrying a prisoner that looked like a cross between a plant and a human being.

Covered in blood that didn't look like it was his, Naruto dropped a heavily bound plant man right in the middle of camp amid the eyes of his late-watch Konoha comrades who much to their credit moved to take the hybrid creature into custody, "You went kind of nuts back there Yugi-chan." Naruto commented as they both continued to walk through the camp, "I said we needed to take one of them alive."

"I left one alive." Yugito said, pointing to the plant man that was being carried off as they spoke.

"I had to stop you from killing him by putting my own body in your way." Naruto replied dryly. Apparently the Nibi, or as Yugito said the name of the biju was Matatabi, wasn't one to let prey get away when Yugito was angry, or when the equivalent of a cold bucket of water was thrown on a potentially hot situation. Naruto had been put off by it too, but it didn't make him all homicidal either, "I don't like getting interrupted either but seriously."

Yugito just stuck her tongue out at Naruto in return before she looked down at herself, "I'm a total mess and we haven't even gotten started working yet. I'm going to find the barracks and clean up."

Nodding in consent to the idea, Naruto decided that then was as good a time as any to split off from her for the time being while they prepared for their eventual move to try and get her home, "Go ahead. I'm going to go try and find Ero-kyofu and let him know we're here. I'll catch up in a bit after I do." Yugito took his travel pack for him since they were at the base as she started looking for the temporary showers.

He and Yugito went their own separate ways and split up for their own reasons. But all the while as Naruto walked around the camp and looked at the embattled state of the people there he had to think back to the battle that he had fought the previous night with Yugito.

Where did those plant guys come from? They were all naked, so there was no way of identifying the village they were from by uniform. They didn't even seem human for the most part. But they were going to slip into the Konoha camp in their transformation disguises and tear it apart from the inside. So they had to work for one of the enemies of the alliance, but who?

That was why he captured one to begin with. The information was going to be pried out of him and that would be that. Until then he had to find Jiraiya and prepare a plan to slip past the watchful eyes of the enemy on the line.

It didn't take him long to find Jiraiya either, as he found his godfather standing on a bluff covered in thickets and trees looking out into the deeper forest with his telescope, probably trying to get a better point of view of the battlefield before the sun came up and it became dangerous to be exposed like that, "How's the eye?" Jiraiya jibed as he felt Naruto's presence come up from behind.

"How's the arm?" Naruto shot back in return. For some reason it was good to see Jiraiya in the thick of things again. For someone like him living out the rest of his days doing nothing because he was missing an arm just didn't seem right. The man was supposed to be a lion, and he wasn't meant to live like a mouse, "You look like crap. Don't you sleep?"

A sarcastic laugh left Jiraiya as he put down his telescope and allowed it to retract back to portable size, "I can sleep all I want when I'm dead. You're late brat." Jiraiya said gruffly as he looked over the darkened forests for any sign of movement.

"I brought you a present though." Naruto said as he stood up there next to his teacher in the late night/early morning darkness, "How do you feel about bipedal plant monster guys?"

"Indifferent, but that's because I've never seen one. Are you on drugs or something?"

"No. I just asked because there's one in lockup right now that tried to kill me and Yugito a few hours ago."

Ah, so he did manage to bring Yugito with him. That damn mission to get her back to Kumo was still on. Talk about a tough assignment. Jiraiya would only feel comfortable sending himself out to try and sneak past that line that the enemy had set. It was a damn rat's nest in there.

Getting in wasn't the real problem though. He had sent people in before. The problem was them getting out or proceeding forward any kind of real distance. Even when he sent sensors in with them to locate potential trouble there was just something about their enemy, and it couldn't have just been that they knew the terrain. No, there was something even more wrong going on in there and he knew it. The squeeze was somehow being put on them and for the life of him he couldn't deduce what the deal was.

And his godson was about to try his luck at getting through, "I really don't want to send you in there Naruto." Jiraiya flat out admitted, "I've been arguing back and forth with Tsunade-hime about letting you do this mission since I found out you were going to be assigned to it. She should know full well what I'm reporting back to her on our situation."

"Well talk to me about it then." Naruto asked, resting a hand on the older toad sage's shoulder, "I want to know what I'm getting into when I try to break out and sneak through. I'm surprised that you haven't found a way to do it yet."

"Don't rub it in kid." Jiraiya said as they both sat down on the ground and he pulled out a topographical map of the area with locations marked; places like the Konoha camp, the rough estimate of where the no man's land line lay, and hotspots behind that line where it had been reported that their forces had been hit from hard, "When it comes to moving just myself, that wouldn't be as big a problem comparatively. I'm moving a whole army here."

Naruto started looked at the areas on the map that had been marked. Apparently no attacks ever happened in the area where the line had been established. It was only behind the lines on the enemy side where ambushes began to occur and losses began to be incurred. From those that had gone in, it seemed that they hadn't been able to pinpoint the strong points in the defense.

"How is it possible that we don't even have an idea of where they're mostly stationed yet? We've got sensors."

"They solely target our sensors first during skirmishes and battles and then retreat when they injure or kill them. That's their goal in combat."

"So they can sense our sensors?" Naruto queried, trying out what he had just said in his mouth. There was probably a joke in there somewhere for later.

"Yes Naruto… sensors can do that; tell which shinobi in a group of them are sensors as well." Jiraiya said as if he were talking to a child, "I know that you're only a sensor off of a technicality with Sage Mode just like I am, but keep up. This is why we're here."

"Oh shush up." Naruto grumbled as he continued to scrutinize the map. Kumo was able to coordinate messages to Konoha to let them know how far within enemy turf they had managed to get on their side of things, so that at least Naruto would know where to go to take Yugito, "I need a soft spot, or I need to find the exact opposite. Both if you've got it."

Immediately, Jiraiya pointed out three different spots on the map, "That'd be here, here, and here. There's the softest place we've been able to find, and you can see why; river crossing. Not the best place to be discreet."

So instead of just being heavily defended by enemies staking out for ambushes it was a natural spot that would make him and Yugito easy to spot. That was why he wanted to know where the difficult areas were. He'd have to come up with a pretty good diversion to get himself and Yugito past the river. From there it was a matter of heading full speed through until they reached Kumo forces.

"Why can't we get people through there if we know this much?" Naruto asked, "That's a hell of a start."

"You're not listening." Jiraiya said, poking Naruto in the head much to his displeasure, "Getting in isn't the problem. It never has been. It's once we're in and get past the initial defenses there that the issue comes in. A deer couldn't have survived the crossfire we ran across the first time we sent an attack force in. They don't fight directly. They'll break off and regroup with an attack on three sides while backing off and leaving an avenue open for us to fall back. It's intentional. If they force a full on fight we'll beat them and they know it even if they take down a ton of us. That's not what they want. Even multi-pronged attacks don't net us any permanent ground."

That didn't sound right. How in the world would they be caught in any kind of three-sided attack? Konoha squads were not dumb enough for something like that to work more than once. Not a chance.

Think like a Root ANBU damn it. That was something that could be needed, "Burn the forest down. Smoke 'em out." Brutal, effective, simple, and he knew Jiraiya could amass a squadron of fire release users to do it.

"We tried that." Jiraiya burst that bubble fairly quickly though as he pointed at a burnt out spot from their ridge where the trees were bare and charred, "We attacked and put that move into action in the middle of the battle to catch them in it. They retreated like we thought, but the fire wasn't allowed to spread. They stopped the fire from spreading by taking down the trees in the path of the fire before it reached much further."

"Do you think they have a system of tunnels?" Naruto asked Jiraiya who seemed to be rather thoughtful at the idea, "Think about it; it's not like our sensors don't anticipate their counterattack right?"

"True…" Reports from the field showed that the counterstrikes had been anticipated, but no one ever got sight of the enemy until they were right on them, "Tunnels that we can't find?"

But then again, when did they have the chance to actually scour the battlefields for tunnels in the deep forested areas? And that would also explain why how on the other side of the country Kumo had driven quite a ways into the territory but couldn't find any actual field bases. Underground facilities.

Still, how much weigh did a suspicion like that hold?

Seeing this in Jiraiya's face, Naruto rolled his eyes. It was very possible. Root had set up tunnels for operatives to hide and rest in all over the place. Even in hostile places like Kaminari no Kuni. Naruto had used one while fighting against Kakuzu and Hidan. They weren't complicated to build in their most rudimentary forms and they weren't hard to hide either. The rougher the terrain that they were in the easier it was. And it wasn't like they hadn't had these set up well in advance.

Even if they hadn't existed before the war had begun, the time it took to mobilize properly gave the enemy more than enough time to start digging them out. Who knew how many branches there could be by now?

"Come on." Naruto said, tapping his fist on the ground, "Do you really think it's that hard to dig a good tunnel system?" He asked, "I can make a pretty good one with my bare hands by myself in one minute and I don't even use earth release." At the time he had also been twelve and only had a kunai to help dig with.

The tunnel thing seemed to be more and more likely as they both thought about it. Forget trenches. Eventually Konoha would still overrun them if they fought like that. Avoid direct battle at all costs and keep them back while preventing losses from direct combat. That was a basic way to antagonize a larger attack force. And they couldn't safely dig a quick branch of tunnels past the river so that explained why that was a 'soft spot'.

The moment they did and managed to reach underneath Konoha's camp they would probably launch the most damnable surprise raid ever seen. _If_ they were really digging tunnels of course.

A grin then crossed Jiraiya's face as he rested his one hand on Naruto's shoulder, "I've got an idea on how to handle these idiots if you're right about this brat." The wily old toad sage said with a grin, "Don't worry about that though, let me handle that. Your mission is just to get through." Kami help those poor bastards if Jiraiya had an idea on how to defeat their tactics, "The next approach will send the whole watch on their side rolling our way to clear it out for you and Yugito."

That sounded like a big offensive was in the works, "Are you going to try and break the line?"

"Oh brat…" Jiraiya said with a laugh, "In order to break the line, a line has to exist to break. In a manner of speaking though, we are. It's time to make this into our kind of fight. Make sure you're ready by tonight to go. You're going to have to go fast because we're not putting this together to buy you time, that's just a side consequence."

So if it wasn't his aim to get caught up in the middle of the big battle that Konoha was trying to make out of the situation he needed to move ahead of it to avoid it.

His intended actions for that evening understood, Naruto nodded and stood back up to leave Jiraiya to his devious devices. Pity would have to come to those enemy ninja holding down the fort in the woods, because with the wheels currently turning inside of Jiraiya's head it would prove to be quite something.

The cunningly quiet laughter of the man would forebode that much.

XxX

(Interior of Shimo no Kuni – C.N.F. Base of Operations)

Shimogakure, Hoshigakure, Yumegakure. These were the villages that were assigned the task of waging their brand of warfare against Konoha, and they had their strengths when it came to doing so.

For Yumegakure it was the fact that these were their neck of the woods, and what they knew how to do was battle in their neighborhood with various techniques that were perfect for the locale of their village. They jumped the shark though in regards to their singular strength and went into poverty due to attempts to wage constant war against the other smaller villages in the region until recent decades.

Hoshigakure were the battlefield powerhouses that were given the directives of who to target whenever the time came to engage Konoha in their intended skirmishes. The powerful chakra granted to them by the radiation of the meteor in their village that also poisoned the surrounding area of their village enhanced their abilities through intense and dangerous chakra control training.

Shimogakure happened to be the village with no real discernable traits that set it apart. It was for the most part a no-factor village that had never raised any waves in the past. But out of the three manning the southern border of Shimo no Kuni they were the strongest. Not in battle, but from the fact that they had managed to expand their village's influence the most before the war began. They had never really run aground against any of the major villages nearby, and that let them continue growing.

They were also the ones that had come up with the base plan of action for how to deal with avoiding simply running into Konoha and fighting them.

The tunnels.

It took no time at all for them to create a working network of an underground system with points of exit all around the forest and places to spy on any movement hidden all over. There was a whole mess of completely able-bodied shinobi that would consider what they were digging the equivalent of a D-rank mission. The amount they managed to dig within a matter of three days of the alliance being finalized was incredible. From there it was just patrol and response.

Konoha never let them down with the tenacity of trying to get through, if only they knew that they had been running over what had been the C.N.F. defensive line the entire time they wouldn't have seemed so confused when the counterattacks were waged.

Still though. Konoha was adaptable and had become accustomed to the tooth-and-nail fighting, and with Kumo slowly bullying their way through with sheer manpower on the other side there needed to be some kind of equalizer or this theater of the war was going to get ugly very fast.

And like some kind of deity (or demon) a dealer of weaponry came to them with an offer that they simply couldn't refuse.

Shimogakure; the quiet village set in a valley of trees had been untouched by the war since it had begun, and it was also the stage of a business meeting.

Another day where the sun rose, another day where Konoha and Kumo were doing their best to storm through the lands and restore order by smacking down every single village that chose to consider them an enemy and side with the man that endeavored to kill and destroy them all.

Hence why the village leader was set to meet at outside of the moat and bridges that surrounded the village at the very outskirts of Shimo with everyone in the C.N.F.'s favorite new merchant of death… at least in the northeast.

"You're a very brave man." The leader of Shimogakure said to his weapon dealer of choice, "You come this close to my village during wartime as if you aren't concerned with any of our villages capturing you and trying to hold you to create your wares for them?"

The strange man wore a full head mask that was light purple and white in color with a ripple pattern with two eyeholes along with strange dark combat robes, a belt sash, gloves, and a large war fan on his back. Quite strange attire, and mysterious enough to suit someone that sold what he was peddling, "Oh, I'm not too terribly worried about being captured, trust me. Besides… I don't think kidnapping the community goose that lays the golden eggs would work too well in the midst of this alliance. So there's really no time I'll be safer in the presence of this region's villages than during wartime."

He had a point. If one village got greedy and tried to snatch him so that he could create weapons only for them or sell to others at heightened prices it would start bitter infighting. Strictly on the level business then, "I want another 250 sent north Tobi-san."

"A full company to deal with Kumo this time? So many?" 'Tobi' or 'Madara' said almost playfully, "Alright. I hope you found the last smaller platoon satisfactory."

"That we did." The Shimo village leader said, "The chaos slowed them down and actually let us launch a successful raid against their advance team. Let's spread the love out a bit further this time."

"75 million ryo." Tobi requested for his services, "Or do you think payment for a perfect stealth unit of troops should come with a discount?"

It could hardly be considered highballing, especially given how effective they were, so there was no choice other than to pay up. It was worth it with how they disrupted the Kumo war machine in the north, "Any directions on how to handle them better this time?" The village leader asked as he handed over a scroll containing his payment.

"I can't say that I care." Tobi said as he seemed to make the scroll vanish between his hands, "I'm not the one fighting the war here. Do whatever you like with them. Send them screaming off of a cliff for all I care." After all… he had plenty, plenty more where those came from. Fifty meant nothing when he had several thousand.

After all, selling the services of the White Zetsus was nothing more than a field test before he took them for what he really needed them for. A field test where he could make money on the side.

"They'll be with you within two hours." That was the assurance from Tobi as he turned his back to leave the village leader behind to walk into the forest surrounding the village, "But then again you know how fast my White Zetsus travel."

The Shimogakure leader nodded to himself, knowing full well how reliable they were. Otherwise the alliance wouldn't have pooled money to purchase them. It was because they worked.

He had one more question to give to Tobi, but when he turned around the man was gone.

Such a strange and dangerous individual. If he had access to such a force, it made sense that at a time like this he would dispatch them to the highest bidder. But Tobi didn't seem like the type that cared about money, nor did he seem to care about the White Zetsus as a mercenary force. It was as if they were expendable to him, as if everything was expendable to him.

It was better not to look a gift horse in the mouth like fully expendable soldiers that could complete perfect transformations. There was a war to fight.

Whatever it was with Tobi, no one had ever heard of him before in any corner of the ninja world… so really, how dangerous could he have been in the grand scheme of things?

XxX

(With Naruto – Konoha Northeastern Command Base Camp)

Not too long after his meeting with Jiraiya, the man called a meeting of his higher command to inform them of the current idea mulling around in his head. The formation of a new battle plan was coming. Man, Jiraiya got his shit together quickly. He was already calling together the top brass under his watch to come up with a method of approach.

Sometimes it was easy to forget just how incredible a ninja Jiraiya was if all that you chose to look at happened to be the borderline insanity and the perversion. But those were just quirks, and everyone had them. There was nothing wrong with that. Some guys wrote shitty rhymes for everything, some guys did human experimentation, some guys liked the ladies to an extreme degree. Whatever got you up in the morning man.

Either way, Naruto had his own marching orders to adhere to. He was to get Yugito Nii past the enemy and to her homeland Kumo comrades by any means necessary.

The sun had come up, so until word went out about the plan of attack they would have that much time to rest from their battle with the white plant/man things. Rest sounded so good right then, and it was a good thing he had gotten directions to the barracks. From the looks people gave him they could apparently tell that he needed a shower and a rest because he looked like he had just been in one hell of a fight despite the fact that it had occurred hours ago.

Upon walking into the barracks, Naruto rid himself of the bandages that covered the seals on his arms, his gloves, his heirloom sword, and his sandals to get some respite from the battlefield. Right then he had to rid himself of the crud on his body from fighting the strange plant-men in the forest. Outside on the sides of the living quarters buildings were temporary showers and if ever there was a time he needed one it was right then.

Luckily it was decently past sunrise and everyone at the base had work to do, thus no one was hanging out around the barracks. It allowed Naruto to take his time and get his things together before going into the showers where he heard one of them going. He could see the shapely female figure in the falling hot waters of the room and walked her way, "I thought cats didn't like being wet." Especially fire cats.

Her very long hair down and wet, just like the rest of her, Yugito just let out a quiet chuckle at the joke, "They don't, but considering the alternative was being covered in blood and grime this is kind of a no-contest." She could feel Naruto standing directly behind her, probably looking at the seal on her back… or he was probably just looking at her ass. She couldn't tell.

Eventually though, he moved directly next to her in an adjacent position to begin washing himself. Even before he started using soap, the substances from last night's battle fell from his hair and body thanks to the hot water. Taking a shower with the pretty Kumo jinchuuriki six inches away. How was he going to play this one cool? It was hard not to turn and catch a glimpse of her from the side, and she seemed to be smirking to herself that it seemed to be hard for him to come up with conversation that didn't revolve around sex.

"Did you forget how to talk?" Yugito asked with a rather large grin on her face, "I know we've been stopped before you've seen me naked a few times in the past but come on now Naruto-kun."

Naruto rolled his eyes at Yugito's attempt to assuage the situation and looked over at her again, not trying to look away this time, "Well the last time it happened was last night when I saw you cut down fifteen plant guys, so I was just wondering if you were still upset about that."

Lemon Start

"I was…" She admitted slyly before moving directly in front of him and pushing her back against his chest, "But then you came in here with me. I don't see a better opportunity to pick up where we left off last night than now since we won't have a chance later."

Yugito found Naruto's arms wrapped around her waist and chest protectively. Appropriate to his secondary element, Yugito felt something akin to electricity from Naruto even as she could feel his manhood harden to life. Her thighs parted to allow his length to slip between her legs and rub against her pussy. The gentle friction elicited a gasp from Yugito who looked over her shoulder at Naruto.

In return she got a strong and steely gaze from him up that close only served to rouse her instead of cause her to falter. Though she didn't speak loudly, her mouth was silently moving and saying 'come on'. Linking a hand behind Naruto's neck, Yugito pulled him down into a deep kiss with liberal use of her tongue.

A pair of jinchuuriki from different villages. There was a chance she'd get admonished by the Raikage should this ever come to his knowledge, but Yugito would be damned if she cared about that right then.

As they continued to kiss, Naruto pushed Yugito forward until she was pressed with her breasts against the wall. She hadn't perceived Naruto to be that forceful when lovemaking. Harping on Hamako for information on it while in Konoha, she had gotten the impression that he would be gentler. Not that she had a problem with the force mind it.

"Possessive aren't we?" She whispered up close to him as she worked her hips back and forth to slide his cock against her snatch. The steam from the shower wasn't doing much to disguise their actions. The danger of being caught there seemed to turn her on further.

"You weren't the only one put off when we got stopped last night Yugi-chan." Naruto muttered into her ear lowly, "And didn't you tell me that you wanted me to focus all on you?" He said before planting kisses against her neck, "You know you didn't mean like a bodyguard."

"I didn't mean like a bodyguard." Yugito agreed, tightening her thighs around Naruto's dick as her cunny continued to leak juices. Eventually with her mostly futile attempts to increase the resistance she was able to elicit a growl from him, resulting in Naruto placing a hand underneath one of her slickening thighs and inserting himself inside of the Nibi jinchuuriki, "Mmm… come on hero. Go ahead and fuck me."

Ignoring the hero remark, Naruto did exactly that. Placing his second hand on Yugito's hip, he started pistoning in and out of the girl intently. Her breathing grew heavier and heavier before she started dueling tongues with Naruto once again with more ferocity this time. It just wasn't enough for her though.

Naruto pressed Yugito's front against the wall of the shower and got a bit of a hiss out of her from the dominant action as she tried to push back just out of pride and principle. The feeling of her tits pressed against the comparatively cold wall got her nipples to tighten and she thoroughly enjoyed it despite her little show of disapproval.

"Don't give me that look." Naruto said as he just continued to work his cock inside of his lover, beating down any desire from her to show him who was supposed to be boss, "You're mine right now." She then let out a loud curse when she felt Naruto bite down on her shoulder.

"Oh, you bastard!" Yugito shouted, but she didn't mean it at all, "You love this don't you?" She tried to say seductively, but her voice was quaking as she tried to speak. He heard it and she could feel Naruto smirking against her neck, "Hah…"

Yugito lowered her leg back down and pushed her backside out for Naruto to hold onto with both hands, giving him full access to her behind. She had to bend forward and rest her arms against the wall for support. The young woman was quite certain that anyone close to those showers could hear her cry out in passion, but she wasn't shy at all about doing just that.

It spurred Naruto to get even more vocal reactions from his current partner, who was really starting to care not if they were caught either. Figuring that Yugito wasn't one for a gentle encounter, Naruto chose not to give her one, "Come on Yugi-chan, you look like you're about to fall out." He managed to grunt out while continuing to pound away at his pussy's pussy, "Don't quit on me now."

All she could do in return to the cheeky remark was just shake her head involuntarily and continue to moan. She hadn't expected the feeling of being penetrated so deeply, and she loved how it felt. Masturbating didn't provide her with half of the pleasure that Naruto was giving her, and this was just a quickie in the shower.

Yugito was apparently very sensitive down there, because Naruto could feel her shivering every so often from how he was holding on to her. Keeping up a hard pace, he was making his fellow blonde seriously reconsider going back to her village if only for a few more days. Just a bit longer away from home so she could see what else Naruto could do to her with his dick. Or maybe the way she stayed in Konoha as a liaison for the war effort he could stay in Kumo.

That was her selfish side speaking of course, but she didn't give a damn.

Another cry came from Yugito as Naruto continued to pound into her from behind, "I… I-. Naruto-kun I-." She wasn't able to get any coherent words out to tell him before she finally came and did so hard, letting him know with the harshest yell of pleasure that she could give him as she dug her very strong nails into the wall.

Her pussy clenched tightly around him, and Naruto let out a moan from the hot, wet tension and reached a hand a bit forward to pull Yugito's back against his chest and rub Yugito's sensitive snatch to get her to loosen up a touch while he quietly shushed her. He still needed to finish too after all.

The all-powerful jinchuuriki whimpered from her post-climax and gently moaned again when she felt Naruto still churning inside of her, "N-Not done yet?"

"You give me some powerful motivation Yugi-chan." Naruto said, continuing to thrust in and out of the young woman while she peppered his neck and face with kisses and guided his hands to grope her wet breasts. He felt her tense up again for another orgasm and this time it drained Naruto of his seed as well. Yugito let him blast her insides freely with cum and mewled softly as it felt like the fire inside of her had been put out or at the very least sated, "You alright?"

"Huh?" Yugito asked, still being held tightly by Naruto underneath the water of the shower they had been sharing after he had pulled out, "I'm fine. Why?" She asked through half-lidded and tired eyes, placing her arms over Naruto's that surrounded her.

"…Because you don't have any strength in your legs." Naruto pointed out, getting Yugito to look down at her quivering appendages. The products of both of their orgasms had run down her legs to be washed away by the shower, but her legs looked like they had no support to them.

End Lemon

An embarrassed blush spread across Yugito's face. Letting her 'bodyguard' have his way with her in a public shower was fine, but looking vulnerable after having done so was awkward to her. The look on her face almost got Naruto to snicker at her, but instead he just scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the showers to get dressed prior to heading back into the barracks to rest.

Fun time was over and they had an objective to prepare to achieve… after a nap of course.

XxX

(Takigakure no Sato)

"It is done Sai-sama." One masked Root ANBU said as he and several others bowed to the leader of the cell who sat on a stump in the deep forests simply drawing idly to pass the time until the arrival of the underlings, "The path is clear and we will proceed at your orders."

At first Sai said nothing, continuing to draw in his notebook until he was at a place that he found satisfactory to stop. He closed it and placed it with his supplies before standing up and walking toward his group of ninja. Upon patting the first Root on the shoulder they all rose to their feet, "Very good. Maki-san has sent word that we've been given an opening. Takigakure is very sparse on manpower because of their attempts to reinforce Kusagakure before it falls."

There were only genin, wounded, and very few battle-ready elites inside of the waterfall village itself now for defense and security.

Root had moved a decent strike force within distance of the village in small units until they had amassed one-hundred and fifty to do their duty. The path taken had stuck closely to the route that Naruto and Maki had taken to slip past their lines barely a week prior, only it had split off north to head towards Taki instead of southwest to the Tenchi Bridge.

It was not to be a true battle to conqueror. That wasn't what they did. They were meant to sack the village, do as much damage as possible, and leave. That was all. They were to show their enemy just how in over their head they were and punish them for their conspiracy to eliminate Konoha.

Sai had his own job to do, and he would do it alone to put a serious wrench in the machine of the enemy's command. By 'wrench' he meant blade, and by 'machine' he meant heart, back, neck or generally just anywhere he could stab someone to kill them.

Kill the leaders inside of the village and throw their leadership out of whack. Deal major damage to the village itself so that when word reached the fighting shinobi out in the wilderness of Kusa lands being steadily driven back to Kusagakure itself they would give up on that futile campaign and go home. Maybe it would even broker an armistice with Konoha if not an outright negotiation for terms of surrender.

And Tsunade of course didn't need to know anything until after the fact when Takigakure came simpering up to the negotiation table. She had basically given the go-ahead for Root to do whatever they saw necessary with the war situation as long as none of it had anything to do with Konoha. They could do whatever they wanted, anywhere they wanted, they just couldn't directly work with conventional forces.

Root didn't work like that anyway, so it was fine.

With the loss of the Nanabi, they didn't have a powerhouse to protect the village. While it would be a stretch to say that there weren't any powerful ninja within Taki, they were all out in the field. That wouldn't do much good for them tonight.

"Rest and prepare until sundown. Send word." Sai ordered, getting affirmative responses from the others before they leapt off to do just that. It was just about time to earn some damn stripes with the Hokage. Root was an effective black ops force meant to be used when ANBU couldn't be risked in something so large-scale, and they were about to prove it.

XxX

(Later That Afternoon – Shimo no Kuni – Deep Forest Area)

Upon Jiraiya's direction, an expedition force was sent out across the lines into the woods once more to follow through on what he had managed to deduce earlier that morning. The only difference was that this time he was with them leading the venture.

As expected, when they had entered past the line of no return far enough, the C.N.F. forces began their usual attack from all sides, capitalizing on confusion and lack of vision to take apart the Konoha attackers. Instead of falling back this time, they stood and fought, mostly defensively as the focus of the Konoha fighters was set on simply avoiding weapons, getting cornered by opportunistic enemies, and keeping their comrades alive and as unhurt as possible.

"I'm so tired of this crap!" Kiba said as he fought close to his teammates. He, Hinata, and Akamaru were handling any enemies foolish enough to get in close while Shino handled distant targets subtly with his insects, "Walk in, fight, walk out. Same shit every damn day! We'd better pull it off and move forward this time, I'm tearing those damn villages apart myself for all of this!"

At least Naruto showing up for a few hours to hang out and shoot the damn breeze the way he did killed the monotony, but then he had to up and leave for his mission when the call went out that they'd be going back in. The upper echelon were confident this time, but Kiba was getting kind of skeptical on that and he'd believe it when he saw it.

Either way, he stopped talking long enough to duck a slash of an opponent's kama and chain, creating an opening for Akamaru to snap up the enemy in his jaws and shake him around violently before throwing him away violently. Good dog.

"Focus Kiba-kun!" Hinata insisted with her active Byakugan able to see everything as it happened, "We need to pay attention to the eventual order when it's called. What if we miss it?" Jiraiya was a master spy. His cue to spring into action had to be something subtle that the enemy wouldn't expect.

Bugs flowed from Shino's sleeves and took down foes in battle elsewhere before they even noticed that chakra was being sucked from them, "I would not be so certain of that Hinata." He said, as he checked the battlefield for someone else he could assist stealthily, "Why? Because my insects are aware of Jiraiya-sama's entrance onto the field."

Fighting reigned throughout the area. All the while one man walked through the middle of it seemingly uncaring of it all.

"Oh no." Jiraiya said in a false kind of dull monotone before he kicked a fame-seeking enemy ninja away with crushing force, "Another ambush. Damn it where are they coming from?" He continued to say as he made several single-armed hand-seals, "Off the ground now! Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)!"

The moment Jiraiya barked his order, the ninjas under his command broke off from fighting their battle to just waste time and latched onto the trees closest to them without delay. The reason for this was simple. Because the ground quickly became a dark and muddy swamp that proved to be dangerous and lethal for those caught in it for at least an entire mile.

Many enemy shinobi were savvy enough to channel chakra to their feet and stay on top of it like water. Still though, too many of them were unable to, and sank helplessly into the chakra-infused bog that they were ensnared in.

In multiple places in the swamp, air bubbles popped up onto the surface and the horrified looks of many of the C.N.F. forces told a lot of the story that their words wouldn't. Just how many reinforcements waiting underground died from suffocation right at that moment?

Kiba could smell the shift in the atmosphere and all because of that one man, "Okay, when I'm that old I want to be that cool." He declared from where he and his teammates had attached themselves to trees for safety, "Did you all see that? Damn man."

Hinata, fortunately or unfortunately depending on one's point of view, saw everything. Jiraiya's jutsu disrupted the barrier ninjutsu that had been cast on the tunnels for security from sensors and she could see beneath the swamp, particularly at all of the bodies that were stuck inside of it.

It was pretty chilling once she thought about it, but did it work? Absolutely.

"Hm." Jiraiya said as he picked up on what effect his maneuver had on the enemy, "Damn Nagato… if I still had both of my arms this swamp would have been twice this size." He said in order to psyche out everyone that was left, "I'll just have to do better with the _next one_." He accentuated with a grin that radiated killing intent.

"Fall back." One of the C.N.F. forces said before fleeing back to where there was solid ground once more, "Fall back and regroup!" That couldn't be possible. The secret 'Frost Line' had been broken and had only lasted just over a month in warfare with one of the five major villages. Konoha was supposed to be fat and soft, supposed to be unable to adjust and react to tactics of other villages that lay outside of their wheelhouse of direct battle.

They had planned different trap points throughout the countryside just in case this occurred… but they never would have expected them to completely annihilate and focus on tunnels that they had no clue about. No Konoha ninja had ever seen them come into or leave from a tunnel. They had taken precautions so that even the mighty Byakugan hadn't spotted them. The tunnels had never been infiltrated, and unless they had leaks in their security there was no way they found anything out.

Jiraiya cackled loudly and fought the urge to break out into a posedown. Instead he gestured for one of the Konoha ninjas near him to take a bamboo launcher and shoot a firework into the air to signal the large amount of their comrades lying in wait to proceed and move forward. At this point they weren't going to allow them to form a defensive front again. It was going to be like a rolling wave if they had anything to say about it. A mobile war was Konoha's kind of fight.

XxX

(Meanwhile – With Naruto)

Naruto and Yugito got moving the minute Jiraiya had started calling for battalions to prepare for their roles in his battle strategy. By the time the fireworks were shot into the sky, both blonde jinchuuriki were over the river and into the territory of the enemy.

"Give me some coordinates to your village's closest team in Shimo no Kuni Yugi-chan." Naruto said as he led the way through the woods. He had created several clones to surround them on all sides further away just in case they were attacked so that they could be ready well in advance, "You're the one that should know where your people are."

"They pushed them back out of Kaminari no Kuni past the border into this country. One hundred miles east northeast." Yugito claimed as she followed behind Naruto closely, "Those were the last coordinates that Mabui sent to Konoha to tell me before we arrived here this morning." She informed him before working down the math in her head, "So that should mean… three hours at this pace if we don't get stopped?"

That sounded about right to Naruto with the pace they were cutting with their bounds through the branches of the trees, "We're not going to get stopped. Ero-kyofu and our guys are going to have that whole army falling over itself. They don't know how fast we can move as a whole army." The rear line was probably already moving forward into the boggy forest that Jiraiya had created as a matter of fact.

Yugito was honestly surprised by Konoha's tactics having never fought them in a warlike scenario herself. Her village fought differently. For large-scale international wars they would pierce directly past an enemy's defenses and then spread and branch out behind the line, separating the enemy into smaller pockets of resistance that they would then periodically crush. That was what they had started to do on the other side of the country and they were having trouble. Maybe now that the entire defensive tunnel secret had come to light they could change that once Konoha could ferry that info north. Hell, she could do it herself once Naruto got her there. Faster than a hawk that might get pinched on its way.

The Northeast contingent of the C.N.F. tried to get the jump on them and attacked first. Not a bad plan to try and take down a lumbering giant of a village, but their offensive against Kumo ran out of gas quickly and they were hit in return like it was a Lariat from the Raikage himself. Apparently they decimated their foes in the field and snatched up tons of land before running into the situation that they had met up with now. The chain of tunnels thing.

Still, Konoha had something of a rope-a-dope kind of way to work. Instead of blazing through the enemy at first touch with a crushing show of offensive force, they would play it more tentatively to avoid playing into the enemy's traps and plans, allowing them to keep their main force settled for when they eventually developed their own methods of dealing with the enemy.

Small-scale guerilla warfare followed by a monster offensive strike when a proverbial chink in the armor was found.

"Well help me get back to my comrades…" Yugito told Naruto with a smile, "…And we can smash these enemies and wrap things up here mister hero. Kiri is not needed here."

"Enough with the hero thing Yugi-chan." Naruto said with a groan. If he was a hero then his training with Root failed. Heroes died. Heroes were targets, "I'm not a hero. I've got a whole village of people in Ame that would call me a monster, and they're kind of right. More places than that too." If those places or groups that he had a hand in smashing existed any longer, "I saved you one time and that's it. I never saved anyone else from anything that wasn't my job."

Yugito just rolled her eyes with a sly look on her face, "Whatever helps you keep those eyes so blue Naruto-kun."

The two just kept rolling on through the forest with Naruto muttering at the girl at his back keeping those cat-like eyes glinting in mirth at him. Yep, because running around the tail end of a battle was just a wonderful time to banter.

XxX

(Hours Later – Nightfall – Takigakure no Sato)

No one had any idea how it happened.

One minute everything was quiet, with everything in the village that surrounded the mightiest tree on the continent being a peaceful opposite to the rest of the world at large. Then the fires were set and the explosions went off.

Every able-bodied ninja in the village of Takigakure sprang into action and began hunting down the perpetrators with extreme prejudice, but the majority of the inexperienced or untested genin were jumping at shadows.

Putting out fires was paramount, but in the panic, the Root forces found more things to sabotage, picking out the officers of the group (any ninja past the rank of genin) and taking them out. Anyone barking orders to otherwise frantic underlings caught stray weaponry to a vital area if the opportunity was present.

Still though, the battle was far from over for Taki. They had their trump hidden deep within the titanic tree that hid their village as well. If it came to that in order to win the battle, it was something that was merely going to have to be done.

With a hard look on his face, a young man with long dark brown hair wearing a Takigakure headband and the wartime uniform for his village led a trusted armed contingent of his fellow Taki shinobi and kunoichi to an altar surrounded by water that contained nothing more than a simple bottle of water.

"This is it." The young man said with a nervous sweat on his brow as he picked it up carefully in his hands, "The Hero Water."

One of the underlings moved forward to try and talk the young man down, "You're not planning on using it in a situation like this are you Shibuki-sama?"

The young man turned around abruptly with a hard look in his eyes, "I will if I have to!" He replied as he already knew the risks that came with the short-term benefits that the water gave, "The village is burning, and if it's an emergency of that caliber isn't it better to have it just in case. Just in case I or some others need to take it to fight them off? Don't you remember what happened to Fuu? No one fought, we just appeased Kakuzu and let him take her. This isn't a situation like that. There isn't any compromise here."

They looked as if they were going to argue against the water's use, but before anyone else could say anything they were all ensnared by vine-like roots from the ceiling. Some were wrapped around their waists and arms, some by their necks as if they were being hanged.

Shibuki moved to cut his leg free but when his kunai passed through nothing he placed his hands in the ram seal, "Kai!" The illusion of the killer roots faded, but the Hero Water no longer remained in his hands.

Instead it was in the hands of a pale-skinned, black-haired young man in strange black attire, accompanied by a petite, dark-haired young woman in a similar garb meant for females. From the look of her hands in a seal she was the source of the genjutsu that plagued his men. She must have also had cast a genjutsu over the two of them to follow them to that location because they were both soaked like everyone else. They had swam there to the hidden area.

Both of them were wearing plain white masks with a strange insignia on them that meant nothing to him, "Who are you? What village are you with?" Shibuki demanded to know. He needed to find a way to free his ninja, but the Hero Water was in the hands of the enemy.

That was the absolute worst case nightmare scenario for them.

"That's not important." Sai said calmly as he tucked the Hero Water safely on his person, "Just know that you conspired and made yourself enemies of a village that we are all rather fond of. Unfortunate for you."

This was not good for Takigakure. The enemy had their secret weapon, and Shibuki didn't even know who the enemy was. Setting aside the fact that outside of the great tree in the village itself it was in a state of panic. Who knew how many enemies there were?

"Maybe your successor will have the intelligence to take your village to negotiations with the G.S.A. while they still have a chance." Sai said in his ever calm voice as some of the people Maki held in her genjutsu went limp from the sensation of being strangled to death by what they thought were the ends of long, thin willow branches, "You won't be alive to find out though."

"Suiton: Suigadan (Water Release: Water Fang Bullet)!" Several spears of tightly compressed fluid erupted from the surrounding water that hid their section of the great tree from anyone else's view. Shibuki didn't need to hear any more to be spurred into fighting these strange attackers at any cost.

The aim was intended for both Maki and Sai, but both were able to evade the technique that pulverized some of the roots of the tough and massive tree that formed a floor for them to battle on. Water was a weakness of Sai's ink techniques unless he created very particular creatures, and that sort of left his hands tied.

Still though, it wasn't like between the two of them they were unable to defeat one man.

Both of them split apart and divided Shibuki's attention between the two of them. Sai had the Hero Water, thus he was deemed the more vital threat, only sparing glances at Maki to make sure she wasn't trying anything funny until he could deal with Sai first.

He hadn't noticed due to a second field cast genjutsu from Maki that his force of shinobi and kunoichi that had been with him at first were now dead. Even those with the aptitude for genjutsu to hold out eventually ran out of time and were killed by the progressively creeping branches of Maki's jutsu eventually robbing them of their air. And he also made a mistake in sparing Maki nothing more than passing glances. Even though he had two people to worry about, it was simply a battle he couldn't win.

The moment his eyes drifted towards Maki to gauge her distance and current threat level her hands flashed to a hand-seal that he got full sight of, "Juuryoku Satsujin (Gravity Killer)!" She timed him to make sure that he was in range and aim of the hand-seal so that she could link the illusion to his chakra supply.

Due to her technique, Shibuki's body felt twice as heavy as he had ever been in his life and it disrupted his movements. Sai nodded to himself and with a wave of his hand several large leeches comprised of ink launched from the water and latched onto the man before he could try and break the genjutsu.

With the weight of his arms and the leeches that weighed him down further, Shibuki struggled greatly but could not move, "Wait… my village."

"We don't care about destroying your village." Maki spat distastefully at the village leader, "As treacherous as the Akatsuki is and has been you still aligned with their leader. The same group that came and stole your jinchuuriki from you. At this point you might as well wear black with red clouds."

"-It was to bring down the five great villages to secure our own livelihoods!" Shibuki shouted back, "We've been stuck between two of them for years. Taki was at its closest relationship a buffer for Konoha against Iwa!

Sai just shook his head in turn, "Remember that Konoha is the only reason that Takigakure wound up with the Nanabi in its possession to begin with; as a show of goodwill after the failed attack on our Hokage by Kakuzu that we knew was orchestrated by you. Otherwise Konoha would have wound up with two jinchuuriki instead of one much like Kumo. I believe it's time to get our return back for that goodwill." He said as he held up the bottle.

Shibuki's eyes widened at that and he thrashed harded, but with the leeches on him and with Maki's genjutsu weighing him down he could do nothing, "You're from Konoha?"

"Sai-senpai." Maki started to say until Sai nodded and silenced her.

"At best it will be a bargaining chip to broker your village's surrender, at worst it will be something that we can study and try to turn into a more productive weapon for our own ninja force." Sai said in regards to the Hero Water before making a hand-seal, "I've said too much, but it's not like you're going to be around to tell anyone else." With that done, both he and Maki dropped back into the water and departed the way they had come.

A sound akin to a fuse burning down alerted Shibuki's attention to explosive tags attached to Sai's ink leeches, burning down to his demise alone in the depths of the tree.

XxX

(Shimo no Kuni – With Naruto and Yugito)

A rather familiar scene, as both Naruto and Yugito were together in the night running through the trees. Only this time there was no breaking for camp due to others or anything like that. It was to be a straight shot to wherever Yugito's comrades were.

An open clearing attracted their attention and they began to move toward it, only for Yugito to speed up when she realized that it was the kind of layout that was taught to be used by Kumo when in the field. Whether it was excitement or not that sped her up, Naruto couldn't tell, but he had to keep ahead of her.

And it was a good thing that he did, because upon arriving in the Kumo camp it looked terrible. Dozens of dead littered the ground, blood stained the sides of existing tents. There were remnants of fires all over, kunai, swords, and other weapons sticking out of the ground blade-first and other signs of battle all over.

"What the hell…" Yugito trailed off upon seeing it as she began to walk through the place, "What happened?" She asked rhetorically. It wasn't as if anyone could answer her. Did they camp in a bad position and get destroyed by the enemy?

No, it wasn't like that. Because there were no signs of battle in the woods surrounding the camp, it was all contained mostly within. Even if it had been an ambush, for the C.N.F. to get a good amount in they would have still had to deal with Kumo after their surprise attack had been launched. Even a perfect storm of an attack would have done so.

There was no sign of the enemy either to boot. Everyone on the ground dead happened to be a Kumo ninja. That was what was really unbelievable, that not a single enemy had been felled in the course of their attack? Absurd.

"Yugi-chan." Naruto said as they started scrutinizing the wounds that defeated their comrades, "Do you see that?"

Both of them got good looks at more than a few of the dead. A large amount of those that had been killed had been wounded from directly behind with fairly little notice of a struggle, "Yeah. A lot of our guys didn't even draw their swords before they went down." It was rather hard for her to see so many of them like that, but it wasn't like she hadn't expected to see something like it eventually as the war had begun.

"Yugito!"

Hearing her name called out, Yugito turned and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of a rather haggard-looking Kumo kunoichi limping her way toward them, "Oh, so there are survivors…" She said, sounding absolutely relieved, "What happened?"

"I don't know." The female Kumo ninja said as she walked closer, "One minute everything was calm and the next, bam. I've never seen anything like it."

Yugito frowned despite the vague explanation. Maybe if she had been there something could have been done to prevent such a thing from happening. The bodies that she had counted numbered far past one hundred and she hadn't even been all the way through the camp yet. Naruto was still checking out bodies for any sign of what happened to them in the mystery attack.

But if there was one survivor there could have been more. That was Yugito's mindset as she pasted a smile on her face to stay stronger for her injured comrade, "Well I'm just glad that Mabui was able to get a message through from Kumo to Konoha so I could come back home… now at least I can fight too."

The Kumo kunoichi looked stunned at what she had just heard, "She got a message through to Konoha? Wow. That's impressive to get correspondence through this hell of a mess."

Yugito raised an eyebrow at the strange response. Everyone in Kumo knew about Mabui's impressive jutsu that allowed her to send messages and materials at the speed of light. Something like that shouldn't have been surprising at all to anyone other than a genin, and the flak jacket that the girl in front of her wore showed that she was at least a chunin. She had seen that girl around Kumo before though, so she knew of her.

Still though, something didn't feel right.

Yugito turned around to get Naruto's attention, "Naruto-kun, I think we should keep mov-." Only to find that Naruto was no longer there. And once her back was turned her 'comrade' had drawn a weapon, intent on stabbing it into her back. Only to have her arm cut off by Naruto's descending heirloom sword before it could be accomplished.

A stunned Yugito jumped away as blood sprayed from the stump that used to be the kunoichi's arm and she let out a shriek of a pained cry, "What?" She had been attacked like that by her own village member? At that point she could only see red until the 'kunoichi' fell to her knees on the ground clutching the part of her arm that used to have something attached. At that point 'she' turned into one of those weird, white plant-humans that she and Naruto had fought the previous night, "These things again?"

That was _not_ a normal Henge. When you got close enough to someone you could feel the disruption of their physical transformation as they bent physics and reality to execute it depending on how drastic a transformation the Henge created.

Not in the mood for any more games, Yugito's nails elongated into claws that she was prepared to use to slash the white plant man's head off, had Naruto not snatched up the strange being by the throat with one hand, "I know where I remember your description from now!" Naruto said as he choked the unfortunate creature, "It took months, but Konoha T&I pulled a description like yours out of the memories in Hidan's head and two of my friends saw you with someone else in Akatsuki some time back… you had a black half though, Zetsu."

"What are you talking about?" Yugito asked, letting her nails retract. At least until Naruto let that ugly fucker go. Then he was all hers to carve up like a scratching post.

"You're in Akatsuki." Naruto concluded with a stone-cold glare before turning to Yugito and pointing at the White Zetsu in his grip, "These things are from Akatsuki. They even talked about capturing us…"

But not for Pein, "…Who is Tobi?" Yugito asked, narrowing her eyes at the artificial soldier in Naruto's hand, "I remember them using that name that this person told them not to kill us. I don't think the 'God of Amegakure' would let himself be called something like that." She shot an amused glance Naruto's way at his snort towards Pein's epithet.

The White Zetsu in Naruto's grasp looked fearful before grinning at him despite being strangled, "I'm not Zetsu… I'm just a clone. A body double. And where there's one of me-." He tried to say, lifting his remaining arm up threateningly before Naruto's grip broke his neck.

Naruto tossed the dead White Zetsu to the ground in a heap just as many more of them started coming up from the ground as if they were spirits of the earth. Both Naruto and Yugito stood back-to-back to keep the enemy from getting behind either of them as Yugito wasted no time and started generating a chakra cloak around her body, "I think he was going to say something about how where there's one of him there's a bunch more."

And there were a bunch more. Hundreds more.

Without saying a word to each other internally, Naruto and the Kyuubi synched up and started collecting and controlling nature chakra for Sage Mode to make this as painlessly destructive as possible.

"Stop."

All of the White Zetsus froze at the order and backed away as a space was cleared and through them walked Tobi in all of his masked glory, accompanied by the original Zetsu with black and white sides.

He stopped intelligently a safe distance within his hordes of White Zetsus and looked over the jinchuurki pair, "Hello Yugito Nii… Naruto Uzumaki." Behind his mask his eyes passed over Naruto last, "I believe you have some things that should be my property."

* * *

**So check this noise out…**

**My motherfucking power went out for three days (as of press time at least three days, because it's still out right now) and delayed the hell out of EVERYTHING I was going to do. That was fun, especially getting rid of all of the perishable shit in my fridges and freezers. Yay. Now I have to buy a food supply again. I absolutely love living like it's 1863, but I'm pissed because there's no Abraham Lincoln killing Confederate vampires with a silver-tipped axe.**

**I had to charge my laptop and type this shit out at my girlfriend's place in a hurry before her dad comes home, gets sick of my presence, and kicks me out when he gets back from work. **

"**Spare some electricity for poor old Kenchi?" **

"**No, now get the hell out kid."**

**-Because I fuck his only daughter, and he's not cool with that even though he's known me since I was ten and all of his sons of various ages are cool as hell with me. I train with the oldest of them all the time. Decently strong guy, used to wrestle, slick single-leg takedown, ragdolls me a lot. **

**I totally understand though. I'd have a problem with me being around too, even back then because ten year old Kenchi had a tendency to attract gunfire during pickup basketball games at his friend's house back in the day.**

…**Huh, that guy's out of prison by now too.**

**Whatever. I'm so far off of the original topic by now.**

**I am in perhaps the testiest mood I've been in for quite some time. Around a year give or take two months; the last time something happened serious and retarded enough to piss me off to tell the masses that couldn't care any less about it even if I paid them to.**

**But once again you don't care. My bad for not updating this in quite some while, in between life coming at me fast and me having too much fun doing other stuff, and the whole M-rated fic thing that I'm officially ignoring until further notice, there's a lot of crap going on.**

**Hope you enjoyed, and Kenchi out.  
**


	62. The World is Mine

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I miss electricity. Hottest damn weekend of the year and my power goes out right that Friday. Meh, I should stop bitching, it's not very becoming. Things could always be infinitely worse. Positives: I got it back by Wednesday and I learned to appreciate things more. Life lesson learned.

Ahem… okay, let's go!

**Chapter 61: The World is Mine**

* * *

Surrounded by more than one hundred people… or White Zetsus? That was fine? Facing off with original Zetsu himself as well? Bring it on.

Throw in the man that stated that he was Madara Uchiha, and that was something of a problem. There were still people afraid of that name. And with good reason as well. There were the boogeymen of the ninja world that comprised most of Akatsuki, and then there were men like Madara Uchiha. Legends of others were based off of merely surviving being within seeing distance of a Madara Uchiha battle.

Still, this man did not exude that kind of raw presence. He felt like nothing at all. Not nothing like he was weak, but nothing as if he had no idea just what his name meant.

"Your property…" Naruto said carefully, glad that he was in Sage Mode just in case they needed some fast action, "Are you talking about the Kyuubi?"

"Among other things." Tobi said casually, and within the eyeholes of the mask he could see the twin Sharingan eyes inside, "I'll be collecting everything in the end though, don't you worry." So Zetsu's intel about the location of Naruto and Yugito was correct? That was beautiful.

"What the hell are you going to do even if you catch us?" Naruto asked carefully, "I don't think you're with Pein." He accused suddenly, much to Yugito's surprise. Why would he call out the head honcho that had them surrounded? "Unless both of you are the boss… but I don't think a 'God' would work with anyone like that."

"Pein is just a petulant child that has forgotten just who gave him his grandiose ideas and those godly eyes to begin with." Tobi said with a bit of a bite to his tone, "He is too much of a loose cannon for me to control any longer, thus I cut him loose. He will of course fail in his endeavor to change the world, but he won't quit. And perhaps he'll do enough damage to make my plans go smoother."

What exactly was his endgame? Yugito still didn't understand. This person simply could not be Madara Uchiha, and if he wasn't with Pein who had already declared his intentions with the biju, what was this man's plan? "Just what exactly do you want?"

"Peace of course. Same as any great man." Tobi admitted openly, "A world where everything will be as it should. Where all of the tailed beasts are one once again, the way that they were intended to be before the Rikudou Sennin took it apart."

"**No…"** Naruto heard the Kyuubi rumble inside of his head, **"This man is not Madara. His chakra is dark. His Sharingan is strong. But there is still no comparison."** It would never forget the real man, and this one was not him.

Tobi continued though, "And much like the Rikudou Sennin, I will become the jinchuuriki for the reformed Juubi and use its immeasurable power to project my Sharingan onto the moon and cover the world in an eternal Tsukuyomi, so that every living being on the planet will be under my control. No war, no crime. A world of infinite truth."

That was his idea of peace? Peace without free will once again, only cranked up past eleven, "Man, you came straight out of a comic strip with that one didn't you?" Naruto said. And he could see how this man's whole peace spiel got to Pein if what he said about the man's ideas were true, "You just want to rule the world." He then chuckled a bit, "It's okay if you do… I just don't like the fact that everyone acts like they have to bullshit about it and church it up."

Domination was domination. Pein wanted to be a God, this Madara person wanted everyone enslaved under his genjutsu. Either way everyone would listen to them without question ideally, so the path taken was meaningless since the end result would be roughly the same.

Tobi narrowed his eyes at Naruto behind his mask and even a few of the White Zetsus backed away a little bit more, "Excuse me?"

"You want the world." Naruto repeated, "And that's okay. But I just hate the fact that everyone thinks they have to justify themselves with everything they do so that they don't look like a villain. Who cares? You could have just said, 'I want to be able to keep the world in a Sharingan to run it like a big puppet show.' Say what you want about Orochimaru, but at least he never made any excuses about himself. He did what he wanted to do because he thought that he could, and that was all the justification he needed to others. There's no such thing as a hero or a villain, so why waste your time trying to act like one or the other?"

Surprisingly, Tobi nodded in agreement, "You're right, but you're also wrong. I don't care what you or anyone else thinks of me. Nagato is like a petulant child, getting caught up in his own whimsy with his status as 'God'. Don't compare us because I don't want to be God. I don't want to be anyone or anything. All I care about is completing the Moon's Eye Plan."

The Moon's Eye Plan?

Tobi began walking amongst his White Zetsu soldiers, "You see, my plans have been mucked up so many times, by your father and by you as well Naruto, that I've got contingency plan after contingency plan set in place in case another one fails. You were the straw that broke the camel's back and made Nagato go off the reservation. You killed Sasuke and sent Itachi into a downward spiral, effectively ruining my plan to synch a user of the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan with the statue that will contain all of the biju. You've stopped us from capturing the Nibi and you've killed the majority of Akatsuki in battle even at the cost of your eye."

'Not a hero huh?' Yugito thought glibly to herself, shooting a quick look at Naruto's back before all of Tobi's words settled in with her, "Wait, Naruto's got both eyes."

"One isn't his. One belongs to Shisui Uchiha." Tobi said, taking glee in exposing something that Naruto had clearly been keeping as close to the vest as possible while glaring heatedly at Naruto, "Disguise it all you want to. Like I said; you have more of my property than just the Kyuubi. I want the power of that Sharingan eye."

A bit of a rage built up in Naruto at this nameless, faceless interloper exposing something secret, "You want my Sharingan power right?" He said before making hand-seals and moving one hand up to the seal tattoo on his other arm, "Fuuka Houin: Kai (Fire Sealing Method: Release)!" He grabbed Yugito with his arm that wasn't drenched in cold, dark flames and began to spin around rapidly, creating a storm around himself, "Senpou: Ankoku Senpuu (Sage Art: Dark Whirlwind)!"

The storm became a firestorm, heated with the flames of Amaterasu from within Naruto's left arm.

Tobi and Zetsu evaded with their respective techniques meant to protect them, but the majority of the Zetsu clones were sprayed with unquenchable black flames that spread as they panicked and started running, causing those that hadn't been set on fire to suffer from the Amaterasu burns as well.

Who knew that men based on cells of plants were extremely flammable?

Naruto settled down from his self-created storm and let go of Yugito who was rather dizzy in her biju-fueled state. Quite a sight watching her regain her bearings actually, but quickly enough she did just that, seemingly prepared to fight again, albeit with a slight glare sent Naruto's way.

"You think taking down a battalion means anything to me?" Tobi asked as he appeared from an apparent swirl in reality, "Despite the fact that I don't have the power needed to create the maximum amount that I can of the White Zetsu clones, I have more than enough to accomplish any objective I see fit."

"Bring as many as you want then." Naruto said, dropping the seal that disguised his implanted Sharingan eye from view. Yugito let out a gasp at the sight of it, even in its slightly mutated form due to Sage Mode, "You aren't taking another jinchuuriki, you aren't sealing away another damn biju. I don't care if you and Pein are having a little lover's spat, you're both dead men all the same."

With that, he lunged at Tobi and actually kept pace with him, but when he poised a Rasengan in one hand to punch into his foe, he simply passed straight through Tobi as if he were a ghost. What the hell was that? He became intangible.

His senses in Sage Mode allowed him to dodge a swing of Tobi's war fan that he then placed on his back when Naruto smartly got out of range so that he could figure out what the hell that had been.

Tobi just glared at Naruto. He had sent the real Zetsu away as he couldn't risk losing his eyes around the world in his greatest spy due to a violent outburst from a jinchuuriki. He had lost enough valuable commodities in the members of Akatsuki due to missteps and various misfortunes all across the board, 'That sword…' The hilt of that sword had knocked against his body and the fan on his back when Naruto passed through him, 'Did he notice? Damn his bothersome clan…'

The Uzumaki Clan that had such close marital ties to Hashirama Senju, the Shodai Hokage of Konoha.

It always came back to Konoha.

Konoha.

Konoha.

Konoha.

Ever right from the beginning of his plans, who was it that cut off his first strong attempt to take the things that he wanted? The Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze and his wife Kushina Uzumaki.

Who was it that circumvented his getting revenge on Konoha and the Uchiha Clan by plunging them into bloody civil war? The elite ANBU captain Itachi Uchiha and his selfless act of patrotism.

Who tore apart Akatsuki and killed the most easy to manipulate path of obtaining a sacrifice with Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan in Sasuke Uchiha? Naruto Uzumaki. And to add salt into the wound it simultaneously drove Itachi past the brink, making him impossible to rein in any longer. Even with that there had been an opportunity to turn Itachi into his finest apprentice, but before Tobi could even begin the manipulation to set that in motion what happened? Danzo Shimura of Konoha's Root wound up doing battle with Itachi and taking him with him in death. And Kisame died as well!

It was _always_ Konoha.

Tobi had been patient. He had waited, schemed, planned, made backup plans, took his defeats and licked his wounds to come back another day. But no matter how large his successes elsewhere, when it came back to that damnable village and their Will of Fire they always somehow threw a wrench in anything he had set forth.

Enough was enough, "Uzumaki." He said with a cold calm tone that promised nothing good, "I will tell you now that there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop me. You very well may kill Pein off the way you've said, but I am a different breed. Mark my words boy and mark them well. I have survived your predecessors, your parents, your masters, and no matter what I will survive you as well."

"I'm not afraid to die, even if you did have the balls to fight me yourself." Naruto stated firmly, "If you think being a rat and hiding in the dark for decades is going to work this time… you obviously don't know what makes Root who we are."

No. Tobi was hiding from the world no longer. Now when he was closer than ever before to achieving everything he desired, he was not going to go back to square one and start from scratch yet again.

"I am smarter than you." Tobi began to say, his fists tightening brutally at his sides, "I am more prepared for any and all occurrences that you and yours are capable of. I'll break your spirit, I'll destroy everything you've believed that your little bubble of protection has encircled, and when you've hit rock bottom, I've taken everything from you and made you watch it all… when I've stripped the biju from every last jinchuuriki and you've been saved for last I'll make sure your spirit is broken, I'll make sure you know that it was me… and then I will drain your biju and your very soul from your body through your mouth."

Activating the seal on his arm, Naruto absorbed the Amaterasu flames littering the field safely back into his left arm and flexed it out as he glared at Tobi, "If you're so confident why run away? Fight me now."

At that, Tobi just started laughing deeply. Laughing as if it was all just one big joke, "No. No, no, no, no. I don't think you heard me Naruto. _You_ do not dictate any of this. _You_ do not get to decide when or if this ever ends. This is all up to me. So have your little war. Gain your personal glory. Take what you believe will be your steps toward becoming the Hokage of Danzo's dreams. I just hope that when everything is over and you tally up the score, if you're alive to do it that is, that you can say that you gained more than you lost."

"Katon: Reizau Hari (Fire Release: Laser Beam)!"

A thin red high-speed laser pierced straight through Tobi's body, right through the heart, as he let out a cry of pain and stumbled back. Naruto turned to Yugito who had her mouth open from firing the shot, "I was sick of hearing him talk. It's a good thing he had tunnel vision on you so I could shut him up."

Tobi continued to gasp in pain until he lowered his hands from where Yugito shot him to reveal that he had no wound on his person at all. Once again he started laughing at the fact that he had managed to make Yugito believe that she had harmed him.

"Not a mark on me." Tobi said, "You'll have to work a bit harder than that if you want to even scratch my mask pussy cat." He taunted before getting caught in a swirl vortex that teleported him away, his laughter echoing out all the while.

'So that teleporting thing was the real deal after all.' Naruto thought to himself with a frown. Turning to his side he saw Yugito calming down and reverting back to normal from her drawing upon Matatabi's chakra, "You okay Yugi-chan?"

"I'm fine." Yugito grumbled. How did her jutsu pass right through him? It was like he was a ghost, but he was right there. She knew he was. He had never substituted himself of any cop out kind of crap like that. She hit him dead-on with her fastest and most focused attack and it did nothing, "Who was that guy?"

The coward. He was all set to come out and run his mouth like he had them in check when he had them surrounded, but the second it seemed like there was going to be an actual fight, and his little army was as effective as dry tinder against opponents that could actually stand up to them face-to-face he left with the greatest of haste, even if they couldn't hit him.

Tobi didn't seem like the type to stand and fight if he didn't need to though.

"He was nobody." Naruto said lowly. He spared one glance at the now quiet battlefield that was littered with the ash from dead White Zetsu clones and let out a sigh, "Come on. We need to keep going to get you home. Who knows how many more of those stupid things are raising hell in other Kumo camps."

Naruto never made promises to himself or to anyone else. Promises made you and others die in the end. But this time before he killed that bastard, whoever he was, Naruto promised himself that he was going to rip that mask clean off of his face even if he had to pull his head off with it.

Still, his sword had hit Tobi when his hands and chakra had not. Due to his sensitivity to everything around him in Sage Mode, Naruto was able to clearly feel when his sword had hit even in the state that his enemy had been in, 'Did I imagine that or was it the real deal?'

The great chakra beast within him that drew the chakra from nature needed for Sage Mode grinned with its big white teeth from the mental landscape inside, **"Senju… you magnificent bastard. I understand what that sword is really meant to do."**

'What?'

"**I'll tell you later boy. Now look alive. Matatabi's host is waiting on you."**

Touching at the hilt that still had some residual vibration, Naruto looked over at Yugito who seemed to be amazed and confused at the fact that there was a Sharingan eye sitting in his right eye socket. Activating the lens back now wasn't going to make that conversation go away. Oh man. What was he going to say about this one?

XxX

(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)

The war was going poorly all things considered. Though Suna wasn't an offensive factor in the battles they hadn't been conquered or defeated either. They were crippled, but not out of it.

Konoha was stretched thin fighting a war on two fronts as well as reinforcing Suna just in case they were attacked again, but they were rolling the enemy back and closing in on Kusagakure and they had smashed through the defenses of the C.N.F. in Shimo no Kuni.

The western portion of the federation, his portion, they were staying strong despite the failed march on Suna because of Pein's presence as the overall leader. Not to mention the fact that other than the one battle they were not losing the war decisively the way it seemed to be everywhere else.

The only positive for certain that could be taken as something going their way was the fact that Kiri was still unable to make a landing on the mainland for whatever reason. That and Iwagakure saw fit to stay out of absolutely everything for the time being; avoiding supporting one side or the other and remaining neutral.

So Suna could not attack due to their situation, Kiri had not entered into the war in earnest due to whatever maritime purposes prevented them from doing so, Kumo was muddled in a quagmire of a conflict dealing with a focus of all the smaller villages they had bullied over the past few decades in their region while building up their military power, and Konoha was stretched too thin to focus an attack at heavily fortified Amegakure despite the fact that they were doing serviceably well in the field.

"All alone again." The emaciated and red-haired Nagato said from his chair inside of his room, "I'm all alone again Konan." He said as the rain poured down outside. This time it wasn't Ame's climate doing so. It was Nagato, or 'Pein', doing it himself to make sure no outsiders were inside of his village. There would be no spies in this wartime, "I amassed the strongest group of shinobi in the entire land to help me bring about my world of peace, and now what? Due to Tobi's treachery it's down to you and I again, while he flitters about setting fires who knows where."

In all honesty the two had been in the silence of each other's presence for hours before Nagato had spoken up. There wasn't any need to say anything, "Nagato…" Konan uttered quietly.

"I'm at war with the world." Nagato continued pitifully, turning his head to look outside at the high view of the village. The reconstruction being done was being done for war. Buildings were being, "If Yahiko were here he'd…" He started to say before trailing off, "It doesn't matter anymore. You are the only person that I can count on."

Nodding in the dimly lit room, Konan's face gave a small and almost unnoticeable smile in return, "Of course." No matter how she felt about the war in general, Nagato was literally the only thing that she had.

She had been hoping that she possessed the ability to talk him down, to put an end to this before it got too big to stop. That all changed dramatically when he actually committed Amegakure to moving on Suna; officially marking that moment as the point of no return.

For the majority of her life she had learned how to exploit weakness. Weakness of all sorts; including things like fear, greed, pride, all of these things and more to get people to do what she needed them to do for her friends and loved ones. And as she watched those dwindle down to just one she found that nothing she had learned to help in this action would work out in this regard, and the reason for that was simple.

Nagato truly believed everything that he told the people around him. He was not lying when he considered himself a deity due to his Rinnegan, that was how he felt. He was not lying when he assured everyone in Amegakure that they would be the chosen that showed the world the way when his plans finally came to fruition. These were the things that he believed in from the second he woke up in the morning until the very moment that his eyes closed at night.

The reason that there had never been anything Konan could do to dissuade Nagato was because when you were dealing with true believers, none of those previously mentioned weaknesses are there. All you can do is either help or get out of the way.

And Konan had made her decision that even if it went against what she felt her original morals were, even if they were in the wrong, even if they eventually brought the world to ruin in trying to save it, she would stand by Nagato.

For the simple reason that he was all that she had left, and she would take her own life a thousand times over before she ever let him die alone. She would stay by his side and they would win, even if they were wrong. And even if they were in the wrong, did it really matter when they were the ones that were the victors?

No. Because 'right' and 'wrong' were determined by who was left to tell the story afterwards.

"What do you need of me Nagato?" Konan asked resolutely.

For the first time in quite a long while, Nagato actually smiled. It was a smile that would never be seen by anyone other than the closest of the people to him, which narrowed down the number of people that would see it to Konan and no one else.

The woman really was an angel. His angel at least. And since he was God it made him the same thing. At any and all costs he could not lose Konan. This was why he kept her from participating in active battles during the war. This was also why he had never dispatched her beyond the limits of his view to collect a jinchuuriki; because if Konan had been lost in any way he himself would have no inkling of what he would do.

"I need you to scout out Hi no Kuni." Nagato told Konan who was listening intently, "Defensive capabilities have been underestimated in the past during the invasion of Suna, thus when I plan the attack on Konoha this time I need the entire story. I need to know how complete their defenses are down to the last detail. It is of the utmost importance. Meanwhile I will send out the next orders to other villages. Kusa must hold out for as long as possible."

Konan nodded with a serious look on her face, "Whatever you need of me Nagato." Things were too far along to stop now. It was time to bring things back to basics, just a bit larger in scale. She would protect Amegakure and bring it peace by first waging war, "

The man was not God. Not to Konan. But that was what made it more important than ever that she stuck by him.

XxX

(Some Time Later – Konohagakure no Sato)

Tsunade couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips as she read the message from Takigakure. Negotiations. That was one heavy-hitter down. They had already pulled their forces away from the defense of Kusa's territories and left a big gaping hole in the defense strategies of the western C.N.F.

They didn't have the will or the resources to fight Konoha any longer… because even though they didn't list it they were missing their secret weapon of the Hero Water and even though they hadn't written it their village had been torn asunder from within before their mystery attackers withdrew.

Without the ace in the hole of their water or their jinchuuriki they felt naked. Any confidence they had in their defenses got spat on when their village was set ablaze, several high ranking shinobi were killed, and their village leader was killed along with them right in the most sacred place in the entire village.

If a small unidentified squad could do that, what would the actual army do once they finished up in Kusa and turned their attentions back to them.

Damn it, she hated to say it because of what Danzo had stood for throughout most of her dealings with him prior to her return to Konoha, but Root was incredible. She still had most of the regular ANBU committed to important duties running select missions out on the battlefront behind enemy lines to assist the main army.

But Root did things dirty. They went for the throat. Along with that, and their apparent fearlessness to do any mission they saw fit to benefit Konoha they were willing as had already been shown to strike at the heart of the enemy in the most dangerous places. Doing it themselves so that Tsunade didn't have to utilize any vital ANBU squads and risk losing them over something so insane.

It was a load off of her mind, but she still had to be wary. They had done their work so that they would never have to report on a thing. The only reason Tsunade knew that they had gone at all was because the results of their work had been blatant. She had given them the go-ahead to do as they pleased, and they wasted no time whatsoever.

Perhaps now she could see why her sensei Hiruzen kept Danzo around when it was clear that he still had Root after he had ordered it to be disbanded?

He did it because things still got done and he had plausible deniability. Not that it mattered while they were at war. Almost anything was justifiable these days. But that would be something supremely useful in times of peace.

'Hmm…' Tsunade thought to herself as she set Takigakure's message aside to think. She'd strong-arm them using her grandfather's name to guilt-trip the hell out of them and scare them as well, and then she'd let them sweat it out on the vine a bit while they sacked Kusa. That would merely take days at this point.

Was it possible to underestimate the strongest villages in the world? It seemed like it was.

Too bad for them there were certain portions of Konoha's system that didn't come off as weak on the surface as the rest of the village did with their overall philosophy. Because the thing about their whole Will of Fire concept that most people abroad didn't seem to grasp until it was too late was the fact that the most important aspect of fire was that it burned.

XxX

(With Naruto – Kumogakure no Sato)

"WHAT?"

From the office of the Raikage, an entire desk was hurled and smashed right through the wall, flying through the air over the heads of many of the villagers into the distance. A was in a rather foul mood when Yugito reported back and she and Naruto told him what they needed to.

At first he was in a fantastic mood, and had preparations immediately made for his assistant Mabui to send word to the army getting cut apart with the tunnel guerilla tactics in Shimo no Kuni, but then he received word of an entire company being taken down in battle, that went along with another report of something similar from the week prior, marking it as the second company to be destroyed in two weeks.

"White Zetsus?" A growled to himself, sitting in his chair that no longer had a desk in front of it, "Clones that can perform perfect transformations right down to the chakra…" An artificial army. Where was the pride? It was simply a sign that the end was near it seemed, "…The days that one can rely on an army of ninjas that one can merely spawn ready to do battle… then we're all obsolete and useless. Damn Madara Uchiha… he isn't a part of the war so what is his game?"

It was time to get the word out to his forces, to find some sort of system to routinely identify who was truly a Kumo ninja. A squad of the White Zetsus must have somehow gotten the chakra signatures of his troops on a mission and slipped back into the camps in their places.

This could never be allowed to happen again.

Naruto, Yugito, and Mabui stood in front of the Raikage while behind them at the far wall the hole from where A's desk had been thrown was prevalent. They were all ignoring it though, "Sorry that you had to see that." Mabui said quietly to Naruto, "It doesn't happen that often." That was code for, 'It happens all the time, don't think too badly of us.' Someone had to save face for the Raikage, why not his assistant?

He just waved off the concern and attempt to save face. If seeing someone destroy furniture and office infrastructure made him uneasy about someone's right to be a Kage he'd probably have been questioning Tsunade's aptitude based on that from the jump of her reign due to the amount of money that had been spent on replacement desks, chairs, etc.

Yugito's focus was on her village leader though, "Matatabi and Naruto-kun's Kyuubi say that this man doesn't feel like the real Madara Uchiha. They feel something, but if it was the real deal I truly doubt he would have run away from us Raikage-sama."

Madara Uchiha was infamous for his enjoyment of battle and showing his skills. He was also not the type to dally. If that man knew that he could beat both Naruto and Yugito (which the real one could have, without a doubt) he wouldn't have wasted a moment.

The name in of itself was a sort of weapon. And for someone that claimed that they didn't want to be anyone, why not take the name of one of the most famous ninjas in history to achieve his own ends?

"I'll commit a force to searching for and hunting this man." The Raikage declared, moving to pound his fist on his desk that was no longer there. Mabui gave him a deadpan look when he got up and ran over to a punching bag that he destroyed with one hit instead, "For now we move through Shimo no Kuni and stamp out the fighting there!"

Mabui turned back to Naruto to give a bit more detail into what was expected, "With Konoha having broken through and with the information you've given us that will allow us to do the same we can finish up the battle southwest of here together. From there we can commit forces to help you fight on the western side of your country against Amegakure's led forces and Pein."

"First Sanshouo no Hanzo and now this Pein character…" A said as he walked back to his desk and retook his seat, "Amegakure seems to have a habit of producing troublingly powerful shinobi don't they? I think I liked Hanzo more though… I can't say I'm much of a fan of mass murder."

Despite taking a vicious beatdown the first time around, Naruto was not afraid of Pein in the least, Rinnegan or not. His entire demeanor simply rubbed him the wrong way. He seemed like too much 'woe is me'. More so than anyone else Naruto had ever met. So much so that he had to… teach the world his pain? Teach them all true pain?

Give him a break.

"Strong or not he's weak somewhere else." Naruto said with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face as he thought back to his one meeting with the man, his village, and the actions that had been taken since then, "What kind of man goes and calls himself a God and feels secure in starting a world war? Usually it's someone who feels so sorry for himself that they'll feel justified doing anything. Megalomaniacs are basically just big, whiny losers." It didn't make them any less dangerous though.

A gave Naruto a look of interest while Mabui and Yugito looked surprised at the scathing statement. That kid really didn't like Pein at all. Either he was still sore from the asskicking that the Ame leader gave him, or it was something deeper. The aforementioned asskicking probably didn't help though.

Be that as it may, Naruto's mission was done, "The job done getting Yugito home safely is much appreciated Uzumaki." A said gruffly as some of the Kumo ninjas stationed at home for duties there came in and set down a new desk in place of the one that A had sent flying. The Raikage merely acted as if it was business as usual, "The problem now lies with how to get you back to your village safely in return. You are free to stay here much in the same capacity that Yugito did in Konoha."

Now that sounded good to Yugito. To have Naruto stay with her and indulge in her hospitality until she was slated to go out into the field and join the battle. That hospitality probably wouldn't wind up with them leaving her home until that point, but it would have been just alright with her. She'd have made it be just alright with him too.

Naruto's mind quickly fell to a similar state of thinking for a moment, 'Tsunade-baachan did say that I needed to take some kind of downtime…' But still, no. He couldn't do that, even if it would have been quite a vacation to have. His godfather, his comrades in Root, and the friends that he had fought with for years were all working without rest. Hell, he was supposed to be some kind of stamina-freak super soldier. Well with great expectations… "That sounds great. But still, I've got to go home. Kumo needed Yugi-chan here, and I can't just sit up here while everyone from home is fighting."

Still, getting back through Shimo no Kuni now that the war had undoubtedly opened up wide in that theater of operations was going to be a problem in of itself.

A's powerful hands slammed down on the desk with a resounding crash. Those things had to be built sturdy for the imposing powerhouse of a Raikage, so they had to at least be able to stand up to outbursts as 'weak' as that, "It's decided then! We'll have an escort take you back."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, as did Yugito, while Mabui sheepishly scratched her cheek, "That's okay, I can just skywalk back."

"I insist on it." A said in a tone that left no room for argument. The Raikage was a stubborn, headstrong man with the power to back it up, "Head south and we can sail you around the islands that block the mainland. We won't be attacked from shore that way, and we can drop you in Yu no Kuni, far closer to your home in Konoha-held territory."

It would be easier now that the chunk of land that separated the two powerful hidden villages was now being overrun by both of them. The northeastern C.N.F. wasn't going to be able to stop ships from shore if they were too busy worrying about getting their heads lopped off on the ground.

Actually that sounded pretty sweet. All of that running, running, and running got old. Even if he used his perfected Burst Limit in Sage Mode to just run on the skies to get home, he'd be exhausted upon doing so. In no condition to take another S-rank mission once he returned without some rest. At least this way he could rest on the boat ride and run back to Konoha normally when it landed, leaving him in good enough condition to set out again immediately right after.

"Alright Raikage-sama." Naruto said with a good-natured smile on his face, "I accept."

XxX

(Yu no Kuni – Near the Border of Ta no Kuni)

Jiraiya hoped that Naruto had gotten past the difficulties of the country and had stayed far ahead enough of the battle to safely travel to Kumogakure, but since he had heard no word from any advance teams still driving deeper into the heart of the territory he figured that his godson was fine.

Within the week Konoha would reach Shimogakure itself and hope to knock them right out of the war.

Heh, he still had it. In the west, Konoha had broken out across the Tenshi Bridge days before he had and they were still fighting through that weird land setup. He'd wind up doing mop-up duty in this region before they managed to force Taki or Kusa to surrender first.

Yet another reason why Jiraiya was the self-professed greatest and most shining example of manhood in the entire world. He needed to teach a damn special course in the Academy meant only for the young men. He'd call it something like: Being Awesome 101 (a.k.a. Remedial Badass), or something like that.

Delusions of grandeur aside, Jiraiya actually had a problem at hand.

Not with the advance because that was going smoothly. When the tunnels were rendered useless, no one could retreat fast enough to cause a delay in Konoha's assault with a defensive stand. None of Konoha's forces were getting bogged down anywhere, and the C.N.F. couldn't run away fast enough to defend. With Kumo slowly advancing as well with their large war machine the plan was simple.

Kumo would take down Hoshigakure and focus their attention back to the northern section of Kaminari no Kuni where they were being pestered by some of the smaller sections of ninja society that saw the war as a chance to take their shots at the lumbering military juggernaut that was Kumo.

On the other hand, with Kumo stopping the powerhouse Hoshi ninja, Konoha would continue to clean up the rest of the country after finishing off Shimogakure which was the major conspirator of this region.

The problem wasn't in the plan itself or how they were going about getting to work on it. The problem was that the rear line for Konoha was being arbitrarily pestered. This had been a problem even when they had been locked in a stalemate at the border of Shimo. But it was still happening.

Otogakure wasn't in the war, but they wanted to get their pound of flesh it seemed, and they were taking it guerilla-style.

He handed off control of the division to Shikaku Nara temporarily in order to take a select few with him and backtrack. Further back than the rear line. Back beyond where they had initially been stopped and into Ta no Kuni, the notorious main stomping grounds of Oto.

It was probably for the best anyway. He really wasn't any kind of jounin commander. He was simply perceived as being the man that headed that division up due to his experience and his name notoriety. While he wasn't bad at it, Shikaku was better equipped for directing large forces than him. Just leave the direct battlefield action and coordination from there to him, he was best in the field taking things into his own hands.

Of course he had brought help as well. A young man with a nose that belonged to the best tracking clan in Konoha, another stoic young man with a shrewd analytical mind and versatile insects at his command, and a young woman with 'all-seeing eyes'… and a figure that was quite pleasant for Jiraiya.

At least if the trip was a red herring he'd have that little cutie to look at on the way back.

Team 8 seemed completely stunned when Jiraiya asked for them by name and pulled them from the front lines to work with them. They didn't know he was even aware of who they were. Needless to say, Kiba's ego swelled greatly.

"So whose ass do you need us specifically to kick?" Kiba asked and Akamaru barked in agreement as they moved through the trees in Oto country.

The boisterous exuberance from the ninken-controlling ninja didn't put Jiraiya off at all. He liked that kind of thing, "I'm sure you've heard about the attacks coming from behind the front lines. About how supply lines are being hit by attacks from Oto. Well let's just say we're going to be scouting out exactly where they're coming from."

"We're going to be fighting a war against Otogakure as well?" Hinata asked uneasily. She was just starting to feel a bit better since the war in Shimo no Kuni had finally started going well. Now there were even more enemies to fight?

"Well they seem to want to pick a fight." Jiraiya said, turning to wink reassuringly at the young teen girl, "I can't just let them keep picking away at the people that I'm responsible for and let them get away with it. Don't worry honey, I wouldn't have selected you for this if I didn't think you were capable of handling it."

That was enough to settle Hinata's nerves. This man was the sensei of the Yondaime Hokage and of Naruto. If he felt secure in bringing them along to assist him it was fine and she had to believe in such. Now was not the time to be tentative. One had to be decisive in such times of turmoil.

Kurenai wasn't there. She was back in Konoha with the child that she and Asuma had brought into the world. That meant that Hinata had to be doubly strong and show that she could be relied upon just like her other two teammates.

The people that kept being ambushed needed her to be at her best as well.

"Of course we can handle it!" Kiba continued to spout off at the mouth, "Just make sure you get a good look in case something happens. You're going to want to train me as your next apprentice, I guarantee it. It'd be fitting too since I'm gonna be Hokage one day."

A bark of laughter came from Jiraiya in return, "Nice spirit kid, but I'm officially retired from training future Hokage. One was enough, the second one I trained that's _going to be _Hokage took a few years off of my life and wound up with me losing my arm. I don't think I'll even live long enough to finish training the next one."

"That is highly unlikely Jiraiya-sama." Shino said in his usual stoic way, "Why? It is of course because your age is not as advanced as your speech would imply. Missing arm or not you are still on the level of the Hokage in terms of combat capability."

"And don't you kids forget it." Jiraiya finished for Shino before launching into a tangent, "I know how you young guns are; looking for the big break to shoot yourselves into legend. I ain't a notch in anyone's belt. If you brats are ever feeling salty the almighty Jiraiya-sama will be your tequila. Just go ahead and sprinkle some salt on your hand, take a lick, and take a shot of Jiraiya, but don't get drunk or else you'll wind up with my foot in your ass and my fist in your mouth!"

All of Team 8 just looked at Jiraiya strangely before Shino spoke up again, "…I'm not sure what you just said, but I'm quite sure that you meant it."

"Whatever…" Kiba said before sniffing at the air again, "I've still got Gennai's scent." One of the people taken in one of the raids on the supply lines, Kiba already knew of him quite well, having worked with him some in the past, and had gotten his scent from the belongings he had left at camp for what was supposed to be a short mission. Like more than a few others, he never returned due to his capture.

With a nod, Jiraiya motioned forward for Kiba to lead the team along with Akamaru. They'd find the current location of the Oto interlopers and then he'd commit a strike force to take the bastards down.

XxX

(Hidden Otogakure Base – Ta no Kuni)

"Just about ready." Kabuto said to himself in a gleeful voice as he walked through the dark halls of his underground facility.

It was a voice filled with self-satisfying sentiment, of hard work well done, of something worth the effort being put into it. In his opinion it was of course well-deserved. He had taken the most forbidden of secret techniques to its absolute pinnacle… and he still wasn't done with it yet. He still had one more grand move left to make.

It was said that the meek would inherit the Earth. That was wholly inaccurate. The Earth would always be passed down to who was left, simple as that. So in order to have the world, one only needed the ambition and intelligence to take it, keep it, and control it to your liking.

Most importantly in order to truly have the world one required a body that insured that you would never have to give it up.

Orochimaru was ahead of the curve when it came to that mindset, though his desire for wishing to be immortal was much smaller.

"I think I should give this a final test run… to see just how complete the jutsu is before I begin my final plan." Kabuto said as he entered a block of the base that contained tightly bound and sedated prisoners. Due to his medical expertise, he was able to keep them in a state that was very easy for him to do what he needed.

It was a good thing too, because the vast majority of these prisoners had been Konoha ninjas snatched right off of the roads on their way to the front lines. That tended to make for rather testy and disagreeable prisoners, and Kabuto was not a fan of that.

Besides, he needed copious amounts of bodies for his experimentation.

In the middle of the floor in the facility sat a completely immobile Konoha ninja, showing that he had recently been captured in a struggle due to the scrapes and wounds on his person. That was meaningless now though. He was just supposed to be a medium.

Blood of some sort was smeared on a special scroll that Kabuto set down on the floor and a large seal array spread out underneath the captured ninja. Though he couldn't move his eyes were filled with fear as to his fate, and it only increased further when he heard Kabuto utter the name of the jutsu he planned on using, as if it was some cruel way to get his kicks off of reading the expressions on his dulled victims.

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation)."

Ash began to cover the poor hapless ninja's body and enough awareness returned to allow him to scream in outright pain and horror as the life of another was brought back to the realm of the living at the cost of his own. All of the prisoners bore witness to this for the first time, as Kabuto usually had a prisoner moved to his personal lab before testing the jutsu on them.

Kabuto just chuckled smugly to himself as the assimilation took place and the yells died down. He allowed the newly restored ninja of his choice's body time to settle down. As he walked forward and planted the control talisman in the summoned soul's head he felt as if something of a score had been settled.

The grey and cracked skin of the decayed body's appearance began to gain life again and the person seemed to awaken from a slumber, "…What am I-? Kabuto?"

"Stand up." Kabuto ordered and his eyes twinkled in dark mirth as the soul under his control did just that. It felt almost ironic, "You should have killed me instead of thinking I was too pathetic to waste the effort on after you ended Orochimaru-sama's life. And to think… with all of that effort you put out to kill him you still wound up under the control of someone 'beneath you.'"

Standing in front of Kabuto, with a hateful glare on his face despite the fact that he could do nothing about his situation was Sasuke Uchiha, "You bottom-feeder." He seethed in anger as his Sharingan subconsciously turned on.

"Ooh, and your Sharingan is still in perfect condition." Kabuto said, "That's just _perfect_ for what I plan on doing with this jutsu. Now I believe some curious folks from your home are on the way to try and discover the fate of their comrades that I captured. Greet them accordingly, would you?"

XxX

(Waterways South of Kaminari no Kuni)

Ever a Kage true to his word, A provided a small transport ship to get Naruto to the peninsula tip of Yu no Kuni where he could get himself home to Konoha at a quicker pace. And he had a crew doing all of the work, allowing Naruto to simply get to the crux of something he needed to approach.

Sitting on the deck of the ship in the sunlight and the sea air, Naruto held up his heirloom sword that he had been using for over two years. He had still yet to crack the secrets of the sealing arrays inscribed on it, and even Hamako had trouble with most of it. He knew some things, like how it was created under Hashirama's orders as a gift to Uzushiogakure; a weapon that could somehow use ying-yang chakra due to having Madara Uchiha's chakra sealed within it. It could even cut into time and space, but Naruto had no idea how to do that yet.

'Okay Kyuubi.' Naruto thought instead of speaking aloud so that he didn't seem crazed. He didn't take into account that the people there were used to nutso jinchuuriki like Kirabi, but he didn't live in Kumo either, 'Time to give me some food for thought here. What do you figure about the sword?'

"**Your sword cuts time and space when you channel chakra into it, you just can't see the tears. You've been trying to find out how to jump through the tears, but that is impossible. It closes far too quickly. Even if you could see them you would be unable to get through them. You aren't fast enough, and the only reason you can see them is because of your Sharingan eye."**

'I was thinking more along the lines of you telling me stuff that I didn't know instead of you cutting me down verbally.' Naruto thought with a dry expression on his face, 'I know you get your kicks off of that kind of thing, but save that for our downtime.'

"**You don't take downtime."** Kyuubi pointed out with a perturbed gruff. It liked being just as lazy as many humans seemed to enjoy, but since the war started Naruto had been working his ass off, either in training to be ready or since his missions started in life and death battles on said assignments, **"Now shut your lips and learn. Instead of focusing on what you can do, focus on what you see with that detestable eye of yours when you swing the blade."**

He saw a distortion in the air.

"**Now what did you see when the Madara impersonator used his jutsu for space and time?"** Kyuubi already knew. Since learning senjutsu through Naruto it got an even wider range of senses for the things that Naruto did. It could even see through Naruto's eyes and feel what he felt whenever he was in Sage Mode. It could tell Naruto flat out, but it was more fun to watchi squirm and figure it out, **"You saw it when you passed right through his body as well. I know, because you saw it in slow motion and got an eyeful."**

It wasn't like there was much figuring to do when Naruto knew full when what the Kyuubi was alluding to, "The air warped like when I swing the sword!" Just bigger because it had to work for the size of an entire human body. His outburst got some attention, but not too much, "Are you telling me-?"

"**And he gets it. And your prize for deducing the clues will be…"**

'Cutting that fuck down to size when I see him again.'

"**He screwed your family by making them sacrifice themselves for your village, he screwed you on the day you were born by setting me with you and marking you as a target for the rest of your life. Most importantly he screwed me as well by using me for his plot and continuing to try and do so. You had better kill him **_**painfully**_**."**

'I'm sure getting cut to shreds with the Sen'nenki no Ken's transformed state is going to be painful enough.' Naruto thought, pulling enough of the sword free from the sheath to look at some of the seals engraved on the steel of the weapon, 'Why was this thing made the way it is? I don't understand what the Shodai forged this to do.' It couldn't have just been a gift. Gifts looked nice. Gifts didn't distort time and space with every swing.

Damn ancestors and their damn secrets. Hamako was good when it came to fuuinjutsu, but she didn't know much else about secret Uzushiogakure things. Could a few of them be alive so that he could pick someone's brain for all of this stuff?

XxX

(Elsewhere at Sea)

Karin sharply turned in a direction after a chakra signature came to her immediate attention. Thinking of the person behind it made her seethe in rage at the thought of what they had done to her beloved Sasuke, "Uzumaki…" Without wasting any time she stomped toward the pirate captain Gataro who was manning the helm and turned him around before pointing in the direction that she felt her most hated enemy in, "Go that way… right now."

"That's not even the direction of Kiri woman." Gataro responded saltily, "You wanna break the blockade? Your heavy-hitting buddies are the main reason it's held so easily."

"I. Don't. Care." Karin said. While Madara (Tobi) had given them the orders and had granted Suigetsu with Kubikiribouchou in return for their cooperation, she cared nothing for it in the end. That dusty old fart could say and do what he wanted, this superseded everything else to her, "Do it!"

Gataro was just a hair away from backhanding that miserable bitch the way he had been planning on doing for a month, but the same thing that always stopped him from doing so stopped him again.

"Is there a problem?" It was a kid that could turn himself into water and apparently had a thing for cutting off the limbs of his enemies in battle. Suigetsu was very unpleasant to say the least… and they were pirates, "What's up now Gataro?" He asked from directly behind Gataro, alarmingly close. He had never felt him get close.

He had never admitted to being afraid of anyone before, but he had seen Suigetsu devastate everything that had come their way at sea for a month, and he seemed to relish in every bit of it. This young man terrified him to the core, "Nothing." Gataro said, trying to diffuse the situation, "The girl wants to break the blockade to head northwest."

That was all? The look on Suigetsu's face said that he was fine with that. He didn't care a bit where they went. The training he was getting with his swords was absolutely incredible, "So let's go. Why do you give a crap about this blockade? You're pirates, and you already got paid by that masked douche so who cares what you do?"

He cared because 'Madara' scared the hell out of him and killed a large amount of his underlings when he visited his island to employ them to raise havoc at sea. The last thing he wanted was a man that could teleport anywhere wishing to take his life, especially since he had already proven how easy it was, "He'll kill us."

"I'll kill you too." Suigetsu pointed out with a threatening grin as he put his finger to Gataro's head in the form of a gun, "I'll just enjoy it better." He then turned his gaze toward Karin and saw how angry she seemed, "What do you got?"

Karin turned towards him and narrowed her eyes, "Do you feel like killing Naruto now? I'm sick of waiting. 'Madara' is never going to let us go after him. He's doing this to get us out of the way."

An opponent that he knew was strong? And he was also the one that had coincidentally disrupted their 'happy little family' among other things that he had done. Suigetsu was all raring to go, "Any time, let's roll. I'm sure Juugo's getting sick of staying on this tub. If we don't find him someone to vent on soon he might stop being such a tree-hugger and kill some of these poor bastards."

Besides, he didn't listen to that jackass in the mask anyway. He only went along with it to get Samehada, and now that he had that, Hiramekarei, and Kubikiribouchou he didn't need to listen to that man any longer. To hell with him and his damn blockade of Mizu no Kuni.

What did they care if Kiri managed to reach the mainland? As a matter of fact what did 'Madara' care?

With a war it would be far easier for him to find the rest of the Seven Swords. Hearsay of the swords being used somewhere somehow would reach him easier even though they were lost, and he would be right on whoever had it like a bloodhound.

A rather devious smirk took form on Karin's face as she addressed the ship's captain Gataro again, "There. You heard him. So go where I tell you to, and head that way." She said, pointing in the direction of where she could sense Naruto's absurd amounts of chakra. It was like the damn North Star to her; she could find it anywhere if she just looked up into the sky at night.

It was one star that was about to burn out though, because they were going to put it out.

Figuring that it was best to listen to the guy with the massive swords that could sink entire ships all by himself, or at least the girl that could have him killed by that same person despite the fact that they seemed to hate each other most of the time, Gataro changed course of his ship at Karin's behest.

He really wished the ninja world would have left him alone in his stronghold on Battleship Island. There he was the man. But now he was stuck in the middle of a world war on a ship with two homicidal figures and a bossy chick with a fluctuating personality.

And now they were going to chase down the ship of some poor bastard. Kami have mercy on his soul.

XxX

Naruto blocked a sneeze to keep from spraying nastiness everywhere as he had been in the middle of a conversation with Hamako via the seal that connected the two of them, "…Gross." Naruto said, sniffing as he returned to his conversation, "Okay, so I guess I'll ask Hamako-chan to ask Tsunade-baachan what missions she'll have ready for me when I come back."

"What's up Mister Nine?"

"What's up B?" Naruto said offhandedly before blinking in confusion. That wasn't right. Kirabi couldn't leave Kumo because he was the village's 'guardian' or some other crap like that. So why did Naruto turn around to see a very muscular black man with sunglasses and a huge grin on his face, "…Why are you here?" He asked, trying his hardest to keep things straight and to not freak out.

The other amassed Kumo shinobi on board had plenty of reason to do so and the only thing that kept them from doing it was the fact that at least they were sailing away from Kumo at this point.

"My big bro A is harshing my vibe… so I figured vacation time!" Kirabi said, picking Naruto up off of the ground and throwing an arm around his fellow jinchuuriki, "What better way to spend a vacation than chillin' with my homie from another nation?"

"There's a war going on right now." Naruto deadpanned. He liked Kirabi because he was a generally good guy, but seriously. He himself wasn't that headstrong; he listened to orders. Kirabi was a serious maverick and had issues with authority… more than Naruto did by far, "B, go home."

Kirabi basically ignored him and walked around the ship, still keeping a powerful grip on Naruto, "Hell no." He said firmly, "When I go home A's gonna have my head. I might as well have fun before I end up dead."

This was going to be a long ass ship ride.

"Ye~~ah! Gonna write some vacation lyrics! Some ship ride rhymes!"

* * *

**Next chapter it's all going to start to go down… again. Got a lot set up and some things that you might not expect could be coming your way sooner rather than later in this story. I have no idea how many more chapters it'll take to finish up, because there are things that I want to get done in the war arc.**

**I know what I want to do to end this story. I know everything I'm going to do right down to the exact final scene that I'm going to leave the story with. It's just a matter of getting there and how many chapters it'll require. I suck at judging things like that so I can't make an accurate estimation.**

**I hope you enjoyed, maybe I'll see you all next time folks, and remember: Don't! Get! Eliminated!**

**Kenchi out.**


	63. A Stroke of Absurdity

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto gets a good random eight chuckles out of thin air every single time I type that previous sentence.

**Chapter 62: A Stroke of Absurdity**

* * *

The middle of the goddamn ocean, miles and miles away from Kumogakure... and Kirabi was there.

What the hell? Wasn't he in that huge valley outside of the village that he called his home? How did he even know that Naruto was in Kumo, let alone that he was taking a ship out of Kaminari no Kuni back home to Hi no Kuni? He was only there long enough to drop off Yugito and tell the Raikage about their little episode with the enemy. Talk about having an ear to the ground.

"B… why are you following me home?" In his head, Naruto was well aware of just how much hot water all of the Kumo sailors onboard were. For Kami's sake, the strongest ninja in Kumogakure managed to sneak away from his village at a time of war under their watch for a 'vacation' of sorts, "Your brother is gonna-."

Kill him? Kill _everybody_ on the ship that let it happen? Kill Naruto for even being loosely involved with it? And after all of that time trying to get in good with the Kumo high brass too. Naruto didn't want to eat a Lariat. Not a chance, he liked his head on his shoulders and his spine lined up the way that they were already thank you very much.

"-A ain't gonna do a thing." Kirabi stated, waving off his fellow jinchuuriki's concern, "I got that fool played like a puppet on a string." He'd get his face nearly crushed in an Iron Claw for punishment, but after a few minutes of that and a few hours of getting chewed out later it would all blow over for him. No problem.

And everyone else there happened to be stationed at the coast of the country on wait for the Kiri forces in case they ever managed to reach the mainland. They'd all be way too far away from A's eventual wrath when it came down. He'd destroy his office, get it rebuilt, and that would be the worst of it.

Once again, Naruto looked around at the would-be unfortunate Kumo sailors and turned back to Kirabi, "I want to kick you over the side and make you swim home." But damn it that would probably start a fight that he didn't feel like seeing through on a ship in the middle of the ocean.

Still though, Kirabi held a ridiculously strong grip on Naruto that the younger biju container simply couldn't seem to pry off without using his sword as a lever first, "Aw come on kid you know this trip'll be a thriller, 'cause you're sharing a ship ride with the killer! Killer B that is! Yeah!"

'I'd rather share a ship ride with Yugito.' Naruto thought to himself, pushing on Kirabi's face to try and get the man's bro hug off of him, '…For multiple reasons, but he sure doesn't need to hear that part.' When he heard Kirabi say something about helping him write some new lyrics, Naruto started looking around rabidly like a trapped coyote that was one step short of trying to gnaw off its own leg to escape.

The Kumo sailors pitied him, but they had their own problems to worry about. Apparently Naruto Uzumaki was supposed to be absurdly tough, both physically and mentally. He could take a few days of dealing with that.

But Naruto would have rather taken two days of periodic Root conditioning in their boot camp to being stuck next to the rapping shinobi of Kumogakure. At least that was supposed to have made him stronger.

XxX

(Hi no Kuni Countryside)

There was simply too much land for Konoha to cover all over the place.

The enemy intelligence had constantly wondered just how thinly spread Konoha's military might happened to be due to how they seemed to currently be doing well on all fronts that the war had presented to them, but now that she had managed to get behind the border of the country that housed Konohagakure and the country that housed Amegakure she had to say that had the Continental Ninja Federation had made a tactical mistake at the outset of the war.

Instead of digging in on most fronts while trying to finish off Suna, they should have tried to wage a stiff two-front attack instead on both of the sides that Konoha had to keep covered. Had even one side been able to break through in the slightest and get squads into the defending Konoha's turf they would have been reeling to fall back to the village itself to keep it from being razed to the ground.

It wasn't the largest country of the Elemental Nations, but when their entire army was split into two with some of their forces in Suna trying to keep it safe until they had sufficiently recovered, the miles and miles of Hi no Kuni seemed arduous to try and cover.

The reason for Konoha's all out attack approach wasn't just fearlessness in the face of their apparent enemies joining together to face them. They wanted to finish off one or more of the countries to alleviate some potential pressure off of their backs so that they could commit more shinobi to a more conventional style of defense without having to worry about an emergency in case something got through the cracks.

How would they react to such a thing without the upper-echelon of their powerhouses there? No Jiraiya (one-armed as he was), no jinchuuriki defender, so who would do the heavy hitting? The Hokage? She wondered this as she observed it all and came up with a path mapped out to travel untouched with Pein.

As long as they could get past the border they could make it to the outskirts of Konoha where there would definitely be a stern mass of ninjas there to defend their home, but against Pein it would not matter.

Once he got within sight of Konoha there wouldn't be anything that could stop him. He wouldn't let the village that had been responsible for several of the greater tragedies in his life take anything else from him. It was the epitome of everything he stood against; a place that profited from the tragedies of others around the world. Compared to Konoha, Suna was wholly undeserving of his wrath, a softer target though it was.

Kona would continue trying to case as much of the countryside as she could until her predetermined time ran out and Pein summoned her back. Then they would begin to bring this war to an end by bringing it to Konoha's doorstep and taking out the cornerstone of the entire Grand Shinobi Alliance.

She would do this for him, for Pein. No, she would do it for _Nagato_.

XxX

(With Jiraiya and Team 8 – Ta no Kuni)

The tracking squad sent to discover the fates of the troops that had been repeatedly attacked at the rear of the battlefront line were still on the hunt for the origins of the Otogakure force that had done so. With an Inuzuka and a Hyuuga on the very same squad there wasn't much of a chance that they could fail.

That had been Jiraiya's exact thinking when he grabbed a squad from the roving division that was currently dropping its full force onto the enemy in the forests of Shimo no Kuni. They didn't need him there any longer. He was more useful in the field for a situation like this, just in case.

As they continued to travel, Akamaru let out a slight whine and a bark that Kiba readily understood and interpreted for everyone else's benefit, "Akamaru says that there's a strange smell in the air. Like ash and graveyard dirt."

What an oddly specific odor.

"It's getting stronger fast." Kiba warned in an urging voice, gritting his teeth and peering in the direction he could smell the strange scent from, "There's a hell of a lot of power behind it too. This is serious."

"How many?" Jiraiya asked, knowing that a stronger Inuzuka ninken could size up an opponent from the odor of their chakra alone, "Let's break down and set an ambush. We've got to make this quick."

"It's only one."

"One person?" Hinata turned her Byakugan on to confirm Kiba and Akamaru's assessment and gasped at what her powerful eyes picked up in the near distance of the forest. Her face looked as though she had seen a ghost, "No, that's impossible. I thought he was supposed to be dead."

"Who?"

She didn't know exactly how to say it. How could she? Just coming out and saying that she could see Sasuke Uchiha as clear as day, the same way that Sakura and Tayuya described him in their reports? Her team would think that she was a crazy person.

According to reports from the mission several months ago when a decently large squad had to try and rendezvous with a misplaced Naruto and ended up in battle against a team Sasuke had formed and Akatsuki it was said in the aftermath upon his eventual return that Naruto had ended Sasuke's life during that very same incident.

This was not a person that could easily mistake if he had killed someone or not. If he said he killed Sasuke, he knew for certain one way or another that his life had ended.

Thus when she shared the information of who she could see with everyone else, needless to say it ground the procession to a halt in the trees.

"…Are you kidding me?" Kiba of course was the first to voice his thoughts on the matter, "How is that possible? Naruto wouldn't lie. He's pretty shifty and flighty when there are things he doesn't want to talk about, but he's still our bud, and I trust him when he says that Sasuke died that day."

Naruto was a straight shooter, and he never directly lied, he merely dodged giving concrete answers. He hadn't done so about his encounter with the Uchiha brothers. He told them that Sasuke had died on the battlefield before his body had been taken away by the masked man, well that was what happened. A lie benefitted absolutely no one.

"I don't know." Hinata's melodious voice chimed out with a touch of serious concern evident in it, "All I know is what I see. I see Sasuke Uchiha. It's unmistakable. No Henge. It's truly him."

Ever the analyst, Shino held his own skeptical thoughts, but Hinata knew what she was looking at better than any of them would. And there was only one thing to do. In times of confusion, it was best to look to the squad leader for advice, "Jiraiya-sama?" There was no one else there that might know what to do better than him, "What do you propose we do? How should we attack him?"

All of this didn't jibe with Jiraiya. None of it seemed on the straight and narrow. When he had instincts they were usually right, and the last time he ignored them he wound up losing an arm for all of his stubbornness.

No, this didn't seem right at all. This stank of a kinjutsu in the worst way, and if that were the case he was the one best equipped to deal with it, both literally and figuratively, "Kiba, can you and Akamaru still smell your friend that we're tracking?"

"We still have his trail."

"Then go after it." Jiraiya said, landing to a stop on a branch. Team 8 jumped one more bound ahead before they realized that Jiraiya had stopped, "Don't get in over your heads. If you find the place don't go any farther until I catch up."

The way he was speaking, it sounded like catching up was the last thing he was thinking of.

Shino caught onto this quickly, "What are we to do if you do not catch up? How are we even to know?"

"…You'll know if I'm not going to catch up. Trust me." Jiraiya assured him grimly, before turning and shooing them all away with a nasty glare, "Get going already or I'll make you! I don't know enough about you all to work with you properly, it's better this way."

Without another word of dispute or reasoning, the three chunin and sole ninken left the temporary head of the team alone to stare off in the direction that he was informed Sasuke would be coming from, "…I haven't had to deal with an Uchiha in a long time… let alone an undead one. This'll be a first."

Trying to humor himself to lower the tension didn't keep his fingers on his one remaining arm from twitching in anticipation of the coming conflict however.

And in the next moment, the form of Sasuke Uchiha stopped on the branch directly in front of him, staring him down.

Kami, that kid was so young. He wasn't any older than Naruto was. A part of him was reluctant to strike down someone so young, but he had already been stricken down in the past and he dismissed this sentiment as irrelevant.

"Jiraiya I presume?" Sasuke asked in a voice that Jiraiya couldn't distinguish as being concerned one way or the other with what was happening. Apparently such a detached tone had been normal for him in life, "I didn't think I'd ever end up fighting another Sannin in my lifetime."

That was right. He ended up being the one that killed Orochimaru. Jiraiya supposed he owed him some semblance of thanks for that.

"Well technically…" Jiraiya said to break the ice, "You're not fighting another Sannin in your _lifetime_ per se… you know, because you're dead?" Speaking of which, "How are you reanimated? I've seen jutsu do this before to corpses, but most ways don't let you keep your personality."

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation)."

Jiraiya's eyes widened in shock. That was the jutsu that Orochimaru used to bring back the Shodai Hokage and Nidaime Hokage to fight against his sensei the Sandaime during the invasion years ago. Oh, this was not good, "But you killed Orochimaru."

"I didn't kill Kabuto though. Apparently he learned it."

Damn it.

And apparently that was enough talking, because Sasuke's body sprang forward while suddenly unsheathing his sword for a quickdraw attack. Despite Sasuke's speed, Jiraiya hadn't gotten any slower from his disability and he was able to dodge the first stroke of the blade, 'Oh yeah, Orochimaru definitely trained this one.' He thought. Though the style Sasuke used kenjutsu-wise was different from his dearly departed former teammate, his movements had a noticeably wiry touch of the snake sannin to them.

Jiraiya quickly formed a hand-seal to harden his hair follicles before shooting an uncountable number of the quills Sasuke's way, "Hari Jigoku (Needle Hell)!"

The trunks of trees quickly wound up being littered with Jiraiya's sharpened hairs, but none of them managed to wound Sasuke who Kawarimied his way out of the initial line of fire before using his quickness to avoid the rest of them.

"Looks like it's my turn." Sasuke said as he formed electricity in his right hand, "Chidori Senbon (One Thousand Birds Senbon)!" Needles of chakra and lightning happened to be the response of Sasuke to Jiraiya's attack, and Jiraiya managed to dodge in his own way.

The man seemed to swan dive backwards off of his branch, but in actuality had dropped ninja wire across his branch prior to doing so, allowing him to balance out safely before reaching the ground where he landed in a flipping crouch after Sasuke had spent the payload of his attack.

Quickly forming a snake seal as he stood up straight, Jiraiya slammed his heel against the ground, forcing a trench to split forth that felled the tree that Sasuke had been attacking from, "Doton: Chikyuu o Mizo (Earth Release: Groove of Earth)!" As Jiraiya expected, the moment the tree started leaning and falling, Sasuke jumped off, taking care not to land in the channel that Jiraiya had created and wind up trapped.

In preparation for this, Jiraiya had managed to create two Kage Bunshin at his sides that had taken that entire time to gather oil in their mouths, just waiting for the cue to attack. And they wound up receiving it when Sasuke chose his intended direction of evasion in the air, "Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet)!"

Both Jiraiya clones sprayed out oil-driven fire from their mouths as if it were napalm into the air, taking care to aim around the airborne Sasuke to ensure that they had reached him before bringing their precise jutsu inward, burning the deceased young shinobi out of the sky.

The real Jiraiya didn't hang around for long, because his stratagem wound up engulfing much of the forest canopy in flames, and he felt a self-preservational need to vacate the scene lest he find himself caught in a forest fire of his own creation. Still, something didn't sit right with him.

"It shouldn't be that surprising that someone like you managed to pull that off with only one arm. You can never count out a legendary ninja no matter what it looks like I guess."

Gritting his teeth, Jiraiya turned around and saw Sasuke striding out of the blaze, with dust and ash regenerating the parts of his body that had been devastated by the fire that had engulfed him. Even his clothing wound up being restored by the properties of the Edo Tensei jutsu.

'So this is what Sarutobi-sensei had to face.' And instead of a single highly talented ninja, he had to take on two of the most powerful men ever produced by Konoha. The old man had truly been amazing to somehow take that battle to a stalemate in a fight where his enemies were immortal, 'But I can't do that here. I can't seal him away the way that sensei did to the other two.'

He was still the leader of a squad. Hell, he was technically the head of an entire division of shinobi. Besides, giving his life to seal someone away wasn't in the cards anyway. There were always other options. If he had known in advance that he'd have been fighting a resurrected ninja he'd have prepared some countermeasures in advance for just such an occasion.

XxX

(Meanwhile – Konohagakure no Sato)

A pronounced frown simply could not worm its way off of Tsunade's lips, no matter what she did. The war was going well. It was going extremely well. In the northeast the enemy was being rolled up between the combined sandwiching efforts of Konoha and Kumo alike. In the northwest Takigakure had been sacked and their leadership destroyed by the clandestine assault from Root, and it was only a matter of time before the brutal jungle fighting led them to Kusagakure's front step if they weren't wise enough to surrender unconditionally before then.

Suna was being left alone to regroup after the last failed attack by the combined western C.N.F. forces led by Pein, and while Kiri still hadn't mustered a mainland landing it didn't seem like they would be needed. Iwagakure was oddly being silent, but they wouldn't throw their hat into the ring unless it seemed as if they could take it all in one fell swoop. Onoki was really earning his nickname by sitting this one out.

If he tried something on the softest target in Suna, without a doubt he'd draw the ire of the other villages in the G.S.A. and unless they all wound up destroyed they'd turn Iwa into a gravel pit if he tried something so treacherous and opportunistic.

Out in front of her sat a massive map, illustrating the gains that Konoha had garnered in the field as of the last reports sent via messenger hawk from the battlefronts, with compounded statistics in each theater of combat for her benefit by Konoha's intelligence department.

A knock came at her office door. A thankful temporary distraction from all of this dreary much ado about war. Tsunade never had much of a stomach for it back when she was an active battlefield medic despite her equal skill as a combatant, and even far behind the lines she could only imagine what it was like out there from the reports, "Come in."

The door cracked open to reveal a white head of hair from outside and the pleasant demeanor to go along with it, "Hokage-sama. How goes the war?" Naruto's longtime attendant Hamako entered the office with a demure bow and a warm smile.

"It goes… and goes, and goes, and goes." Tsunade replied aloofly, "Has anything changed with the village's defenses?" Either the Konoha Barrier Team or the Defense Division sent her. Poor girl kept herself busy when Naruto was away by trying to configure what she could from older Uzushiogakure defense designs into Konoha's program. She'd been doing it for years actually, even though they'd never had to use it, "Or do you need me to sign off on something?"

"Nothing like that." Hamako assured the powerful village leader, "I'm just going around checking up on people I know, people away from the front resting here in the village… things like that. An active body keeps the mind from wandering after all." She finished with a bit of a nervous laugh.

"Worried about the brat? Trust me when I say I know the feeling of just sitting back and waiting."

"I guess. I know Naruto-sama can take care of himself, and we've already received word that he is on the way home, but I never like it when he leaves, and this whole war just makes it worse."

He was one of four similar objective targets of the enemy after all. A target of opportunity as it were. If he was spotted and identified in the field, his recovery by the enemy was to take initiative over whatever objective the enemy would have on his mission. The same went for Yugito, the same went for Kirabi, and the same went for Gaara… to a significantly lesser extent extent.

If any enemy somehow came across the Kazekage in the desert they were meant to flee on sight… for all the good that would do them.

Tsunade knew the feeling though. Between Jiraiya, Naruto, her apprentices in Sakura and Shizune, and many of her high-level shinobi in the field such as Shikaku or Kakashi just to name a few, she had no absence of people she knew on various personal levels to worry about, and apparently it showed on her face as clear as day, "Is there something the matter?

No. There wasn't anything wrong. And that was the problem. There was absolutely nothing going wrong on any of the fronts. All was quiet in Kaze no Kuni, and the stalemates in the northeast and northwest had been broken, allowing the G.S.A. to advance.

Across the Elemental Nations there wasn't any catastrophe victimizing any of Konoha's wartime operations. It was officially the greatest start to a Shinobi World War that Konoha had ever managed. For once they weren't in a situation where things were about to go from bad to worse.

"…I'm just wondering what the hell is about to go wrong."

XxX

(With Naruto – At Sea)

It had taken a few hours, but Kirabi had managed to chill out enough to notice that Naruto was busy trying to figure with something. Let no one say that the man was not astute despite all of his eccentricities.

The topic of the day was Naruto's funky heirloom of a sword. And when it came to swords, there probably wasn't anyone better than him to talk to them about… at least someone that wouldn't try to kill Naruto on sight, "Whoa. Hearing that info might make me just crash… finding out your sword does more than cut, stab, and slash."

"Well that's technically still all it's meant for." Naruto said, holding up the sheathed Sen'nenki no Ken to observe the make of it, something he had done time after time over the years, "…You know… it just turns into a form that lets me cut stuff better and can apparently cut through the fabric of reality."

That sounded a lot better in his head.

It probably didn't matter how dumb it sounded though, since Kirabi would probably say something that would trump it within five minutes anyway.

Kirabi would have reached out and touched the sword by now, but according to Naruto there were security measures on it that prevented anyone outside of his lineage from laying their hands on the blade without suffering the consequences.

"Yo, Mister Nine."

"What's wrong B? Your face is all twisted up like you're thinking about something."

"That's 'cuz I am fool!"

"Well spit it out already!"

Both Naruto and Kirabi headbutted each other one time, the metal of their headbands clanking momentarily before they both backed off. Kirabi scoffed a bit before getting to his point, "Well you said the yin-yang release makes the sword change, but what if one variation ain't the range?"

At first Naruto just stared at him before running a hand through his hair, "…I must have been out in this sun for too long, because that actually made sense to me." As long as he'd had the sword, Naruto had been using the only transformation of the weapon that he'd known of.

But there had never been any set jutsu to make it change. For Kami's sake he used it mere hours after unearthing it and there had never been a scroll or any other source of information on it, how would he have learned any real techniques?

Honestly, the first time that Naruto used the materialization properties it was based solely off of advice from Hamako whom he had met a day earlier. All the message from her during the battle with Sasori said was to assert his will and lineage over the sword and make it his. He had nothing in mind, other than something that would help him cut Sasori down to size and they took the form of the Sen'nen Kougake bladed gauntlets and grieves.

Apparently in the history of the sword, no user had ever repeated forms that the weapon could take. There had to be a reason for that.

"Right?" Kirabi said with a grin, thumping Naruto on the shoulder, "Yin-yang let 'the Sage' make anything real, so why not use it to keep changing your steel?" He jumped up from his seated position on the deck and started dancing oddly, "Pick up the pace, don't let that power go to waste!"

Caught up in the rhymes coming his way for once, when the rapping Kirabi extended his fist for a bump Naruto hit it spiritedly with his own before he realized what he'd done… and when he did he had to admit that damn it the fist bump felt right!

Hell yes, due to his lineage he'd been passed down one hell of a tool of destruction and he'd be damned if he didn't exploit it to its fullest extent in combat! Crushing chakra drain for every transformation use or not, he was an Uzumaki damn it, and they had been known for serious vitality. He could take it.

A still grinning Kirabi gestured wordlessly, confusing Naruto until the rapping shinobi vocalized his actions, "Well? Go on and show me what it looks like mothafucka!"

Naruto held up the sword within its sheath before slowly pulling the steel free from its confines with a sharp sound, "Here it is." Naruto said before holding it out, blade toward Kirabi, "You want me to do the Sen'nen Kougake (Millenium Gauntlets) transformation?"

"Fuck no! I already heard about that from the kitty cat and big bro A! Show me something new!"

Something new? What kind of new? True, they had just been talking about the idea, but now Kirabi was kind of putting him on the spot and he was drawing a blank. What if his first idea was something dumb that he couldn't use in an actual fight?

Well his first idea hadn't been anything other than that he wanted something that would have helped him shred Sasori's Hiruko puppet to tatters during the battle in the ruins of Uzushiogakure.

But there wasn't anything he particularly wanted from the weapon. He was a bit of a do-it-yourselfer almost to a fault at times, and he liked fighting in close. That was probably why the sword changed forms to a taijutsu-suitable state and did what it did for his speed.

"Unmarked vessels starboard side!"

Every able-bodied person on the ship crowded to the left side of the ship to see and caught sight of the larger battle-ready ship that had been bearing down on their broadside. They weren't a warship, they were a regular transport. Outside of Mizu no Kuni where they were ultra-useful, warships didn't particularly exist. At least good ones didn't.

But after a few minutes or so the ship wasn't moving any closer. It was just sitting out on the edge, seemingly observing them.

Eventually Kirabi muscled his way to the front to catch a look-see with Naruto following close behind. Placing a hand just above his sunglasses-clad eyes, Kirabi's mouth and mustache wrinkled up in a frown, "One ship ain't very scary, even if we are a ferry."

"Stop rhyming…" Naruto said, but once again the man had a point. Maybe that was why they weren't approaching? They had the drop on them, and of course they had to have a scope of some sort. Maybe after seeing that the ship belonged to Kumogakure the would-be buccaneers backed off from trying to attack? Pirates were usually way smarter than people gave them credit for. Cutthroats most of them may have been, but leading lives like that gave them ridiculous survival instincts.

Besides, labeling pirates as simple honor-devoid cutthroats without giving them any credit was the rough equivalent of the pot calling the kettle black as a ninja.

"There's one leaving the ship!"

Just one? On a lifeboat or something? What, were they in trouble? They had to know that they weren't getting a damn thing without surrendering, and even then they'd probably just wind up being imprisoned for life or executed.

Squinting and focusing his eyes, actually cheating a bit with his Sharingan since no one was paying attention to him at the moment, Naruto was able to get a better look and saw that the one person wasn't in any kind of boat, he was walking on the water. A ninja.

A single man with white hair and purple garb as well as a large sword on his back. Wait, was that Kubikiribouchou? Maki and Sai stole that from some guy on Sasuke's old amassed team and they all gave it back to Kiri months ago. What the hell was some guy doing with it again on a pirate ship?

XxX

"This is close enough right?" Suigetsu said to himself as he stood along the waves of the ocean, walking steadily toward the Kumo ship in front of him, "Karin said that was the ship that Uzumaki was on." She also said that there was another jinchuuriki there due to the garish amounts of chakra she could sense as they got closer to bearing down on them, "Okay, let's get this show on the road."

A grin crossed his face as he took Kubikiribouchou from his back and sealed it inside of a scroll on his person while unsealing another of his three swords of choice, "That Choujuurou kid had no idea how to really use this sword. My brother was the true master with it, and I wasn't that bad myself." The large twin-handled sword with the funky fish-shaped blade just felt right in his hands, "Hiramekarei, let's make a mess of this place. Hiramekarei Kaihou (Hiramekarei Unleashing)!"

In the blink of an eye, chakra fully engulfed the blade to the size of the ship in front of him and soon absorbed the very waters of the ocean that covered it entirely, like a grand blade of Poseidon.

Suigetsu held it over his head as if he wasn't swinging a sword the size of a transport ship and brought it forward to slam down onto the hapless vessel. It wasn't the most productive way that he had destroyed a ship out of the near two dozen that he had taken out throughout the duration of Tobi's blockade, but it was certainly more fun than just destroying it with a wave to overturn it.

He had managed to hit it so hard he had to have split the hull, and it went under so quickly that it probably wouldn't be resurfacing either. Chuckling to himself he let Hiramekarei return to its normal shape and size as he wanted to observe his handiwork.

But much to his displeasure, the ship emerged from the water and bobbed in the water like a bath toy, "Tch. How'd they reinforce it enough to protect the ship?"

"Suigetsu look out below!"

Upon hearing Karin call out to him from their pirate vessel, Suigetsu allowed his body to liquefy and avoid eight large octopus tentacles that tried to smash and grab him. Not too long after that, Kirabi emerged from the drink, looking around for his would-be target, "The fuck?"

Suigetsu reformed a good distance away, seemingly not very impressed by his enemy's first move, "You huh? What, did Uzumaki drown? Because he's the one we really want to kill here. We don't give a crap about fighting you really… unless you want to fight."

Kirabi's first inclination was to reach for the seven swords that he carried on his back so that he could take on this opponent, but he wound up stopping himself from doing so as he started thinking, "Hmm…so you came here to fight with Mister Nine? Heh, be my guest, that'd be just fine. If he's the one you want go and move on past, but don't start cryin' when he whoops your ass."

"Awesome." Suigetsu said, grinning with his shark-like teeth, "So where's he hiding?"

"He's not hiding fool!"

So what the hell was he doing?

After a second of thought, Suigetsu didn't have to think twice before palming his forehead hard and making himself one with the water as he rushed speedily back to the pirate ship, "Juugo, Gataro, get ready to defend the ship!"

Gataro quickly pulled his cutlass from its sheath as a blur passed over the side of the ship and began cutting down large amounts of his crewmen that moved to intercept it. Dozens fell within seconds, "Sack up and stop dying you pack of weaklings! It's one ninja!" Being forced to back up his actual talk with action, when the blur rushed at him, Gataro actually managed to block the blade meant to cut through him, putting him face-to-face with Naruto, "Uzumaki-san I presume?"

Instead of answering, Naruto headbutted Gataro in the face and nailed him with a quickly formed Rasengan that propelled him into the mast of the ship hard enough to break it in half. If he survived even one of those things there was no way he lived through the other, "Yeah. It's me." Naruto answered posthumously.

Waves cascaded over the side of the ship and formed into Suigetsu who blitzed in Naruto's direction with Hiramekarei, missing when he swung three times with the blade itself as Naruto dodged out of the way, "I've been waiting for this ever since your flunkies stole Kubikiribouchou from me! I can't find them, but unfortunately for you Karin can pick out your chakra signature from two countries away!"

This guy was from that team that Sasuke had managed to stitch together while he had been hunting down Itachi, which meant he wasn't alone if he was talking about another person that could find him anywhere.

From his blindspot, a partially transformed Juugo launched himself at Naruto, his gnarled fist ready to punch him into pulp if Suigetsu's sword didn't remove his head from his shoulders first. Naruto managed to optimize the space he had between the two killer blows and swayed out of the way of them both before spinning low and cutting Suigetsu's legs off with the Sen'nenki no Ken.

Unfortunately for Naruto he didn't get to see the graphic and morbid sight of blood spilling from the severed limbs, instead they turned to water where they were cut and quickly reformed to solid form. Still low from his sweeping slash, Naruto dove forward and avoided a swing of Juugo's arm that had now transformed into an axe. Instead of hitting a blonde ninja, he cut through the deck of the ship, splitting a large crack all the way to the edge of it.

"He's fast." Suigetsu noted, a bit pleased at that facet of his enemy's ability, "Though if he killed Sasuke he'd have to be pretty quick." His eyes then went wide when he looked into Naruto's own and noted that they didn't match, "What do we have here? You've got a Sharingan bud? Where'd you get that?"

"Had it before I fought your boss." Naruto said cryptically. They didn't need to know where he had gotten it, as long as they didn't jump to the conclusion that he had taken it from Sasuke's body. Misinformation that bad and politically crippling wasn't welcome with him, "Your turn. Where'd you get the sword from? I thought I took the one you had."

"I took Hiramekarei off of its last user who had Kubikiribouchou on him too." Suigetsu recalled, bringing up the incident that netted him two of his desired seven swords in one fell swoop, "He wasn't as good as he thought he was with either of them. Kiri really has a problem with holding onto these things don't they? Picking better swordsmen would probably help."

"Like you?"

"A little late for that don't you think?"

Juugo got sick of waiting for the banter to subside and made to attack Naruto again before the entire ship was rocked by some outside force. Along with more than a few chakra-less pirates, the berserk Juugo didn't have the mindset to channel chakra to his feet to keep his balance and fell over into the water from whatever had occurred.

"Uh-uh. One-on-one bitch!"

Good old Kirabi. He might have his own reasons for making him fight Suigetsu by himself, but at least he wasn't sadistic enough to sit back and let the enemy play the numbers game. Although maybe that would be more because sitting back and doing nothing would bore him. He'd probably fight Juugo just so he could come up with some rhymes out of the stimulation of battle.

The Hachibi jinchuuriki would probably wind up tormenting that poor outmatched psycho for kicks while waiting for Naruto to finish up. Juugo seemed like an absurdly powerful monster, but he seemed to lack the intellect to use that power as effectively as he could on command. Berserkers were like that.

Meanwhile, both Naruto and Suigetsu stared at each other as the ship shook violently, "So you've got your sword again and more to go with it, and as much as that pisses me off after what we had to do to get it back to Kiri it's not really any business of mine. Why do you want to kill me?"

He couldn't remember directly screwing over Suigetsu with his own two hands, or even getting within the necessary distance to do such a thing.

The answer didn't come from Suigetsu, but from a girl with bright red hair that was observing the battle from the head of the ship, "It's because of what you did! Because of who you killed!" The girl shouted, glaring at him with her red eyes from behind her glasses, "Did you think that you could just kill Sasuke-kun and nothing would happen afterwards?"

She seemed to be far angrier at him than Suigetsu happened to be. He seemed to only hold a small grudge against Naruto, but he was bloodthirsty enough and loved battle enough to go through with taking a shot at getting revenge since the opportunity was presenting itself. On the other hand, were it not for the fact that she knew she didn't stand a chance against him she would have tried to seek him out and destroy him within days of Sasuke's death.

Even with the blatant disadvantage she held, it didn't seem to matter a bit to her. Naruto could see it in her eyes, and he knew exactly what it was from years of fighting and even before.

Hate, the kind of hate that she was sending his way with her eyes. He hadn't seen anything like that in over ten years. The hatred from loss, and the need to find something as a scapegoat, something to blame for it, either rightfully or not.

Granted, she had more of a reason to outright blame Naruto for killing Sasuke than the people of Konoha had to see him as a loose cannon for having the Kyuubi within him as a child. Mostly because he actually directly contributed to Sasuke's death instead of being a bystander and then a container without getting the choice.

"That's why she wants you dead." Suigetsu said, jerking his thumb over in his female teammate's direction, "I want you dead because I can't think of a better way to test all of my training with the swords than taking down the guy that put Sasuke away."

You had to use strong people as a measuring stick. Kisame was dead, and the current generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were jokes. Suigetsu didn't just want to possess the seven swords, he wanted to be the most powerful swordsman shinobi in the world. The only way you could prove that you were powerful was by defeating powerful people.

He was at least twice as powerful as he had been back when Kubikiribouchou had been ripped from his grasp, and he needed something to prove it. Karin's grudge was a practical reason to do such a thing.

"Stop chatting and make him suffer already Suigetsu!"

It wasn't mere impatience in her desire to bear witness to Naruto's demise that prompted such a venomous request. Karin could sense chakra better than anyone in the entire world, and as she was, standing that close to Naruto was like placing a microphone right in front of a tower of active concert speakers.

There was something about his chakra… something familiar.

A roll of purple eyes came from Suigetsu before he held up Hiramekarei, prepared to fight again, "You see, she's incredible at sensing things, but she can't fight. She's good at healing, but that's kind of useless on a team with me and Juugo. If she could fight she'd probably be over here trying to claw your eyes out herself."

Well wasn't that just funderful? Why not? Add one more to the ever-growing list of people that had reasons to wish his head removed from his shoulders, "Let's see if you can make her happy then." Quickly sheathing his sword, Naruto started rushing through hand-seals before lightning chakra engulfed his hand and he snapped his fingers, sending large sparks flying at his water-elemental adversary, "Raiton: Kyuuzousekka (Lightning Release: Surge Flash)!"

With a grit to his teeth at watching Naruto try to take advantage of the clear elemental weakness that came with his clan techniques, Suigetsu manipulated Hiramekarei's form into a square wall exuding raw chakra that neutralized Naruto's forceful sparks. Through a small hole in the front that he deliberately created he saw Naruto move to flank to his side, "Tch."

The moment Naruto passed the side of Suigetsu's transformed sword, Sharingan awareness allowed him to limbo his way underneath a nasty wave of water sent his way that had stretched from Suigetsu's arm. With his other arm, he bulked it up to allow him to handle his legendary weapon with one hand as it turned back to its normal sword form.

Naruto quickly redrew his own sword and blocked Suigetsu slamming Hiramekarei down onto him with it, though it did press him flat down onto the deck of the ship, 'Trading sword moves with a guy that can kill one of the Seven Swordsmen and take his weapons? Not smart.'

Suigetsu's watery arm returned to normal and grabbed onto his sword's second handle to let him lift it easier in order to slice Naruto in half. Taking advantage of the sword being lifted off of him, Naruto stabbed his sword forward through Suigetsu only to see that he had turned the area of the wound into water.

A smirk crossed Suigetsu's face at Naruto's seemingly desperate attempt to impale him. Rookie mistake, "Sorry, but you can't injure me like thaaaaaa-!" His boast turned into a cry of pain when he felt electricity course through his body centering from where he had been stabbed.

On his back Naruto rolled away from Suigetsu and rushed past him, snatching his sword back and cutting him in half, rendering both parts to water that fell onto the deck "Only people in my bloodline can hold onto the sword or that'll happen." Naruto let go of it while it had been stuck inside of Suigetsu's body, thus the sword perceived Suigetsu as trying to wield it.

A strange void feeling, something of a sense of blankness, crossed Naruto's sense of awareness and instinct told him to do something evasive which manifested itself in the way of jumping to the left. On his right arm he suffered a rather deep and long gash from a near-miss that could have been far worse as Karin had attempted to stab into him from behind with a kunai.

Was she insane to think that she could really pull that off? Maybe so, because wasn't she having Suigetsu fight him because she couldn't?

But then again how did she get that close to begin with? She wasn't that fast to reach him so quickly from a dead stop, and Naruto had remained aware of her positioning even though the more present threat had been Suigetsu. Around her Naruto couldn't feel any sense of a life signature, which should not have been right. When she had first revealed herself she had one of the most prominent auras on the ship. She'd been able to hide it all, even the early-warning of her incoming killing intent. If she'd been faster she would have gotten him.

It was probably some sensor-nin trick to hide her presence, it was something that Kusa shinobi were apparently quite good at even thought it made them unable to use ninjutsu for its duration, and she apparently really did want him dead if she put herself at risk the way that she did to use it. But due to retaliatory reflexes she was destined to pay for it. The moment Naruto saw his own blood fly from the open wound on his person he lashed out with a swing of the Sen'nenki no Ken in return, and his attack hit home.

Karin knew she was dead from the moment that she didn't feel her kunai stab into something solid. Her ability to suppress and hide her chakra would only let her get one strike on such a high level opponent, and she thought she had picked her spot wisely. That had not been the case. She whiffed on the strike, and Naruto managed to procure a free strike at her back that he took freely with a downward slash of his deadly-looking weapon.

The razor-sharp instrument of destruction cut cleanly through the back of Karin's clothing, from shoulder to opposite hip, and hard blue and red eyes stared at her as her body dropped on the wooden surface of the deck with a thud.

But there was no blood.

That was impossible. He could see her skin underneath where he cut her. There wasn't any way that she had reinforced herself somehow, she didn't have any armor on underneath. There wasn't anything that would have saved her from being gravely wounded.

Even she seemed completely surprised as she quickly popped up and rolled over onto her butt, staring at her hands in shock as if trying to reason with herself that something had saved her.

Naruto hoped that he didn't have just as stunned of a look on his face as he looked down at the petite redhead, but the chuckling in his head set him off to something being wrong, **"Well isn't this a fine situation? And here I thought there were only two people aside from you that could touch the damn thing and not suffer for it."**

'What? Tsunade-baachan and Hamako-chan? That's because they're-.'

"**-Distantly related to your bloodline? Yes I'm aware. The sword won't harm the servant girl, which is how she could study the seals on it. It can't harm you either, aside from the chakra drain when you transform it. Even the Tsunade woman can touch the weapon safely due to her lineage, and now you can't cut this girl with the blade of it. What does that tell you?"**

The Sen'nenki no Ken would not harm a member of the Uzumaki bloodline in the slightest.

And that had to have meant… 'Don't tell me… she's a descendant too.' Kyuubi's deep laughter in his head was all the confirmation from an outside observer that he needed, "If my life were any more retarded it'd be a book or something." Naruto said out loud as Karin started to come down from her near-death experience, returning her glare to him, "Who are you?"

"**Probably your fucking cousin, or don't you listen?"**

'Shut up. I want to hear it from her.'

"Karin." She replied venomously, "What, you like getting names with the faces that you kill?"

Naruto ignored the biting remark since it wasn't as if they were friends or anything. His team had stolen a priceless weapon from her team, her boytoy of a squad leader almost killed a girl that he was quite close to, and he wound up killing said boytoy of a squad leader in completely unrelated cataclysmic combat. He and she were still just about to murder each other for all he knew, "What's your surname? Your clan name?"

"I don't have one."

"Yeah you do. It's Uzumaki."

"Your jokes suck."

"My jokes rule, but this isn't a joke. My sword can't cut you. That means you're family."

That managed to throw Karin off quite a considerable bit. She could sense his chakra with her Kagura Shingan (Mind's Eye of the Kagura) to a perfect degree and he was telling the absolute truth. No fluctuation of his sizeable chakra levels at all, "…That doesn't mean anything to me. I'm still killing you."

"I didn't think it would."

Whatever. He did his duty of informing her of such. If she still wanted to fight him to the death that was alright with him. Other than a name that she didn't know she had and clan ties that had vanished decades before they were born they didn't have a lick of attachment to each other.

"Takai Umi no Uneri (High Seas Swell)!"

The ship began to rock violently before anything more could be made of this. Both Naruto and Karin stuck themselves to the surface of the vessel with chakra, but one of them had a smirk on their features while the other one did not.

The reason being that the ship had been lifted clear out of the water by a titanic version of Suigetsu that was looking down onto the diminutive form of Naruto in return, "S'up?"

Naruto just stared up at him, dwarfed like an action figure on a playset in comparison to a little boy, '…Kyuubi?' He felt the senjutsu chakra filling his system and felt the shift in his body from entering Sage Mode, 'Thanks.' Without saying a word to Suigetsu he blazed a trail toward the edge of the ship and jumped over the side, 'What am I doing? He turns into water and I'm jumping down into the ocean!'

"**You do have your fair share of window-licker moments…"** Kyuubi pointed out, still an internal observer to the battle as Naruto took to saving himself.

Suigetsu just laughed as he set the ship and Karin back down and stepped over it as his body continued to grow in size, "You don't get it do you? I don't just use the ocean as my weapon. With my clan's jutsu I am the ocean! There's no one more dangerous in the open water than a member of the Hozuki Clan."

There was a reason that the larger Shinobi World War conflicts never took place on the soil of Mizu no Kuni, because getting there back in those days had been something nearly insurmountable due to who was running the show in Kirigakure back in those days. The ultra-dangerous Hozuki Clan, fronted by the leader of the village in the then-Mizukage.

The only reason the Nidaime Mizukage was killed in battle against the Nidaime Tsuchikage was because their final battle was fought on dry land, and even then both men wound up dying, still ending it in a stalemate.

XxX

Kirabi managed to maneuver Juugo a ways away from the ship but even he had to stop for a moment when he saw Suigetsu grow to over ten stories high. He wasn't close to being as big as a biju, but it didn't stop him from wondering if he should bust out the transformation anyway.

"**No B."** Hachibi warned his container from inside of his head, **"The technique is imposing, but didn't you want to watch the boy fight his own battle? Isn't that why you didn't defeat the enemy after protecting our ship?"**

That was true. He was kind of jealous really. A had seen Naruto fight a real battle against an Akatsuki member. Yugito had seen him fight a bunch of times. He'd only seen Naruto fight once and he'd been a brat when that encounter occurred.

Thus Kirabi really wanted to see what kind of absurd crap Naruto had to his name, and he wasn't long for waiting when he saw Naruto literally standing on the air before he could fall onto the ocean and into an awaiting trap that Suigetsu had been preparing once he touched the water, "Daaaaamn. I didn't know Mister Nine could fly."

He had to come up with a few rhymes for that.

But first…

"Chill out alright?" Kirabi shouted, dodging a spiky body barrage by a fully transformed Juugo, his entire body grey and his eyes black and horrid, "I'm watchin' a fight!"

XxX

"You can fly…" Suigetsu's voice boomed even though he was speaking normally, "That's so lame. I had all kinds of fun stuff planned to tear you apart with once you touched foot on the water."

"You don't look like you're that broken up about it." With his airborne position high above the surface of the sea due to his Sage Mode refined Burst Limit abilities, Naruto could swear that Suigetsu was still getting even bigger. What the hell kind of jutsu was this?

In his right hand, Suigetsu held onto the Hiramekarei sword that was reflective of his own ever-increasing size, "You're not going to be able to stop me now." He said with a shark-like grin, "I might wish I had all of the swords to myself, but a combination of two of the swords that I have along with my clan's jutsu… heh, it's pretty awesome if I do say so myself."

If he could get Naruto onto the water the battle would be over. It was as simple as that. Entire ships of water-elemental ninjas from Kiri had fallen to the slaughter like cattle, thinking that they could defeat him just because they had high-level suiton ninjutsu en masse. It only made things worse. Way worse.

'Two swords? He has one sword on him. And even if he didn't, how would Kubikiribouchou help him in this situation?' Since Maki and Sai had taken Kubikiribouchou from Suigetsu already and he said that he had gotten it back from Kiri, it was obvious that two of the swords he spoke of happened to be Hiramekarei and Kubikiribouchou. He didn't know which third one he had.

Be that as it may, Naruto scrutinized giant Suigetsu's form heavily, but he couldn't see anything. Still, that was fine.

Water was still water, and Naruto still had the electricity to shock him back into a goddamn puddle. He'd done it once already. Unsealing a pair of large fuuma shuriken from his seal tattoos, Naruto opened them and hurled them both around Suigetsu's head from opposite sides, not getting anywhere close to hitting him, "Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Shuriken)!"

Due to the size of the shuriken generating the electricity, and the potency of ninjutsu while in Sage Mode, the forceful jutsu looked like lighting shooting from the clouds during an electrical storm.

And with such a sizeable target in Suigetsu there was no way it could possibly miss, nor did it.

But that was where the good news ended.

Naruto watched in complete shock and horror as the lightning struck Suigetsu's body with no visible effect presented despite the fact that he had been shocked by one of Naruto's most reliable ninjutsu.

Suigetsu's body seemed to course slightly with electricity before it all subsided and he chuckled, "You really thought that I'd let you work such an obvious advantage after what I already saw you do earlier? I've got your number, and I'm not taking any more chances against you ninjutsu specialist. I'm going all out." As he spoke he continued to grow even more, "I'm taking the legend of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist to the next level!"

With a heft of the titanic Hiramekarei blade, Suigetsu gave it a mighty swing, not lacking a hint of his previous speed despite his deftly increased size. It was a thankful point that Naruto had full availability of all three dimensions of movement and all of the physical advantages that Sage Mode presented him, because he definitely needed it now.

Naruto's hair blew wildly with the wind shear that came from Suigetsu's blade missing its strike against him. Seriously, someone that big shouldn't have stayed so fast. Luckily he'd been faster to begin with and that had only been magnified by Sage Mode.

He was about to prepare another jutsu when a voice in his head chewed him out, **"No! No more chakra attacks! Electric or not it doesn't matter right now! He literally absorbed your lightning! I felt it!"** Kyuubi coached from within Naruto's mind. It didn't feel like dying along with its container in the middle of the ocean, **"Figure out what he's doing!"**

'Okay, just keep the senjutsu chakra coming and keep those senses open.' Naruto thought to Kyuubi before thinking to himself as he ascended higher into the skies with jump after jump to avoid Suigetsu's ever-increasing reach, 'I will never swat flies with the same hatred ever again.'

XxX

(Mountains' Graveyard)

Damn that boy. He had the heirloom blade of Uzushiogakure that the original Madara Uchiha had clandestinely instigated strife against them just to bring about the village's downfall and take that dangerous element out of his plans.

Damn that sword. He was hoping against hope that in their small skirmish Naruto had failed to notice that the end of the sword had been the only thing that had actually made contact with him when he dodged the rest of the his deadly attacks. Did he even know what he had?

The short conflict was still fresh in his mind even days later and it kept playing through his head.

The only thing keeping Tobi from pacing around in thought was that he currently had company, and he needed to keep a level head for the sake of his underling(s). Right now was the time to get things of importance, such as a weakness to the thing that could serve to be a liability for him. While the world was shrouded in confusion and its own mayhem he could do what he needed easier than ever.

"What's the plan now Tobi?" The white half of Zetsu asked as the plant-like man followed his masked leader through the caves of their base, **"I still say we could have and should have taken the Nibi and the Kyuubi when we had the chance."** The dark half said thereafter.

"And then what? There are only the two of us with the rings to extract the Biju." Tobi snapped in return. With only the two of them to run the ritual to extract the biju, it would take so long that they would be found and attacked by both Konoha and Kumo before they finished, "Pein is too busy playing his little war game, and even if he weren't and we were still on the same side it would still take several days."

Yes, he had an army to defend himself in such an instance, but compromising his favored base of operations and many of his thousands of forces did not sit well with him. He would rather put that army to use in another way.

"Right now we need to turn everything else back into our favor by eliminating the most dangerous advantage that our enemy does or does not know that they possess against us."

There was more to that damned weapon. There had to be more. Hashirama and Tobirama were bastards and what that thing was really meant to do wouldn't be as evident as negating space-time techniques. It wasn't created during the Senju-Uchiha Clan Wars, it was created decades afterwards. There was a real reason for it.

"That sword? Aren't you overreacting?" White Zetsu asked before being rebuked angrily by the black half, **"Didn't you see that thing? How many arrays comprised the designs engraved in it? In the sheath? In the hilt? On the blade? It was made by Senju and left in the hands of their clan's most trusted allies."**

"I would show you real overreacting, but I still need your help." Tobi stated coldly to Zetsu as they wound up standing out on a ledge overlooking a vast cave chamber filled with White Zetsu Clones, "Pein has neglected surveying the Gedou Mazou due to his wartime concerns. With the window given to me I've been able to use enough of the chakra stored within it by the biju captured to form 4000 clones. You will use them and raid Konoha from within."

Zetsu didn't need to hear anymore than that. He knew what his weaker clone brethren were capable of and knew what abilities he could count on to get the job done, "You can count on me." He said with a chuckle, "What are you going to be doing?"

"Getting some much needed information." Tobi said, creating a dimensional rift to transport himself through, "From what will prove to be a very reluctant source."

* * *

Jutsu List

Takai Umi no Uneri (High Seas Swell). Hiden ninjutsu. Supplementary. This jutsu is a powerful technique in the wheelhouse of the Hozuki Clan's Suika no Jutsu (Hydration Technique). Like the aforementioned parent jutsu, the user liquefies their entire body at will and bonds with a body of water that allows them to recreate their own form only magnified to a degree corresponding to the amount of water used to build the form. Due to the constant drain on one's chakra, the growth of the user is only advised to a certain extent and the use of more ninjutsu after this is ill advised, although in theory a user with a large enough store of chakra and source of water can grow to an inestimable extent and fight with their full breadth of skills. Can be compared to the Akimichi Clan's Chou Baika no Jutsu (Super Multi-Size Jutsu), but its use is far more situational along with many other differences.

* * *

**Hey, you know what's fun? Driving on a mountain highway road surrounded by 18-wheelers in the middle of a semi-hurricane with only one healthy arm available to control the wheel in 60 mph winds. It's great.**

**And I can't even dress up in my luchador costume for Halloween! I mean, I could, but I'd be an injured luchador. A one-armed luchador. El Luchador Discapacitado as it were. And that doesn't sound as cool as it should.**

**Also it's way too cold to go out in public in a goddamn singlet and a mask even if I weren't borderline crippled.**

**Either way, next time: Team 8 confronts Kabuto, Jiraiya's got to show he's still got it against an undead Sasuke Uchiha, Pein and Konan are plottin'n' schemin', Tobi (tee-hee… 'Tobi') is pissed at oh so many things, and Naruto's got would-be family drama and a battle to fight against a chakra absorbing Suigetsu while Kirabi is more interested in seeing what he's got.**

**Hope you enjoyed. Kenchi out.**


	64. Rose-Colored Glasses

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I want to break my own fingers for typing out that direct insult to my own lack of upward movement in the world.

**Chapter 63: Rose-Colored Glasses**

* * *

Jiraiya was fighting with Sasuke. A reanimated Sasuke. What the hell was this world coming to? What happened to the days when wars between ninjas were fought between living beings? The thought of the undead being foot soldiers for someone's army, and that army being in the hands of Otogakure apparently. The thought was terrifying.

Team 8 had been given the opening to advance on with their mission to find the source of the Oto raids and the purpose behind them, and they weren't going to waste the chance to keep going that Jiraiya had given them.

It had taken a while, but eventually they managed to reach the entrance to the hideout they had been looking for. They knew it as such because Kiba and Akamaru could smell the original scent that they had been tracking along with a particularly powerful scent of snakes. A dead giveaway for any Inuzuka tracker that a place had something to do with Orochimaru or had been Orochimaru-affiliated at some point in time.

"We've got to get in there." Kiba said, standing at the entrance with Hinata, Shino, and Akamaru, "Jiraiya's back there fighting a zombie Sasuke. That's wrong on five different levels, so we've got to figure out what's down there and get back before something really fucked up happens and Konoha's down a legend."

"Jiraiya-sama can take care of himself." Shino assured his teammate as he pushed his glasses up on his face, "If there is anyone that is equipped to deal with the supernatural it is him. Hinata, do you have the layout of the base mapped out?"

"Yes." Hinata said, her Byakugan letting her see through most of what was inside of the cave that served as a base, "It's not booby-trapped… and there are no sentries inside." What? That was odd, "It seems like a temporary location. The only chakra signatures I can see are apparently prisoners."

Kiba didn't need to hear anymore, deciding to lead the way and head on inside. There were people inside that needed help. These were Konoha ninjas that had been captured by Otogakure raiding parties, and while he'd hoped that some of them would be inside so he could show them just what he thought of taking prisoners behind the front lines, he was willing to settle for taking out the place that they brought the prisoners to.

That would make his day, and put a cherry on top of the sundae that was the Konoha northeast campaign. He'd worked his ass off, so maybe he'd get a field promotion from his actions?

As cool as that would be, there was nothing more important at that moment than stopping the threat that existed away from the front lines for Konoha's forces. The seemingly endless tunnels eventually opened up into a large room with bars on the walls, cells behind them filled with trapped masses of humanity.

Everyone being held prisoner was shackled, usually in trios, and seemed to have been heavily injured in their captures due to the lack of treatment that many had seemed to have gotten. Some parts of the trios chained together were dead. Chain gangs sometimes had one or two of the three members chained together no longer amongst the living.

No one there seemed to have been interrogated though (see: tortured), but every last one of them seemed completely terrified of being in their current position for some reason.

Kiba reached for the bars but got a nasty shock for his trouble, "Ow! Damn it." He complained as he shook his jolted hand out, "How do we get these guys out? It's not a seal doing this. I think it's a generator."

"We need to find it, even if it will take some time." Shino said, analyzing the prisons. Even though he was very level-headed on the surface, his hive of insects were buzzing internally along with his temper at seeing living beings subjected intentionally to such conditions. He sorely wished for the dark soul that had masterminded this to pay dearly for it.

For one of them there was something else wrong with the situation. While there were plenty of people there, numbering past the fifties, there had been more reported as taken. Many more. Kiba hadn't smelled enough blood while they had been going through it for all of those people to have been executed, and capturing all of those people just to kill them seemed like a complete waste.

Hinata couldn't see any other place in the entire base that held prisoners. What they were seeing before them was it. So what the hell had happened to the others? Apparently being dead wasn't important enough for the cells to be cleared of people, so what was going on?

"Ah, more ninjas from Konoha. So you've just decided to come be a part of my experiments instead of me having to send out underlings to capture you? How thoughtful. I don't know if my jutsu will work on a dog however."

The voice was so smooth. So confident, so smarmy and sure of himself, mocking content of the words aside. And he was the origin of the snake smell from the perspective of Kiba and Akamaru. Just upon hearing his voice, many of the prisoners backed away as close to the wall as they could to keep away, even though they were behind bars.

It was a pale white man underneath a dark red cloak that concealed his entire body from view. His head was covered in a hood with snake's eyes on it, but underneath his skin seemed to have a scaly sort of consistency to it.

"What are you?" Hinata asked, taking a step back after she got a good look at him with her 'all-seeing eyes'. Underneath the robe there were two snakes wrapped around his waist that were apparently a part of his body, and there were so many different sources of DNA spliced into his physical makeup that it was hard to tell what was an actual part of him, "What kind of person would do that to their body, and why?"

"Aww… I'm so upset that someone as beautiful as yourself doesn't remember me Hyuuga-san, even though we only met a handful of times years ago." The grotesque young man said feigning despair, "Although I guess that was the point. I never really wanted to leave an impression until I was on my way out of that village of yours."

Shino stared closely at the man until he got a great glimpse underneath the hood of the cloak and saw a very particular set of glasses on his face. While glasses by themselves weren't very particular, something about this man made them stand out as if they were a trademark. As a matter of fact in the bingo book that was something to look out for when searching for this person in particular, "Kabuto Yakushi."

Kiba turned to Shino and then back to Kabuto out of surprise when he started chuckling, "The guy that spied on our village for Otogakure before the invasion during the chunin exam? What the hell? He's the boss?"

With a grandiose bow, Kabuto postulated in front of the trio and ninken, "The word 'boss' is such an underwhelming word for what I'd call myself. Welcome to my working laboratory." Standing up straight his smirk seemed to be splitting his face it was so wide, "I see you've found my supply of trusty test subjects. If you want to hop into the cells along with the others that would be fine, but it's a little more complicated than it looks. You probably knew that by now though."

Shino just pointed one accusing finger at Kabuto, glaring at him from behind his sunglasses, "You're the man controlling Sasuke Uchiha through the Edo Tensei aren't you?" Kabuto's laughing was the only answer he needed, "What are you doing? Is Otagakure an affiliate of the C.N.F.?"

"No, no. Nothing of the sort." Kabuto assured him laughingly with a wave of the hand, "The leader of the C.N.F. is not someone that I would see eye-to-eye with. And all of his talk of being God gets so tiresome. Honestly, the only reason he has as many villages with him to fight as he does is because they all know the legends of the Rinnegan and when he smote Sunagakure it scared them all into line."

Tobi was much more interesting as far as Kabuto was concerned. And while they weren't allies either, he wanted to see just what that man would do, what depths he would delve to in order to get what he wanted out of the clusterfuck that the war had made out of his original plans.

He was not going to interfere though. He found it much more entertaining to watch things like this transpire from afar.

But first he had to kill these intruders, and then watch Sasuke finish off Jiraiya.

"If you kill me, the Edo Tensei jutsu will never be released." Kabuto told them as a diversion to disarm them before honing in on the weak link of the team from his viewpoint. From underneath his cloak the long white snake that was connected to his body shot out at Hinata with his fangs bared to bite down on her with incredible speed.

It dawned upon him that Team 8 probably had a very high level of teamwork between them, but he didn't think they'd retaliate without missing a beat the way that they did.

"Mushi Kame no Jutsu (Insect Jar Jutsu)!" A swarming dome of bugs covered Hinata and blocked Kabuto's snake from harming her, something Kabuto wasn't going to risk touching lest he wind up getting insects on him that would drain his chakra. Before Kabuto could even get it back close to him, both Akamaru and Kiba were on both sides of him poised to attack.

Claws and fangs were poised to shred Kabuto to shreds before he managed to pull off one hell of a Kawarimi, involving him literally shedding his skin to avoid being cut to ribbons by Kiba and Akamaru.

Disgusting? Yes. Effective? Absolutely.

Kabuto cackled as he slipped away scot-free and quickly vacated the room, leaving the prisoner's chamber behind and the three hostile Konoha ninjas within, "You have two choices! You can either leave and die with Jiraiya at the hand of Sasuke Uchiha, or you can venture farther inside and die by my hand directly! Either way is just fine with me! Both ways just test my new power in different ways!"

XxX

(Jiraiya vs. Sasuke)

Not too far away, Jiraiya was thinking on just how simple it would or would not be to seal away Sasuke Uchiha. He was completely indestructible as he would instantly regenerate any injury that occurred. For goodness sake, Jiraiya had made him the center of the most catastrophic forest fire that he'd ever been a part of and he came walking right out.

And he was still locked in mortal combat against an immortal foe.

"You're Naruto's sensei aren't you?" Sasuke asked, his body involuntarily moving as he lashed out with strike after strike to injure Jiraiya, missing each time, though he was getting closer and closer to landing with his taijutsu, "Yeah, you are. I remember you. Though you had two arms back then."

Jiraiya blocked a kick with his forearm only to duck when Sasuke flipped upside-down and aimed a second kick with his second leg at his head, "Guilty as charged. And what can I say?" Jiraiya said as he stepped forward with a kick using his wooden sandals, "You don't need two arms to kick a little ass."

The kick missed and Sasuke quickdrew his sword, almost spilling Jiraiya's guts had it not been for the man's hardened battle instincts. As he jumped back to gain some distance, he was startled by Sasuke following him closely.

Sasuke stayed on him, constantly trying to stab at and cut him, somehow able to keep track of Jiraiya's movements well enough to keep in step with him. Jiraiya was able to stay just outside of the reach of the tip of Sasuke's sword. Despite the fact that he knew what he was doing with that thing, Sasuke's chokuto did not have the reach of a katana.

But what did Orochimaru do to him before he wound up killing the old snake off? This was ridiculous that he was this advanced, that he could match his every step. His timing was killer. Every time Jiraiya's foot touched the ground Sasuke's touched along with it less than three feet away.

He couldn't advance any closer, but that wasn't due to any sort of fear of reprisal from Jiraiya. He had already learned that there was no jutsu Jiraiya could use on him that would kill him, so he could be as tactically reckless as he wanted to be in order to land a blow that would debilitate the legend.

They had to have moved a complete two miles through the woods, consisting entirely of the movements Jiraiya dodging Sasuke's sword attacks entirely. Eventually the two of them moved outside of the forest and into a terrace of rice paddies that had been recently abandoned due to the war just in case.

It was here that Jiraiya managed to gain the distance that he so desired. Despite what he had said earlier, a one-armed man in an ass-kicking contest was at a disadvantage, and it wasn't like his opponent was unarmed or bad at taijutsu in the least.

"So I'm assuming that you're a bit sore at me for being the guy that trained the guy that killed you." Jiraiya commented, eyes directed on Sasuke's torso and legs instead of his eyes, "Well let me just say that I didn't train him for that. That being said… you ran away from the village and joined Orochimaru."

"I did that for one reason." Sasuke replied, "I did it to get enough strength to kill Itachi, and Naruto's interference took that away from me. So while this isn't really the kind of circumstance I'd like, it still gives me the chance to take something important away from Naruto the way he took my own purpose away from me right in front of my eyes by killing Itachi."

"He killed you, and you're more pissed off about him killing Itachi? That doesn't make any sense."

"He killed me, but that doesn't matter since I'm here now aren't I?"

Yeah, as a zombie soldier slave. But semantics probably didn't matter as long as you got what you wanted out of the situation. And killing Jiraiya to piss off or break Naruto's spirit was probably pretty high up there in the list of things that an undead Sasuke could want with his current station.

And that smirk on his face really didn't sit well with Jiraiya.

"You know being dead gives me a lot of advantages, even over someone such as yourself."

"Oh? Do go on. I'm listening. Honest."

"Any injury I suffer heals immediately. I'm basically immortal. I can see why Kabuto wants to try what he's planning with the Edo Tensei jutsu. It's really not a bad idea at all. I wonder why Orochimaru never tried it. It would have solved his immortality problem."

Wait what? Kabuto Yakushi was the one summoned Sasuke's soul back? Orochimaru's spy master of an assistant? Okay, that actually made sense. He had been Orochimaru's right-hand man, and he was a medic so reanimating dead bodies would probably have been something he was interested in.

But Sasuke didn't let him dwell on that as he continued to speak, "I can survive and reform from absolutely anything that happens to me. I don't feel any pain. I don't run out of chakra. So I can do anything I want to without having to worry about the consequences."

Jiraiya didn't like the sound of that. He liked the sight of his own blood on Sasuke's sword even less once he held it up. Looking at his elbow, Jiraiya saw that it had been nicked in the extended swordplay that he had been dodging. The resulting hand-seals from Sasuke got Jiraiya to curse aloud. He knew them well as if it were like walking or breathing, thus he quickly bit his thumb and made the move to match it.

'He's actually going to summon him? Why in the world-?' Jiraiya thought before slamming his palm on the ground just as Sasuke did, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

Massive plumes of smoke erupted, covering nearly a mile of landscape before they vanished, giving way to the gargantuan creatures that they signified the appearance of.

Even standing atop the head of his closest summon in Gamabunta, Jiraiya couldn't help but sweat at the fact that Sasuke had summoned his purple-colored serpentine equal; Manda. Summoning Manda was dangerous even for someone at a kage's level.

"**What the hell?"** Manda's voice boomed imposingly, **"I explicitly remember telling every fool under contract to NEVER summon me again no matter what! Not unless they were willing to offer up their own lives as payment for my service!"**

From his own place on Manda's head, Sasuke slid down to stand right in the middle of his face to shoot him a challenging look, "I would… but I'm already dead you see. If you feel like fighting with the Shinigami for my soul after I'm released feel free to do that. I just need you to kill him."

Manda would have devoured the insolent boy had he not already known that he only would have tasted ash and dirt all the way down, **"Edo Tensei. That accursed jutsu."** By then he had looked at Sasuke for long enough that ample eye contact was made to sway his opinion on fighting a battle, **"Assure me that this time I'll have the opportunity to finish off that wart-covered giant toadstool."**

"I can't stop until I kill Jiraiya anyway." Sasuke said, and apparently that was all Manda needed to lunge quickly at Gamabunta and Jiraiya. That and a little genjutsu-based influence never hurt either.

Gamabunta quickly drew his tanto and stabbed it into the ground as Manda came swiftly, fangs looking to take a chunk out of him. Manda quickly slithered around it and went for his bite, But Gamabunta pushed his entire body off of the ground via the solid hold his tanto had in the ground and attempted to drop down in a crushing body press on Manda.

He missed and the ground shook frightfully at Gamabunta slamming his tons of bulk on top of it. With a grunt Gamabunta watched Manda move away in preparation for another attack and addressed Jiraiya on his head, **"Edo Tensei? You're fighting someone you can't kill?"**

"I can still beat him." Jiraiya assured Gamabunta as both of them watched closely for another incoming rush, "I just have to do two things first." Neither of them would be easy, and first of all they needed to deal with Manda, "Manda isn't immortal though, so let's go ahead and kill him first."

"**I love how you made that sound like it would be easy."**

"It will be." Jiraiya said with a determined look on his face, "I need to get back to those kids. I can't let them deal with a monster like Kabuto alone. Naruto's told me about what he did with Orochimaru's remains. If he's bold enough to pull off what he's doing now he's got to have something up his sleeve."

He couldn't help but think about what Sasuke had alluded to.

Kabuto had come up with something involving Edo Tensei that was impressive enough for him to acknowledge it. Was Team 8 walking into a nest of reincarnated, invulnerable ninjas, or was it something worse?

No. Unkillable or not he had what it took to end this. All he had to do was get Gamabunta to finish Manda first. He'd never get to Sasuke to end this if he couldn't. There wasn't any time to save the tough stuff for dire straits. He had to make this as fast as possible.

Which meant that they'd be getting some more help.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

In the form of two elderly toads of opposite gender on each shoulder.

"**So ya finally got around ta summonin' us again eh Jiraiya-chan?"**

"**Took ya long enough! You youngins just don't fight wars like ya used ta."**

As was said before, he didn't have the time to screw around. Whether it was necessary or not was irrelevant. The toads were on his shoulders, his features began to change to a somewhat amphibious form, his fingers and toes became webbed, and warts formed on his face.

"Hate this form…" Jiraiya complained to himself, "…Hate it so much." Ugh, not important. There was a battle going on, "Ma, Pa, Bunta's taking on Manda. We're going for the kid on his head. He's an Edo Tensei revival."

Fukasaku glared out across at Manda and the small speck on his face, **"Orochimaru's dead. Who's fool enough ta use that accursed jutsu?"**

"Orochimaru's right hand man, but that's another story after we finish this. It's still important though." They couldn't kill him, so they had to get creative with how they stopped him, "We've got to subdue him. I've got a plan, but I need him immobilized first. We can do that, right?"

"**Who do ya think yer talking to?"** Shima said with a smirk, **"Ya think we're so old we need ta be told ta get serious? Ya don't ever summon us unless the gloves are off."**

"Well the gloves are definitely off now." Jiraiya said in return before addressing Gamabunta, "Get me close enough for long enough to get that kid. I don't care how you do it."

All Gamabunta did was chuckle darkly. He knew enough about the old snake across from him to know what he needed to do in order to get and stay close. It wasn't really advisable, but it was a request from a trusted friend who was dead serious about what was happening.

Manda stormed forth, slithering across the ground in an unreadable manner before using his incredible speed for a serpent his size to circle Gamabunta repeatedly. Gamabunta slammed his tanto down to cut through a portion of the snake's body, but that was what Manda wanted as he appeared at Gamabunta's rear, fangs poised to take a chunk out of him, **"Jiraiya-!"**

"I know!" Jiraiya had been watching Gamabunta's back as the easiest way to get Manda to stay close for long enough to reach the summoner on his head was to sucker him into lethally attacking, though this was dangerous because Manda was fully capable of killing anything in one move, "Suck on the combined awesome of my two pupils, taken to the next level by Jiraiya! Senpou: Cho-Odama Rasengan (Sage Art: Ultra-Great Ball Rasengan)!"

A normal Rasengan three times the size of his entire body hit Manda right in the face once Jiraiya leapt at him with the jutsu in hand. A violently pained hiss erupted from Manda's mouth as the snake was felled. That snake had some seriously tough skin. If that compressed chakra exploded it could have hollowed out a mountain.

As Manda's head fell like a towering tree, Sasuke turned back and proceeded to run down the back-end of his body fell while it fell in segments to hit flat on the ground. The titanic summon's body coiled back up and burrowed underground to escape Gamabunta before his toad adversary could finally make good on his threat to skin him and make a wallet out of him.

However he wasn't as safe as he figured he was in his tactical retreat. Now Manda had a determined Jiraiya on his body underground as well as Sasuke who probably couldn't have cared anymore about Manda's safety even though he was his summon.

All of the chunked-up earth flying in Jiraiya's face while Manda continued to dig around underneath the battlefield didn't deter him a bit as he continued to run down the length of Manda's body in search of Sasuke. Quickly locating him, Jiraiya didn't waste a second in launching another attack. Sasuke tried to lash out at him with his sword, but Jiraiya instead kicked him in the face and neck with his wooden sandal hard enough to obliterate his face and everything above his shoulders.

As he expected though, the mishmash of dust and ash reformed flawlessly in the appearance of Sasuke's face. The kick hadn't been to try and injure Sasuke though. It was all meant to get him away from Manda so that he could initiate the next phase of his plan.

And this was the picture-perfect location for it.

Seriously. Jiraiya couldn't have manufactured a better setting for what he needed to get done.

Landing on his feet, Sasuke stared impassively at Jiraiya as if it didn't matter that the theater of the battle had changed from the fresh outdoors to the interior of a hastily made tunnel created by a giant snake, "I guess I've solved the mystery people have been the answer to for years. A one-armed, handicapped Jiraiya is stronger than a bedridden, sickly Orochimaru. Congratulations."

"Well thank you." Some dead brat's sarcasm wasn't going to get to Jiraiya. He'd lived through the times where half of the trash-talk that ninjas these days used was invented. He was in control whether Sasuke knew it or not, invulnerable to fatal injury or not.

He'd heard about Sasuke's techniques from Naruto when he talked about the three-way battle he'd fought against the Uchiha brothers and he knew full well that he'd managed to cut off Sasuke's coup de grace that had blown up an entire fortress in a flash. He would not be forming the clouds for Kirin underground.

Sasuke would not let Jiraiya even begin to make more hand-seals however. Not before he did anyway, "Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu)!" Sasuke fired a massive dragon's head of fire from his mouth right at Jiraiya who had no room to dodge inside of the tunnel.

'Never fight an Uchiha without countermeasures for fire.' Jiraiya thought to himself as he opened a prepared scroll and hurled it forward at the fire while he made one-handed hand-seals, "Fuuka Houin (Fire Sealing Method)!"

Now that was something that irritated Sasuke, seeing his jutsu get absorbed into a scroll. It reminded him of how Naruto managed to overpower his brother's jutsu. A jutsu that he himself didn't know if he could have overcome, even with all of his preparation. But he'd never get to prove it. Naruto had taken that from him by sticking his nose in their business and killing them both.

"I'm going to kill you, just to make him feel it. Just to make Naruto feel a bit of my hatred!" Sasuke shouted, raising his voice for the first time since he'd been brought back to life, "What business did he have killing Itachi?"

"Naruto didn't kill Itachi." Jiraiya said as the flames finished being sucked into his scroll, "He only killed you. Itachi survived that battle and died later in a battle in the desert. That was where they found his partner so they assumed he had somehow died there too. They found his blood." That whole mess with Danzo disappearing was something else. It was the Bermuda Triangle of battles, because no one that walked in wound up walking out.

Sasuke's eyes widened at that bit of news. When you were dead you weren't exactly up-to-date on current events. They didn't put out newspapers or bingo books in oblivion. But that bit of information hit Sasuke like the coldest chill.

In his mind, Itachi still walked the planet as the real final Uchiha, strange masked man notwithstanding. And if he had a real internal constitution he probably would have been physically ill at the thought.

Jiraiya did not hesitate to make his move. The hand-seals couldn't have flown fast enough before he slammed his palm on the ground, "Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari (Summoning: Toad Mouth Binding)!"

The tunnel transformed into a fleshy esophagus-like area. The flesh began to grow over Sasuke's feet and ankles to try and hold him in place. He managed to rip the limb free, but it held him in place long enough for a move to be made.

On Jiraiya's shoulder, Shima formed the ram seal and her tongue began to grow larger, expanding from her mouth with a carnivorous face on it complete with sharp teeth. It flew forward and ensnared Sasuke around his body, pinning his arms to his sides.

Jiraiya himself closed the distance between himself and Sasuke before smashing him into the wall and holding him there as the wall engulfed him and pulled him in. To Sasuke it reminded him of what happened when Orochimaru tried to take over his body. Only there was no countering this one with his Sharingan.

As soon as he was engulfed to a satisfactory extent, Fukasaku pulled out a sealing tag in Jiraiya's stead since the man himself had been using his only hand to hold Sasuke in place and slapped it on Sasuke's chest before it was fully covered up by the fleshy wall.

"I can't kill you." Jiraiya said as the only thing left even slightly uncovered was Sasuke's face, "So until I find an actual way to release you you're going to sit pretty in another dimension in this toad's stomach."

The only way he was getting away was if someone could get that tag off of him, and the only way to do that was to get inside of the nearly indestructible stomach of the toad that Jiraiya had summoned. On top of that, only toad summoners had control of the wall, and there were only two of them, thus only Naruto or Jiraiya could get him out.

All Sasuke did was stare dead at Jiraiya as the rest of his face was covered up by the wall, "Hm." His mouth was covered up as well, and that was that. Jiraiya couldn't have dismissed the Toad Mouth Binding and started running out of that tunnel fast enough.

Dealing with Sasuke was one thing for someone like him. Team 8 dealing with Kabuto Yakushi on their own, souped up on Orochimaru cells and who knows what else, with the power of the undead at his command was something else entirely. And they were playing on his field.

XxX

(At Sea – Off the Coast of Hi no Kuni)

The ship manned by the Kumo shinobi transporting Naruto back to his home country so that he could return to Konoha didn't have a single person that could keep themselves from staring in awe and nigh horror at the sight of Suigetsu, the size of a damned biju and getting bigger, albeit slowly.

It became abundantly clear and equally forgivable just why Kirigakure hadn't been able to get any ships to the mainland to assist with the war effort with this man patrolling the waters. Poor bastards probably never had a chance.

"We're so dead!" Chakra attacks weren't going to work on him. That much had already been proven. Not only had Naruto already tried it himself, a few intrepid allies from the ship had tried their best shot and had failed.

"If we stay around here our ship's a target for collateral damage!" Another ninja said, "Even if that guy never tries to target us on purpose at all! How much space can his jutsu cover if he's that big? What do we do? And what about Kirabi?"

Their attention turned to the other side of the ship and found him contesting with Juugo, "…I really don't think we have to worry about him."

And that indeed seemed to be the case. As intimidating as a murderous Juugo seemed to be and as intense as his chakra was, it was still a matter of just who he was fighting and trying to kill. Someone that no one else really needed to worry about.

Honestly, for a crazy person he couldn't have picked a worse target to zero in on.

A blast from the water signified another attempt of Juugo to turn Kirabi into paste that had failed.

"**Shouldn't you be more worried about the water kid that's **_**still**_** getting better B?"** The Hachibi chided as its jinchuuriki moved backwards across the water muttering to himself.

"Oh just chill, we've got time to kill." Kirabi said as he wished he could have out his notepad to write some lyrics. That wasn't really a good idea in the water where waves were constantly moving around, "…Crazy-ass guy… no fan of my rhymes." He muttered to himself before shaking his head, "No, that ain't any good."

"Die!" Juugo shrieked as he attacked with his full body's skin turned dark grey with multiple extensions from his special technique.

Figuring that this was enough of that since he was getting absolutely no worthwhile musical inspiration out of the fight, Kirabi tapped into his biju's chakra cloak, engulfing himself in dark red energy with four tails of chakra forming that caught Juugo's limbs and held him prostrate for an attack.

"All that power and no real skill?" Kirabi said as his tails pulled Juugo in while he rushed forward, horns of chakra forming on his right arm, "Against Hachibi-sama that'll get you killed! Rariatto (Lariat)!" A fully transformed Juugo took a nasty full-armed hit to the neck and chest that blew away part of his back on impact.

The power of the Lariat sent his body flying and skipping across the water until it slammed into the hull of the ship just underneath the water like a torpedo.

"Whoo!" The veteran jinchuuriki cheered for his own battle efforts. Blood was already beginning to show in the water where Juugo had hit the vessel. If the Lariat itself didn't completely wreck his body, being stuck in the side of a metal transport certainly wouldn't help, "Lord and master of ALL I survey!"

Now maybe he could sit back and watch what kind of ninja Naruto really was. It was his first time seeing his Konoha counterpart in a real battle. And while he probably should have jumped in to do something about the opponent that he was facing, in all honesty he found it way more interesting to see what Naruto would do about it.

That didn't make him a bad friend did it? Of course not. He was just making sure that his comrade was capable of living up to the lofty expectations he had established for himself.

Yes. The fact that he was going to get to see a pretty good fight to boot was just a consolation to his good intentions.

In a show of grand speed, Kirabi quickly boarded the Kumo ship once more and sat down facing the gargantuan Suigetsu and the diminutive Naruto currently locked in combat. He was not pleased though, "Hey! That's the wrong way! Go back!"

The ship was trying to get its distance from the battle… for obvious reasons. The strongest Kumo ninja amongst them was not having any of that though.

"We can't stay too close to that or he'll sink our ship just like all of the others that came from Kiri." One of the sailors said as to their reasoning for moving away from the fight.

"I don't care!" Kirabi stated firmly, smacking his palm on the deck repeatedly, "Circle around the edge and we'll be fine! We've gotta watch out for Mister Nine!"

"Why don't you just help him then?"

Turning around where he was sitting to look over at the exasperated Kumo nin that had asked him that question and realized that a bunch of others on the ship wanted an answer too, and were quite serious about it, "…'Cuz I want the best seat for the show."

"Fuck it." The captain ninja of the ship said, palming his face as he headed back for the helm, "Turn the ship around. If we die out here at least A will kill B for letting it happen."

XxX

While he was cursing the fact that he was fighting in such a predicament, Naruto supposed it had been a while since he'd been presented with a puzzle of a battle, and he was well overdue for one. He knew his luck wouldn't hold out forever. He hadn't been in a situation this dire in quite a while.

There was at least one mystery solved though. The mystery of why Kirigakure hadn't mobilized and gotten a landing force to reach the mainland of the Elemental Nations yet. A lot of good water-based ninjutsu would do when you were fighting someone that could merge with it.

'So I can't hurt him by hitting him or cutting him, and I can't shock him to death or hit him with any ninjutsu because he can absorb my chakra.' Naruto thought to himself and the Kyuubi as he darted out of the way of Suigetsu's Hiramekarei sword. Sage Mode and Sharingan was a killer combination for evasiveness, 'I can't seal him, and genjutsu? Ha! Any ideas?'

"**Other than what I already said about FINDING OUT WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING YOU IDIOT! I have no input to give you at the moment."**

'Don't bitch at me you nine-tailed jackass, because after this I will never swat flies with the same intensity ever again! What good are _you_ doing right now?'

"**I'm the reason you're in Sage Mode and can still move around at the same time."**

'…Other than that and backseat driving, what good are you doing right now?'

"You know." Suigetsu said in a booming voice fitting of his size that disrupted Naruto and Kyuubi's conversation, "I actually don't hate you at all. That's Karin's thing. And Juugo's too since he felt that Sasuke was the only person that could keep him from losing control. But me, I was interested in all of this because you beat Sasuke _and_ Itachi, at the same time you badass you."

"It was really more of a draw between me and Itachi." Naruto said as Hiramekarei almost instantly transformed its shape into something else other than a giant sword, "And oh my Kami, what the hell is that!?"

"**A giant flyswatter. Huh… are you getting a sense of irony here too, or is that just me?"**

There wasn't any time to yell at his chakra creature as he had to maneuver himself through one of the holes of the Hiramekarei flyswatter. Once again, he had to love that evasiveness. Naruto reached into his on-hand supplies and slapped a special tag on the Hiramekarei blade before making a ram hand-seal to bind the chakra to the blade until someone took it off.

So he could affect the chakra of Suigetsu's weaponry, but not Suigetsu directly. Good to know. Not that it mattered now that Hiramekarei was far too small for him to hold. It was like a normal person trying to wield a toothpick as a sword, and it fell from his hands into the water.

Naruto then proceeded to make like an angry bee and fly directly at Suigetsu's head. More specifically his right eye.

If he couldn't get him from the outside, why not try the inside? Everything was weak on the inside.

Much to Suigetsu's annoyance and displeasure, Naruto punched right into his head through the eye and stopped at the middle of his head. He wanted to go all the way through to burst his head like a watermelon, but his momentum stopped there. That water was dense, 'Okay. He's pure water on the inside. I was hoping for something a bit more… vulnerable, but whatever. Maybe I can shock him or blow his head apart from the inside?'

"**Not particularly. You couldn't blow your nose in here from what I can feel."**

An attempt to build chakra for a jutsu, any jutsu, failed. Extending his hand for a Rasengan failed equally as hard. Chakra couldn't touch him at all or it'd be drained? He was stealing the chakra right out of his body.

"Heheheheheh…" Suigetsu grinned toothily at feeling Naruto's chakra revitalize his system, "This chakra is really unstable. If I didn't have something that could neutralize and filter transformed chakra you might have hurt me with your pure stuff going right into me."

Damn it! He could steal senjutsu chakra? Bullshit! What jutsu could do that?

And the consistency of that water was thick. It was like trying to swim through oil. So now it was just a matter of how long he could hold his breath for. Okay, the plan had failed. It was time to get some distance and try to come up with something new.

Eventually reaching the back of Suigetsu's head, Naruto found that he couldn't free himself. He couldn't generate the same force inside of Suigetsu to punch out the way he had punched in, "Oh you're just flailing away in there aren't you?" Suigetsu taunted as the water that comprised his jutsu and his body sucked Naruto's reserves of chakra dry, "I wonder how long the Kyuubi can even keep this up for. Samehada was always the best weapon someone could use for fighting a jinchuuriki. There's no chakra it can't absorb."

Even cutting and stabbing at the edge of the watery prison with his sword did nothing. Naruto had to do something quick or he was going to run out of air. Losing his chakra wasn't an issue. Kyuubi was giving him a direct loan of senjutsu chakra so he could stay in Sage Mode for as long as he needed to, but couldn't hold his breath forever.

He had to stay calm. Each second was enough time for two ideas to flitter through his head and enough time to get a better look at everything around him.

Wait. What was that down around the core of the body? Didn't Suigetsu say something about Samehada? It was hard to hear since his ears were clogged with and he was surrounded by water. His hearing had been distorted.

But yes, he was sure that Suigetsu had said just that.

Looking down at the center right where the middle of the body would be, Naruto could see two somethings down there. As if he had any better plans at the moment. With that, he fought to swim his way down through Suigetsu's body.

With a great effort he eventually got close enough to confirm that Samehada was indeed sitting right in the middle of Suigetsu's body with its spines extended and wiggling about like nerves for the body. So that was what he'd meant earlier about using two swords at the same time despite the fact that only Hiramekarei was visible, and that was how he could absorb chakra just by being touched by it. Sneaky bastard.

As he swam closer to the sword, he saw a small blob of a creature that vaguely looked like Suigetsu's normal-sized head only more blob-like.

"**Well what do you know? You were sort of right. Everyone **_**is**_** weaker inside-out."** Kyuubi commented in amusement at the sight of Suigetsu on the inside.

Naruto couldn't help but stare as Suigetsu glared at him. So this was basically control central? And since he hadn't been attacked yet there was apparently nothing Suigetsu could do inside of his own body to stop him short of keeping him from leaving. At least without disrupting High Seas Swell, which would free Naruto anyway.

Throwing a punch at Suigetsu, he swam out of the way and Naruto directly swam down to the sword before grabbing onto it. He almost wound up drowning when he opened his mouth, surprised and in pain when the handle formed spikes that stabbed into his hands, 'To hell with that! I'd rather bleed a bit than drown in this place!'

With Sage Mode enhanced strength, Naruto ripped Samehada free from its own nerve extensions in Suigetsu's High Seas Swell body and it all fell apart back into the ocean like a waterfall.

None of the men onboard the Kumo ship had ever seen that much water fall from the air at once, and all started yelling fearfully when it caused a massive wave that headed their way.

"Oh hell no!" Kirabi shouted as he jumped off of the ship right at the wave and began linking up with his biju in the purest way possible, "Jinchuuriki-sama's g**ot this!"** The form of Kirabi changed into a massive four-horned bull with arms and a torso as well as eight gargantuan tentacles that serves as tails.

Amazingly enough, he had transformed into the Hachibi itself and had done so to block the entire wave with his body to protect the ship until the surge subsided.

The men on the ship cheered at their village's protector coming through, and never one to pass up a moment to soak in the adulation of his comrades, Kirabi bellowed in the beast's voice and held up one arm with the pinky and index fingers extended to the sky to mimic a pair of horns, **"Ye~~~~ah!"**

In the sky above the water, a thoroughly Naruto still held onto Samehada and stared at it angrily as it was still stabbing spikes into his hands, "You can stop that any time. You're not going to get deep enough to make me let go as long as I'm fortified in Sage Mode, and you can't suck enough chakra to make me drop it. If you keep stealing my chakra I will seal you into the blackest pit I can think of, so don't test me scaly!"

Apparently the monstrous weapon realized that resistance was futile and retracted its spikes. That was a good sentient sword. Kisame probably did something like that to scare it into obedience, and he didn't have any idea what Suigetsu had done to get control over it. He probably earned it by killing so many people over the seas and taking their chakra.

Speaking of whom, looking down, Naruto saw Suigetsu reforming his regular-sized body and staring up at him hatefully, "This isn't over yet." The second time. This would mark the second time that Naruto had directly or indirectly had contributed to him losing one of his swords. To be quite honest he was starting to take it personally, "I've still got all of my own chakra! Just because you stole Samehada and won't let it go doesn't mean I'm done. I'll take it back after I kill you!"

"Oh." Naruto said, pointing one hand at Samehada, "You want this?"

"You know I do."

"Yeah, I do." Without saying anything else about it, Naruto turned and hurled it as hard as he could, as fast as a missile, right at Kirabi who smothered it in his tentacles once it got within reaching distance of the rangy extensions, "Whoops. I must still have water in my ears… and my lungs, because I could have sworn you just said to hand it over to the gigantic bull-octopus thing."

"That's it, everybody dies!" Suigetsu shouted, snarling up at Naruto, "You're not safe up there!" He started rolling through hand-seals before stopping on and holding the bird seal, "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu)! It's time to send you crying home to your mommy!"

"My mom's dead."

"I know!"

The ocean began to churn all around Suigetsu except for a safe and stable portion that he was standing on. With a resounding crash of water, the sea began to fly up at Naruto with the force of a reverse-direction waterfall, "I'm still in my element!"

Naruto snarled down at his enemy as the jutsu had been forming and created two clones, holding out his hand with a Rasengan in it while the two others started manipulating it to their liking, forcing yellow and blue electricity to flicker off of it dangerously until it shrank to the size of a stone that Naruto was able to clutch tightly in his fist as more electricity crackled around it.

He could feel the muscles in his hand quivering and shaking intensely. If he hadn't been in Sage Mode that would have been around the time where he'd lost the feeling in the entire limb, just before losing use of it completely. Yes, he had to thank Jiraiya and the elder toads, "Yeah… about that. I almost drowned and got swatted like a fly today. I wasn't really a fan of that. And for the last month, at least, you've been keeping ships from landing that could help us end this stupid war."

"SO WHAT!?"

"One of my elements is better than your element, even if you have it everywhere around you! So it's a good thing you're made of water, because I hear you get really thirsty in hell! Raiton: Rasenriseki (Lightning Release: Spiraling Marble)!" With that, Naruto let fly with the little pebble of compressed lightning chakra that violently let off uncontrollable snaps of electricity all over the air.

It still didn't look that threatening to Suigetsu who had sent his jutsu up to overpower it, "That's not how my clan jutsu works ass!" His shout died in his throat as he watched the little lightning ball dissolve every last drop of water that came into contact with it and the neverending frantic volts it kept letting off.

It looked as if a large spherical path was being cut through his very wave without stopping it a bit. Cutting wasn't even the right word. It was as if the water simply vibrated into inexistence once it got close enough to be touched by the electricity. But there was no way. It didn't even look that strong. It was just a little pebble of chakra.

So why could Suigetsu feel a stinging inside of him, even on the inside of his mouth?

"B, get out of the water!"

Kirabi didn't need to be told twice as he could feel a sting in the air without being anywhere near whatever jutsu Naruto was using. Biju or not, the Hachibi form had already lost a horn to a human's jutsu in the past. If he was told to get out he wasn't going to push his luck for no reason. He transformed back to normal and landed on the deck of the Kumo ship, still holding onto Samehada as he did so.

Suigetsu found he had less feeling in his body over the course of the three seconds that it took Naruto to shoot the jutsu and for it to reach him. From a slight discomfort, to feeling like his muscles were gelatin, all spongy and impossible to move with the sensation of pinpricks running across every nerve-ending he had.

He wasn't going to dodge this. And turning to water would only make it all worse. He opened his mouth to yell, but nothing came out before it hit him, and it didn't stop there.

From above, Naruto had the view of the Rasenriseki's effects. It continued on down deep into the ocean as if it were digging a hole through the water before it instantly cascaded down over it and covered the tracks of his jutsu. It would keep going until it hit something solid and traveled a small bit farther. So that meant the ocean floor.

"Mister Ni~~~ne!"

Looking down and over at the ship, Naruto could see the dark-skinned, white-clad Kirabi waving at him spiritedly and moved on down over to him as he landed on the deck and was greeted with a fist bump that he actually was fully willing to return with a smile after deactivating Sage Mode.

He then proceeded to punch his fellow jinchuuriki in the head, knocking him face-first to the deck, "You fucker! You watched that whole thing _and_ transformed and I had to come up with the most convoluted way to beat someone I've ever used!"

"Gah!" Kirabi got back up rubbing his head but other than that barely showing the effects of the 'tap' that Naruto had given him, "Mister Nine don't be mad! You showed that watery bitch who's bad!"

"I got a ton of chakra drained and almost drowned and in his head." Naruto recalled, "That's not really the coolest way to win a fight!" He then noticed the bleeding body on the deck stuck with eight swords, "What is that?"

"The crazy guy." Kirabi explained, poking at a lifeless Juugo's body with the foot of his sandal, "I thought I killed him over the side, but he was trying to bide his time. Tryin' to get a shot when my guard was down, but a real ninja's senses are always abound!"

"Why are you still holding Samehada?"

"The little dude likes me!"

"…Okay, yeah. Let's go with that."

It was as if Naruto could still feel eyes on him and he turned to where the pirate ship from before had been where the battle had more or less begun as it was sailing away in an opposite direction. He already knew that the Karin girl was staring at them, and more specifically him if she was a sensor of a high enough level to find him on the open seas.

One of the Kumo nin put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Hey, don't worry about them. That Suigetsu guy was their muscle. Without him they can't hold any kind of blockade. Let the Mizukage get a pound of flesh back off of them." He said with a grin, ecstatic at a naval victory like this. Kumo wasn't used to battles on the ocean, and it felt good to win one, "Man, Kiri's going to owe us huge for this one, yeah?"

Sure they technically lost two of their swords in Hiramekarei and Kubikiribouchou, but hey they weren't gone forever… they were just lost at sea. Maybe. And then Samehada seemed to like Kirabi, but that wasn't their fault. For all intents and purposes they just saved Kirigakure from being blockaded in. They were fucking heroes and when they got home the Raikage was going to give them all medals and hopefully vacations and a kiss from Mabui.

Naruto nodded noncommittally as he couldn't hear the man's thoughts while he had been thinking them. Focusing instead on his own, "They're not going to get that girl though."

"Why not? She's not strong at all. She's just a sensor."

Yes, a sensor that could feel anyone moving on her location half a day in advance if she really reached out for it. Karin didn't really need to be strong if she could avoid any potential battle to begin with.

But that wasn't the only reason. She didn't have to be strong to know how to live for another day.

"Because my clan has a really bad habit of surviving things like this."

If she hated him after killing Sasuke, what was it like now when he destroyed her entire team mean to kill him, with her teammate at his strongest possible point? Either way, when the war was over if she wanted to try her hand once again he'd be waiting.

It never ended after all.

"Can you guys just take me to Hi no Kuni already?" Naruto asked, turning away from that direction and moving off to start getting a report together in advance for his return to Konoha. They weren't far from the coast, "I really just want to go home right now." As fast as he could get there.

XxX

(Miles Away From Konohagakure no Sato – Konoha Strict Correctional Facility)

It was the most amazing thing that any of the prisoners had ever seen. It was also right up there with the most alarming and confusing.

One man walked right into the prison, past all of the guards, past everyone. They simply let him in, right through the front, and left him alone as he went through the facility. The Konoha ninjas posted there to protect the place just let him pass until he could unlock all of the cells from the control room.

All of this was done by one strange man in an odd mask with a spiral pattern and one eyehole. He asked for nothing in return nor gave any conditions to his releasing of them. He merely let them all go, and there was no one trying to stop them.

"That went well." Tobi said to himself as he stood around with the prison guards around him in the control room, "That went very well. It took six hours to replace the guards and take over this place. This should divert enough attention to empty out the rest of the village. It seems that while it's not perfect, the White Zetsus' substitute transformation was good enough to bring this place down."

Everyone released would be making their way as far from Konoha as they could, and that would cause a serious stir across the countryside that would not slip notice of the village meant to be responsible for them.

These weren't just criminals, missing-nin and the like. Due to wartime state, prisoners of war were transported there to be held as well. A complete jailbreak would definitely get Konoha to make some kind of venture to run damage control.

And from there he would move his White Zetsus into the village. There was a home guard kept back to protect the village, consisting of a good number of upper-level shinobi and many, many genin that were all ready to defend the village, but this wasn't meant to be a true battle either way.

All Tobi wanted was one thing from this endeavor.

Well, two things actually. But both of those lay behind the big gates of Konohagakure no Sato, and he was not there yet. He still had to be careful.

"So close." Tobi said as he could feel the presence of the original Zetsu move behind him, "When is the soonest that we can move the army into position? I didn't risk keeping them near the village in case this went south."

"You want a third of them for this right?" The white half of Zetsu asked, "Enough to give them a scare?"

"Right." Tobi replied, "This is only meant for me to get something, and 1500 is enough to subdue the village's forces long enough for me to do that."

White Zetsu nodded in understanding. This was still the same determined man he had known for all those years, "Okay. I can have them all the way here from the Mountains' Graveyard in just over a day, another three hours if you want them mobilized to move on your command."

"That's fine." Tobi looked at the transformed White Zetsus disguised as the prison guard ninjas and figured that he couldn't try to use them to infiltrate the village to soften it up a bit internally, "Time is of the essence, but we can't rush this either. It needs to be done right or we could incur too many losses."

The people they replaced had been posted out there for an extended mission and weren't scheduled to switch out with another guard set for a few weeks. They needed to remain there for the time being to maintain the façade that everything was fine until it became certain that the game was up.

That was the way things were done if things hadn't changed since the last time he had anything to do with Konoha. It would be a big red flag if things started happening once people that shouldn't have returned yet arrived back in the village, and he was not going to allow his element of surprise to be blown because he had tried to get too cute.

He was danger-close to the heart of the enemy. And he needed to get what he came for by any means necessary. Things were slipping away. After years of tireless work, of moving things in every direction that had been mapped out for him, it was beginning to crumble. The achievement of the Eye of the Moon Plan seemed to be out of his reach, as if he had stalled out.

He felt like a man that had built a skyscraper intending to touch the stars, but no matter how high he went they were always at the same distance, and any sense that they were getting closer was just the thinning of the air getting to his head as he continued to build and climb.

Curse the Uzumaki Clan. He could see why Madara had lain things out in the past in order to see Uzushiogakure destroyed. A clan full of wild cards with a personal code that you could not manipulate at large, a will that you could not bend or break without ending their lives in the process.

"Nagato and Naruto." The masked conspirator said to himself and to Zetsu, "Who would have figured that a pawn and a target would have ruined everything just by being pitted against one another." Nagato should have just been able to capture him during the failed infiltration and that should have been all. Naruto would have been captured and set aside until the Kyuubi could be extracted.

Somehow he survived the crushing defeat at the hands of Nagato's Six Paths of Pein. Nagato, fueled by that victory over Naruto and Jiraiya, the destruction of a portion of Amegakure, and his own ego swelling at the constantly proven commodity of the Rinnegan and his growing power over it, started a cumbersome world war that made things even more difficult than before.

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered to Tobi, as long as he managed to get his plan together in the end. A few detours and a few things destroyed that hadn't originally been slated for punishment could be forgiven. Anything that was broken could be fixed under the influence of the Infinite Tsukoyomi. He'd come too far now.

He would bring that reality to the world no matter whose toes he had to step on in the process.

Or necks.

XxX

Outside of the prison a figure in a porcelain mask and a black cloak had a view of every prisoner that had been within Konoha's correctional facility making a run for it with no one stopping them.

The man with the mask seemed familiar. Everyone in his organization had been briefed by Sai and Maki about the appearance of the the man in the swirl-patterned mask, 'Madara Uchiha'.

Such an enemy was a close blade to the jugular of Konoha, "I need to warn Sai-sama about what could be happening." He said to himself as he quickly began moving back toward Konoha.

* * *

**That's all I've got for you this time, and I hope you enjoyed it. Hope things turn up good for you all. The world didn't end, so we've got that going for us, even though other bad things have happened recently. **

**I wish you all a Happy Frieza Day, and bid you adieu.**

**Kenchi out.**


	65. Scorched Earth Policy

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. For all of the colorful antagonists that Kishimoto created to fill the roster in the Naruto series he's really going to close out the series with Madara Uchiha, who seems blander than all hell compared to literally anyone else he could have used in that role. I don't get it.

I guess that's why I don't make the big bucks though. Reason for everything it seems.

**Chapter 64: Scorched Earth Policy**

* * *

"You have to be kidding me." Tsunade said, standing up with her hands planted firmly on her desk. Her normal swiftly beating heart that she had whenever at work going over the needs of the village in these wartime conditions was now beating ten times as fast. The reason being that she had just been presented with some incredibly startling information in regards to the war effort. Close to the homefront actually, "An attack on the village? That's impossible! We've got scouts all over Hi no Kuni's countryside!"

They should have known full well, that if there was anything suspicious they'd have a messenger hawk back in their roost so quickly the enemy wouldn't know that they were compromised before they wound up paying the price.

But this came from the more… clandestine portion of the Konoha forces. The portion that Tsunade had plausible deniability about the activities of.

"I'm telling you what our operatives told me Hokage-sama." Sai said, bowing on one knee to Tsunade, "The prison. And there isn't a much more fortified location to make for enemy HQ within strike distance of Konoha. Just over a day's count by his time which gives us eighteen hours left given how long it took for him to get the news to me and for me to get it to you."

And then they'd be upon them, hordes of grey beings that seemed to be a hybrid of plant and man if the reports were to be believed. But Root ANBU weren't subject to delusional exaggerations, so if they were telling her that this was what they had to face, this was what they had to face.

Thank Kami for a home guard force.

The bulk of Konoha's strength was indeed out at war on multiple fronts, but that did not mean that they were simply standing defenseless back behind the gates of the village. Even so, it would be an uphill climb. More time would have been better for them to prepare.

"I wish there'd have been more warning." Tsunade groused, walking from behind her desk, heels of her sandals clicking on the floor, "But eighteen hours are better than three. Or none at all. Good work Sai."

"Yes Hokage-sama." Sai said, taking that as his cue to stand back up, "What are we going to do?"

The prisoners had been freed and allowed to run for it through the countryside, but only as a diversion. A diversion that Konoha would have taken the bait on once they learned of the escapes were it not for Root laying out the new scenario. They would have to take a risk and send out a squad or two of ANBU to feign a search and retrieve/destroy mission, but that could work out for them later behind enemy lines once the fighting began.

There were a few options available to them, but every action had a negative to it for every positive it would bring. They could move out a fighting force to meet them in open battle in the space of land between Konoha and the prison, but if they wound up beaten the retreat could turn into a rout and the village would subsequently fall.

They could try to directly attack the prison itself with their own element of surprise, but mobilizing what they had in-village into a strike force comprised mostly of genin and less upper-class ninjas, home on temporary leave, on such short notice was a recipe for disaster. Also, much like had already been touched upon, the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility might as well have been a fortress in of itself.

So that left the stalwart defense of the village. Only now, village defenses were souped up and better than any other time before in history when they had been threatened with invasion. Even with a depleted ninja population in the village, they had defenses, contingency plans, and then some, ready to deal with any number of intruders set to attack them.

For the possible destruction it would cause, defending the village itself was probably the best option for dealing with this. Buildings could be rebuilt. Civilians could and would be evacuated to safety regardless of whether the attack reached the walls or not. This was not the issue. The issue was of this whole mystery force. Where did they come from and how did they get so far into the country before being found?

Did it really matter at this point though?

"A man with a swirl-patterned mask covering his entire head walked into the prison as if he feared no reprisal." Sai reported with a furrowed brow, "I believe it's the same man that we bore witness to retrieving Sasuke Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha's bodies after the fight with Naruto-senpai due to how he appeared."

The Madara Uchiha person that Naruto's clone had warned her about back during his period of roving that followed his and Jiraiya's defeat in Amegakure.

"I don't like any of this." Tsunade said, "But I'll tell you what. How many of your Root are inside of the village?"

"Most of them. Over 2/3rds." He wasn't going to go into detail on just how many that happened to be in numbers because the entire point was for her to know things like this on a need-to-know basis, but it was a direct question nonetheless, "We send out squads for particular mission across the fronts."

Maki was already getting those of them there prepared for battle as it were. They were more prepared for what was going to happen than anyone else in the village at this point in time.

"Excellent." They wouldn't be able to call back whole divisions from as far away as they were fast enough in 18 hours to do anything other than arrive to see parts of the village still smoking in the aftermath, so Tsunade had to go with what they had, "We're going to need them for this. You're aware of the basic plans for village defense?"

"Yes ma'am." Of course they were. Someone very, very important to their de facto leader Naruto had been the one to completely revamp the whole system for the future, so if anything they'd been privy to the changes before any other entire organization in Konoha, "We know what to do."

XxX

(With Naruto – Hi no Kuni Countryside)

No need for sleep or rest of any sort. He'd gotten enough of that on the ship the rest of the way to the mainland. After the battle at sea with the remnants of Sasuke's old team, Naruto bid Kirabi farewell and left the poor Kumo crew to the fate of sailing back to Kaminari no Kuni with the rapping jinchuuriki.

Unfortunate bastards.

Either way, he had to get back to the village and get enough rest to prepare for his next mission. The frontlines probably awaited his return once more when he wound up being dispatched again, but on which battlefront?

In the northeast the stalemate had broken with the C.N.F. with Konoha and Kumo grinding that region up between the two of them steadily. In the northwest, the thick woods in Kusagakure-held territory made the battleground for Konoha to constantly drive back the enemy to the village itself. It was only a matter of time ever since Takigakure bowed out of the war 'inexplicably'.

The west was quiet, and with the blockade at sea dealt with, Kiri would probably be joining the fray within the next few weeks once word was sent that the ocean was now open for them to sail to the mainland once more.

Where would he be sent to next? He didn't know.

He just wanted to get back to the most peaceful place within his reach at the moment and return to Konoha. There was a lot that he had to report to Tsunade about, there was a lot he wanted to talk to others about. He wanted to inquire as to the well-being of his friends that were spread out all over the Elemental Nations at the moment.

His legs couldn't carry him home through the skies fast enough for his own tastes, even while utilizing Sage Mode and his Burst Limit jutsu for skywalking. He'd get home faster than a normal ninja that would have taken two days, but even splitting that time in half wasn't good enough.

It didn't matter. He'd be back behind those walls in a safe place before he knew it.

XxX

(Ta no Kuni – Hidden Otogakure Base)

A growl came from Kiba as they pursued Kabuto deeper into the tunnels of the Oto facility, "Where is that bastard running to?" He complained to his teammates as they continued on. Hinata's Byakugan and Kiba's and Akamaru's noses had them well informed that there were no traps there, so what was the deal?

"I think he's heading to the control room." Hinata chimed in, "He knows we've come for the people he's captured."

"Are they really that important that he didn't just leave?" Kiba asked another question, feeling his ire raise. Treating their comrades from Konoha like this was one thing, but he was only getting angrier and angrier after Kabuto had ran away like the slimeball that he was.

"Why retreat from one's own lair when he has the advantage of knowing his battlefield?" Shino answered in turn, possibly defending why Kabuto remained below ground instead of abandoning the base as many a high-ranking Otogakure ninja was known to do when they found their defenses breached.

But for someone that seemed so confident, Kabuto had no booby traps, or any underlings to try and trap or fight them. He'd even freely given them the chance to leave altogether.

"More guts than brains I see."

Team 8 stopped upon reaching an open chamber with very low lighting and a massive statue of a coiled serpent on one side of the room. Sitting right on top of its head was Kabuto who was no longer concealing his upper body with his cloak. His form was unsightly, covered in white scales, and the white snake that seemed to be a part of him was indeed that; extending from his navel as it coiled around his body somewhat. This much Hinata had already seen with Byakugan, but even so, it was still rather unnerving.

"I don't know what all of you think that you're going to do." Kabuto said casually, slowly standing up on the head of the snake statue, "Even with all three of you, even with flawless teamwork, you simply don't measure up. You have to know that."

"Know what?" Kiba bellowed at the eerie Kabuto Yakushi, "All you've done since we found you is dodge and then run like a coward!"

"I just didn't want to kill you in front of the audience of your peers in the prison block." Kabuto reasoned happily, "I wasn't aware that showing you the common courtesy of allowing you to save face amounted to cowardice."

Kiba was about to charge forth and try to attack when Shino prevented his teammate from doing so. Even though it was on the head of a statue, Kabuto had the high ground, and he wouldn't have gone up there if he wasn't entirely prepared to handle them from that position.

"As intelligent as ever." Kabuto said in regards to Shino preventing Kiba from launching an attack on him, "But not fighting isn't going to solve your problem. After all, aren't you here to rescue my captives? And how will you do that if you won't go any farther or confront me to release them?" Shino's response was to push his glasses up on his face before a second Shino descended from the dark ceiling on top of Kabuto, 'Hm, he created a clone to attack me with.'

Before the Shino from above could reach him, Kabuto sped across the entire room at breakneck speed from his perch directly at the trio of chunin that were caught flat-footed by the sudden approach. With one mighty lunge he seemed to pick his target in the slowest of the three in Shino, seemingly morphing into some snake/human hybrid with jaws wide open to snap into him.

Prior to reaching him however, Kabuto chose to take a straight nosedive into the ground where he seemed to merge with it, "Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu)! Hehahahaha! Did you really think I'd fall for that? A triple feint sending a clone to attack while doing so in a manner to make me believe it was you? Not creative enough!"

Even with a substitution that was practically flawless.

"I don't know!" Kiba said merging with Akamaru in a gigantic two-headed wolf form, "Seems like it worked just fine to me! Garouga (Fang Wolf Fang)!" The combined Kiba and Akamaru savagely rotated loud enough for the sound of tearing wind to be heard. Barely touching the ground chunked up the floor ten feet down, thus turning his jutsu into the ultimate auger that tore the floor to shreds.

It was only a matter of time as every inch of the chamber's floor was pulverized by Kiba and Akamaru. He couldn't stay hidden down there because Kiba and Akamaru would be able to locate him by scent, even underground. Kabuto would be forced to reappear. Unfortunately for him, Hinata had been able to see him the entire time, and the second he surfaced he never had a chance.

'He's in range!' "Two palms!" She cried as her hands swiftly struck Kabuto to disable his movements, allowing her to freely follow up with more, "Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou (Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms)!"

Sixty-four rapid-fire blows landed all over Kabuto's body, and his face remained stuck in a twisted form of horror as he swayed and began to fall over.

"Just kidding!" He shouted as he suddenly stopped himself and the snake from his navel quickly lashed out to wrap around her throat, "That was a hell of a try though! Lure me underground, dictate me into a position of your choosing and then finish with taijutsu! Your generation of graduates really produced the best I've seen come out of Konoha in a long, long time!"

"What the fuck!?" Wolf-transformed Kiba shouted in his warped, voice, "She hit every strike! How did he get up from that, and so fast?"

"Ingratiating Orochimaru's remains wasn't the only thing that I did to myself." Kabuto said, coils of the snake tightening around Hinata's neck, "With the DNA of another shinobi that I know and did extensive experiments on, I was able to replicate his ability to liquefy portions of himself. Her internal attack did nothing." He boasted as she actually coughed up blood from being strangled so hard.

"Hinata!" Kiba cried out, breaking his dual transformation with Akamaru out of sheer horror, "Let her go!"

"I already gave you all the chance to leave." Kabuto replied casually, despite the fact that he was choking the life out of one of their teammates, "I don't need to keep you alive. I already have enough bodies to waste on sacrificing to experiment further with the Edo Tensei, and I don't need your DNA either. There would be no benefit in resurrecting the likes of you."

"That's what the prisoners are for." Shino said, making his presence known to possibly deter Kabuto from threatening to kill Hinata in case he were attacked, "Living sacrifices to activate a forbidden jutsu. Just what have you been doing here?"

"Doing what I need to in order to cement my name as the greatest. To perfect myself and to let the world know who I am."

"What are you talking about?"

"Of course you wouldn't understand." Kabuto said, adjusting his glasses on his face as he continued to speak to Kiba and Shino as if they were children, "Even if you didn't have your own identities, you have that of your clan. You've never had to question or try to understand who you are. I've had to search for and find myself, through constant self-improvement." It was why he attached himself so readily to someone like Orochimaru, "And I've discovered through all of this that I'm the only person in the world with the potential to equal the Rikudou Sennin. I'm one step short of becoming perfect!"

"Are you-…" Kiba started to say, looking at the increasingly more maniacal Kabuto questioningly, "Are you losing your mind? Equal to the Rikudou Sennin? Becoming Perfect? Start making sense or I'm gonna-!"

"You're going to what Kiba?" Kabuto asked mockingly, "Kick my ass? Don't fool yourself into thinking that the only reason that you're not attacking me is because I have Hinata." He made a show of moving his snake so that he was holding the slowly suffocating Hyuuga up in front of his body, "Even if I didn't have her, there wouldn't be anything you could do to beat me. Honestly, it's child's play dealing with all of you."

"Funny. I was about to say the same thing to you."

Before Kabuto knew it, his snake had been severed and he'd been punched so hard that he flew across the wide-open chamber into the massive statue of the snake, bringing it crumbling down to the ground.

Hinata sat up on her knees on the ground, clutching at her bruised red neck and coughing sweet, sweet air back into her lungs after a prolonged period without it. Feeling a shadow standing over her she looked up and bore witness to her temporary savior, "J-Jiraiya-sama?"

"Shame on you." Jiraiya said, still holding up the hand that he used to cut off Kabuto's snake and subsequently punch him in the face. With Fukasaku and Shima still sitting on his shoulders and his features still possessing some toad-like qualities, it was clear that he was still in Sage Mode, "Not only for threatening such a lovely young creature, but for making me have to show off this grotesque form of mine in front of her."

He was then thwacked on the head by the female toad sitting on his shoulder, **"Stop insultin' Sage Mode Jiraiya-chan! You know better!"**

"Holy crap." Kiba whispered under his breath as Akamaru whined at his side, "He has _how_ much chakra boy? That's… insane. That's like Naruto-level chakra. Well, not really, but still, people aren't supposed to have that much and have it be that intense!" Intense enough to actually change the physical appearance of his body.

"Are you alright?" Jiraiya asked the others, no more signs of humor or good nature in his voice as he did, "Sorry I left you alone for so long. The last little situation was more of a problem than I thought it would have been."

"So you still have enough fight in you to overcome an Edo Tensei revived Sasuke?" Upon hearing Kabuto's voice again, Kiba and Shino moved near Jiraiya and helped Hinata back up as she continued to recover as fast as she could, "I guess I really underestimated you after all Jiraiya, but I didn't want to use the _good_ Uchiha on you. I've got other plans for him."

"He doesn't sound injured at all." Shino pointed out, staring into the rubble that used to be the prominent snake statue in the room, "What will we do now?"

"I'm fighting him." Jiraiya said, holding his only arm and hand up in a half-ram hand-seal as if to prepare, "You three free the prisoners however you need to do it and leave. That's an order." At this point if they stayed they'd only be in the way, "It's not your time for a battle like this yet."

Kabuto moved himself out from what had been meant to be the burial ground of his body with nary a scratch on him, much to the surprise of everyone but Jiraiya. He couldn't afford to be stunned by the would-be resilience of his opponents. Kabuto had been rather impressive for an unassuming shinobi even before he'd turned himself into a freak show.

Now with the genes of Orochimaru and who knew what else in him, what else could he be capable of?

None of Team 8 wanted to leave Jiraiya alone. With the lack of an arm came an air of vulnerability, even if it was one of the most powerful men to ever hail from their village. Especially since Kabuto was waving goodbye, which wasn't making the choice to leave any easier if only because of that smug bastard's outlook on the entire situation.

Still, a stern look from Jiraiya marred with killing intent let them know that this was not up for debate.

"You think I'll just let them leave?" Kabuto asked laughingly.

"I know you will." Jiraiya replied almost casually, outright calling Kabuto's bluff, "Because if you take your eyes off of me for one second you know you won't be getting back up. You regenerated that snake thing, and that's cute. Let's see if you can regenerate your head after I rip it off."

And that was their cue to leave.

As Jiraiya expected, or coaxed Kabuto into doing with his words alone, the last remaining Otogakure power in the ninja world allowed them to leave, "You really do have a real soft spot for the 'next generation' don't you? So why would you want to go and try to shut down the brightest prospect for the future?"

"Who, you?" Jiraiya asked derisively, "No, you're not the brightest prospect. There's a difference between learning from the ones that came before you, and what you're doing. You're bastardizing the hard work of people like Orochimaru."

As much as he hated his old teammate for what he wound up doing, Jiraiya would openly admit that there wasn't anyone out of the three Sannin that worked harder at what he did while in Konoha than Orochimaru. And he doubted that he lost such a thing upon leaving the village. Kabuto had screwed up his own physiology with splicing the DNA of others into his own body to gain their abilities.

Why? For what purpose?"

"You don't get it?" Kabuto asked with a laugh, "It's trial and error! Everything I've done, all of it, has been leading up to what I'm about to do! All of it was necessary for me to take the final step, to achieve what Orochimaru-sama could never do! He wanted a perfect body, well with my mastery of the Edo Tensei I've not only discovered the way to obtain that!"

"**What is this boy babblin' about?"** Fukasaku questioned before realizing that something was wrong. He could feel something familiar in the room, and it was coming from Kabuto, **"He didn't…"**

Before Jiraiya's eyes, Kabuto gained dark pigmentation around his eyes and darkened sclera and four horns growing out of the back of his head, "You didn't think Sage Mode was exclusive to toads alone did you?"

Honestly, it was awfully hard to hide his surprise at seeing Kabuto Yakushi of all people having achieved such an ascended state. Had he not been a direct enemy, this would have been something that he would have had to outright praise and laud. Naruto getting Sage Mode in the way that he did was one thing.

Kabuto getting it for snakes was something else altogether.

"I figured Orochimaru would have been the one to discover the way to pull it off first." Jiraiya said, standing more warily in the presence of his foe now.

"Orochimaru-sama did know Sage Mode." Kabuto said, reveling in the feeling of the senjutsu chakra running through him, "He just couldn't use it because he didn't have access to a body strong enough to sustain the form. You're lucky to see this."

'He can gather senjutsu chakra and move all on his own?' Jiraiya thought to himself, wondering how such a thing was possible. Naruto could do it, but his workaround was a bit unique in that regard.

"**So this is yer perfect body?"** Shima crowed from Jiraiya's other shoulder, **"Sage Mode **_**ain't **_**perfect. You live longer, but yer not immortal. Ya can still die of old age and injuries in battle."**

"I never said anything about this being my end-all though, did I?"

That confident look on Kabuto's face… it was irritating. Like he had a secret that he was just bursting at the seams to spill forth, but knew better than to do such a thing to someone like Jiraiya. Confidence in his abilities or not, he knew that Jiraiya was enough to stop it if he knew about it.

Even so, Jiraiya still had to ask out of his own curiosity, "Then what is it?"

"It's not important." Kabuto said with a satisfied sigh, content with managing to throw off such a renowned shinobi so completely, "Maybe if you're lucky though, I'll reanimate you so you can bear witness to my greatest triumph firsthand. Then you'll understand."

He wanted to tell him so badly, Jiraiya could see it. Well either one of two things were about to happen. He would either kill Kabuto somehow, rendering whatever he had planned null and void, or the ensuing battle would excite him to the extent that interrogating him would be simple.

For the life of him though, Jiraiya really hoped that things didn't pan down to the latter. Because from the sheer confidence that Kabuto was exuding, he didn't want to know what Kabuto had planned or have to come face-to-face with it.

A chuckle came from Kabuto, "Let's see which is superior; snake-style Sage Mode or toad-style Sage Mode." His hands took on a blue glow from Chakra Scalpels and he charged forward at a speed beyond what Jiraiya had been accustomed to when dealing with him in the past.

Fukasaku was the fastest to react, having kept a wary eye on Kabuto constantly since the latter had activated Sage Mode, "Zessensan (Fighting Tongue Slash)!" From his mouth speedily shot his tongue which seemed to be unlimited in length, right at the white-scaled enemy, but Kabuto was well-enough aware to dodge this, much to Jiraiya's displeasure.

Without Shima's own jutsu to first restrain him it was difficult to hit a skilled opponent, and this one had the reflexes and awareness of Sage Mode to assist him even with that.

Several different lightning-quick attacks were made and all missed, 'You've got to be kidding me.' Jiraiya thought to himself as Kabuto got close enough to take several swipes at him with his Chakra Scalpels, 'Well it stands to reason that a snake would be quicker than a toad in Sage Mode.' It didn't mean he had to like it though.

When he realized that Jiraiya wasn't going to be hit with any of his strikes, Kabuto exited the close range and stuck out his now serpentine tongue almost mockingly, "Three heads aren't better than one I guess." He quipped haughtily.

"You think?" This young man was almost too smarmy to stomach, but Jiraiya had to stay level-headed. Kabuto had been a dangerous enough ninja when he was merely Orochimaru's second, and he had to give him that much respect at least, "We'll see. Senpou: Goemon (Sage Art: Goemon)!"

While from his mouth shot a massive jet of oil, on both of his shoulders, Shima and Fukasaku both inhaled before letting go a similar torrent of fire and wind respectively, creating a large wave of burning oil that steamed Kabuto's way. Even in the room they were in, it covered a width of wall-to-wall as it went his way.

The yellow serpent-like eyes of Kabuto gave an eerie glow in the face of the burning oil bath. Turning around almost bonelessly in the motion that he used to do so, Kabuto darted away from the attack that would have marked his painful death only to find himself about to be cornered. Kabuto ran up onto the walls of the chamber to escape being burned and circled the entire room only to find Jiraiya still taking careful aim at him as he rounded the bend.

His untamed white hair grew and seemed to become a living thing with a mere hand-seal and application of chakra, "Ranjishigami no Jutsu (Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu)!" At the end of his hair it seemed to grow a mouth that snapped out towards Kabuto before actually catching him off of the wall and grabbing him, whipping him all about and slamming him into any surface it could reach.

As this occurred, Kabuto's body seemed to turn to liquid and seep through whatever grip Jiraiya's hair follicles had on him, "Compliments of the Hozuki Clan and the DNA of a young man I've had the chance to do experiments on in the past."

"Heh." Jiraiya chuckled with no actual humor behind it, "Did you splice a little Uchiha into you too? I can definitely see the power hungry part and the stealing other people's techniques thing."

"Your jokes are falling flatter than your attempts to kill me." Kabuto replied from a safe distance away, "But it's to be expected after all. Aren't you a proponent of the mindset that the next generation is supposed to outdo the one that came before it? I'm not a believer in that?"

A smirk came to Jiraiya's face and the faces of his toad counterparts, **"Ya hear that Jiraiya-chan?" ** Fukasaku said right by his summoner's ear but loud enough for Kabuto to hear easily, **"He's already talkin' about how yer better than him."**

"Indeed." Jiraiya said, stroking his lightly goateed chin with his webbed fingers, "Makes me wonder why he doesn't just give up if he already knows that though. I'll never understand these kids I guess."

Kabuto didn't rise to the bait at all. At least not in the way of showing anger. But he did in another way, "Absolutely. The generations that came before my own, in the old days, the bad days. The times when wars were just everyday things. Before your time even. Those were the greatest days. I want to match and surpass those legends. But I can't reach the Rikudou Sennin's body. So I had to go for the next best thing to make it my own."

"What are you babbling about now?"

A wide grin couldn't be hidden on Kabuto's face. It was the face of a man that thought he had figured out all of the angles. That he had everything right where he wanted it, all in checkmate.

"A perfect body, immortal and impossible to destroy, with the potential to learn anything and utilize any jutsu, past, present, or future." Kabuto said as if he were speaking to himself, "It was so simple, but it took a lot of research you see. I've gone through all of the necessary steps to ensure that it was possible, and I've found no reason to find that it wouldn't work. I'm going to combine the Edo Tensei with Orochimaru-sama's Fushi Tensei."

"You're going to take over a reanimated body?" Jiraiya visibly took a step back at the thought. Bringing the dead back to walk amongst the living was a perverse enough jutsu, as was taking over the body of another living person and permanently making it one's own.

Kabuto was going to do both at the exact same time. What kind of an abomination to nature was this destined to be?

"Whose?" Jiraiya was almost turned off from even venturing to ask the question, "Whose body are you taking? You want to be Orochimaru so bad, you're going to take his body?"

"That's thinking too small." Kabuto said, pacing around and tapping at his temple, "Only the absolute best body will do, nothing less than that is acceptable. Why go small? If that were the case I could have brought back any run-of-the mill shinobi and done this with them. But I won't. I want the best. The strongest that history is willing to take note of in any way. But since the Shodai Hokage is stuck firmly in the stomach of the Shinigami, I will take his contemporary, who is even stronger than he was in his prime due to my dutiful enhancements."

"…" Jiraiya was speechless. Even his often talky toad elders were stunned into silence, "Kid you've got to die." It was blunt, but he had no other way to put it. It was as simple as that, because he knew exactly what Kabuto was alluding to.

The only person that could be considered the contemporary of the Shodai Hokage would have been either his brother the Nidaime Hokage, or Senju Hashirama's ultimate lifelong rival. The most powerful Uchiha in the history of the clan.

He was going to use the body of Madara Uchiha, and he was going to steal it for himself.

Why wouldn't it work? The Fushi Tensei was meant to supplant another's soul with your own, and with the Edo Tensei you were able to garner control over a deceased person's body.

"You're not going to say that's impossible?" Kabuto asked condescendingly, "You're not going to say something about Madara Uchiha still being alive, thus making it impossible for me to reanimate him? I'm disappointed in your reaction. No panicking? With that power, I'll never be considered beneath anyone again! My legacy will be set before I even begin making my changes to this world!"

Oh he was panicking. He was panicking on the inside. He wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of showing that he was fretting about the whole thing in reality, because it was serious. A body with that much power that would never tire, never feel pain, would instantly regenerate from any injury. And with the soul and mind of someone as treacherous as Kabuto there would be no limit to what he would be capable of.

"I know Madara Uchiha isn't alive." Jiraiya said, trying to keep a strong face, "The masked man that used his name according to Naruto, there's not a chance that he would be the real Madara. We've already been over that in the village. But thanks for confirming it for us. We'll leave a footnote referencing you for the intel in the next bingo book. Posthumously."

"Stop me then!" Kabuto dared him openly, "You have one arm! You're a shell of your former self, and even at your best, as I am now I could still overcome you! Does that make you angry? Are you upset? Then prove me wrong!" His hands snapped together to form another hand-seal to prepare to continue the battle.

On the other hand, Jiraiya needed it to end. The amount of danger a man like Kabuto posed had been severely underestimated. He'd survived too many scenarios in which he shouldn't have. The fight outside of Tanzaku Town, Sasuke's overcoming of Orochimaru, the time he revealed himself to Naruto only to beg off with a Sharingan eye and information against Akatsuki.

It was about to come back to bite everyone.

Unlike with what happened against Nagato and his multiple bodies, he was not going to fail. He wasn't going to lose.

"**I hate usin' this jutsu."** Shima complained, before addressing Jiraiya, **"Jiraiya-chan we're gonna need you to buy us a bit a' time so our voices can synch up."** They knew that Kabuto was quicker than Jiraiya, and if it really came down to keeping him away at all costs while they were busy preparing their trump it could get ugly.

He said nothing, only focusing solely on Kabuto. This would only have one chance to work and he needed to make sure he kept his distance until it was complete.

Getting down on all fours his hair seemed to bristle up and sharpen before flying off at a constant, rapid-fire rate, "Senpou: Kebari Senbon (Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon)!"

As dangerous an attack as it was, Kabuto was still able to dodge. For all of the speed of the hair needles coming his way, the distance between him and the originator of the jutsu was simply too great for it to risk hitting him with the kind of speed boost and reaction ability that Sage Mode presented him, "I understand it now! Why the discrepancy between our Sage Modes are the way that they are! You haven't mastered it, which is why you require your summons, to build the senjutsu chakra for you. I was able to overcome that problem, another mark in my favor of being better than you!"

'You gloat way too much kid.' Jiraiya thought to himself as he was focused on driving Kabuto as far back as he could to allow Shima and Fukasaku an opening to do their thing, 'With Orochimaru being the one that was in command of you I can't dominate a ninjutsu war with one arm, and with you being quicker than me with those damned Chakra Scalpels I can't count on taijutsu to do the job either. Which leaves me with my worst facet of the ninja arts to win with.'

It was a good thing that it wasn't his jutsu that was going to lead to the finish then, because if it was he'd have screwed it up.

Kabuto was driven to the far end of the vast chamber, smirking to himself. Did Jiraiya really think that putting a little distance between the two of them was going to help him come up with a method to defeat him? Kabuto hadn't even come close to exhausting his repertoire of jutsu to battle with.

Jiraiya was just an old man that had overstayed his welcome anyway. The only use to the world he had now was after Kabuto killed him he could bring him back as Edo Tensei and use him in battle.

From the back end where Jiraiya was, Kabuto could hear disjointed croaking and he let out an involuntary hiss at the sound of the natural prey of the snake crying out as such, 'What is he up to?' Flipping up onto a wall, Kabuto carefully moved in the dark of the chamber, trying to mask his presence by blending his life force in with the residual air in the room. They'd been throwing around so much senjutsu chakra that the area was clouded in it.

'Great.' Jiraiya thought to himself as Fukasaku and Shima kept randomly croaking to try and synch up their voices, 'The fact that it was dark in here didn't matter much until he figured out how to mask his presence while in Sage Mode _from_ Sage Mode.'

Crawling to the domed ceiling overhead in the dark, Kabuto's tongue flicked randomly as he drew closer and closer to standing over top of Jiraiya, but that insufferable croaking! What was the point? Honestly he had no intention of finding out. Forming the ox seal while upside-down, Kabuto decided to turn the battlefield into his weapon, "Senpou: Muki Tensei (Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation)!"

The ground began to ripple and quiver as if it were breathing. The entire room did. Jiraiya felt the floor shift beneath him, giving way as if it were someone's body, but he wasn't trapped, so this wasn't like one of his own special moves that involved the use of spatially summoning a toad's stomach.

No, he actually brought the room to life.

The floor actually did begin grabbing for him, but he felt the change and managed to jump out of the way. The entire room began to sway and rumble, making waves of any previously stationary surface. Portions of the floor seemed to roll and fold over itself, trying to catch Jiraiya and sandwich him in to crush him.

He felt like a boat on the tumultuous seas, only if these waves took him under there would be no chance of resurfacing. He'd be crushed and kneaded like dough, mixed in with the floor.

Above, Kabuto felt victorious. Even if this jutsu didn't work, it would make Jiraiya an easy target for his next attack, 'The next generation is always supposed to surpass the ones that came before it.'

And then everything for him went dark.

The only thing he could hear was constant croaking, two voices in unison, echoing in his head. He found himself in a different plane of reality altogether, trapped in a cube of water that bound his every movement. Even his navel snake was frozen. Four gigantic toad samurai all stood guard outside of each corner of the illusionary box, "What is this?"

"The end." Jiraiya's disembodied voice said to him as the croaking continued, "Magen: Gama Rinshou (Demonic Illusion: Toad Confrontation Chant)."

A sharp pain slid itself into Kabuto's heart, and a second one through his neck to remove his head.

This wasn't supposed to happen. All of his planning. All of his experiments. He'd come so close to achieving the kind of thing that people dreamed of. Of reaching a level of power that no one in history would ever come close to duplicating.

In his own mind he had been just short of reaching what the Rikudou Sennin had been. He would have matched a man that today was thought of as myth. If only he'd had just a little more time.

XxX

(Hours Later – Konohagakure no Sato)

It was like a ghost town. There wasn't a soul wandering the normally bustling village streets that wasn't in the uniform of the wartime Konoha shinobi. There were more patrols and lookouts than were normally posted, even in wartime. Though late in the afternoon was an odd time for an invasion, every able-bodied ninja had been told that it was coming.

Plant people. What the hell was going on in the world when an army of plant people existed as an enemy for them to have?

Sitting unabashedly on a high tower in the village, Tobi looked down on his target town, just idly observing it all. Why was he to be concerned? It wasn't a real battle. He wasn't taking on the challenge of bringing Konoha down. It was all a means to an end.

And it was time to get that end started.

In a swirling vortex originating from the eyehole of his mask, he vanished inside of it without a trace.

Just as the first explosion could be heard in the village streets.

From the ground, White Zetsus started breaching the village only for many of them to be met upon their rise from the earth with fireballs from rooftop ninjas that saw them coming. Those that were able to move past the charred corpses of their unfortunate brethren engaged in battle on the ground with those willing to face them.

It was like that in many areas of the village. All over. White Zetsus would destroy any building that they were given free reign to take and would continue onward like a horde of barbarians.

They didn't seem to care about Konoha's defense strategies, but their numbers made it difficult to say that their approach wasn't justified. It wasn't that they were attacking without any strategy, it was that it came off as being so simple it came off as a matter of waves repeatedly crashing into the wall of a building. Eventually the waves would cease with the tide, but until then would the wall endure?

"Chouji, end of the block!" Shikamaru directed, shooting out tendrils of his shadow with Kage Nui no Jutsu to stab at any White Zetsu that he could reach, "You got 'em?"

"Bubun Baika no Jutsu (Partial Multi-Size Jutsu)!" Chouji's arm grew in size and length, allowing him to use it in order to literally sweep the street and smash fourteen White Zetsus away, "Alright, I'm glad we didn't get caught off-guard or anything, but where did these things come from?"

An oncoming rush of even more White Zetsus happened to be cut down by one of their own inexplicably, striking them fatally before they could realize that one of their kindred was the responsible party.

In another instant the Zetsu looked around in a haze, holding its head until a shadow tendril stabbed through its chest, bringing its life to an end.

"You really couldn't have waited until you saw my body move before killing the thing Shikamaru?" Ino complained as she got up from where her body had been laying for the duration of her Shintenshin no Jutsu, "What if I hadn't gotten out yet?"

"But you did. Stop being troublesome and keep fighting." He didn't need to be sidetracked with that kind of crap at a time like this, "I thought getting stationed away from the front lines would be less dangerous than actually being out there." A loud blast at the other end of the block got him and the rest of the Team 10 chunin to cringe and recoil at the shockwave that took out a building front and a good amount of enemies in the process, "Asuma, stop blowing things up!" He complained.

Their former jounin sensei walked away from the place of the explosion holding his trench knives in both hands as he looked around for more enemies that would possibly be coming their way, "There's no one in there." Asuma reasoned with a shrug, "Besides, you and a lot of the others in this sector corralled them together right there. What was I going to do, _not_ blow them up? Hell no. I've got a child I'm fighting for here."

Realistically, they weren't supposed to be resorting to blowing anything up. There wasn't a reason to, not with the village plan for defense, and it was only a matter of time until the crux of it came into play. They just needed to await the signal.

"Who the hell are those guys?" Ino asked in reaction to getting sight of something that she hadn't been prepared to anticipate in their defense.

She witnessed a tightly packed squad of black-clad specially uniformed ninjas wearing porcelain masks over their faces and dark cloaks. Upon finding a place with a good gathering of enemies a few would break off to assist the embattled Konoha forces in combat with them, but most would continue on, steadily breaking off more and more until nothing remained of the original group.

What was so familiar about those guys? There was something there that none of them could really put their finger on other than Shikamaru, 'These guys remind me of Sai.'

He knew Sai. They all knew Sai. Sai had started hanging around with them right around the time Naruto got promoted to jounin months and months ago. The fact that they used those same tipless tanto blades only good for cutting, just like Sai's, really drove the point home.

Who the hell were these people? For now either way they were helping out and paying serious dividends.

"Do you require help?" One of the ANBU-looking ninjas addressed Asuma directly while the battle was still taking place. It was a girl with neck length frayed black hair and two braids descending down her back. She had foregone putting up the hood of her cloak, but her plain white mask still sat over her face, "We're stretched rather thin all over the village, but those of us that are here are at your command Sarutobi-san."

She sounded rather young, but completely prepared for the situation nevertheless.

Asuma nodded, confused by the sudden arrival of this small mystery platoon that was deferring to him, but he took command of the situation as best he could, "Keep the enemy in this general area. Circle around behind them to cut off their attempts to spread out and run away until the signal. You know what that's going to be don't you?"

"Of course." The oddly blank masked shinobi said, "Consider it done." With that she took off for the roofs again with the rest of her comrades slowly breaking off to follow her.

Asuma stared after them before shaking his head and getting back to the battle at hand, 'Root ANBU still exist huh? Wonder how dad would feel about that one?" They were certainly helping right then and there though.

The pounding sound of a drum being slowly stricken brought the battle to a near halt on the Konoha side of things. The sound echoed out to the farthest gate of the village for every man and woman in battle to hear as clear as a bell.

Without missing a beat the streets started to clear with the gradual retreat of the Konoha defenders, much to the confusion of the White Zetsus. What was happening now? The confused hordes of plant men didn't know what to make of it. They went inside of certain buildings and simply kept them away while the drum continued to pound.

XxX

Countless walls began to rise up at intersections and in front of important buildings, cutting off squads of Zetsus from their comrades and confusing the lot of them. What kind of defense strategy was this? It wasn't going to stop the White Zetsus from doing anything. They could travel through the ground via the Mayfly jutsu, so moving through the village to the required locations they were directed to destroy still wouldn't be a problem.

What was the play supposed to be here?

A squad of White Zetsus managed to get out of the confined city streets, making it out into an empty park. They stopped for a moment to take stock of their situation for a bit before continuing on, "What's the deal? Tobi never said anything about something like this happening?"

"He said they'd lure us into the village so they could surround us and crush us, but not like this." They were prepared for the basics of Konoha's anti-invasion tactics, but there wasn't any counterattack coming, at least nothing that they could see. No one had tried to attack since the retreat had occurred.

"What does it matter?" A rather rowdy White Zetsu clone said amongst his brethren, "Screw it, let's just keep going!" If Konoha didn't want to fight back that was their problem, "Our division is supposed to move to the Uchiha District and get a foothold there, so let's-!"

He was cut off by the faint sound of thudding on the ground that seemed to get louder with every thump. The ground even began to quiver after a short time, and the reason for it was something that they hadn't been briefed on and most certainly never saw coming.

Large forty foot high statues, masterfully sculpted in the form of bearded, long-haired men wearing Konoha hitae-ates and old-time armor. Dozens of them.

"…Are those statues walking?"

Yes. Those statues were walking. And punching, kicking, and smashing any enemy that tried to bring them down. And there was one coming their way.

XxX

(Roof of Konohagakure Ninja Academy)

The best view for Tsunade to get in the middle of the action was from the top of one of the highest buildings in the village. Surrounded by a squad of ANBU and her personal guard platoon, she was able to observe the tilt of the battle.

"They're far enough in." Tsunade said to herself as she stood by a massive, hanging drum, "Alright then. Step two; Karakuri Hakke no Jin (Mechanical Eight Trigrams Formation)!" She then began banging on a specialized drum that activated a village-wide jutsu, bringing up tactically relevant walls that cut off the village into segments.

By itself this would do nothing but turn the village streets into a confined battlefield that would lead to an extremely specialized kind of fight, close-quarters. It would be a bloodbath on both sides judging by what the White Zetsus were capable of, due to their ability to form leafy blades and spikes on their bodies.

Unless there was something else up Konoha's sleeve for just this sort of situation. Something like a company of gigantic, sentient statues capable of neutralizing chakra at the touch patrolling the new maze of the village streets like Minotaur guardians in a labyrinth.

Right. That helped.

And Tsunade could already point out places where they had managed to corner White Zetsus, "I love that girl." She said to herself before initiating step three; after surprising the enemy with powerhouse ground reinforcements, reinitiate full-scale battle, repeat until the enemy is destroyed.

Simple, but with the elder Nara out in the forests around Kusagakure trying to bring that campaign to a close simple had to be effective here.

Another few bangs of the drum brought the walls back down and brought Konoha's standing home guard back out into the fray once more. At another time when Tsunade found it appropriate or got visual confirmation from the control central point of the village's remote defenses they'd be coming back up in a different pattern.

XxX

(Mountain Overlooking Konoha – Naruto's House)

Ever since moving into the new home that she had procured for her master during his extended time away from the village after the trouble in Amegakure, Hamako had managed to find many ways to stay busy.

It had all begun even before that, when Naruto had been on a near yearlong campaign of missions meant to procure himself a promotion to jounin. She'd assisted in shoring up the village's defenses, utilizing specifications that she'd learned back in her Uzushiogakure days years in the past and a few of her own that she had come up with.

Tactics had changed due to her own experiences from the fall of Uzushio and from Konoha's experiences in the Suna-Oto Invasion into something entirely different altogether. The only thing that remained the same was evacuating the citizens and suckering the enemy into the heart of the village.

A sloped table in the form of a street map of Konoha stood right in front of the grand main window in the living room, the same window that could oversee every little bit of the village. On it there were dozens of figurines in the form of the statues that were currently in the village. They slowly slid across the board, indicating the real-time movement of the full-sized versions actually fighting the battle.

"Oh my, it actually works!" A rather pleased sounding Hamako said as she was busy at work setting her towering stone soldiers about the battleground of the village. The white-haired seal master's fingertips danced over the board as her amber eyes kept looking up from the board to the window and back down, "This is the first time I've ever gotten to try all of these things at once."

This was the unofficial control central for the defense effort. Sure it was a big responsibility, but there wasn't anyone else that could do it, and what else would she be doing otherwise? She'd just be hiding inside of the mountain with the other non-shinobi citizens.

And it wasn't as if she was unguarded. Due to the importance of her keeping things going, the house was guarded by a squad of ANBU similar to Tsunade's, just in case.

"Okay." Hamako said, making several hand-seals before pressing her index and middle fingertips on a particular point on the map, "Clear Sector 7 of the Konoha shinobi and activate the area trap, send in Komainu-kun number 12, 31, and 36 to keep the enemy in place for the duration of the trap." With that she dragged the fingers of her free hand from the base of three statues and stopped in the same area that her first hand pressed on.

Looking down at the village she could see the three correct statues stomping their way through the streets to the designated place as Konoha ninjas left the area via the rooftops. The trap had obviously sprung in the meantime.

This was working better than anyone had probably ever dreamed when this was all put into installation. There was very little lag time between the commands and the actual actions taking place mid-combat.

A series of slow claps from behind directed her attention away from the battle at hand. No one was supposed to be in the house. Even the guards dispatched there for her protection weren't supposed to enter or even allow themselves to be seen on the property in order to hide the fact that this was where the defenses were being run from,

"Sorry, I didn't take my shoes off before coming in. You don't mind though, do you?" The arrogance coming off of the man was purely infuriating, but there was nothing that she could do.

"You." Hamako said, slowly walking away from the table, keeping her eyes locked firmly on her present 'company', "_Madara Uchiha_ I presume." The masked man that every person had been told about already as a wild card in the equation of the war.

Even if he wasn't the genuine article, he was still a ninja, and she wasn't. It was as simple as that. She was just a girl that knew how to use seals, this was a direct killer.

"Impressive." Tobi said, slowly walking through the front room of the rather sizeable home with his arms crossed over his chest, looking around, "Who would think to seek out the servant girl of a nigh extinct clan and village for something like this? What an important station."

So he wasn't there because he'd already figured that she was important to the battle effort?

"Then what do you want with this place?" Hamako asked, looking around for anything that she could use. She wasn't near the kitchen so she couldn't try to go for a knife or anything. She didn't have enough time to enact any sealing rituals with what she had on her, "What about the battle?"

"I don't care about the outcome of the battle one way or another. This wasn't done in order to destroy Konoha." Tobi said with a laugh, "The raid of the White Zetsus is only meant to allow me free reign to find this place." He turned his hand around to look at a little blood that had spackled his glove, "Those ANBU hiding around your master's property were amateurs. I guess the real ones are out in the field."

"Naruto-sama isn't here."

"I didn't say I was here for him did I? Not yet anyway. I've come for you dear."

Freezing in place, Hamako stared wide-eyed at the imposing figure that the masked man struck as he moved closer and closer to her, "What would you need with me?"

"The sword." Tobi said, taking another step toward her, getting her to continue backpedaling up the stairs and into the hallway, "The sword that he has in his possession. Tell me its purpose. The reason it was crafted and given to Uzushio. Why he has it. Why can it cut into the Kamui!?"

The Sen'nenki no Ken?

"It's his because it belongs to him. It's his birthright as a member of the Uzumaki Clan." Hamako told him, glaring while quivering the entire time, "If you want to take it you can't lay a finger on it. There are so many sealing arrays on it, some of which are defensive and won't let anyone touch them outside of the Uzumaki bloodline. It's beyond even me."

She had been leveling up her sealing knowledge just studying the damn thing whenever she was able to get it from Naruto and she still believed that she hadn't broken down everything that made the weapon what it was.

"I don't want to hear that from you." Tobi said, his Sharingan eye visibly glaring at her from the eyehole in his mask, "Fuuinjutsu is a lost art in a way. The masters of today couldn't hold a candle to the true masters of yesteryear. You're the last paragon of this breed so to speak, so I would advise you to tell me what I want, because I can just take it from you. Suffice it to say, you won't survive if I do."

What could you say to someone that wouldn't believe you when you told them the truth? But even if she did have the information he wanted, she wouldn't tell him a thing.

Hamako's mouth moved, revealing some of her top teeth until a bit of blood started running down from her mouth, "Biting out your tongue are you?" Tobi asked, "I'd wager that you don't have the determination to go through with it, but even if you did I don't need you to be able to speak in order to get the information out of you." She stopped and wiped at her mouth, sinking down to the hardwood floor on her knees, "Good girl."

"I wasn't trying to bite out my tongue." Hamako said, hair covering her face, "I was just biting my lip." She swiftly rolled through five hand-seals as easily as breathing before she pressed her hand down onto the floor, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

A puff of smoke shot up from the point of contact, much to Tobi's consternation, 'The girl has a summoning contract? She can't possibly believe that with her pitiful civilian reserves she has the ability to summon any kind of creature that can actually protect her from me.'

"Damn it Hamako-chan, I told you not to summon me home!" The sound of the rather scratchy young voice actually caused Tobi to panic. He had not been expecting this at all. How could she summon him? That was impossible, "You know you don't have enough chakra to use that jutsu."

"I'm sorry master, but I swear there's a good reason for it." Hamako said weakly. When the smoke cleared she was laying out on the floor in a heap, clearly suffering the effects of chakra exhaustion, "There's… a situation within the village that was being handled, but then this..."

A second didn't pass after his seeing her in such an exhausted state before he rushed over to her side and checked her vitality as best as he could given the circumstances. The sheer shock of putting herself into a state of chakra exhaustion like that should have ended her life. She wasn't strong enough to safely summon him. She knew that she wasn't already.

She smiled up at him before gesturing weakly with her eyes that they were not alone. Naruto knew this, but in his panic at her well-being he'd forgone attending to the enemy.

Naruto looked over from where he'd been summoned and quickly narrowed his eyes on the figure of Tobi, dressed for war and seemingly threatening his dear, devoted servant girl, "Oh, fake-Madara. I wanted to get some sleep and report back to Tsunade-baachan when I got back, but I can spare a few minutes to rip that mask off of your face and shove it up your ass."

"How did she summon you?" Tobi asked, backing away enough to get some ready distance from the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. At first he hadn't believed what had happened, "The only human I know that can summon another human is Nagato with Konan."

"She likes to fuck around with seals and things like that." Naruto said as he made a clone to pick up his kimono-clad concubine and carry her chakra exhausted form off to somewhere markedly safer than the main hallway of their home Preferably somewhere far away, "Months ago she wanted to see the toad summoning scroll so she could figure out how it worked, so I let her and she came up with a contract to summon me. I'm surprised she actually pulled it off and didn't kill herself." He actually sounded very proud of her.

Hamako wasn't a ninja and had absolutely no training or conditioning as a fighter in any way, shape, or form. Becoming a seal master didn't take much chakra, but utilizing ninjutsu on the level of a summoning did cost an exorbitant amount, especially when she was summoning someone with such a discrepancy of chakra compared to her own.

"I was planning on getting as much information on you as I could before finally moving to attack you." Tobi said, squaring off with Naruto in his hallway, "But I guess it's just as well that I have to do this now. You can't win anyway."

"You were the one that ran away last time." Naruto said, standing ready to do battle, "I don't know who you are, why you call yourself Madara Uchiha, or what your big problem is with the world that you made all of this happen, but I'm stopping it today."

"You're not ready to face me." Tobi boasted. This wasn't a bluff. He really believed that Naruto wasn't prepared. Sword or not, he still held too many advantages over him to be brought down by the young man, "Your servant summoned you to your death."

"Let's see." Naruto said, standing up straight with his arms wide open, "It's just you and me now. No stupid plant-man clones, Akatsuki's totally out of control, you're out of people strong enough to manipulate between us. Show me what you've got!"

He didn't know what he was getting himself into, and it made Tobi smile behind his mask, "Certainly. I'll let you make the first move. You'll need the handicap, and I'll teach you exactly why this is something that needs to be done."

Whatever floated his boat was just fine with Naruto. Without warning, Naruto reached for the sword on his back and lunged right at Tobi, his quickdraw slash being blocked by Tobi's war fan, "Why didn't you do your little ghost thing to dodge it?"

"You know why. Not that I need it." Tobi said, shoving his masked forehead against Naruto's hitae-ate before he phased through his body, "I can't touch it, but I can still pass through you." Naruto stumbled forward, but safety rolled and turned to face Tobi again, "You might have something that would enable you to challenge me, but your girl was telling the truth after all. She didn't discover everything about it, otherwise you would be using what was needed to win right now."

"I know enough." Naruto said, bringing his Sharingan into play as Tobi quickly made a move to attack him next, choosing to throw a projectile at Naruto that seemed to come from nowhere on his body, 'Wood?'

The attack narrowly missed, but Naruto's Sharingan eye bore witness to the projectile moving after it missed and stabbed into his wall. Before anything else happened, Naruto jumped straight up, using his body as a battering ram to smash straight through his ceiling and roof to get outside.

The reason for this was purely self-preservation. Tobi's wooden projectile expanded, instantly creating sharp branches that would have impaled him, as they effortlessly stabbed through the floor and the wall on the other side of the corridor.

From the roof, Naruto looked down through the hole in his house at the branches that would have run him clean through had he not moved, "That's Mokuton isn't it?" Naruto asked to himself, 'That's the Shodai Hokage's kekkei genkai isn't it? Why does he have it?'

"You're surprised." Tobi said, appearing on the rooftop as well in his swirling vortex of teleportation, "I guess Danzo never told you about the extent of his techniques otherwise it probably wouldn't have surprised you that I'm capable of it. Smart of him, because splicing Hashirama Senju's cells into his own body probably would have been frowned upon in your village."

"What the hell are you?"

"I'm no one. I don't matter." Tobi said before gesturing his hand out for Naruto to look down at his village currently engulfed in battle, "This doesn't matter." The smoke and fire in various places had Naruto enraptured. Tobi could have taken a shot at him, but he didn't want to. He wanted him to see it, to drink it all in and realize exactly what kind of situation he was in, "The only thing that matters is the Moon's Eye Plan. Only then will all of this end, not just for this generation, but for all others after it. It's the only way peace can occur."

Naruto snapped out of his trance at seeing his village being invaded and shook his head, "No. No, you want control."

"And Danzo didn't want to enact his own control in a different way? Danzo wanted world peace by way of Konoha dominating the ninja world and subjugating all of the other hidden villages to your village's whim."

"He was wrong too."

"You follow him. You look up to him."

"That doesn't mean I didn't think he was wrong!" Naruto exclaimed at Tobi angrily, "Your peace, his peace, Ero-kyofu's peace, there's a flaw in all of it! I'm not following any of them or you! I've got my own ways of thinking! I'm not just a tool the way you think all jinchuuriki are! I'm a ninja, I'm a man!"

"You're a weapon, and a means to an end." Tobi said coldly, "Your father stuck the Kyuubi inside of you as an absolute last resort, because otherwise I was going to take it from your mother. You think you have a choice? Or your thoughts and actions are your own? You haven't had a thought that was your own in your entire life."

"You're full of shit." Naruto chuckled with a grin at Tobi's expense, "You are absolutely out of your mind."

"Am I really?" Tobi asked before listing off reasons, "Your birth took place under the necessity of your survival revolving around the safety of Konoha. Your childhood was dictated to you by Danzo. Your Academy years, under the yoke of a seal meant to rid you of Danzo's influence. Your overreaching goal in life was slated for you, you didn't choose it. Even now you're so twisted inside, and you won't admit it. You don't know if you want to be a shadow or a hero."

Naruto's blue and red eyes glared intensely at Tobi at the mere inclination, "You don't know what you're talking about. I'll say it again."

"How many people count on you? The Hokage sends you off to break stalemates at two fronts all by yourself. Your little Root flunkies need you as a leader, a figure of inspiration to keep the machine moving while you rebuild. Even now, you're back here and you're supposed to solve _this_." Tobi once again drew Naruto's attention to the village, "Tell me Naruto, how much of that is done out of choice or out of a sense of duty?"

"I _chose_ this duty."

"But that's the thing. You really didn't." Tobi commented idly, "You were going to be a ninja no matter what. There's no chance that a jinchuuriki would be tolerated that wasn't a shinobi. Most jinchuuriki are related to the Kage of their village in some way in order to ensure they have a sense of loyalty to it. You never had a chance and you never had a choice."

This guy thought he was going to flip Naruto's way of thinking on its head with his snide little speech about how he was always meant and intended to fight this kind of battle for the village, "Danzo-jiji gave me the choice. I was too little to understand everything that went into it at the time, but it was still my choice. Just like how I'm choosing to blow your head off right now. Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"

Naruto linked his fists together at the thumbs and shot them both out in a punch that sent a powerful shockwave of wind flying Tobi's way.

"So quick to attack when you don't want to face the truth." Tobi said as he allowed the attack to pass right through his intangible body again, "You might as well stop and listen until I choose to fight, because you don't have what it takes to hit me otherwise."

He had a bit of a point, as loathe as Naruto was to admit it. Yugito's laser jutsu had been the single fastest attack ninjutsu Naruto had ever seen, and it didn't do anything to him when they'd come across him in battle-engrossed northern forests. But he wasn't about to let Tobi dictate the pace of the battle. He couldn't afford that.

This was a man that had Sharingan, Mokuton, and who knew what else up his sleeve?

Between the adjustment to using his Sharingan eye, the Sage Mode training, the mastery of the wind and lightning element types, the training that went into fashioning the Rasenshuriken and the Rasenriseki, the growth of his skills that came with the Amaterasu sealed in his arm, and all of that, he hadn't utilized the Sen'nenki no Ken in the real manner it was meant to be used for in quite some time.

And he had just recently discovered that he could bend the sword to whatever reality he wished for it. He looked at the sword in his hand. The Sen'nenki no Ken. It was the key to his victory, but it was dangerous to utilize the way that it was intended to be used. Unless… yes, that was a possible solution.

But he hadn't trained with it in quite some time with all of the other things he'd been learning. If his plan to stabilize the use of the materialization properties of the sword didn't work he'd be utterly drained.

"**Do not fuck around with this man Naruto."** The Kyuubi warned Naruto amicably, **"Madara he is not, but he was still powerful enough to bend me to his will and attack the village with me. This man is as dangerous as they come in your pathetic race."**

Feeling the flow of senjutsu chakra through him, activated at the Kyuubi's behest, Naruto instinctually began balancing it and entered Sage Mode. Apparently this was as deadly serious and personal as any fight his internal partner was ever going to be by his side for.

"**This is the man responsible for the death of your parents. This man is the entire reason that our fates were bound together. Do whatever you feel you must to win. Take his head, and don't show him a shred of mercy because I can assure you we'll receive none if we're defeated."**

'We? You're lumping us in together again?' That was a surprise. It had been peeved at him for months now. The Kyuubi was supposed to be a vengeful creature, and even when they'd put their beef on the backburner to work together when it was needed, it was just to preserve their lives, 'But you've been pissed off at me since the fight with Sasuke and Itachi. Nothing I could say or do really brought us back together, even when we worked out Sage Mode together.'

"**As much as I hate you and as infuriating as your transgression against me was during that battle, I can't find it in me to stay angry with you any longer. Not with this man staring us in the face. Kill him, let me see the light drain from his eyes, and we'll be entirely square."**

As Naruto's eyes changed, and the orange pigment around them formed, he thought to himself that this was a proposal that he had no problems with at all, "I was gonna do that even if you hadn't asked me to."

XxX

In the skies above Konoha, Konan bore witness to the battle raging on in the main village of the enemy Grand Shinobi Alliance. Her time roaming out to scout Hi no Kuni for Nagato was about to come to an end within a matter of hours, and she had so much to tell him.

But the blue-haired angel to God so sorely wished that she would be allowed to stick around long enough to see what would come of the battle between the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and the catalyst behind the ten-member version of Akatsuki.

To say that the outcome would be intriguing would not do the situation justice.

* * *

**Well here we have it ladies and germs. I would probably say that this story only has several or so chapters left in it before it'll be coming to a close, and I'll do my best to make them worth your while. I have my reasons for doing things the way I'm doing them, so just hang back and see what I've got left in the tank for this thing.**

**I've got quite a bit of woes and things I need to handle so my overall updating has been taking a backseat lately to me having to film and edit things such as a documentary that I'm currently slated to work on, so bear with me if you will. I haven't even been able to train effectively lately. **

**I want to give you the end of this story that has given me the bulk of my readers, and it'll mean a lot to me when I finish so rest assured you'll get an ending.**

**Now I've got to go set up some interviews with some psychology professors.**

**Documentary stuff you see.**

**Kenchi out.**


	66. Eye to Eye

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Ever had your car lock up on you while going 80 on the freeway? No? Then you don't know terror. Thank God I'm a learned enough man to handle situations like that without freaking out or I'd be dead.

Also, luckily it was 3 am, so there was really no one else out there.

**Chapter 65: Eye To Eye**

* * *

Naruto's clones were basically him. They knew that they weren't and were mostly subservient to Naruto when it really mattered, like in battle, but they had his mindset, they thought like him, they had his personality.

There was a part of Naruto's clone that was vastly angry with what he was seeing as he travelled through the village holding tightly to Hamako. He'd transferred some of his chakra to her to help with her exhaustion, which was the equivalent of squeezing a drop of juice out of a full glass when comparing their chakra sizes.

"Naruto-sama." Hamako said, still rather weak, but much stronger than she'd been in the house, "Please take me to Tsunade-sama. There's still a battle left to fight and our secondary defenses still need my guidance to work."

She had seen one home of hers utterly decimated before. Had been powerless to do anything other than flee and hide, and even then, when all of the others that remained in Uzushiogakure stood to defend their home to the last she was unable to.

That was not the case this time. She loved this village. And even if it was a diversion meant for Tobi to get to her, those fires were very real. The dead bodies in the streets were real. The panic was real. Everyone fighting was real, and while she was no shinobi, no combatant, she was someone that could do something to protect her new home.

Hamako Kiyomizu had fortunately given herself to a master that understood her fully.

"Okay." Naruto said, shifting his trajectory for the time being to run along the rooftops en route to the high point of the village buildings where Tsunade would be found in the middle of wartime, "You can summon your control board back to you without taking a big chunk of your chakra right?" She was still suffering from the superficial side-effects of chakra exhaustion.

"Yes, I can. Don't be worried for me master. I am more worried for you." She said earnestly, grabbing the collar of his Root top tightly, "That masked man…"

He was the reason for all of this. Everything that was happening today. And not just today either. Everything that had gone down with the Akatsuki, and so many things before that. He was responsible for the death of Naruto's parents.

"I know." The yellow-haired jounin didn't need to be told about any of this. He was already mad enough, but after seeing the village and hearing his concubine's words through his clone, after it dispelled he would probably be angrier.

Nothing more needed to be said between them as Hamako basked in the temporary comfort that Naruto could provide until they wound up on the Academy rooftop to find Tsunade surrounded by a direct ANBU guard.

The Hokage quickly took notice of them and a look of surprise came to her brown eyes, "Hamako? Naruto? I thought you were still a full day out?"

"She summoned me back when fake-Madara showed up at home." Naruto said, setting Hamako down to stand on her own feet, "The real me is fighting him up there right now." Tsunade's face took on a look of shock until a grave seriousness took over and she started cracking her knuckles, "Tsunade-baachan no…"

"You're giving _me_ an order?" Tsunade asked treacherously.

"Um no?" Good answer Naruto, "But what about the rest of the village?"

"You're his objective Naruto! If he captures you then he wins!"

"The village comes first! I'm just one ninja, and I can beat him! I'm good enough!"

"Minato was good enough! And look what still happened!" Tsunade shouted, getting even her ANBU guard duty to feel a bit of apprehension at the tone of the Hokage, "I almost lost you in Amegakure, and this is the man that was behind everything instead of Jiraiya's student Nagato?! No! I can't let you fight this masked man!"

Naruto stopped trying to make his points. Tsunade was serious. That was real fear for his wellbeing. It never ceased to amaze him. With a village full of people that she needed to care for, she still couldn't help but think about him like that. As Hokage that could have been a problem if it hadn't been a situation like this where he was actually a key, but he couldn't help but feel touched. He really did love that old lady like family.

Before Tsunade could keep ranting, she found herself wrapped up in a tight hug by Naruto's clone, faster than her ANBU had been prepared to anticipate. It stopped whatever she was going to say thoroughly in its tracks. Whatever she was going to say died in her throat right then.

He'd never hugged her before. At times she'd throw one arm around him fondly, and he'd never stop her. Sometimes he'd even lean into it. He never initiated the contact though. He was the closest thing to blood family that she had left though, but she could never let herself get too attached due to their positions in the ninja system of Konoha. She was his Hokage and he was her jounin.

Here she had miserably failed to keep that wall up any longer, and so had he in return.

"I'm going to win." Naruto's clone said only to her, unable to see her brown eyes reflecting sheer surprise, "Let me do this. I'm going to beat that guy, show his face to the world, and end it. _Please_. You've got to let me handle this."

Hamako kept her mouth shut, as did the ANBU guards, only doing their due diligence by keeping Tsunade guard and assisting Hamako in setting her control panel for the village defenses under her command.

"When I was first unsealed that was a hard time to adjust to… and I know I was a handful when you first took over as Hokage, but you put up with me and you believed in me." Naruto-clone continued to say, "I'm basically grown up now, and you've got to let me take a shot."

"If you lose-." She said, tightening her grip just a bit more in her concern.

"I _won't_ lose."

Before she knew it, Tsunade was holding nothing, as the clone had dispelled itself into smoke that drifted into the air.

Damn him. Damn that boy.

Her eyes flickered to Naruto's home on the face of the mountain that had a large tree sticking out of it and back down to the village before her that she was meant to protect. If this masked man was the center of this invasion, as Hokage she was meant to be the one facing him, even if she was a medic.

She bit her lip almost hard enough to draw blood before striking at the Mechanical Eight Trigrams Drum to shift the battlefield of the city streets into the next pattern, "Hamako focus your closer attack statues on Sector 19! The damned plant-men are holing themselves up in west past the waterway and using the bridge as a chokepoint!"

"Yes Tsunade-sama." Hamako said as she directed the intended Komainu statues at the orders of her Hokage. She was going to believe in her master, as it was the only thing she could do for him at that moment, 'Please be careful Naruto-sama.'

If he lost and was taken away from her, from everyone, she wouldn't know what she would do with herself.

XxX

(Miles Behind the Hokage Monument – With Naruto and Tobi)

As the battle had moved off of the roof of Naruto's house and farther back into the woods behind the mountain, the intensity of the fight started picking up, but no matter what Naruto tried to use to sucker Tobi in, he couldn't deliver a debilitating strike with the only thing that he knew for certain would harm him, the Sen'nenki no Ken.

"This is really getting tiresome dealing with you." Tobi said as he stood on a tree branch, facing Naruto who stood on another, "Honestly, what do you think you're going to accomplish by fighting against me? You can't touch me. You don't have the talent. Try as you might. For all of your ninjutsu, they're useless. All I have to do is avoid one thing that I can't allow to touch me. Even with your Sage Mode, what can you do?"

"What can I do?" Naruto asked rhetorically, fingers twitching, "Do you really think I've got nothing? Why do you think I took you away from the mountainside? You thought you were leading me away when you were running? I wanted to get some distance, because I can't do this stuff in the village." Naruto's fingers were almost impossible to see even by Sharingan standars as he blurred through hand-seals with a computed practice, "Fuuton: Hirogari Tei Ihen (Wind Release: Spreading Air Disaster)!"

In Sage Mode, everything he did was faster, including his hand-seals to the point that for his ninjutsu that required less it looked as if he hadn't even done them, and for those that required longer chains of seals, such as the most recent one, they were a blurry mess.

Not only that, but in Sage Mode, every jutsu was more powerful than without it. What was an awesome windstorm before became a requiem for complete devastation.

Naruto's chest expanded and from his mouth he fired category 3 hurricane force wind directly at Tobi, tearing apart trees at the trunks and rooting them straight out of the ground in other cases. Even if he could make himself intangible, could he stop himself from being blown away by winds that would murder any living being caught within it?

His sense of awareness warned him that something had entered his personal zone and Naruto fell down from what he'd been standing on to avoid being stabbed from behind by Tobi's hand, covered in a sharp spiraling blade made of wood, "Hm, well at least you're attentive."

In his fall from the tree limb, Naruto turned and threw several shuriken at Tobi, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" Once again though, even when the several shuriken turned into damn near several hundred, Tobi just seemed to ghost through them again as if he were a phantom, "Fine! Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Shuriken)!"

Once they were high enough in the air, the shuriken began to crackle with electricity before shooting down hundreds of bolts of lightning all over the area populated by Tobi. The trees that had been situated behind Naruto and had survived when he'd cleared the lands of the rest of them with his previous jutsu were struck and their tops were set ablaze as Naruto kept away and kept his distance to try and see Tobi in case he escaped.

"You just don't get the point do you?"

Turning around, Naruto's eye caught the vortex of Tobi's space-time teleportation as he came out of it and delivered a punch right in his face, knocking him away with oddly imposing strength.

"By all means…" An amused Tobi said as Naruto regained his footing and faced him down again, "…Keep throwing your best shots at me. I'm enjoying seeing what you've amassed in your little ninja handbook over the years. I mean, admittedly you haven't used anything that I can copy with my Sharingan yet, but keep going. I see I haven't taught you the true meaning of despair yet."

It was remarkable, enough for Tobi to admit it. Even without actively utilizing the Sharingan except in heated combat, Naruto's ninjutsu coffers were vast and dangerous in the versatility that he was allotted with his techniques. Dangerous for others that weren't him of course.

"I told you I was going to take everything from you." Tobi said as a small rippling vortex appeared in front of him and out flew a gigantic shuriken larger than his body, spinning at Naruto speedily like it had been fired out of a gun.

Naruto avoided it, and watched it slice through one of the burning trees, felling it before he looked up and saw another rippling vortex prior to large, sharp branches growing out of it to stab down onto him, "Mokuton: Chika Ne no Jutsu (Wood Release: Underground Roots Jutsu)!" Upon missing him and stabbing into the ground the branches formed titanic roots that grew out and tried to tangle around him.

Nimbly and athletically, Naruto flipped and handsprung through the roots until they formed a veritable forest, surrounding him and boxing him in. Twisting like stalks, they seemed to enclose around Naruto and savagely crush his body.

And then the roots exploded with the collective force of eighty explosive tags.

Tobi was quite clearly caught off-guard by this, leaping away from the pieces of wood hurled away by the brutal blast, now turned into dangerous shrapnel by the force of the explosion, "Bunshin Daibakuha (Clone Great Explosion). He copied that jutsu from Itachi? But when did he make the clone?" Possibly when the roots started concealing him from sight, that could have been when he made the switch. And the clone had been on a 'dead man's switch' instead of a remote hand-seal trigger.

Once again, Sage Mode enhanced everything, and that included every bit of the explosion that was created from the jutsu, especially since it had half of Naruto's chakra in it to begin with.

But where was the real Naruto?

Thinking that he felt a presence behind him, Tobi turned and lashed out at seemingly a shadow, 'No.' Quickly shifting around, he tried to quickly warp into his time-space teleport when he heard the subtle sound of metal sliding against something. A sheath.

For Tobi, teleporting himself took more time than making himself intangible and he could not do both at the same time, but it was the only out he felt he had as he realized what was about to happen. Still though, what happened next, neutralized his attempt to bend time and space to his will.

Naruto's sword cut through the vortex that his eye was creating for the teleportation and struck Tobi's war mask.

A gasp came from the man behind the curtain for Akatsuki as he felt the material comprising the mask crack and split diagonally due to the slash. But it did not fall apart. It was a full-headed helmet/mask, and Naruto only sliced through the front.

"Oh, I'm disappointed." The blond blitzkrieg said, panting slightly at the toll that the steadily escalating battle was starting to take on him, "No fake-ass pain scream to make fun of me like the last time? No bullshit taunt? You're not gonna threaten my girlfriend, my biju, or my village? Come on, give me something here. Go on, laugh… laugh for me now!" He shouted at him, spittle flying through the air with intensity.

Behind the veil of the mask, the sword swing drew blood. Thankfully it was unable to be seen, otherwise it would have given Naruto more optimism. Tobi intended to stamp out the light of this man's eyes today, all before he ever even drained the Kyuubi from his body and ended his life.

"Is that it?" Tobi asked, once again at a standoff with Naruto as the forest burned on one side of their battlefield and a desolate land covered the other side, "Are you done with your little hope spot? Are you finished flailing away at me like a child learning to swim for the first time?"

"No way, you kidding?" Naruto said with a big smile despite his situation, "I just hit you. I just cut through your portal and hit you. I _felt_ it this time. Now I know I can actually do it."

"Miracles happen for the fortunate and desperate every once in a while I guess." Tobi said, brushing the accomplishment off. Even if the blood was annoying as it dripped down his face behind the mask, it was just a flesh wound, "Nothing short of divine intervention is going to allow it to happen a second time though. Too bad for you I don't believe in any God. I do believe in blind, dumb luck though."

Naruto held up his sword that still had a bit of Tobi's blood on the end of the blade, "Who said anything about miracles or a God? If there is a God I'm pretty sure he or she's got more important things to worry about than some random battle in the woods between some prick in a mask and a jerk jinchuuriki with an eye that isn't his, and even if they didn't… I'd rather save my favor from Kami for a time when I actually need it."

"The lucky horseshoe is coming out of your ass here and now Uzumaki."

"There's a thin line between luck and talent. Are you sure it was luck that let me hit you?"

Instead of answering, Tobi created his vortex, and this time without an undodgeable rush from Naruto coming his way before he ever started the jutsu he was able to get into it before Naruto could rightly take another slash at him to stop him.

And now it was dangerous again. When Tobi was inside of his dimensional rift, Naruto couldn't sense him with Sage Mode. What happened next could come from anywhere.

"**Focus boy."** Kyuubi urged Naruto from within, **"Remain calm. Breathe. You are **_**not**_** in over your head, get that thought out of your mind this instant. You're prepared for this. You can win against this enemy. **_**We**_** can win."**

This was a Kage-level battle, and though it didn't show outwardly, Kyuubi could feel the churning dark emotions inside. Naruto didn't believe his track record to be very superb with true conflicts of this magnitude. Against Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha it had been a semi-victory as he hadn't finished off Itachi. Against Pein, or Nagato, or whatever his name was, he was destroyed with one hit.

Taking his partner's words to heart, Naruto took several deep breaths and pulled out five seals, each with a different element inscribed on it. He paused for a moment but then proceeded to slap the tags on one arm, both legs, and the last right on his chest. He had to time this perfectly or he would blow his shot and be left vulnerable to Tobi. Too soon and it would be worthless and do nothing to stop Tobi's unreadable surprise attack. Too late and he'd never get the attack off before Tobi reappeared and got to him.

That was, if the jutsu even worked in the first place.

"**Do it. In Sage Mode it isn't as blatantly suicidal as it was when you first came up with this jutsu. At least you found a productive way to use those weak seals that you came up with almost a year ago."**

Making several hand-seals, Naruto shut his eyes and prayed that Kyuubi was correct. Otherwise this would be really stupid. With the outbreak of the war after his training for Sage Mode he didn't have time to experiment with his failed techniques that were too dangerous to use before he learned it.

Every clone he'd ever tried it with, even half-assed with just two or three of the elements, before learning Sage Mode died a horrible, screaming, painful death.

"**It won't kill us… probably."**

The second he felt the slightest trace of the familiar malevolent presence of Tobi, Naruto did not hesitate and immediately made the last necessary hand-seal, "Senpou: Gogyou Heshioru (Sage Art: Five Elements Crash)!"

Powerful chakra surrounded Naruto's body like a flame engulfing his body with a color that shifted faster than the human eye could keep up with between red, yellow, blue, brown, and green, as if he were a walking rainbow.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Naruto threw his arms out away from his body just as Tobi appeared to gravely wound him with his gunbai. All hell then proceeded to break loose, "IF THIS KILLS ME YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!"

And then everything went white.

XxX

(Meanwhile – Miles Away – Konohagakure no Sato)

For just a moment, the battle stopped as an awful, ear-splitting pop of a blast hit everyone's senses for a heartbeat. To everyone that felt it, it seemed as if an explosive tag had gone off right by their ears and the sky turned white over the top of the Hokage Monument to the north.

It took several beats, but a horrid, hot wind blew down from the top of the mountain that felt like the gates of hell had opened just a crack and carried dust, and all sorts of earthly debris down onto the village. It lasted for several minutes before it quickly died down, and in a matter of seconds it was gone, and the sky went back to the normal dusky color of sunset that it had been before instead of the divine white that it had been.

"…" Many of the shinobi that had found a lull in the battle and had been regrouping for their next inevitable engagement of street fighting with the White Zetsu clones could only look around and wonder what the hell that had been.

XxX

Konan swore she'd been killed. That was what she figured when Naruto had set off his jutsu. She'd been observing the battle from far enough away that she felt it had been a safe distance. It had been. She'd been high in the air, a little over a quarter of a mile away watching the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and the former true leader of Akatsuki tussle. She'd been safe from every massive attack that had been launched by them.

Naruto created a damn hurricane from his mouth? He hadn't been aiming in her direction to begin with. She was safe from that powerful force of nature.

Tobi created a deadly, deadly mini-forest? Didn't get close to being high enough to touch her despite the lateral ground it covered.

Then Naruto shouted, turned multicolored for a second, and nuked everything.

That almost got her. The thing that saved her was the fact that she tried to get more distance the second she saw his body flickering with the telltale colors of the five elements. By the time the white flash of death shot up into the sky she'd been far enough out of range of the horrid blast for only the shockwave to reach her and send her flying.

She had to fly herself back to the site of the battle only to look down at what remained of it. Nothing.

"Nagato…" She said to herself as she looked down at the outright devastation before flying off to find some sign of either Naruto or Tobi. She spoke as if the person she was referring to could really hear her at that moment, "…Please hold off on summoning me back. I need to watch the rest of this battle. For you."

XxX

(Behind the Hokage Monument – Miles Away From Konoha)

All five elements mixed together at once in the most volatile concoction of elemental chakra at once, combined with senjutsu chakra. It was without a doubt the single worst idea for a safe, workable jutsu in the history of ideas for jutsu that were actually workable by human beings.

Its use was entirely illogical. Insane even. A jutsu like that was untestable, so he had no idea how it would work for himself when he activated it since all it ever did was toast his clones from the inside out pre-Sage Mode days. All that taught him was that under normal circumstances it would kill him. That wasn't much to go on at the time.

From that he knew what the jutsu did with chakra and elements. What he did not know was exactly how overloaded he would feel once all of that went on inside of him at once. There was no comparable feeling to set it against. All he knew was that for once he had _way_ too much chakra inside of his body, and he had to get rid of it all at once or pay the price. And that was what he did.

He did it the only way he figured would work in such a dire situation; he just threw it away.

He did not know though that the results would be quite so explosive… and so close. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but that wasn't it. Thank the toads for Sage Mode and the fact that it enhanced everything; his durability, and even the Kyuubi's ability to heal his body without a jinchuuriki cloak.

The air was still filled with dust and smoke and it was going to be there for miles around for quite some time. The site where Naruto activated the jutsu was now a grand crater a quarter of the size of Konoha, devoid entirely of life. This was entirely irrelevant, because Naruto was now nowhere near the crater that he had single-handedly created with the craziest jutsu he had ever come up with.

The new setting for the young jounin was a few rocky pillars that looked much like a ritual place at the center of a large lake in a rocky dell.

In the recently risen moonlight, Naruto clawed himself out of the lake and onto one of the rocky pillars, clothes utterly ruined by his previous actions. If he had been panting lightly before, he was heaving and puffing heavily as he crawled up onto the little slab of land, "That was a bad idea… that was a _really_ bad idea. That was the worst idea I've ever had that actually worked, because he didn't kill me. But man…"

"**Are you kidding? That was the greatest thing I've seen a human do in ages!"** The Kyuubi uncharacteristically spouted from safely inside of Naruto's body, **"If you could have seen that from in here… these pipes were glowing like a laser show! Hah! And that explosion? Not quite on the level of my Bijudama, but it was a damn nice try! You do realize that you ripped a hole in the sky right? There isn't a single cloud in the air where we were."**

"Why are you so excited about that?" Naruto asked in a pained manner as he sat down on the rock monolith, looking over his wounds and tearing away the now useless pieces of his shirt that had been sticking to him. The sheath was still strapped over his shoulder. Damn that thing was tough.

"**I am **_**always**_** excited about destruction on an elevated scale. You know this."**

With a few coughs, Naruto continued, "The only reason… we didn't die in that… was because it blew us away instead of blowing us up… and we hit the water instead of hitting everything around it."

"**I know. Maybe that masked bastard has something of a point when he says that you're lucky-."** The Kyuubi stopped its sentence mid-taunt when it realized where they were, **"We were thrown this far away? Heh… oh irony…"**

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, head lolling to the side as he tried to get himself back together and stand back up.

His blood went cold when he felt Tobi's chakra resurface as he was still in Sage Mode and then heard his voice once again. He was still alive. But if he could hear him that meant that at least he couldn't get the drop on Naruto, "Such a familiar setting. This is the place that first bound all of our destinies together. Seventeen years ago."

Naruto drew his sword and walked around the gigantic rock monolith to catch site of Tobi, hands clasped in his lap, sitting on a rock that seemed like something of an altar in its appearance. He hadn't gotten away from the cataclysmic blast that Naruto had caught him in either. His cloak was ruined straight down to the sash at his waist, with only the right side of it and the sleeve remaining. Half of his mask was gone, revealing the left side of his face and spiky black hair. He was a young man… about late twenties to early thirties if he had to guesstimate.

What was strange was his Sharingan.

His left eye that Naruto could now clearly see was a regular Sharingan, while the other was a Mangekyou Sharingan. But there was something wrong with it. The left was completely dulled and there was no pattern in the eye.

"How the fuck did you live through that?" Naruto asked, pointing the weapon at Tobi, "I got you. I know I got you. You _just_ stepped out of that portal when I triggered the jutsu and you can't teleport and be intangible at the same time. I know that."

"You didn't miss. You didn't slip up." Tobi admitted with a careless gesture of his hands as if he were conversing with an old acquaintance, "I think I can honestly say that your timing was… perfect. Absolutely perfect. Sage Mode can be truly terrifying." He said with a slow clap, "I honestly did not believe that you had something of that magnitude in you. Not exactly combat-friendly, but _wow_. I underestimated you one time too many, and I got caught."

"So why aren't you ashes then?"

"Once again." Tobi said, pointing to his blank Sharingan eye, "You know nothing about the secrets of that eye you hold. The most powerful genjutsu that can be cast upon the user… makes illusion reality and reality illusion. In the Izanagi, the boundary between them both is removed. In the face of this doujutsu that can only be utilized by those descended from the Rikudou Sennin, even true death is an illusion. And only at the cost of eternal darkness in the eye that was used to cast it."

That was enough to take whatever wind was left in Naruto's sails out of them. He did it. He did everything right. He got that masked bastard dead-to-rights. He blew him away, and there was nothing he could have done about it. Nothing other than warp the general fabric of reality itself to erase his own death.

Only the greatest sense of poise in the face of an enemy he still had to do battle with kept him from punching his fist through the rocky ground in fury.

"Are you despairing yet? Do you see how useless it is?" Tobi asked, "You gave me your best shot, and you almost took me out. Unfortunately for you, when you caught me using the power of my right eye I still had a left one unused and ready to sacrifice just in case."

"Why the fuck do you have the Mangekyou in only one eye? That doesn't make any sense." Itachi had it in both. From looking at the slab in Naka Shrine he knew that when an Uchiha achieved Mangekyou Sharingan, it wasn't done the same way that an Uchiha developed the tomoe in their eyes respectively for each one.

"The same reason you do, more or less."

"…That still doesn't make any sense! You're an Uchiha! Those Sharingan are both yours."

"One is mine, the other one belonged to another dearly departed Uchiha Clan member. Long deceased you understand." He tapped at his defunct left eye socket. It was an implant, "I gave the original Sharingan I had in this eye up to a friend as a parting gift before I died. He's used it quite well from what I've seen and heard for all these years, but that's not important here."

He didn't understand. Naruto didn't understand any of it. Barely anything seemed to tie together any longer. Genjutsu that literally bent reality to the extent where death could be outright averted, this random Uchiha that seemed to have come this close to bringing the world to ruin.

And why? For some plan to enslave the world. For what? It seemed like the callous ambition of a man far older and more jaded than a man that couldn't have been older than thirty should have had any right to be under any circumstances.

"This place brings back memories." Tobi said to try and continue their conversation, "The last time I laid eyes on the Kyuubi in person it was here. Right after I took it out of your mother Kushina."

Naruto's eyes snapped back up to Tobi and sharpened on his form, "…What'd you say?"

"I thought you knew." Tobi feigned complete innocence, "You seem to be so attached to that monster inside of you. I figured it would have told you by now. Your mother was the previous jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and I am the one that removed it from her. How else do you think it attacked Konoha?"

"You bast-."

"It was because of you." Tobi said, "I used you as the tool needed to draw the Kyuubi out. Female jinchuuriki are exceptionally dangerous to have, because the seal holding the biju back weakens no matter how strong it is during a pregnant female jinchuuriki's childbirth. You were being used by others to achieve what they couldn't otherwise before you were ever born. I used you to separate your father from your weakened mother, exhausted after giving birth to you. I used that window of opportunity to take the beast from inside of Kushina Uzumaki. I outplayed the great Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage."

"So you did kill my parents." Naruto replied, "I always knew as much, but I just wanted to hear you say it yourself."

"Actually I wasn't the one that did the deed. Your father sealed the Kyuubi away inside of you, so he did it to himself with the method that he used. But would you like to know how your mother died? I'm quite certain your lifelong 'partner' neglected to mention the fact that removing him from her didn't kill her. The Uzumaki Clan is notoriously stubborn for their difficulty to kill."

Naruto recoiled slightly but kept his eyes locked firmly on Tobi, 'Kyuubi… what the hell is he talking about?'

There was noticeable hesitation inside of Naruto's mind in regards to their telepathic link. The Kyuubi was either choosing its words wisely, or it was really hesitating to tell him the truth, **"They were going to reseal me. I had just been released of this man's Sharingan control. I felt I had no other choice than to strike preemptively to try and prevent the ritual."**

'Kyuubi, spit it out. Don't start lying to me now. You've been a bastard every now and then but you've never lied to me.'

"**I saw you, the ritual location, I knew what they were about to do, and I tried to kill you before I could be sealed within you."** Kyuubi said, choosing not to mince words at this point. If he wanted it, it was time for all of this to come out, **"Your mother used everything she had left to bind me with her special jutsu, and half of my chakra had already been taken from me by the Shiki Fuuin. My last chance was to eliminate you with a loose claw, but they shielded you with their own bodies to protect you. Kushina did not have to die that day, but I am the final reason why she did."**

Tobi could see the expressions change on Naruto's face until he finally found the ones that he had looking for. Shock, sorrow, dejection. There they were, "Do you see now. You never had a chance." He explained, standing up on the smallest center monolith stone before warping to another of the higher ones that encircled it.

The boy was stunned. Speechless. No witty remark. No hardnosed declarations. Nothing.

"I didn't obtain the Kyuubi that night, but the only real threat to my ambitions died the moment that the Kyuubi was sealed within you. All it did was delay me for seventeen years. All this war is doing is setting me back another few months." Tobi continued to say as he almost literally lorded over Naruto from his elevated position, "No matter what anyone does, the Eye of the Moon Plan is going to become a reality. You were just a well-placed pawn that my enemies used as an effective buffer against this for all these years."

Looking down at the seal that was prominently displayed on his stomach, the one that housed the Kyuubi behind it, Naruto placed his hand over it, "I can… forgive the Kyuubi." Naruto said, feeling all of the air leave his body as he said it, "If it was me in the same situation… trapped for most of the century inside of humans, and when I finally had a chance to be free I was about to be sealed again… I probably would have done the same thing."

'You have to be kidding me.' It was simply so difficult to imagine for the manipulative masked man. He wouldn't wilt. No matter what crushing revelations he hit him with. No matter how much he declared and showed that his powers outclassed Naruto's, he could not break him, "The creature that is directly responsible for taking away a mother that would have loved you and raised you with an understanding and support of your position as a jinchuuriki, and you can forgive it?"

It seemed unthinkable.

"I can forgive it, because I forgave it a long time ago, for whatever it might have done." Naruto said, forming a fist against his stomach. It wasn't personal that had forced the Kyuubi to lash out. It was first outside control, and then it was mere survival that dictated its actions, "The second you used the both of us as parts of your plan, even before I was born, you made the very first thing I said to it when I was seven and first learning to work with its chakra truer than ever now."

"And what would that be?" Tobi asked with a testy edge to his voice, "_Enlighten_ me."

"Neither of us wanted things to be this way…" One of Naruto's bar-pupiled eyes gained a feral vertical slit as both his and Kyuubi's voice spoke from his mouth in unison, **"…But we're in this together!"**

The formation of the tiger seal came without warning and fire flew from Tobi's mouth, but this was not even close to the height of the danger this jutsu possessed. The space-time distorting effects of Tobi's Mangekyou Sharingan created a vortex that instantly spread the fire out over the entire dell, "I've had enough of you! Katon: Bakufuu Ranbu (Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Blast)!"

The expansion of fire over the entire dell was instant. Even for Sage Mode's heightened reflexes and provided speed, it was too sudden for Naruto to react to and he was engulfed in the inferno before falling off of his rocky pillar into the water like a flaming projectile.

"You're in this together?" Tobi snarled as the rock walls that surrounded the lake caught on fire, surrounding their field of battle in a blaze, "How cute. Two tools of war thinking that they have any say whatsoever in the direction of this world! Your only reason for existing, for the both of you, is for someone smarter than you to point you in the direction of a target and send you off to destroy it! It's all either of you are good for! For once in your miserable existences, do something right that will actually bring peace!"

Naruto pulled himself out of the water, upper body and face covered in burns from Tobi's attack, "What was that? I didn't hear that with the water in my ears."

A belligerent fool to the end. And it was mostly bravado. Naruto was running out of chakra, but chose to attack anyway. Jumping off of the air itself to get up to Tobi's position on the rock pillar, he quickly pulled his sword out and engaged in a duel of weaponry against the mysterious Uchiha. Sword against war fan.

"I need a replacement Sharingan for the one I've lost today from Izanagi." Tobi said as he traded strikes of chosen armaments with Naruto, "The eye of Shisui Uchiha in your head is the second most valuable thing that you have in your possession right now. I think I'll take it for myself after I'm through with you here today." He taunted as he found himself in a test of strength against Naruto.

Gritting his teeth in effort and anger, Naruto took advantage of the close proximity and shot his skull forward for a headbutt, but passed straight through Tobi's body, forcing him to stumble out of his balance.

"I knew I could get you to bite." Tobi said as he moved and let Naruto's body pass through him and fall. Before he could scramble back to his feet, Tobi kicked him, planting the toe of his footwear into his ribs, "Well, you made me work for this one... Luckily I stayed in shape." With a breath he let Naruto crawl a bit away before stepping on his heel to stop him, "I'm going to take this one out of your ass Naruto. Let's see what you've got left." He said before stomping down on his back hard enough to break away part of the rock pillar.

Naruto's grip on the Sen'nenki no Ken weakened, 'Not stopping… can't quit.' Another stomp to the spine destroyed more of the pillar and loosened his grip even more, 'I'm… I've got to…' Another stomp and he let go entirely.

"There is no such thing as victory in this world." Tobi said, grinding the sole of his sandal into Naruto's back, "Your hope… is just an illusion. Your symbols of light, meaningless. The people believe in these great men and women known as the Hokage, the Tsuchikage, the Mizukage, the Raikage, the Kazekage. In the end they all die and fade away. It's why Konoha is so insistent that each Hokage get their face inscribed on the monument."

"You're pathetic." Naruto mumbled face down in the rock, "How could I lose? How could _let myself_ lose to someone that doesn't believe in anything?" A battle of ninjas was also a battle of ideologies. Two or more warriors putting their beliefs on the line with their lives as the wager at stake. But not tonight.

"The belief that your parents left in you before their lives ended, that you could do something that they couldn't, that thousands of people before you couldn't. Worthless." Tobi said as more fragments of his mask fell from his face, "I'm tired of people like you, thinking that all it takes to make the world a better place is a half-assed idea they expect others to follow and the desire to see it through. I'm tired of this world's 'heroes' making pitiful excuses in front of gravestones when they fail."

"It's better than some coward, too scared to put a name to his own actions. A person willing to watch the world burn, just so he can turn what's left of it into mindless drones." Naruto had to bite his lip to hold back a scream of pain when his shoulder was pierced from behind by a wood skewer from Tobi's arm.

"I'm taking the misery away from this world. You'll live after I take Kyuubi from you, just like your mother would have. And I'll make you watch. I'll make you see the truth. And when you finally do, I'll free your mind from the pain and misery of this rotten world. I want to hear you say it to me, that I was right. And when you do I'll set you free. Free in the dream that is the infinite Tsukuyomi."

"A dream you call it?" Naruto said, trying again to get up only to be squished down harder. His fingertips brushed the handle of his sword but fumbled to get around it tight enough to hold it, "How can anyone think that?"

More of Tobi's mask crumbled away to reveal a heavily scarred right side of his face, "I can be forgiving too Naruto. After all, you're still just a boy, not quite yet a man. Suffering more than you have to for your ignorance is too cruel a fate for me to force you into. But you _will_ understand. I'll make you. Use your imagination. Think about it. A place where no one you love will ever feel hardship or pain again."

'My imagination…' Naruto thought to himself as his eyes began to flutter open and closed.

_"Well you said the yin-yang release makes the sword change, but what if one variation ain't the range?"_

'Kirabi.' The words of the Hachibi jinchuuriki came to mind for some reason, from their last conversation back when they were out at sea on the way to Hi no Kuni. Their short talk about his weapon of choice, and its unique yin-yang properties.

_"Yin-yang let 'the Sage' make anything real, so why not use it to keep changing your steel? Pick up the pace, don't let that power go to waste!"_

Yin Release made dreams themselves take form. Yang Release made fantasies real. Using both simultaneously let them come to life, hence the creation of things that were not there before with the Sen'nenki no Ken. It was how the blade transformed.

"_Show me something new!"_

'Oh why the fuck not?' Naruto thought to himself once more, 'I'm so tired… I don't even think I'd care how much chakra this thing sucked down at this point.' With his spirit tempered once more to go down swinging, no matter the cost, he lifted his head off of the ground and willed the muscles in his impaled arm gripping the sword to tighten around the handle just long enough for him to do what was necessary, holding it up in front of his face, "Sen'nen Hakkei: Ichijiaraware (Millennium Release: Primary Materialization)…"

As the sword began to glow, Naruto put his imagination to work as he exerted his will over the blade. What did he need right then? Some clothes would be nice since he was half naked, soaking wet, bleeding, and burned. Some body support would be nice too since he was quite certain that a few of his vertebrae were heavily damaged at this point.

The sword glowed white for a second before it dematerialized and reformed around Naruto's body. The fear of just what this was elicited Tobi to jump away from him, breaking off the spike he'd stabbed into Naruto's arm so that it would remain in the wound and debilitate him.

"What the hell is this?" Tobi asked from an adjacent rock pillar as Naruto was for lack of a better term re-outfitted, "What is this?!"

Grey traditional armor comprised of many metal plates on his body such as over the front and back of his torso, covering his shoulders, stretched down to cover his thighs, and separate pieces of armor covering his forearms down to his hands with sharp-nailed gloves, shin guards, and a guard framing his face around his hitae-ate. Right on the front of the armor sat the Uzumaki Clan symbol and every few seconds, black seal arrays would randomly flicker in and out of existence somewhere on his body.

Naruto's eyes popped wide open and he let out a gasp as if he'd been drowning as he pushed himself up off of the ground. Feeling the tight armor stuck to his body he looked down at his hands and then down at his reflection in the water. He looked so… old-school.

But more importantly, he didn't feel a crushing, leeching drain on his chakra reserves the way that he had whenever he'd trained with it in the past and the way he had in the middle of battles when he'd used the Millennium Gauntlets.

"**You're welcome."**

'You?'

"**Sage Mode more specifically, but since I'm the one running it I would say yes, me. How do you feel?"**

'Fast.' Naruto figured as he couldn't even feel the weight of what looked like really sleek plate and scale armor, 'Lighter than a feather. Ugh… wait.' He cringed before reaching for his left shoulder underneath the plate their and slowly pulling out a bloody wooden spike that he tossed away.

"Cute." Tobi said as he had been watching all of this, wondering just what was going on, "This isn't the jutsu you used to beat Kakuzu. Not quite. Something's different about it. I thought that one only covered your shins and forearms."

"I did what you said." Naruto replied, ignoring the blood dripping freely from his wound underneath the armor, "I used my imagination. I laid there and I thought about what you wanted me too. And that kind of future sucks. If everything was always perfect and nothing ever went wrong, how would you ever enjoy anything? So instead of thinking about how stupid your idea is I thought about something more useful, and you're looking at it more or less."

Tobi rolled his eyes and formed a hand-seal, "And I'm supposed to be afraid and think you have more of a chance than you did a moment ago just because you got a wardrobe upgrade?"

"Yes."

Let it just be known right now that though it has been mentioned before it bears repeating, Sage Mode enhances everything.

The eye of Tobi went to work just as he saw a single muscle of Naruto twitch in his direction, making him intangible to avoid another attack coming his way from the headstrong young ninja in the form of a high-speed Body Flicker.

Only it didn't work this time, and Naruto's fist sank into Tobi's right jaw, rattling his skull and sending him rocketing across the surface of the lake water, finally crashing to a rest against the rocky shore where his body left an imprint, "…He hit me."

"I hit him." Naruto echoed without hearing Tobi say it from where he'd been standing in turn. He had to look down at his own armored fist and flex his fingers to readily accept it, "Right. I just wouldn't have felt right winning this fight without punching that guy in the face just once."

Tobi pulled himself up and out, standing back up with a heavily bruised, bleeding cheek and cut under his right eye, "That armor." Might as well have been the sword, all over his body. And he wasn't wearing down from simply wearing it, "I hate that clan. I really do." He would not get that close again.

"Fuuka Houin: Kai (Fire Sealing Method: Release)!" Naruto's left arm up to the forearm was covered in black flames before he made a tiger seal with his right hand and lashed out with a punch using his left, "Senpou: Yami-En no Ryuu (Sage Art: Dragon of the Darkness Flame)!"

A mammoth open-mawed dragon the size of twelve men formed and flew straight across the lake at Tobi, roaring like the general article, or was that the sound of the flames burning together?

"He uses the Amaterasu he sealed from Itachi in his arm like a pilot light. Brilliant. But it's still too slow." Tobi said to himself before opening up a vortex with his right eye, absorbing the black dragon right into it, "You're going to like this one though." In the same vein, he turned it right back around and ejected it, sending it flying right back at Naruto with double the speed, and did it get bigger?

Naruto didn't stick around to find out, bending his legs and pumping every bit of power he could to them before jumping up, propelling himself higher up into the air with an outburst of wind chakra from the soles of his feet.

Down below he watched the flames from the dragon fly toward… Tobi?

The wily Uchiha teleported to the other side of the lake and waited for the dragon to reach that side just so he could absorb it again into his right eye and fire it back out at an airborne Naruto, once again faster and larger than it had been previously. That was fine though, he had all of the skies to play with in order to evade it.

"You're not the only one that can create diversions with massive ninjutsu Naruto."

Above Naruto's head he looked up only to see Tobi looking down on him. He teleported directly above him using the deadly black Amaterasu dragon as something to capture and keep Naruto's attention for long enough to ignore the disappearance of his chakra signature, if only for just a moment.

Out of reflex, Naruto shot a fist up to punch him, but Tobi stomped down on it to block, anticipating Naruto's physical counter-reaction.

"You're mine." Tobi said as Naruto felt himself getting absorbed into Tobi's eye dimension, "I'll save you here for later. At least I'll have the Kyuubi stored in my pocket where I can save him for last."

Naruto quickly created a Kage Bunshin that shoved him away as hard as it could, taking his place in getting sucked into Tobi's eye.

Falling down from the sky, Naruto twisted his body only to next have to face his originally created Amaterasu dragon. With a set of hand-seals he held out his left arm as the seals spread back over it, "Fuuka Houin (Fire Sealing Method)!" Like a hyper-powered vacuum, Naruto sucked every speck of the flames back into his arm from whence they came.

Continuing onto the water, he flipped through and expelling wind chakra through his feet created a windfall as he neatly landed back on the surface of the lake. Immediately upon landing, Naruto created a grossly oversized Rasengan and slammed it down on the surface of the water just as Tobi appeared out of his time-space vortex behind him ready to strike. The unexpected move blew the water sky high.

It didn't do much to deter Tobi's attempt to attack, as he still swung his war fan and created enough wind with the attack to blow away the water that Naruto had kicked up to conceal himself. He soon wished that he hadn't as he then found six Narutos holding larger Rasengan variations, closing in on him from all sides and above, "Reiyoushutsu Odama Rasengan (Zero-Elusion Great Ball Rasengan)!"

Forming small flames on each finger of one hand, Tobi slammed it on the surface of the water, creating a cylindrical barrier around his own body, "Uchiha Kaenjin (Uchiha Flame Battle Encampment)!"

Every Naruto that touched the barrier burst into flames upon contact, destroying all of them except for the original who took a quick dive underwater and resurfaced immediately only to get punched in the face by Tobi's follow-up attack.

The hit sent Naruto spinning away on the surface of the water like a top until he stopped and chopped the water, splitting it straight to the bottom of the lake in Tobi's direction. He didn't move an inch and simply made himself intangible to dodge, "It's still not going to work like that. It's worthless. Even with that Sharingan, you're still blind. You have no idea how powerful that eye is do you? You don't even use Shisui's Mangekyou."

"This isn't a Mangekyou Sharingan eye you ass!" Wasn't it? If it was… how the hell did he even find out or not?

"Such a fool."

Naruto glared at him, but his face suddenly changed as if he realized something. Something incredibly relevant and vital. It was only for a flash though, as he schooled his features thoroughly, and Tobi took it as Naruto merely being surprised that he'd forgotten he could phase through basically anything he could throw at him aside from physical contact.

The Kyuubi was connected to Naruto and knew full well what Naruto had been affected by, **"Do you think it can work? Are you sure what you saw was real?"**

'I can see through genjutsu so it can't be an illusion. I don't know if it'll work or not but I've got to make it count if it will.' A quick hand-seal formed five clones and three of them went forward at Tobi to engage him in close. They could hit him too, just like their creator, thus Tobi was forced to defend himself.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu)!" Tobi leapt back and peppered the clones with fireballs concealing shuriken within them for an added punch that did the trick in dispelling their armored forms, "Now what?"

The sound of a clear bell ringing filled the air and his eyes widened at the sight of Naruto and his clones holding up a gigantic Rasengan variation with four wind points enshrouding it, giving it the appearance of a shuriken.

"This is it!" Naruto and his clones cried as one as the extras dispelled. The original took aim and let it fly like a buzzsaw, "Fuuton: Rasenshuriken (Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken)!"

Fool.

Tobi stood in place, forcing his body to become intangible even as the speedy attack landed right at his feet and expanded in a massive, devastating wind sphere.

All Naruto did was stand there and watch, a bead of sweat trickling down his face from underneath his faceguard as he waited with baited breath for the results to show themselves. The wind sphere died down, though the waters of the lake continued to shake violently.

But standing there, still entirely unfazed was Tobi. Instead, he just looked disappointed, like a master that caught its trained puppy peeing on the floor indoors, "Was that really worth the waste? You didn't do anything, even with all of that effo-." His lecture fell short when blood spurted out of his mouth like a geyser, 'What?'

His internal organs had somehow been turned to slurry and he could no longer stand up. What the hell had happened to him? He'd gone intangible! He avoided the Rasenshuriken! He knew he had!

"Let's finish this…" Naruto muttered to himself and the Kyuubi, "Fuuka Houin: Kai (Fire Sealing Method: Release)." His left arm was engulfed in the horrid black flames of Amaterasu one more time, "You aren't dodging this no matter what you do. One way or another you're gonna burn."

That insolent little-!

"I won't let you!" Tobi shouted at the top of his lungs, blood pouring from his mouth and nose. Even his right eye was beginning to bleed from whatever Naruto had done, "I've lost too much! I've seen how dark this world is! It's not fair! I want a world… I want a world where I have Rin back! Where things can be like they used with to be without any of the war! The fighting! The system of the shinobi is broken! It's a sick joke!"

In the palm of Naruto's left hand, surrounded by the flames, he held a Rasengan that looked like a dark will-o'-the-wisp. "Kuroihoshi Rasengan (Black-Star Rasengan)."

"You won't touch me with that." Tobi insisted, willing himself to stand up one more time.

"Want to bet?" Naruto asked before dashing forward for the finishing strike. But much like Tobi said, he leaned his body far enough out of the way to avoid touching any other part of Naruto's body than the Rasengan and made his torso intangible to make the attack miss.

"I'm finished with you." Tobi's right hand turned into a wicked blade as he let Naruto move through and past him. But still inexplicably, one more time he ejected blood through his mouth and found his upper body engulfed in black flames, but it dissipated the moment he became solid again. The pain and the injuries from the Rasengan itself did not, "How!"

It was his complete defeat. But he was not going to die there. No. He had to keep living. He had to keep fighting for the Eye of the Moon Plan. His perfect world.

Before Naruto could stop his momentum and turn back around to strike at him, Tobi had retreated into the vortex that his eye could create in an endeavor to teleport away. And there was nothing Naruto could do about it… from there, "You're finished."

XxX

(Space-Time Dimension)

Tobi appeared in a swirling vortex, set in an entirely different plane of existence. An endless void of black, only populated by an infinite number of rectangular prism platforms of different heights and sizes.

Upon putting his feet on the surface of one, he fell to his hand and knees, vomiting blood as his body nursed the burns from Naruto's Amaterasu flames. His right side was slowly regenerating the damage wrought upon it, but he was still gravely wounded.

"How… did I lose to him?" Tobi said as he shakily held himself up on all fours, "Damn. Damn! DAMN IT!"

His last cry was punctuated by a Rasengan smashing into the back of his neck, pounding him into one of the indestructible prism that made up the ground of the dimension. He did not move again as blood pooled underneath his face.

Naruto let the Rasengan dissipate and stood over Tobi for a long time before stooping down and feeling for a pulse. He received none. From the corner of Tobi's eye, he could swear that he saw the beginnings of a tear forming.

"You lost because you underestimated me, even after everything that happened." Naruto said, "I could never lose to someone whose drive and heart died a long time ago."

The victorious blond just stared down at him before unsealing the Amaterasu flames on his left arm. He touched Tobi's body and watched the black flames slowly engulf his body and burn the corpse.

He couldn't be too safe, to ensure that the man really did die.

The body cooked, and burned to ashes. And the executioner vanished in a puff of smoke with only one thought in mind that he would leave to his original creator to ponder on in his stead.

Why didn't he use Izanagi with his last Sharingan to cheat death? Yes, he would have been blind, and the Sharingan powers would have been gone, but he would have survived to possibly fight someway somehow. This really had been a man with no hope left in the world.

Tobi's last thoughts were never aired or put into words before his lights went out for good.

"_Rin… Kakashi…"_

XxX

(Real World – With Naruto)

A coordinated attack from the inside out. That was how the deed was finally done. The clone that Tobi earlier absorbed into his dimension didn't dispel to return the unused chakra to Naruto. It remained behind, wondering where it was, trying to find a way out just in case, and trying to pick up all that it could about its settings.

When it saw Tobi's body randomly appear out of nowhere it figured something was wrong, but saw that it was real enough to touch. Thus the message was sent by a second created clone from the first back to the original, an understanding was reached, and the plan was set.

The original would goad the original into intangibility, while the one inside would have a devastating attack prepared for the next time an opening presented itself, and the opening presented itself twice.

The oversight was all Tobi's, thinking that Naruto's clones were so expendable that he could do what he did with no negative repercussions.

The backlash from his clone finally dispelling from Tobi's dimension hit Naruto's senses and the weight of the world felt like it lifted off of his shoulders.

A part of him wanted to laugh. He'd done it. He'd killed the person that had set into motion the plans that had brought the world to total war. The man that had doomed his parents, and cursed him and the Kyuubi to be paired with one another for the foreseeable future.

He kept thinking that it was all just a trick. That any moment, Tobi would pop up out of his pocket dimension and drag his soul to hell or something. But it never came. And it was so hard for it to sink in.

There was only one thing that felt right at the moment.

"RAAAAAAGGH!" Naruto turned his head to the sky shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice able to be heard for miles around, possibly even back in Konoha.

Slowly, his head turned up in the air to stare at a tiny figure that he could see superimposed against the moon. The wings of the angel were a telltale sign of who he was looking at, even if he didn't have the clarity of vision to distinguish who it was.

So his blood feud of a conflict had a spectator the entire time? Well there was nothing he could do about it now. Tobi had been the priority. If nothing else he hoped she enjoyed the show.

But in the meantime he had a message to send.

"KONAN!" Naruto howled to the sky, knowing that she could hear him, knowing that she was listening and could damn near see the look in his eyes from even her height, "TELL PEIN OR NAGATO OR YOUR 'GOD' OR WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT TO CALL HIM… TELL HIM… TELL HIM HE'S NEXT!"

One moment she was up in the sky looking down at him and narrowing her eyes, probably for 'blasphemy' or something along those lines, and the next moment she had disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Good. She'd give him the message while it was still fresh. Perfect. He wanted him to know just what he was going to get, to end all of it once and for all.

But for now… sleep.

When Naruto was found the next morning by a search party that could be spared from the ongoing but winding down battle for Konoha, he was floating backfirst on the water, back in his previous tattered clothes, out of Sage Mode, clutching the Sen'nenki no Ken in his right hand with an iron grip… and a small smile on his face.

"**Good work twerp."** And with that, the Kyuubi had to get some rest as well. Using Sage Mode was a drain even for it after the state of being ended, **"…The things I put myself through… for someone I'm supposed to hate."**

* * *

Jutsu List

Senpou: Gogyou Heshioru (Sage Art: Five Elements Crash). S-rank ninjutsu, fuuinjutsu, kinjutsu, senjutsu. All ranges. First requires Fuuinjutsu: Genso Kyuushuu (Sealing Technique: Elemental Absorption), a jutsu that allows one to store elemental chakra in its transformed state for later use at activation. Gogyou Heshioru can be perceived as the pinnacle of nature transformation techniques due to the potential elemental combinations that it can offer, including all five at once. However as one is using their body as a medium for all of the different elements to circulate evenly at once, this is a highly unstable jutsu that will kill a normal shinobi that does not possess the method to balance it all out.

Even with the means to execute the necessary balance, without the finest, perfect chakra control using all five elements at once can only be done temporarily before the jutsu goes haywire and a mortal backlash is given. Extremely irresponsible and reckless in origin, creation, method of execution, and intent in every conceivable way thought possible. May possibly be the most dangerous jutsu (non murder-suicide) in existence for both user and target(s).

Reiyoushutsu Odama Rasengan (Zero-Elusion Great Ball Rasengan). Ninjutsu, senjutsu, offensive. Using the enhanced speed and reflexes of Sage Mode and the predictive capabilities of the Sharingan to cover for any lapses in the formation, the user boxes in the opponent with several clones and uses Rasengan to eliminate all chances of escaping attack.

Kuroihoshi Rasengan (Black-Star Rasengan). Ninjutsu, senjutsu, offensive. Around the concentrated power of the Rasengan, the black flames of Amaterasu form a shell of unquenchable flames around the jutsu to burn as well as pulverize for added devastation. Still, it is merely a melee ninjutsu like many other Rasengan variations.

* * *

**Back and broker than ever, Kenchi618 is here for better or for worse.**

**I was vastly off in my estimation when I said several more chapters. Now I'm saying that this isn't getting more than five more chapters. My best guess would be three more, but definitely not more than five. Hopefully it'll live up to what I want it to be, but I'm still hoping that _this _lived up to what I wanted it to be.  
**

**Anyway, I've got a video shoot to prepare for on Tuesday, so I'm going to go do that. Maybe I'll be able to scratch out some downtime in the next few days, but I really doubt it. I've got to shoot Tuesday and get everything I need edited together by Friday. It's going to be a long week.**

**Wish a brother luck. Until next time.**

**Kenchi out.**


	67. Dead Wall Reverie

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. How the *#$ did this get so many reviews early on when I started it? Seriously, I can't read the first 20 chapters back to myself without wanting to punch 2010 me in the face. You live and you learn I guess.

For the record I would totally beat 2010 me's ass right now if I had to fight myself from back then.

**Chapter 66: Dead Wall Reverie**

* * *

"Such a fool."

Hearing the words that he most recently heard a deadly, deadly enemy say to him, Naruto's eyes popped open only to get a hard blast of sunlight straight to the ocular orbs. And he hadn't turned the contact lens back on in his Sharingan eye, so he basically ate a solar flare to the face.

Squinting harshly and keeping his right eye shut in the brightness of the room he was in, Naruto realized that he was back in his house. His own bedroom to be exact. Well at least Tobi hadn't taken all of his roof off. He left enough for his bedroom to be covered from the elements.

Turning to his side with a hand on his head he saw the origin of the fool comment as he saw the uniformed Maki sitting with one leg crossed over the other. Her white porcelain mask sat in her lap and the cloak that she'd worn to better disguise her identity as a Root ANBU during the battle rested nearby on the floor.

"Maki-chan." Naruto greeted, keeping his right eye closed while he looked at her, "How's the village?"

"It's fine." Maki informed him with a small smile, "The battle is winding down, but there are still small remnants of the white plant men holding out and hiding in certain areas around Konoha. Don't worry, we'll find them and get rid of the rest."

In the meantime the village was still under heavy security, with constant, more vigilant patrols in addition to the active hunting parties, as well as extensive guard placements than normal at high-priority places that could have been potential targets to the remaining White Zetsus that might have wanted to go down fighting if they were really that obedient to the masked man that had led them into battle.

Even if they didn't know they'd just been diversions for him to get to what he really wanted. But he'd failed in both of his endeavors to obtain those things. At least that was what Maki had figured. There was no sign of the masked individual when the search party that brought Naruto back located the site of the battle's conclusion.

So now Naruto's battles in Hi no Kuni resulted in two landmark locations. The forest of bone, and yet-to-be-named gigantic, barren plain that had been blown into the middle of the forest due to one of the attacks dealt during the last fight.

When word about that got around Konoha, everyone was just glad that he'd been willing to take the battle as far away from the village as he did.

"So." Naruto said with a nervous look, "How pissed off is Tsunade-baachan?"

"At you? Very."

"But I won."

"But you were stupid and fought the masked man alone."

Okay, really? If anyone else had been out there with them they would have gotten blown away at one point or another. Tobi hadn't been screwing around and had finally realized that he had to fight to kill, even if he just wanted to capture him. The way he conducted himself in the battle with the techniques he used reflected that.

Naruto just stared at her with one eye before holding out his hand in her direction as if expecting her to have something for him. Maki just stared at him blankly with the most killer poker face he'd ever seen on a woman before she slowly reached over and dropped something into his hand; his contact lens that he proceeded to stick back into its proper place.

"Mission etiquette says that you cannot question the confirmed mission plan while the mission is in progress." Maki admitted, moving over to sit down on the side of Naruto's bed, "But since your fight wasn't really a mission, and since it most definitely is over now I feel I'm completely in the right on calling you a gigantic jackass."

"Yeah, I'd tolerate that if you were my _wife_." Naruto drawled, taking note of the way Maki's cheeks heated up even if her stony expression didn't change, "But you're not. You're just my sexy little junior." Winning solved everything. If you went about something the wrong way, as long as you won, what could anyone really say? "So what's up? Any news?"

Maki rolled her grey eyes, but felt the need to touch upon anything Naruto might have missed while taking his last mission to Kumo. Things were definitely afoot around the continent, "Northern Kaze no Kuni watch teams have reported something that could be either really good or really bad. Iwagakure is mobilizing along its southern border."

Naruto's eyes went wide at the possible implications of this fact, "You don't think-."

Never one to be suspenseful, Maki cut him off and nodded, "-There is probably a very good chance that Iwa has finally decided to make a move to try and conquer Suna. At this point they may figure that they can win even if we fight alongside Suna. But…"

"But what?"

"They're around the border of lands held by Amegakure."

Oh, that was a double-edged sword in of itself. If the Tsuchikage was reading the ebb and flow of the war correctly, he would know that the C.N.F. was reeling and on the ropes. 'The Great Fence-Sitter' probably wanted to get while the getting was good and take the constantly disputed lands of the minor villages for himself before the war's end.

There was also a chance that he could sweep to Kusagakure and take it over while Konoha was still battling for the great grass village. That would definitely give them a good foothold to launch a quick blitz out to the southwest, and with their Earth Release users they would have a great chance of negating Gaara's nearly automatic army-crippling control over sand, enough to use their numbers to bring down the depleted forces.

Damn it, why did things have to be so complicated in war? What would he do if he had control of the army? The only thing they could do was quickly finish up with Kusagakure and sit on it. Depending on who Iwa attacked first, the war could begin anew with a new enemy or continue with a third party to join the fighting as an enemy to the other two.

What would the Hokage do in a situation like this?

The door to the room then flew open and Naruto found himself thinking of something else after he was tackled down onto his bed by a busty silver-haired blur, "Master you're alive! You won!" She then pulled away enough to give him a curious look, "You did win didn't you? They didn't find another body when they found you."

"Uh yeah." Naruto said, looking over to Maki who was blank-facedly buffing her nails idly before he addressed Hamako again, "I kind of killed him in a separate dimension so I don't think anybody's ever going to see that body."

"My hero." Hamako said before leaning forward and giving Naruto a very deep kiss. It lingered on for quite some time until Maki cleared her throat, letting the Uzumaki Clan servant know that she was in the room also, "Oh." Embarrassed at being caught in so brazen an action, Hamako backed away demurely, face glowing red, "I am sorry Maki-san. I didn't notice you were there. Did you want to go first?" She offered.

It took a lot to make someone like Maki lose her composure, but being offered first dibs on the only man she had ever seen in any kind of sexual light was enough to throw her off, "W-What? We're at a red-level threat alert and you're talking about doing something like this with Naruto-senpai now?"

The seal master didn't answer with words at first, instead choosing to climb onto Naruto's lap while beginning to loosen the obi around her waist that held her kimono blouse shut. Maki held back a very un-Root-like squawk and turned around in her chair to avert her eyes.

This time, Hamako was much less apologetic about her 'affectionate' actions, "My master went off to war without any kind of incentive to return from what is supposed to be his loyal servant." She explained with fond eyes on said master, "A motivation like the kind I can give him could be the difference between life and death on the battlefield."

And Naruto was all for that. Just not in front of Maki. That was just insensitive. Also it was weird to have sex with someone in front of someone else that you had sex with already. He would have told Hamako to stop, but a massive, dominant chunk of him just didn't want to in the slightest and that was the portion of his mind in control.

The side that wanted to stop, or at least postpone her was his logical side, and that side had been duct-taped and hogtied in a corner somewhere since back when he decided that it would be a good idea to fight Suigetsu Hozuki in the ocean a few days ago. No one had freed it to resume its responsibilities of moderating his actions yet, hence why he dove headfirst into a geographically-warping battle with Tobi just one night prior.

So the Naruto sitting on that bed beginning to see the pretty porcelain skin of Hamako peek out from beneath her clothes was just A-ok with that, 'Oh, and she never wears chest bindings or a bra…'

POOF!

Before Hamako could open her shirt she was given the sight of Naruto disappearing right before her eyes in a puff of smoke, "…Did I break him?"

Maki turned back around only to find no sign of Root's true commander, "Kiyomizu-san, where did Naruto-senpai go?"

XxX

(Meanwhile – Mt. Myobuku)

POOF!

Naruto had felt the pull in his mind a split-second before his body was hurtled through time and space to be deposited in the dirt on the ground at the place of his most recent intensive training. Usually he wouldn't mind being reverse summoned, but right at this moment he wasn't feeling it in any way, shape, or form.

"No! No! No! No!" Naruto complained as he remained seated on the ground. Reaching a hand out he grabbed Fukasaku who was the closest toad to him at the moment, "Why? Why now? Couldn't you have waited for like thirty minutes or an hour or something?" Getting smacked over the head with an oversized walking stick put an end to that however, "…Right. I'm fine now."

"From the looks of your pants you don't look fine."

Naruto looked down at his 'growth' problem and crossed his legs before realizing just who had brought that point up, "Ero-kyofu? You were called here too?"

"Yeah." Jiraiya said with a small smile on his face, "How's the homefront kid? Got anything good for me to take back to the troops when we get sent back?"

"I just killed the masked guy that called himself Madara."

"That's good! Hell, that's great!" The creator of all of this insanity was finally down and out. And with him clearing out the root of all of the guerilla attacks going on behind the lines in the northeast front it was only a matter of time until that battlefront was settled.

Two of the eight minor villages that had banded together to fight in that part of the Elemental Nations had already surrendered to Kumo, who were not messing around when it came to cleaning the countryside out. Added on with that, and the fact that Jiraiya couldn't wait to say that he'd killed Kabuto and kept him from reanimating probably the most powerful person that ever lived and taking over his body, yeah things were going great!

"He attacked Konoha with a bunch of those plant guys we ran into in the northeast." Naruto continued in explaining what was going on recently from home, "A whole army of them."

"That's… not so good." Jiraiya said, visibly deflating from his previous emotional high, "How many?"

"I don't know." Naruto reported, getting more serious than ever now, "I got summoned back by Hamako and jumped straight into the fight with the masked guy. I only got a bit of a look at the village before things really got rolling, but the defenses were working. It wasn't as bad as the Oto-Suna Invasion… I think."

Well things could have been worse if nothing else.

Jiraiya pulled Naruto up to his feet and pulled him into a one-armed hug, "Good work brat. Alright, now I'm definitely confident in what I'm about to do." With that he moved aside and showed a toad, black and orange in color with a strange torso that seemed to have metal rings around it, "Meet Gerotora."

Naruto just looked down at the toad and waved, "S'up. How come I've never met you?"

"**Because I didn't want to meet you."** Gerotora stated bluntly, **"I didn't want you to find out what my job was and have you clamoring to hand over my secrets to you. No matter what you think, it ain't yours to dictate what to do with it."**

In return, Naruto gave him his best Root-trained stare for a full half-minute before turning back to Jiraiya, "Right. Who the hell is this?"

"**Why you little-."**

'Way to make a first impression both of you. Bravo.' Jiraiya thought to himself before launching into his explanation. The best way was to just get everything out into the open, front and center, "Gerotora possesses the key to your seal."

"Say what now?"

That clearly got Naruto's attention. Good, because Jiraiya did not want to have to repeat himself, "You heard me. When Minato created the overall formula for the Hakke Fuuin on your stomach he left the key to the jutsu with Gerotora and entrusted me as the only person that could open or see it. Well now it's your turn to have it."

"Why now?"

"Please. As if I'm more qualified to have it than you are at this point." Jiraiya said with a roll of his eyes, "Honestly, if she had been a ninja and if it wasn't so unpleasant to get the key I'd have given it to your little servant girlie a _long_ time ago. I'm pretty sure if I wasn't able to get Tsunade to sidetrack her with the village defense projects she would have reverse-engineered a key of her own before too much longer."

Naruto's brain upon hearing that Gerotora was the one that had given Jiraiya the secret to screwing with the seal started backtracking in time, "…Wait, so way back when I was acting all pissy when you took me to Tsuki no Kuni to train and screw around with the seal, this guy was there?"

"**I've always been there to an extent."** Gerotora grumped out, arms crossed over his chest. When Naruto looked over to Jiraiya for a translation, Gerotora shot out his tongue to slap Naruto to get his attention again, **"A scroll toad protects the secrets inscribed on them by residing in the belly of whomever they have a contract with. So technically I was there even if I was never outside."**

Ew. So Jiraiya hung out with a toad in his stomach for years and years. And Gerotora just didn't seem to care too much about that fact. Naruto was completely willing to let the tongue-slap and the grouchy attitude slide. If you had a miserable existence like that one you had every right to be grumpy, "That's… really rough."

"**Eh, what are you gonna do?"**

And he didn't seem to care. Thus another notch could be added to how awesome toads were. Either that or one more thing could be added to how weird they were.

"So now it's my turn?"

"That's the idea kid. You need it to get full control over the Kyuubi."

At that thought, Naruto paused. Was that a good thing? Of course it was! But like with all good things, there was probably a price to pay, or something extensively dangerous about the entire concept of getting full control of his biju's abilities.

So he could only imagine just what it would take.

"What do I have to do?" Naruto asked, "To get control? I have to beat it in a fight, right?"

"Basically." Jiraiya admitted, "It'll be a battle of wills. Win and you get control. Lose and the Kyuubi goes free, you die, and too bad for anyone or anything around you when it does. Because it probably isn't going to survive either."

A comment hit Naruto in the back of his head at that moment, **"We don't have to have our final battle now Naruto. You killed the masked man 'Madara'. You've done right by me thus far. Do you really want to risk dying before you've finished your business?"**

'What business?'

"**Bringing this war of yours to an end."**

Wait, a biju actually cared about that sort of thing?

Naruto figured that the Kyuubi would have been chomping at the bit for him to go ahead and open up the gates so that they could get this whole thing settled up once and for all, the way they always said that they would.

Instead of taking the chance at the all-out fight for freedom, the Kyuubi wanted to wait and watch everything be settled, risking the painful death and respawn process that would occur if Naruto died, or worse, being captured if Naruto was defeated and all of his countermeasures to prevent extraction failed.

"**I'm going to defeat you and break free."** Kyuubi said confidently. Naruto could just see the toothy grin from the large fox inside of him, **"But before I do, I'd like to see the end of this ride I've been on with you since day one. I've been waiting most of the century already for my freedom. I can wait a bit longer to devour you and take it."**

'Kyuubi… I-.'

"**Kurama."**

'What?'

"**If I'm going to be fighting you to the finish I at least want you to know the true name of the one that ended your life. My name is Kurama."**

With that short mental conversation complete, Naruto smiled and looked at Jiraiya and the toads gathered around them, "Is there any way we can put that whole thing off until the war is over? Me using the key I mean."

Jiraiya just stared at Naruto strangely, "…Why?"

"Because until we finish Pein and end this war, I don't want to do something like that." Naruto said, his eyes closing in contemplation, "I at least want to tie all of my loose ends up before I let Kurama get a real shot at me once and for all."

"What's a Kurama?"

"The Kyuubi's real name. Go figure."

"Ah."

Fukasaku, Shima, and Gerotora all looked at Naruto in shock, the first two in quite a bit of concern, **"Naruto-chan… the last time ya fought 'em…"** Fukasaku said with a great touch of concern, **"Those Six Paths a' his kinda tore ya up. And I know ya learned Sage Mode and ya took it further than we ever woulda dreamed ya would, but-."**

"It'll be alright." Jiraiya said, voice full of confidence, "You said it yourself. The last time he didn't know Sage Mode. He was using that fool 'trigger' technique of his to force control over the Kyuubi's chakra for a boost." If they were handing out hidden names they were probably on good enough terms, and the workaround for gather the senjutsu chakra spoke volumes of whether or not they were on the same page, "He's stronger in Sage Mode and he's able to keep his head without destroying his skeletal structure."

Gerotora hopped between the two humans and glared between the two of them, **"Jiraiya, you're saying that the boy is stronger than you?"**

"He's stronger than me." The original toad sage asserted, "And the secret to Nagato's jutsu isn't exactly a secret anymore. Six separate bodies, but the real one isn't amongst them. He controls them from elsewhere somehow."

"**Feh."** Gerotora spat, **"I'll be waiting for him to wisen up then. If Jiraiya couldn't win at his best, I don't see how the child can."**

"He might be young, but he's no child." Jiraiya said, "Besides, I can't make him take the key, even if it is his." With a grin forming on his face, he rubbed Naruto's head, "Well that's what this was all about brat. And it's up to you."

Naruto didn't need to think twice, "Save it. I want something to do after the war ends." He felt Kurama smashing his tails against the bars of the cage inside of the seal at the sheer arrogance of the statement.

"**Gah! You SUCK! I dare you to say that in front of someone that'd actually hit you for it because I can't!"**

Jiraiya just stared at Naruto for several seconds, "Kid… that was the cockiest thing I've ever heard you say out loud, and you've given me some doozies in the past." He ran a hand through his own hair before holding his chin, "Part of me is proud of you, because that sounds like something I'd say. Another part of me wants to hit you, but the other part doesn't want to start a fight right now while I'm still in command of the northeastern front. I've got a war to finish up over there."

"So I'll see you back home when all of this is over yeah?"

"At some point or another. Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself and the village."

With that, the two toad summoners were sent back to their respective places of origin via cancellation of the reverse summoning.

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Naruto's House)

In a puff of smoke, Naruto reappeared back on his bed following the informal meeting with Jiraiya and the toads, only now there was no Maki or Hamako in the vicinity.

So there would be no chance of continuing where he'd left off back before he'd been summoned.

Unfortunately, post-victory sex was not to be in his immediate future. It simply wasn't in the cards on this occasion

"…Damn it."

XxX

(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)

Konan walked her way out onto the ledge on the top floor to stand next to the Deva Path and overlook the village and the lake that surrounded it. Both of them were silent, as Konan had long since reported to him upon her return that Naruto Uzumaki had killed their benefactor 'Madara Uchiha'.

So they were finally free from all tethers to the bastardized vision of Akatsuki that everything became. They were the last members standing. Just the two of them. The way it had always been meant to be.

Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu; all dead. Only Zetsu was left aside from the two of them.

But that wasn't a problem at the moment. Nor was the fact that Kusagakure was one step short of falling to Konoha's onslaught. With the fall of Kusa, the road would be wide open to Amegakure, and the war would touch their lands.

But the war had already touched their lands.

The damned opportunistic Tsuchikage. He figured he could take Ame while they were fighting their battle to the north with Konoha in the wilds of the Kusa-held lands.

From the tower, they could see far and wide, and in the distance, on the horizon, they could see the dotted camps of the enemy. They were taunting, threatening, and the village was on lockdown. Nothing was getting across the lake to the village in the middle, no matter the cost.

But as far as Nagato was concerned, the enemy wasn't going to get that far.

Unless the Tsuchikage himself had come down to fight this battle, there wasn't anything they had that could stop him from enacting the wrath of God upon them. They thought their encampment was a safe distance away from Ame where they could observe the village without risking getting danger-close of numerous raids from the enemy before they were ready to make their attack.

"The Anima Path is already en route to the site of the battle, almost in position." The Deva Path said to Konan, despite the fact that Nagato himself was right in the next room. She knew why he did it. She loved Yahiko, and he felt that speaking through his body gave her some measure of comfort.

"Would you like me to accompany your paths and join in the battle?" Konan asked diligently. He had no need to comfort her. The only comfort she needed was knowing that Ame was safe and sound. Fighting for it would give her the peace he wanted to have her feel.

"No. Konan, I can destroy an entire hidden village full of ninja on my own. I can annihilate a camp. I want you to remain here in the village with me. While I use my chakra to fight, inform every citizen to get somewhere they can see the Iwa camp." The Deva Path's eyes didn't leave the direction of the enemy camp, "In case anyone has forgotten just how complete my power is, I want them to see it. To restore their faith in God."

Any loss of village morale due to the course of the war would need to be restored with a strong showing and minimal loss of life. This was something that he could easily do to make sure his followers did not lose their faith in his ideals. He needed the people behind him to change the world. This would be their time in the sun instead of in the clouds and the rain.

Konan nodded and watched the sun peek through the clouds that always seemed to be over Amegakure, if only for just a few seconds, before the Deva Path vanished in a puff of smoke, the way she'd reappeared in the tower via the Anima Path's summoning the night before.

Even with the numbers against him, if the enemy didn't understand the secret behind the Six Paths of Pein, there was no way any force could defeat Nagato.

XxX

(Moments Earlier – Iwagakure Camp – 10 Miles Outside of Amegakure)

When the world fell into full-scale war, the Sandaime Tsuchikage Onoki felt no need to take a side in the upcoming conflict. No matter who won in these little chains of alliances, there would always be at least one loser, even amongst the winners. The most powerful at the end of these wars, no matter what role they took in the overall effort were the real winners.

Why wouldn't Iwagakure try to swoop in and pick up the scraps of the effort? Konoha's ninjas fighting the Kusagakure campaign would be exhausted even if they were able to remobilize and reach Sunagakure by the time that Ame was conquered.

The way things shook out, Iwa could destroy Ame and Suna in one fell swoop and rewrite the maps for the countries that these villages sat within.

This was the moment that Iwa had waged entire wars for in the past, the sort of thing that it had even started the Third Shinobi World War for, and it had fallen into their laps without having to deal with any long, bloody campaigns to put them right at the door of the enemy.

This was a minor village, with their best out in the field dying in the killing wilderness of Kusa-held territory trying in vain to hold that doomed village. A quick strike force division of 1000, comparably small to conventional armed forces which would normally be three times as large at least to wage any kind of full-scale attack on a major hidden village.

No minor village could hold off any of the 'Big 5' if one of them were really motivated to take it down at all costs. This was a weakened minor village battered from the war effort that had been infiltrated and partially destroyed almost a year prior by Konoha's jinchuuriki, Jiraiya, and an unknown unit that had somehow gotten to the very limits of the main center portion of the island village.

Right now the plan was a rather rudimentary one. It boiled down to basically… forming a wide bridge with Earth Release specialists across the lake, just under the surface of the water to disguise it but allow them to use it to move across the water and use the moved earth to defend and fight back against distance attacks that would come from the center village.

It was more complicated than that, but this was what it boiled down to.

The land of the camp was easy for them to defend. It was barren and wide open to begin with, capable of allowing people to see far and wide in any direction. Some rudimentary earth jutsu was all it took to make a fortified stronghold.

So when the sentries saw a lone figure walking across the grounds, the entire camp was up in arms. Sensor ninjas couldn't feel anyone else around. Just one signature. But it was absolutely mammoth, dwarfing the majority of the invading strike force by itself.

"This is it." One of the red-clad Iwa shinobi said, waiting for the order to attack, "This is the guy isn't it? The one that called himself God?"

"I heard he destroyed Suna with one jutsu to start the war."

"No way. There had to be a trick to it. Someone that strong… can't exist."

"People don't get that strong. Those are just stories."

As the figure got closer and became easier to see everyone prepared themselves. An old man with shaggy orange dyed hair and an 'x' scar on his chin, eyes closed, and clad in a black robe with red clouds.

"…Is that Danzo Shimura?"

"It can't be. He disappeared months ago."

It was Danzo, or it used to be. Now it was just Nagato's Animal Path.

Through the Animal Path, Nagato spoke to the amassed enemies, "You hidden villages claim that you cherish peace, but every stretch of peace that has ever been brokered in the Elemental Nations has been nothing more than a mask. A mask for villages like yours to secretly build their strength, come up with new and more dangerous ways to fight, new strategies to use against the other villages or any other enemy you see as your next threat. All in anticipation of the next excuse to start another war."

Stepping out at the head of the force, A tall, brawny, bearded Iwa ninja that bore a strong resemblance to the Tsuchikage stood firm with his arms crossed. Mutterings of the man's name, Commander Kitsuchi, echoed out through the shinobi and kunoichi amassed.

"So you're the leader of Amegakure?" Kitsuchi said, not willing to let his guard down against this man for a second, "Who do you think you are, thinking you can fight 1000 shinobi singlehandedly? A kage?"

"No." The Animal Path said, opening its eyes to reveal the Rinnegan, "God. Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

A large puff of smoke covered everyone's sight before three titanic orange and black centipedes with large piercings in their bodies stampeded out, crawling across the ground at a blinding pace, straight over the earthen ramparts constructed to protect the camp and right into slaughtering every Iwa ninja they rolled over.

From the same puff of smoke, a large ugly bird with three legs and a drill-like beak flew up into the air over the camp, holding the Animal Path on its back to survey everything from above.

"This is going to be easy." The Animal Path commented to itself. From the sky it was clear to see the carnage that the centipedes had created had been quick. The losses were piling up already, "I won't even need to take the risk of using the large-scale Shinra Tensei to destroy these fools."

Iwa had clustered together. They wanted to form up in that manner so that they could defend en masse to whatever Nagato wanted to try at the outset. They hadn't been expecting massive monster summons.

He hadn't even used a hand-seal, and he'd summoned four creatures at once.

Four creatures that they could see anyway.

"This is _not_ going to be that easy you bastard!" Kitsuchi shouted angrily, "Form up your squadrons! The centipedes are too quick to pursue! Wait for the approach and counter! Corral them decently and I can kill them all in one move!"

With his strongest solo technique. The inspired Iwa troops did their best, trying to hit the centipedes with what they could without trying to let them get close enough to kill them. They had already lost almost 200 in the opening moments of the battle.

Projectiles with explosive tags, the ranged ninjutsu they had in their repertoire, anything they had up their sleeves that they thought would make a difference in hurting the monsters, or at least moving them into the appropriate position. They were fast bastards though, moving swiftly through the camp to hide their own movements.

But before they could truly start boxing them in for Kitsuchi to aim at, dozens were cut down in a matter of seconds, right from the middle of their groupings. The air shimmered and a giant chameleon with Rinnegan eyes and a snake tail appeared suddenly, the perpetrator of the bloody attack.

"Kill it!"

Springing to attack, they were caught entirely unaware when the chameleon opened its mouth to reveal within the brawny, mechanized Asura Path without its cloak, revealing its six arms. Every hand it had detached from the arms at the wrist, only hanging on by a covered in dozens of spine-like missiles that fired at the enemies that had chosen to attack before discovering the deadly Asura Path concealed within the chameleon.

Everyone else that was able to react to the attack did so in the most reasonable way that they could, "Doton: Doryuuheki (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall)!" The slaughter wasn't as horrible as it could have been. But those that survived behind the raised walls still saw, felt, and heard the impact of the explosions.

Some of walls weren't created by strong enough ninjas to hold up, collapsing behind the force of missiles that blew up too close.

Blood and body parts flew past the eyes of many. And then there were those that saw the horribly smiling face of the emotionless Asura Path, more machine than man, before it cut them down with a saw blade protruding from its torso, or crushing their bodies with the raw power of its taijutsu.

On the drill-beaked bird in the sky, the Animal Path had been joined via its summoning jutsu abilities by the Naraka Path and the Preta Path, so that if needed the Animal Path could summon any other injured Paths back to the bird to be healed by the Naraka's abilities, and the Preta's abilities could defend this mobile dispatch hub with its own.

Kitsuchi didn't know what to make of this battle. Almost half of the people that he had brought to attack Amegakure had been killed or wounded already.

He watched hatefully as two more Paths dropped from the sky after being summoned to the battlefield by the Animal Path; The Deva Path, and the Human Path. Despite the height they fell from, their landing was safely cushioned somehow, leaving them entirely unharmed.

The Deva Path looked at Kitsuchi's enraged scowl without blinking, "You're angry. Someone like you, you've experienced war, that much is clear. As the son of the Tsuchikage it's obvious, you're probably a decorated ninja from the last war. But, also being the Tsuchikage's son, you've probably never felt the true pain that war can bring. You should be thanking me."

"Thanking you?" Kitsuchi's voice held a dangerous edge to it, "Did you just say I should be thanking you?"

"Yes." The long-haired Human Path replied, "After experiencing just a little bit of my pain, you should be able to understand me a bit better. Be grateful. Most regular people like you, never come this close to understanding the will of God."

How arrogant could any person ever be? But this was the most dangerous ninja in the entire world and he needed to be killed, at all costs.

Kitsuchi internally built his chakra and slammed his hands into the ground, causing it to shake as if an earthquake was hitting the area, "Doton: Daichidoukaku (Earth Release: Great Moving Earth Core)!"

The Human and Deva Paths didn't budge as the immediate area that he and Kitsuchi stood on found itself deposited below as if it were a massive elevator platform, sending it two hundred feet below the rest of the battlefield's terrain.

This wasn't a trap. Kitsuchi just wanted to separate the Paths from each other. If he could kill two of their attackers himself to help the rest up top, they had a chance to win. But the ensuing battle would only put more at risk if he fought them up top.

'Just hold on.' Kitsuchi thought to himself with a grim smile on his face, 'I'll even up the odds a bit soon enough.'

Taking Amegakure was the order of the Tsuchikage, and every Iwagakure ninja followed their orders direct from the top to the letter, even if it meant death. Entire clans had been decimated in the past because of this.

"Just what do you think this is going to accomplish?" The Deva Path said, "It doesn't matter how you try to fight me. The outcome of this battle was decided the moment you stepped onto my lands." From underneath the sleeve of the Human Path's cloak, a black blade seemed to be produced from underneath the skin of the arm for emphasis, "All you can do is die."

'Well I can always take you with me you sons of bitches.' Three hand-seals and Kitsuchi slammed his palms onto the ground again, "Doton: Sando no Jutsu (Earth Release: Mountainous Earth Jutsu)!"

From the bottom of the pit, the ground folded up into two massive quarter-sphere rock formations that made to crush Kitsuchi and the two Paths with no space to avoid the jutsu. The resigned smile of Kitsuchi lasted until just before he would have crushed them, the Human and Deva Paths vanished in puffs of smoke.

"No!" Kitsuchi cancelled the sacrificial use of his jutsu by pulling them off of the ground and placing them against the walls before they could slam closed on him, but it still stopped just short, turning his body and pressing him awkwardly, face and back, to the walls, "You… bastard." He grunted to himself, as despite avoiding the crushing he was still stuck there tightly.

That was a summoning? Summoning humans? That was unfair. It was impossible.

Above he could still hear the sounds of the battle raging on, though the sounds of the fighting grew quieter and quieter. Less and less explosions, less sounds of orders, suggestions, and warnings being yelled. When it stopped altogether from what he could hear, Kitsuchi closed his eyes tightly in pain.

The silence was haunting. The battle had taken all of twenty minutes at the longest. Kitsuchi let out a yell of anguish as he couldn't even move to make hand-seals to try and escape. The scope of his jutsu was too large for him to even begin to budge the slightest bit of it with his own strength.

When you used your strongest jutsu in a suicide bid to destroy the enemy and failed, you couldn't expect to just be right back into the fight. But he could hardly move a muscle.

He heard the echo of the Deva Path's voice come through to him and went berserk trying to somehow jostle himself free, just to get at him, "It would be a shame, to kill you so soon after finally showing you just a bit of my pain. So I'll give you time to contemplate what you've just experienced. Rest assured you're still going to die though. Uramiame (Grudge Rain)."

The heavy rain created by the jutsu would gradually fill up the gap that Kitsuchi was stuck in. By the time it reached his ankles it would begin draining his chakra, making escape all but impossible as it would continue to rise until he died of chakra exhaustion or drowned.

That would give him plenty of time to think about the pain he felt from losing 1000 souls in a matter of a half-hour.

XxX

From Amegakure, the entire village turned out onto the rooftops of the skyscrapers to watch the quick obliteration of the enemy at their proverbial gates. Above them in the sky with an even better view of the fight, Konan didn't turn her eyes away from the base camp for a moment.

War coming to Ame hadn't been this real ever since the days the last great war had ended. The civil war, as deadly as it potentially could have been, wouldn't have resulted in Ame's destruction whether Akatsuki won or Hanzo did.

This had been the first sign of the sword being set at Ame's throat since the Second Shinobi World War, and even though Nagato had crushed them fairly easily without even having to use his chakra for any dangerous and forbidden jutsu, she had a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach.

In Nagato's bid to make the world feel his pain, he was choosing to bite off more than he could chew. Could he do this every single time an attack force came? What kind of war would that be for them?

He had lost sight of what the original plan was supposed to be. The original set of goals they were supposed to go after to really make the world understand the futility of fighting. The more he fought and dealt this sort of destruction to the rest of the world though, the more it seemed that Nagato liked inflicting that kind of devastation.

It was as if he enjoyed subjecting the denizens of the 'stronger' ninja villages to the complete feeling of helplessness and weakness that they had felt decades prior. The sense of accomplishment he exuded after destroying Sunagakure hadn't been like the one that he had after defeating Jiraiya or killing Hanzo; the view that he had done what he had to do.

That no longer seemed to be the case. His way was the right way, and his way was to hurt anyone he saw fit to turn his wrath towards.

This God had become one of vengeance.

XxX

(Days Later – Lands of Kusagakure)

After the breakout across the Tenchi Bridge that had allowed Konohagakure forces to collapse the Continental Ninja Federation defenses, Kusagakure and its numerous minor village allies did their best to try and reenact another defensive position to stop them and hold them back.

The C.N.F. quickly found that there was no natural position to take that was anywhere near as good as the river at the border that they had initially been able to hold Konoha back at, and found themselves stumbling over their own feet trying to fall back fast enough to take a defensive spot.

The following two weeks found Konoha tearing through the wild terrain of the countryside, sending the reeling C.N.F. closer and closer to the crown point of Kusagakure. Brutal constant combat was the name of the game from then on out.

Sleep for any longer than two or three hours was rare. The shinobi had to keep moving until it was clear that Konoha's push had stalled, but that never seemed to happen. Some of them were almost wishing that the C.N.F. got their crap back together and managed to defend so that they could take a step back themselves and get a breath.

They were running out of soldier pills for fuck's sake.

One of these moments of downtime for some was a time to be vigilant for the others, to watch over their tired comrades before the positions were switched and they would get their rest before the push continued. The line could never stop moving. The momentum had to be maintained.

"Fuck." Tayuya said, cursing at the nicks she had in her trusty demonic flute after prolonged combat in the jungle, "I _hate_ close-range fighting. Can't this be over by now? No one's gotten any leave since Uzumaki took down the fortress behind the bridge."

Laying on the ground nearby, using her trench coat as a makeshift pillow, Anko rested her eyes, still trying to stay alert to their surroundings, "Sure. This can be over. Just teleport us into Kusa so we can sack the place from the inside out and that'll end it."

Smartass remark aside, Tayuya understood her mentor's point. She still flipped her off though, but Anko couldn't see it so the gesture was lost on her, "You know what I mean? But I think the Ame ninjas are the ones that want to keep fighting more than any of the others."

"You see that too huh?" Anko said, cracking a pupil-less brown eye to look over at the former Oto-ninja, "Yeah, even the ones from Kusa don't seem to want it that bad. They're the ones that are the first to enact a retreat."

The battles were almost formulaic at this point. The two sides would come across each other in pockets across the countryside and in the jungles and would do battle until the C.N.F. found themselves overmatched and would flee, setting traps and fires to cover their withdrawal.

Sitting nearby was the division commander Yamato, who found himself almost spearheading the advance with his Mokuton ability. An invaluable ability in the kind of setting that they found themselves fighting in.

He could hear the conversation between two of his tokubetsu jounin in Anko and Tayuya, and decided to chime in between cracking walnuts for him to enjoy in his 'leisure', "Remember, Amegakure's leader strong-armed the lesser villages around the continent into joining them or meeting the same fate as Sunagakure. These places didn't like the bigger villages that much to begin with either."

"Give them a few kicks in the teeth and they don't know which fate would be the worse." Anko commented, "They just want to go home and protect their own now. I can't say I really blame them."

"Commander Yamato!" Izumo Kamizuki, long-time chunin from Konoha barreled into the temporary rest position in the jungle that Yamato had been taking with a few other shinobi in his direct squad, "Sir, there's… I don't-. I mean, I've got to tell you-!"

"Calm down and spit it out." Yamato said, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing!" Izumo regained his composure to get his message across, "Kusa, they accepted the standing terms for surrender! Ame is cutting their losses and heading to the border right now to prepare for the move on their village!"

That was great news! Even if the other two small villages that had fallen in with Kusa and Ame in the war kept fighting, there wouldn't be that much they could do to hold them off. Hoshigakure wasn't that strong a force, even with their ninjas with odd chakra. Takigakure already surrendered not too long ago, leaving the western front open for the most part.

It was almost too good to be true. Maybe now they could move some people off of the line and send them back to Konoha to rest and restore parts of the village that had been destroyed during the attack from the plant men and the masked man posing as Madara Uchiha.

This war was almost over.

"Fuck yeah!" Tayuya exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air, "Can I finally go home for a spell? This war shit is for the birds."

"Not really." Yamato said, standing up from where he was sitting, "The most important part is still to come. Now we've got to turn Ame's way and set up for the end of all of this. We've also got to dispatch advance troops up farther northwest to watch Iwa and make sure they don't pull any sweeping moves before the dust clears."

At that, Izumo cleared his throat to get attention back, "About that. Iwa already tried it, on Ame. They were going to try and take Ame and flow over to take Kusa in one fell swoop before any of us knew what had happened. Apparently that's why Kusa surrendered now, so that if it happened they'd at least have Konoha covering for them somehow."

"So the war really is over?" One of the other nearby shinobi asked.

Izumo shook his head, "They didn't win. Ame destroyed the division sent their way."

Tayuya's face fell and she looked at the flute in her hand before muttering, "We're still not getting any leave are we?"

"Afraid not." Yamato said, "I'm sending word to the Hokage that we're about to leave a detachment around here to work around Kusa's surrender and the rest are heading south. Enjoy a few hours of rest, because then we're going to pick everything up and turn it to Ame."

"Aww…"

"Does anyone have a problem with that?" Yamato asked, giving the lot of them a ghoulish look that somehow frightened them into line. A man had to rule his division with fear every now and then, "Good."

XxX

(With Naruto – Konohagakure no Sato – Village Streets)

The battle had been over for a few days, but there were still pockets of White Zetsu soldiers that had hidden themselves in the village. Things were still on red alert, with constant patrols from vigilant shinobi. Civilians were kept out of certain areas of the village for safety, with a strict curfew enacted until further notice but things were way better than they should have been.

Funerals for the ninjas killed during the battle were to be held off until the alert died down for good. And the village was still being sifted through in areas where there had been heavy fighting, so bodies were still being discovered.

Naruto found himself walking through the village day after day looking around. A lot of people had died, but things could have been much worse. Compared to the amount that died during the Invasion of Konoha, this hadn't been as deadly a battle.

"I've seen a lot of people die." Naruto said to himself, hands in his pockets as he strolled through one of the worse areas in Konoha affected from the battle, "Why am I more pissed this time than I was during Oto and Suna's invasion?"

"**Because when that happened, your head was full of scrambled brain hash from the unsealing."** Kurama said without even being prompted,** "You were mentally shot for a while after that. Moody, violent, and you were so out of it all you cared about for half of it was linking back up with Danzo. The only reason you didn't break is because Danzo Root-ed you when you were a brat so it wasn't the first time you had your head screwed with."**

Yeah, Kurama kind of helped him keep his shit together back then. Maybe because he knew what it was like himself to be the recipient of a seal.

"**Also, you might be seeing this as your village now."**

"Huh?"

"**The last few days when you walked around, what did you notice? It wasn't just the ninjas of this village acknowledging you. Everyone here knows something about the battles you've been fighting since this war started. Your reports that you've sent in since day one aren't sealed records. They're public domain, and they all know you killed the masked man."**

Probably even further back than that. He hadn't been playing it very low-key since the mission to sack Oto bases throughout the lands that had lasted most of a year.

And even just from the war: stopping the Kazekage from going on a rampage and playing into Nagato's hands, opening up the western front by destroying the stronghold holding the enemy back, opening up the sea routes so that Kirigakure could finally send their own fresh ninjas to finish up the eastern front. And of course there was the battle inside of Konoha that led to Naruto killing the lead perpetrator in battle outside of the village.

"Fox, are you out of your mind?" Naruto said aloud, "What does that have to do with anything? I was the only one that could do those things, I kicked ass. That's what I'm supposed to do. That's what all of us are supposed to do."

"**Yes, that's what you're supposed to aspire to do if it's possible as a ninja of Konoha. But who else actually did it?"** Kurama queried rhetorically, **"You killed four of the nine most dangerous terrorists in the world and the guy that backed them from the start. You've got two landmarks in Hi no Kuni as scars on the earth from battles you've had. If anyone can be marked as the strongest ninja underneath the Hokage, who else would it be?"**

"Ero-sennin."

"**If you still think he's stronger than you now you're the one that's out of your mind."**

"Pssht."

As he walked, Naruto heard a voice clear off to the side somewhere before hearing Tsunade's voice, "If you're going to have a conversation with the Kyuubi you should keep it to yourself." She said, sitting on a bench on the side of the street, "If there were other people here they'd probably think you were crazy."

"What are you doing here Tsunade-baachan?" Naruto asked, walking over to sit down beside her. She'd been extremely busy since the battle, so it was surprising to even see her at all, let alone see her outside of the office or hospital, "This is supposed to be a danger zone."

Yes, she knew. She was the one that signed off on the big honking maps of Konoha set up in populated areas around town so that people could know where it was safe to head to, "If any of those plant men are really stupid enough to attack me just because I'm alone and think they can win, feel free. I want something to pound to paste to vent some stress anyway."

"No sake or anything?"

"I told myself I'd never drink during a war. Kami, it sucks." Tsunade said before looking over at Naruto, "Have I ever told you that Onoki is a senile old opportunistic jackass that doesn't understand the concept of screwing the goddamn pooch."

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle to himself at her stewing anger. At least it wasn't aimed at him for fighting the masked man any longer, "Really? I thought all of the kages were buddies."

"No, I'm serious. I can see that you'd probably accept anyone attacking Ame at this point, but the man completely misses the bigger picture that goes past Iwagakure and how things affect that village." Tsunade said with no small sense of annoyance, "Did you know that during the chunin exam in Suna that you went with me for, he was completely willing to act like he didn't know you were in a fight with two members of Akatsuki."

"I could handle it." With Gaara's help, but that was then and this was now, "Besides, you sicced me on them."

"He did that because if you'd gotten caught or killed it would have made us weaker." Tsunade continued, "And even with this war trying to stanch out every major hidden village in the war, he was willing to try and pick at the bones when he thought he had an opening. For once I've got to say, what Jiraiya's wayward brat did to them served the bastard right. If only it didn't have to come with him getting so many of his own people killed."

Naruto just nodded in understanding and agreement, "As much as I hate the guy, I think Nagato did it the right way, fighting them himself instead of having his people fight and draw it out." Of course it also helped that he was more than strong enough to get the job done, especially since no one in Iwa knew how to deal with his technique in the slightest.

At the topic of Nagato coming up, the blond/blonde pair went silent. Every so often they'd see patrolling ninjas hopping rooftops in the distance in the middle of the afternoon, but for the most part they just basked in the silence and tranquility of the day.

Tsunade looked over at Naruto and put an arm around him to hug the bastard. He didn't fight it. Why would he have? This was Tsunade, and even if they had a rocky start he loved that old lady.

"I don't even want to ask you, but I have to. You're going to Ame aren't you?"

"…If I don't, what happened to Iwa is going to happen to us when we move on them." Naruto looked over at her with a serious look in his eyes, "Send me when the time comes."

"I can send Jiraiya instead." She tried to reason in return, "Goddamn it Naruto, do you know how close you are to being a shoo-in for taking over when I finally drop the hat? I was about to groom you when this was all over. Five to ten years from now and that's it. You're the next one. Nobody else is even close right now to taking it."

"Ero-sennin isn't anywhere as strong as he was during the first fight." Even if he knew how Nagato's powers basically worked to fool opponents, he didn't have the power to do what was needed to take advantage of it with one arm, "You know it's got to be me. I'm the only one that can now."

Tsunade still wanted to choke him for running off and fighting the masked man, but the reality of that situation had been that he had been the only person in the village that could have won aside from her. He was the strongest ninja in Konoha with the biggest bag of tricks behind only Kakashi and Jiraiya, and more rabbits in his hat than a career magician.

She was needed in Konoha, because if she had gone off to fight, even if she hadn't gotten killed in the fight with the powerful bastard, many more people would have been killed without her there to heal them on the spot with her specialized medical jutsu.

So if Naruto was a kage-level ninja, but not the Hokage, it was his place to fight the strongest enemies. And with him spearheading the final push, their forces would be more than willing to fight.

Besides, a Hokage in the making needed that one thing to drive the point home to the people that he was the man or was going to be the man, and there wouldn't be anyone else better suited to be the focal point of the battle with the best Ame had left.

"Get your rest brat." Tsunade told him, planting a kiss on his cheek before getting up to go and work out the logistics of the upcoming final campaign. She needed to get Shikaku and his son and see what they could cook up with the land advantage that Konoha would have behind this offensive, "If you die after all of this you'll be disappointing more people than you know."

'If I die… I'm taking that bastard with me.' Naruto thought in immediate response, 'I owe him.'

* * *

**Whoo! Alright, let's bring this bad boy home. Almost there… almost there. And next time we'll get just a little bit closer. **

**Kenchi out.**


	68. The Root of All Pain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I'd like to, but ain't in this for the money, I do it for the sheer love of the game. THE SHEER LOVE OF THE GAME! I would do this for free!

…Wait, I _am_ doing this for free.

**Chapter 67: The Root of All Pain**

* * *

When you're raised to do one thing, when your entire childhood development is centered around achieving one significant far-off task decades in the future, the gravity of your situation doesn't set upon you at first. How could it? You can be told that something is all-important, and that you should take it seriously every day, but as a child yet to hit double-digits in age how much can it weigh on you?

This doesn't really occur until you grow, until you gain a practical understanding of your situation and of just what you are slated to do. As time carries on, things settle into your psyche more and more and the pressure builds. But that's not really strange. That occurs with almost every facet of your life; as you grow older you begin to see just how important even the mundane things in your existence are when you gain the knowledge needed and truly look back on things.

No, what really brings about the crushing weight, the pressure of your own situation, is when you know that you're shooting for the absolute top, and that there's no one else in position to take it except for you. When you learn firsthand just how vital your future is to the prosperity and overall wellness of the people around you that you love, and even people you've yet to meet.

That sort of realization doesn't easily set onto you over time. It hits you all at once. One day you wake up, you eat breakfast and stare out through your bay window over the village that you call your home, and you think idly to yourself, 'Someday soon, this entire village is going to be my responsibility to take care of.'

…And then you pause. You freeze everything, because that's a fucking terrifying thought. It was for Naruto.

Not because he didn't think he could do it. Too many people believed that he could. Danzo, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Maki, Sai, all of Root, Gaara, Yugito, all sorts of people amongst his friends; they all thought he was capable of it.

Not because he wasn't prepared, because he knew he wasn't prepared and that wasn't the point. That wasn't the problem. Everything he didn't know yet, Tsunade had already declared she would teach him as she groomed him for a few years to take things over in the aftermath of the war.

It was the simple gravity of that idea. The idea that _he_ would be in charge of everything. That _he_ would be responsible for every man, woman, and child within the walls of his hometown. That no matter what, for better or for worse, the buck would stop with _him_.

No matter how important things had been in the past, Naruto had been able to break it down and somehow compartmentalize it. He would tackle things as they came, even if they progressively grew in importance and difficulty. As long as he could keep a straight-head outlook of handling things one step at a time as they were in front of him he could take anything. It was why he was able to deal with the progressively more horrifyingly powerful people he'd been taking on since he battled Kimimaro, how he'd kept from feeling in over his head no matter what mission was thrown at him.

As things stood, even if he had resigned himself to do battle with Nagato, or Pein, as far as Naruto was concerned it was the logical next step to take. At this point in the war the only thing left to do was take him down and force Ame to surrender. Even with the importance of that battle, Naruto still justified it as being in his wheelhouse because he was a soldier. An extremely important soldier, but still a soldier whose duty it was to battle Konoha's enemies.

Then Tsunade dropped the to-be Hokage-in-training news on him and took him from being a wartime commodity to the man who would be king.

He wasn't saying that he didn't want it. He definitely wanted it. She just could have been a bit more subtle about it. In that vein they were definitely more than likely related somewhere down the family line, even if it did so happen to be rather distant.

Finishing dressing for the day as he looked out onto _his_ village during the sunrise, Naruto finished wrapping his hands and looked back at his bed where Hamako still slept peacefully. She hadn't left his side when he was at home since he had returned from Mt. Myoboku. Such a brave little thing, the poor girl almost lost what had become her home for the second time during the attack of the White Zetsus.

Naruto stroked the slumbering seal master's cheek and gave her a lingering kiss of departure on the lips, leaving her smiling as he departed his home for the day, 'Get all the rest you need Hamako-chan. Sleep for the both of us, because I ain't got the time.' There wasn't enough in the day.

While battle plans were being lain out for the final push on Amegakure, Naruto still had some affairs to attend to and some well earned high-fives to hand out all around to the people that weren't supposed to get them.

XxX

(Just Outside of Konohagakure – Hidden Root Base)

Hand still stinging from the palm being slapped in an elevated gesture of a job well done, Sai dryly lowered it and stared at it before blankly looking at Naruto who had delivered the high-five, "…And what was that supposed to represent?"

"It's supposed to represent that you did a kickass job Sai." Naruto said, acknowledging the copious healed wounds that were bandaged on Sai's person. He still hadn't fully recovered from the battle, as he had played an important role in the shadows, "And you're telling me you got the original? The white and black bipolar one? You're sure you killed him?"

Sai nodded emotionlessly as the director of Root and the to-be Hokage walked through the well-lit hallways of the underground clandestine stronghold, "Maki-san was my backup. While you were battling Tobi, he followed at a safe distance to observe or interfere if necessary. After the battle was completed he was prepared to attack the retrieval team that recovered your body in the end."

"And that's where you took him down?"

"That's where I clashed with him. He did nothing to impede the progress of your retrieval team." Sai gave his after-action report by the book, "Several times he attempted to escape, as he was not very skilled in direct combat for a member of Akatsuki. The black half split from the white half just before I killed him. He would have gotten away had it not been for Maki-san's distance support genjutsu attack."

At the time of the battle he requested that she keep it subtle so that Zetsu would believe that Sai was the one casting them instead of someone else. With that formula, the battle went smoothly until the Black Zetsu abandoned the White Zetsu, as if it were more important. Maki amended the gameplan and ensnared the Black Zetsu long enough for Sai to catch up and defeat him as well in a second, slightly more grueling battle.

And they burned the abominations to ashes. Any boon that could have been garnered for Root and Konoha in general wasn't worth keeping something so dangerous so close. Sometimes, Pandora's Box was best left closed.

Eventually reaching what used to be Danzo's office, the two of them entered to see Maki awaiting their arrival, leaning against the desk, "Naruto-senpai, Sai-senpai. Good morning." She greeted with a slight smile, "So, is there anything in the works yet for the attack on Ame?"

After Naruto shut the door and shut off the light, Sai flicked on a projector and began showing a series of microfilm slides compounding what they knew of the situation, "Here is the situation thus far from what intelligence we've garnered." The first slide was an overall map of the whole continent with updated battle statistics, "Kiri is setting themselves up on the mainland, but they'll be concerned with taking Konoha's place on the eastern front."

While Konoha was pulling out of the northeast, Kiri would replace them in the occupation and final attacks alongside Kumo so that Konoha could send a good number of ninjas home for a rest and more of them could be committed back west for the end of things.

It was obvious. Replace the battle-weary fighters with the fresher ones. And Kumo wouldn't be left holding things up on their end either. The C.N.F. enemies had been whittled away enough in that region that Kiri could handle the lion's share of the remaining combat situations with Kumo assistance.

The next slide focused on the west, "That leaves the endgame to Konoha pretty much." Naruto said, punching into his palm, "Iwa sent 1000 of their baddest and got smashed, so we're not worried about them doing anything to us. With Suna, we can't ask them to commit too much to this because Iwa could still try to be opportunists and attack them while everything's coming together."

Knowing Gaara though, he would be more than willing to send enough of his ninjas that were chomping at the bit to take a chunk back out of Amegakure's ass after Pein's attack and the subsequent invasion attempt that was rebuked.

"We have three potential points of reaching Amegakure through their country. Three different borders that they have to worry about covering since they don't know how we'll approach." Sai explained, pointing things out on the projected map with his ink creations, "Four if we choose to snake around the back and go in through the Kaze no Kuni side."

North. South. East. West. It didn't matter, because all roads led to Ame. They could hit them from any cardinal direction, or all of them if they so wished.

They could try and play things sneaky and attempt a feint on a few sides to divert attention from the true attack. They could simply turn things into a horrid battle of attrition. Naruto didn't like that option however. He knew for sure Tsunade would avoid that option at all costs and he didn't blame her because he'd have avoided it as well, so it was more or less off the table.

In the middle of the meeting, Maki raised her hand, actually getting Naruto to chuckle a little at how cute she looked, almost like a grown-up kid in school. He had to actually point at her instead of saying words to grant her permission to speak just to keep from openly snickering.

"Question. Why are we going through this information and trying to process it ourselves?" Maki asked rather astutely, knowing fully what the score was supposed to be for Root when it came to how things were run, "Shikaku Nara is the man that is creating the major invasion plans, and Naruto-senpai will be included in them without a doubt, so even if we made a plan here there's no reason to believe we could even use it." Not to be negative about anything, she was just being realistic about it was all, "Why are we going over this ourselves?"

Naruto didn't have any problems with that question. It made plenty of sense on the surface, and despite their extremely sensitive and high-ranking positions in a clandestine organization they were still teenagers that would of course not understand everything about their responsibilities. In all honesty and actuality, Maki had a point, because it sort of seemed like they were wasting their time.

Nothing they said really mattered in the primary grand scheme of things, because the jounin commander was the man with the plan and would be the one setting things in stone. That wasn't any of them. That was Shikaku Nara. The three of them were Root. No one else outside of the organization would know what they came up with, why they were doing it, or that they were even doing anything.

They would not be working with conventional forces, and they didn't have enough on their own to stage any functional invasion. Root was the blackest of the black-ops, not a main combat force. They took out Takigakure relatively easily in a single night raid due to Taki's lack of knowledge on their existence and their tunnel vision on the battlefield instead of shoring up their own homefront defenses. That shit wouldn't work on Ame. They'd already tried it under different circumstances and failed.

So why were they going over all of this? Why did Naruto and Sai even set up this meeting to begin with knowing all of this? There was a good reason for that too. Good by Naruto's reasoning. Not necessarily Maki's once she found out what was up. And not by anyone else's reasoning either if they were a logical being in the slightest.

"… We're going over this ourselves because I think I'm going to be in charge of how I get to handle Pein." Naruto told her, being purposely vague as to exactly why they were trying to work through the logistics of approaching Ame when there was someone else smarter and better equipped for the job than they were already performing that task for the regular army.

Curious grey eyes blinked on a girl who simply did not get what that had to do with studying the borders of Ame-held territory, "I'm sorry, but I don't understand why that matters senpai. You still need to be in close proximity to Amegakure before you even begin to worry about how you're going to fight that man."

It was going to be a battle just to get close enough to worry about how the final approach was going to be made. If anything, she was expecting them to actually start with the area directly around Amegakure itself since that was where Naruto would realistically be given rein to take control of his own destiny.

Both Naruto and Sai looked at each other, the latter gesturing with his head to tell her what they had worked out as a plan and the former rolling his eyes at having to do it himself. Seriously, Sai was technically the one that was her boss until Naruto became Hokage. He could have opened his mouth at any time to try and help this all go down easier. Why did he want Naruto to explain everything?

More than likely, it was because he got a kick out of watching Naruto trying to justify the stupid and/or reckless things that he meticulously planned on doing in advance to the woman that was supposed to have been conditioned from childhood to be his spouse. That was definitely why. That bastard was smiling! Sai didn't smile unless he was fucking with somebody!

In his endeavor to understand human relationships, Sai seemed to develop something of a perverse joy in picking on his direct second-in-command Maki, and the only effective way he'd ever found to do so was to use Naruto. He was the only subject that could rile her up, thus Naruto was Sai's weapon of choice to use on the poor girl.

-Which also made it doubly entertaining for him when he could guide Naruto into consciously goosing himself and making Maki break emotional protocols.

"Okay Maki-chan, err… have you ever heard of the term HALO jump?"

"I don't think so. Should I have?"

"Not really, but don't worry, because there's a reason for that! That's because Sai-kouhai and I kind of just invented it a few days ago." There was no humanly way possible to make that introduction sound any more suspicious.

That was the sheepish way that Naruto spoke when he knew that whatever he was about say next wasn't going to go over well with his loved ones. Maki didn't even need to hear anything else come out of his mouth before she already knew that this explanation was going to be stupid and/or reckless.

"Please senpai… by all means, _go on_." Her tone couldn't have been any frostier if it had been Danzo himself speaking. Even her body posture, appearing as if she didn't care about the idiocy she was about to hear, was something that would have come straight from him.

Naruto Uzumaki, the man that had killed the puppet master of Akatsuki in perhaps the largest-scale battle fought in Hi no Kuni in the last twenty-plus years, was about to get shaken down by a five-foot, 90 pound Root ANBU kunoichi. And he knew it too.

Sai was a psychological terrorist. They hadn't even really started the real purpose of the meeting and he already knew that this was going to be a 'fun' conversation for the childhood partners to have. Yes, it was just a casual explanation from one to another, and he just so happened to be a present bystander with no stake in the proceedings whatsoever.

-Setting aside the fact that he had just as much responsibility for the overall creation of the HALO jump concept that Naruto did of course.

…

…No one had the right to judge him.

That fight with the original Zetsu combined with the amount of time Sai had spent coordinating Root to assist the village in battling the White Zetsu Army was difficult, and the only thing he got at the end of the battle and a few days of healing afterwards was an explanation of how a lame-ass high-five was supposed to work from Naruto? Fuck him. In return, he could have fun explaining to his handpicked political wife the science of why what he'd just brought up was a tactically effective method of achieving their objective, and more than just an extravagant form of suicide.

Watching that mismatch was his reward for a job well done.

XxX

(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)

The entire village was set on fortifying itself in preparation for what was certain to be the coming invasion of the enemy. One had already tried and their God had rebuked the fools before they even came within pointing and shouting distance of Ame.

It wasn't that difficult a task to do, mostly just a matter of ensuring that emergency escape procedures were set, and that the outer banks of the village were ready to turn back an enemy. Due to being surrounded by the large lake around their village, and long plains around that, it was a place where they would be able to see an approach coming from anywhere, even if the attack could come from anywhere.

There were plenty of nasty places on the way to the village that could bog down and deter an assault force altogether. It wasn't just luck that kept Amegakure from being conquered despite the number of wars that had been fought between the other greater nations that had ravaged their lands.

"Don't worry about anything." Nagato said to Konan, able to see her staring out over the village from his mechanical command chair, "I won't let anyone get close to our home, and with your jutsu as a last resort, no one will destroy this place."

"You have a plan?"

"I do." Konan's heart swelled in the hopes that Nagato had retained the leadership traits that one would expect from someone that all of their faith had been placed in, "We will destroy them, break the back of their attack. Nothing in the plan has changed."

And her heart sank.

With everything that had happened since Yahiko's death, the whirlwind of events in the rise of Akatsuki, and the last two years of their plans coming to fruition, she had missed a point that was extremely notable now that everything was on display on a larger scale.

Nagato didn't have the true qualities of leadership that one needed in a ruler meant to lead a hidden village. It was as simple as that.

Tobi, Madara, whatever you wanted to call him, he really had been the one in charge. All of the plans for Akatsuki that had been more intricate that splitting up the members into groups and selecting which biju to send them after, all of the plans that had truly been lain out to get their power and shake up the landscape to set the foundation for them had been facilitated by their masked benefactor.

-The upheaval in Kiri that led to them getting not only setting up a situation where they could later get to the Sanbi without taking on a hidden village, as well as resulting in their obtaining the services of Kisame Hoshigaki: Tobi.

-The failed attempt at obtaining the Kyuubi which resulted in perhaps the finest Hokage in generations dying, a superpower in the ninja world losing significant power in one night, and what eventually set the stage for the extermination of the Uchiha Clan (further weakening Konoha) and the inclusion of Itachi Uchiha in their ranks: Tobi.

There were other incidents over the better part of the last seventeen or so years that would also make great examples of this. Nagato had been an executive that had power over the rest of Akatsuki, and the simple concept of the task of capturing the biju, despite its importance and danger, was an operation that any of the members of Akatsuki could have had overall control of. Other than telling who to go where and when, being the leader of Akatsuki didn't mean anything.

They had all been bodies, tasked with collecting the biju in Tobi's stead. Nagato was the figurehead leader directing the remainder of them with the illusion of possessing real power in Akatsuki, as Tobi had never once tried to control how he did things. All paths led to him collecting the biju. How he got there never mattered because he knew Nagato would do it regardless.

When the scope of their operation expanded past just nine or ten people that had been somehow coerced or cowed into joining the organization, after Nagato had achieved one of his dreams in killing Hanzo and taking over Ame, it became slowly, shockingly apparent that Nagato was not adept in being responsible for that many people.

The immediate aftermath after he'd taken over had masked this as far as Konan's eyes had been able to see, with the incident involving Jiraiya and Naruto and the eventual declaration of war around two months later. But in that entire span of time, the quality of life in Ame had declined steeply.

The setbacks after the initial victories in the war had illuminated it, but ever dutiful to the cause of supporting her childhood friend she ignored them.

After the war everything would get better; that was what she told herself. War brought hardship in heaps, and after they won and achieved it all the sky would be the limit. These were the thoughts that she used to cloud the logical perspective that she should have had regarding her home's situation.

Nagato simply did not have the ability to see what was in front of him that was necessary to run the day-to-day of a village. Akatsuki had no hierarchy; it was Nagato telling the others what to do, and it worked because their task was simple and there were just 10 of them at their height of manpower.

He tried to run Ame similarly. He'd give blanket orders; issue general commands to the entire population. After taking over he'd killed everyone attached with Hanzo's rule, basically stripping the entire governing hierarchy and had never been replaced, so there was no quality control, no micromanagement.

A hidden village ran like a machine, with integral parts all over that were needed to ensure that the main part was able to do what it needed to. It had to work like that in order to thrive, but that didn't exist here. There was no system of command.

How he could believe that everything would still work the way they had originally designed it to? After everything that had happened, after it had all come down to the two of them and the village that surrounded them incurring the wrath of all five major hidden villages, four of whom were aligned together… it reeked of lunacy.

This wouldn't drag the entire village down with them would it? It couldn't. Even as he was, Nagato wouldn't let something horrible happen to Ame would he? Above everything else, this was the place that they swore first and foremost, above everything else, to protect from the injustices of the bigger villages. Or had he forgotten that?

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Academy Roof)

With the closing of the eastern front for Konoha, many ninjas came home in time for the funerals from the defense of the village, even returning with bodies from their theater of the war to bury and pay their respects to as well.

It was a moment of closure for those that had been fighting so hard out on the battlefield, and the village shut down for a few hours for the duration of the service. But it could only last for so long. Like the machine that it was, there was still work to be done, and those within the walls of the village remained strong.

Tomorrow was the day that those meant to head out to join up with the division on the western front were to be dispatched. It was all coming to a head. Most of the ninjas that knew they were going walked around the village with a nervous swagger.

These people would be shoulder-to-shoulder with their trusted comrades and they were still nervous. There was one man that had decided that it was up to him to take his own approach to keep more lives from being lost.

If this worked, not only would less G.S.A. ninjas die, less ninjas from Ame would die as well. Only one hurdle left, and Naruto's generation would have survived their first major war. Hopefully they never got any bigger than this.

"So the only other person I've told my plan to assassinate Pein to is still pissed off at me, which is _great_." Naruto finished sarcastically to Jiraiya as the two of them sat on the top of the Academy looking out at the town, "From how you reacted just now, I'm probably not gonna tell anyone else about it until after I do it." He thought it was a great idea.

"First of all brat-." Jiraiya said with a dry look on his face, "-I don't trust plans that come with their own acronyms, especially when the one that made the plan made the acronym to go with it. Second of all, say that your little plan doesn't make you crap out your spine or you don't get stopped after you get in, how the fuck do you plan on getting out after you finish the job, in a box?"

"No! I've got a plan, just trust me. Can you trust me? This is what I was made for. I used to do S-rank infiltration all the time until you and me screwed up the last one in Ame. Then Tsunade-baachan retired me from it."

"…Every fiber of my being is screaming at me to tell Tsunade-hime what you're going to do, but hell, I'm 0-for-2 when it comes to anything having to do with Amegakure, so what do I know?"

"Good."

"You're not going to tell anyone what you're going to do are you?"

"Nope."

Jiraiya sent his last student a glare of warning, "Kid…" Doing something as idiotic as what Naruto was planning on attempting was one thing. Doing it all alone was another. Doing something that idiotic all alone without informing a soul what you were going to do, even when you were going to be the focal point of a major military action was just too much.

"Ero-kyofu, if I tell Shikaku what I want to do and if he agrees to it he's going to alter the whole plan of the army's approach, because he's going to do whatever he can to make sure I don't go in without some kind of out." Naruto reasoned with his godfather, "That's not gonna work! The more people involved in this the less chance it has of going off without a hitch."

It sounded dumb, but the fact of the matter was that there was some credence to it. 1000 damn good ninjas didn't even get within sight of Amegakure. Hundreds of Root ANBU only got into Ame after Naruto and Jiraiya made the biggest distraction in history in fighting all six of Nagato's Paths, Konan, and a quarter of the ninjas stationed in the village.

Two people had been too many.

Jiraiya and Naruto had gone in alone, just the two of them, and took harsh, painstaking methods to hide their insertion. They had been pegged before they ever even started crossing the river from one of the outlying villages.

That rain of Nagato's was the radar, and there was no way around that other than two. First of all, there was under it the way that Iwa planned on trying before they were preempted, but they'd gotten too close to tunnel. They'd been in the rain before they even set up their base camp. Then there was the second way. A bit trickier to execute.

Over it.

Naruto would still be with the main attack force. He just wouldn't really be him.

"You do know that Tsunade's going to cut your head off and put it on a stake with your balls hanging out of your mouth if she finds out."

"She'll understand afterwards, no matter how it turns out." Every other Hokage died risking their neck by themselves to protect their village or their people. It was time for that little requirement to be fulfilled by Naruto, "…Unless she knows right now."

"How could she-... Sarutobi-sensei's crystal ball? You think?" Maybe she _was_ watching one of or both of them? It wasn't like they were trying to hide their signatures any, and all you needed was the ability to lock onto one that you knew within the limits of the village.

"I'm pretty sure she figured out how to use it after four years even if it doesn't come with instructions." Naruto added with a grin, "That thing is magical. She threw it at my head a long time ago and it didn't even scratch."

Jiraiya just chuckled and punched Naruto on the shoulder, "Have I ever told you about the time I actually wound up stealing that thing from sensei?"

"No. You stole it before? Why?"

"Heh-heh… well he had at least one spare, and do you remember that story about how Tsunade almost beat me to death for finding me peeping at her?"

"Yea-? Oh, no way. You didn't."

"How do you think I did it, in-person? No, I had it for three weeks, and then fucking Orochimaru decided he had morals about something…"

Jiraiya personally wouldn't be going tomorrow, but he'd prepared Naruto as best as he was able to, and he could say that he had been surpassed, even if Naruto never wound up being Hokage. If this was the last day he was going to get a chance to spend time with his godson he couldn't think of a better way to spend it.

…Well, maybe he could think of a better way, but Naruto wouldn't go with him to peek on hot springs. He had enough potential ladies in his life both near and far that it made doing so redundant for him.

XxX

(A Few Days Later – Kumogakure no Sato – Raikage's Office)

"Go home. Get some rest." A stated commandingly to his second most powerful ninja under his command as she stood in front of him, making a request fresh off of a sortie on the battlefield, "Yugito, you just had ten straight days in the field at the front of the lines. I'm not sending you across the continent to take part in that battle."

Even as she was standing trying to fight for her request to go through, Yugito looked tired. Ever since being returned to the village by Naruto's escort she had been set at the front lines where she had been invaluable at lessening the losses in the days of the cross-country offensive breakout.

For the last week since Kiri had been making landings and switching out with Konoha, Yugito had been used in the liaison role she'd been used in with Konoha in order to teach Kiri about fighting the kind of war they were getting themselves into. With that job it brought even more constant combat while Kiri ninjas were getting their feet wet and taking over the heavy lifting for Kumo in the waning days of that conflict.

High levels of stamina or not, her never-ending schedule and the nature of her work had put her through the wringer.

"Raikage-sama, I know the dangers of travelling through the countries right now, and I'm not asking for anyone else to come with me." Yugito wouldn't put people at risk like that for something that she wanted to go do. It wasn't really a mission she wanted to go on in particular. It was just that she was afraid. The only way this would end was when Pein went down, and there was only one Konoha ninja she knew that would be positioned to fight him, "…I just want to go."

"I can't let you." As much as A understood, he wasn't willing to send his best jounin that he could let outside of the village that far away for something that she probably wouldn't arrive in time for anyway, "By the time you get there, everything important will be over."

By now, Konoha had long situated themselves in position to make whatever move they were going to make. It would take five to six days for her to even get there. She'd be killing herself to get there in time for the fallout in the aftermath at best.

Even if she did have strong feelings for Naruto, and even if he did know how important a relationship that close and intimate was for a jinchuuriki like her, he could not justify sending her out there.

"…Then put me back into the field." Yugito requested, her muscles tense as she dealt with the refusal from her village leader, "I would rather be working than sitting around and waiting." Another short campaign and when she returned the next time she could get her news from abroad and know one way or the other what had happened while she was gone, "Anything would be better than sitting around and waiting."

"And what exactly would you be fighting with?" A asked rhetorically, "I'm not putting you back out there and letting you get killed by a stray dumb luck attack or trap because your mind is wandering or because you were simply too tired to get yourself out of it. The best thing you can possibly do is rest. Or is your belief in Uzumaki that low?"

An accusing look came to her eye as she recoiled slightly, "How could you even ask me that question? But he's in a fight with a man that possesses the Rinnegan!"

"That boy is more dangerous than his father." A said resolutely, "He lacks the ability of the Hiraishin, but he reminds me greatly of him in more than one way. He has certain qualities that the Namikaze had with a more ruthless aspect to him. He was defeated once, but do you really believe that someone such as him would lose twice to the same enemy under any circumstance?"

"In a straight battle against that man…" Yugito said with a sad shake to her head, "…Even with his mastery of Sage Mode, I don't see how he can win."

As A stood up, Yugito expected some sort of characteristic outburst from him and was prepared to call Mabui and tell her that a new desk was needed or that a wall needed to be fixed. Instead, he walked up to her and set his hands on her shoulders, "And that's your problem."

She had not expected him to remain that levelheaded in his speech. Not to sound somewhat understanding, "What?"

"Your expectations of his actions are too straightforward." A elaborated, "He would never fight someone he already lost to the exact same way he tried to do it once before."

"I'm sorry?"

A smiled at his finest kunoichi and chuckled in a manner warmer than she'd ever heard the hot-tempered top ninja ever sound to her, "There are certain people who come upon an impossibly large boulder blocking the road and complain that their way has been blocked. There are other people who will try to find ways to move that boulder no matter the cost and proceed down the road. And then there are people who will find the path the rolling boulder created and follow it to an entirely new road altogether."

"Raikage-sama, I…"

"Just think about it." A told her before turning her around and shooing her off, "Think about it at home. And when news breaks from the west, I want you to come back and say one thing to me. I want you to say, 'I understand what you meant Raikage-sama.'"

After having heard of and at times having personally dealt with the actions of Konoha's current greatest export over the last few years, A had long since determined that if you figured that Naruto would zig when it would have been expected to zag, instead he would give you a bumblebee's flight pattern. Even if you expected him to carry out his job in an unorthodox or shady manner when most others would do things directly out of a lack of apparent options, he would do so in a manner that would still leave you stunned.

XxX

(Amegakure-held Lands – Konohagakure Operational Headquarters)

"If we go any farther into these lands we'll begin being assaulted by Ame ambush squads." Yamato reported to Shikaku Nara. While Yamato might have been in command of Konoha's western operations, Shikaku was the overall man in command of the army's machinations and he reported to him, "We've been observing with recon teams. They've got eyes of their own on our divisions. If we break off and either send a diversionary division around or leave one here to mask our movements they'll know it."

Amegakure for some reason had always been extremely good at keeping the enemy from getting too close to their home village, even at the cost of allowing foreign ninja forces to occupy other settlements around the country.

Having been brought in from the reconstruction of Suna along with a few platoons of ninjas that had been stationed there on the mostly peaceful mission of guarding the vulnerable desert village, Kakashi was willing to present his own views and experiences of dealing with Ame, "Anytime you see rain on the horizon, that's the trick to their sensor jutsu. Pein is the strongest at it, but it's a technique taught to more than a fair share of those that have shown exemplary service."

"A system of marking their officer jounin." Shikaku said with a click of his tongue. Getting past that kind of sensor jutsu wouldn't be easy. It rained almost every moment of most days in Amegakure. They hadn't wandered far enough into the country for that climate to make itself known, but once they did the enemy could use it to track their location at all times.

Kakashi's visible eye panned over to the person sitting in on the meeting of commanders and their general; the son of his sensei and his own former genin squad member, "…The second they find which group Naruto's in, that's the one they'll know is the real threat."

Like it or not, Naruto was the only one that could defeat Pein. Everyone in Konoha knew it and everyone in Ame knew it as well.

No matter how they'd try to disguise it with numbers, or movements, or path taken, Naruto was the key to it all. No matter who he was with, where he was coming from, none of that mattered. The second they sensed him, they would know that whatever capacity he was being used in, that was the method of checkmate being used against them.

For some reason, Naruto began to grin in front of all of them, "Come on, really?" He simply crossed the index and middle fingers of one hand with the ones on the other, "How many divisions do we have?"

Naruto's clones. You couldn't tell them apart from the genuine article even with sensor techniques, even with doujutsu such as the Sharingan or Byakugan. You had to simply select one and engage it, and hope that it was the real deal.

You couldn't tell which group was the main attack force if there was a Naruto clone with each one.

A smile slowly began to grow on Shikaku's face, "When the war started and Hokage-sama had you in reserve sitting in on the early meetings with me, I thought you said you weren't good at strategy."

"I'm no general." Naruto admitted, "That's why you're still telling me where to go. I'm good at tricking people though."

A nod came from Shikaku as he started feeling better about the chances of keeping their losses low on the push farther into the country, "Let's start putting the finishing touches on the advance strategy then."

XxX

(With Naruto – 17000 Feet Above Amegakure no Sato)

Yes, Naruto was good at tricking people. For better or for worse.

The thing about Pein's sensing abilities with rain that had been picked apart and scrutinized after the disastrous Iwagakure attack attempt was his range. He couldn't possibly be in control of _all_ of the rain that fell all of the time. Being able to manipulate when it rained was a powerful ability, and that led to even further delving into the ability.

His ability to sense was extremely powerful. Stronger than anyone else's that he'd taught the technique to. It ranged for miles and miles, but its effectiveness varied until you got within three miles of Ame. Three miles, because that was how high up the clouds were in the sky.

If Naruto could move fast enough, he could outpace the technique's ability to allow Pein to sense him. That kind of speed would be faster than a ninja could possibly run on foot or move in a direct line without the assistance of some ungodly sort of speed or space/time technique. He didn't have that option or that ability, so he had to be stupider in his approach.

Stupid like a fox.

A suicidal fox.

Wearing modified breathers over their mouths that they'd copied technology-wise from Amegakure shinobi, Naruto and Sai sat on the back of a large ink bird circling the area they'd marked as being above Ame itself.

For the sake of preserving the weapon safely in case something went horribly wrong, Naruto had left the Sen'nenki no Ken at home and instead replaced it with a regular ninjato for the time being.

He didn't know if it could be sensed or not due to how powerful the weapon was, but he didn't want to take the risk. This wasn't about brute force and having a bigger cannon than the other guy. He just needed to get close enough to seal the deal, not to nuke the whole town.

Due to the chill of being that high in the air, -4 degrees Fahrenheit, the two of them wore thick, full-body covering versions of their usual Root-based outfits. No bare midriff for Sai unless he wanted frostbite, "So…"

"Yep. Tsunade-baachan would murder me if she ever found out I did this. This is the second worst idea I've ever had." Naruto commented to Sai through a two-way short-wave radio built into the porcelain masks on their faces, "The messed up thing about this is; if this works, I'm training a squad of ANBU to do this after I become Hokage."

"Hopefully you'll find a way for others not as adept in wind release and senjutsu to execute it." Sai said amusedly behind his mask, "You'll have to work the other kinks out as well."

"There better not be any other kinks." Naruto groused, remembering just how much preparation went into this on short notice, "We practiced this. We even had Maki-chan work out all of the medical stuff." After she'd gotten over how foolishly dangerous the entire endeavor was of course.

"…Well first of all, in the future we can come up with better situational clothing for the operation."

"I know! It's cold as fuck up here!" Naruto shouted safely. There was nothing near them in over three miles, and that was all downward to boot, "There's nothing even blocking the sunlight. Why's it so cold?"

"I'm not a scientist Naruto-senpai. I couldn't tell you." Sai responded in his efficiently dry manner of speaking, "Is this really the best thing to spend the last minute before zero-hour talking about?" There were better things, like going over the plan once more, or talking about the contingency plan in case Naruto's landing was off.

"…I wonder, if I spit right now could I beat my loogie to the city?" Well that was a random thought for the situation they had found themselves in, as well as wildly untopical.

"I wouldn't recommend worrying about that right now."

"I know, I know, I'm just nervous. If this doesn't work I've got exactly half of my chakra to work with."

"You have fifteen minutes to get this done no matter what."

"I know that Sai. I was right there with you when we were making the plan. I'm not going to forget a step."

"I guess I'm just nervous too."

In return, Naruto just patted his junior on the shoulder before he made his way to the underside of the bird where he stuck with chakra, crouched and prepared to rocket himself off downward at a moment's notice, 'Kurama.'

"**Sage Mode on, and just remember; you're aiming for the big gaudy tower in the middle."**

Feeling the wash of natural energy being regulated within him, Naruto let out a sigh and allowed his Sharingan eye to show itself behind his mask, "…I guess I'm ready for the scariest two minutes of my life."

"No matter what senpai, pass or fail this mission, you have to last fifteen minutes starting-." Looking at the synchronized watch on his arm, Sai timed the exact moment of beginning the mission perfectly, "-Now."

Naruto jumped as hard as he could, aiming himself straight at the ground. The force almost disrupted the flight pattern of Sai's bird, but he simply used the kickback to turn it around and send it back off in the direction of Konoha.

As he flew off he turned his head in time to see Naruto fall the first few thousand feet into the rainclouds. If all went as planned, Naruto would use the principles of his Burst Limit flight ability to slow and stop himself at a low altitude after inserting himself into the village faster than the rain could keep up with sensing.

Depending on where he landed and how smooth the landing was, Naruto could infiltrate Pein's tower without ever touching the ground. That was where the Sharingan came into play. The Sharingan coupled with Sage Mode would allow Naruto to not only analyze his rapid pattern of descent and his trajectory mid-fall, it would allow his body the reflexes to alter his motions as needed to guide his way smoothly.

Sai's job was done. There was nothing else he could really do, he'd performed his task. The rest was up to Naruto to put this to rest.

As Naruto flew down through the clouds, in a matter of five seconds he'd dropped the few thousands of feet to begin passing through the rainclouds, emerging through the other side soaking wet. The circular target that was Amegakure grew bigger and bigger as he got closer to it.

In Naruto's head he counted the seconds he needed before it became necessary to apply the air brakes as it were. Would be discovered and picked out of the sky before he even landed? Would something go wrong and cause him to turn himself into a stain on the ground?

No. To hell with that. He was going to survive this. He was going to make it home. There were too many people waiting on him. Too many people he would leave hanging if he failed. This needed to be done before Konoha tried to move forward and advance.

Naruto waited until he could make out the spires of the skyscrapers and began slowing his descent with a spread-eagle posture, pumping wind chakra ahead of him to prepare for the eventual gravity-defying jutsu needed to complete the jump.

It was kind of funny. All of this started with an S-rank infiltration mission on what was a former Akatsuki member in Orochimaru, and now it was ending on another Akatsuki member years later.

Hopefully this one would end better than that one did. Either way, it felt like things had come full circle.

XxX

(Pein's Tower)

Konoha would not beat Amegakure to the punch when it came to the resetting of the battle lines. No matter how fast they turned things around for the move on the village, it didn't matter. The moment Ame realized that Kusa was a lost cause they abandoned the sinking ship of fighting that campaign and departed back to shore up the lines of their own nation.

Even with Nagato's rather vague orders as to how to handle the threat of invasion, there was still enough of a dearth of ninjas that had lived through Hanzo's rein to know exactly how he would have had them go out and keep the enemies from reaching the gates. It had been effective, had never been figured out, and hadn't rusted in that effectiveness in more than twenty years. Added on top of that, Nagato actually wisely teaching dozens of high-level ninjas Ukojizai no Jutsu (Rain Tiger at Will Jutsu) was one thing he'd actually done that made the military ability of Amegakure stronger as a whole.

Nagato was preparing himself mind and body for the coming defensive campaign. He would be stretching himself thin, splitting the use of his Paths all around where needed when the reports of the battles filtered to him in real-time.

'My entire life has been preparing me for this moment.' He thought to himself, breathing deeply as he finished his introspective meditation. This was a time where he needed the most clarity he'd ever had in regards to his overall goal, 'The thought that they can come into a place where they have never won, to a village and country that has never been conquered… arrogance.'

This was what they referred to as the quiet before the storm. The storm that he would cause. There was only one ninja the level of a kage left in Konoha's current forces that would undoubtedly come for him and attempt to meet his Paths on the battlefield. They needed one in order to take him on, and the only one they currently possessed had already been crushed by him.

As he contemplated things to himself, a dark-clad, porcelain-masked figure climbed his way up from underneath the balcony at the far left end of the room, shielded from the rain by the awning that completely covered it from above.

Needless to say, Nagato was not what Naruto was expecting. He had to take off his mask just to make sure he was getting a good look at him, Sharingan be damned. He had to make sure what he was looking at was the man himself.

Matted red hair, skin as pale as death, emaciated to the point of being skin and bones, stuck full of more strange rods in his back than a radio relay station all in his back, confined to what could only be considered a chakra-powered wheelchair.

Fuck. This was a crying shame. What kind of human being should ever have to exist like this? After everything that Jiraiya told him he remembered about his first students, this was a nothing less than a damn shame.

But also… with no hesitation on his part, Naruto readily acknowledged that this man was something of a genius. As much as he hated Pein/Nagato's guts, there was nothing but respect from Naruto as to what this man managed to accomplish from what he was. He had brought the Elemental Nations almost to their knees in this sorry state of being.

It had been impressive to learn the truth of the technique before when Jiraiya had explained what he'd figured out, but now as far as Naruto was concerned, after seeing the user of the jutsu firsthand, the Six Paths of Pein were the greatest show of smoke and mirrors he could personally say he'd ever been subjected to in his entire life.

It was right up there with Danzo maintaining his status as disabled for decades to mask his Sharingan implants. It was right up there with Itachi Uchiha's double-agent status in Akatsuki. Without a doubt. No question in his mind.

He couldn't talk about the other two things, but this…

…This would be put in textbooks in the future, to drive home to every ninja student hopeful just what it meant when they were told the importance of looking underneath the underneath.

Who would have ever assumed that the greatest terrorist the ninja world had ever known in its current state of existence was this skeleton of a man? A man that looked ready to keel over at any moment.

Naruto just stood right in front of Nagato and marveled, 'This is the man that almost tore the world apart.' It was almost too surreal to stomach.

Slowly opening his eyes, Nagato didn't seem at all surprised to see Naruto standing in front of him. His first instinct was to bellow in amazement and question how he was standing there before him, 'But after killing Tobi, I shouldn't be surprised.' "Out of all of the people who have ever tried to assassinate me, no one else has ever been this close before. And yet you haven't killed me."

Naruto, having long since turned off Sage Mode for the sake of stealth after landing safely, pulled the rebreather connected to the portable oxygen tank on his back from his mouth, "You're not going to ask how I got in?"

"It crossed my mind." Nagato admitted, "I guess you don't mind sating that curious little part of me since you were the one that brought it up. The last time you intruded on my domain, I discovered you before you ever began to cross the water around the village."

"I had to kind of invent something to get through your sensor rain. Did you know that when you go up past the clouds it's really cold even though the sun is right there? Because I didn't until a few days ago."

"Leave it to a student of Jiraiya-sensei to attempt the suicidal. They never seem to disappoint in the end."

"Right back at you."

The two lapsed into a silence, and Naruto slowly saw Nagato's face morph into one of growing anger at something that Naruto could only guess at. After what he'd done before making his way to the top floor, he had a pretty good idea of what the problem was.

Naruto shook his head and pointed down, indicating the floors below them, "If you're waiting on your Paths to come busting in here, keep on waiting." Holding up one of the piercings that were the hallmark of Nagato's trademark jutsu, he made sure it was seen clearly before throwing it to the ground, "I didn't really appreciate you taking Danzo-jiji's body for that." He said somewhat darkly.

He disabled the Paths? No, that wasn't possible. But he knew how the jutsu worked apparently, otherwise he would have just disabled the Paths and maybe destroyed the he went to the top to ensure that he finished things, which meant that he knew Nagato would be there without a shadow of a doubt.

When he wasn't using the bodies and had them stored, Nagato turned off the connection between them and himself. That way he could rest and conserve chakra because it required a constant flow to use the jutsu. Damn it.

"Why?"

That random question confused Naruto. What did he mean? Why else would he have done any of this? He was trying to drag every ninja in the world into a state of false idol worship and terror.

Nagato wasn't asking why Naruto was there to kill him however. He wasn't asking Naruto anything at all. He was asking the cosmos themselves a question.

"Why would you give me all of this power, put me through the life I had, show me the true path to changing this world for the better…" Nagato said softly, eyes turned to the heavens, "…Allow me to get this close, and then TAKE IT ALL AWAY WITH THE HANDS OF ONE OF _THEM_!? The propagators of what makes this world so sick on the inside!"

Naruto didn't flinch at the sudden change in tone as Nagato spat his message hatefully. There was nothing he had to say in return at first. This sort of rhetoric had been ingrained in him, and Naruto's actions during their last meeting and the war overall wouldn't have done anything to give him the sort of stance to rebut such.

He was a killer. He killed people. He knew this. More people that faced him in real battles died than survived. He had come to terms with just what he was a long time ago.

"Because you're such a messiah of peace and all." The scar-faced blond muttered in return, "I'd admit to everything you just said, if you hadn't spent the last twenty years trying to end the world as we know it. I kill, but Root NEVER killed civilians!" Even when sacking Takigakure, the targets were extremely detailed for a terror assault of that nature, "I've never tried to justify any kill I made by saying that I was some sort of God!"

"No one that supports this cancerous system is innocent."

"Really? How many civilians in Suna did you kill when you crushed it? And I remember hearing people say that you didn't just kill Hanzo and people loyal to him. You killed their families. You killed Hanzo's family, down to the kids. The _untrained_ kids! The toddlers that weren't even ninjas!"

"Who are you to question my actions?" Nagato replied, "You, who readily claims your foundations in Root. An organization more steeped in violence and the continuation of armed conflict in the world than any I could ever bring up."

"I just said I never justified anything I did. But you still are." Naruto didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to. His point could be made on his end without having to scream it in Nagato's face, "If you'd just come out and tell the truth, I think I could have some actual respect for you, because you got this close-." Naruto held his index finger and thumb less than an inch apart for emphasis, "-To changing everything."

"You say that as if I'm finished."

The front of the chair opened up and shot a long black chakra receiver rod out directly at Naruto's chest, only to find it slashed away by a quickdraw of Naruto's sword.

"I just want to understand." Naruto said, as if he hadn't just been attacked by the head of the C.N.F., the head of Akatsuki, and his enemy, "What makes anyone think they're a God just because they've got a pretty pair of strong eyes? Why you think you've got the right to pass judgment and 'show the world what pain is', or what makes Amegakure so pristine and innocent compared to the rest of the world?"

"How could one such as you ever understand? You're a blight on the planet that can only destroy! I can give life just as easily as I can take it away! This isn't the peak of my power! Until you've lived the life I have, until you've endured the constant struggle I have, surviving day-to-day, seen the cruelty of the major villages, and seen betrayal, you can never understand!"

Naruto just shrugged his arms out and looked around as if waiting for some sort of orchestra to start, "Your parents were killed in front of you? So were mine. And we _both_ got the people that did it back, it just took me longer. Your friend died in your arms? I just had to pull piercings out of the man that believed in me enough to stake everything he built from the ground up on me, because you were controlling his corpse."

"What's your point?"

"My point is; worse things have happened to way more people. Welcome to the life. Suck it up."

Ninjas didn't get to make excuses for becoming a psychopath. You lost that right the second you took on the lifestyle of people training to learn how to deal with killing people and fighting against others entirely willing to do the same thing in return.

"I _did_ suck it up." Nagato spat bitterly, "Those events enlightened me and formed who I am today. I became a God that will guide the world to understanding by inflicting immeasurable loss and pain on it."

Naruto just shook his head, "It does sound like you've had a hard life though."

"Like I said, you would never understand."

"…It's a good thing it's over."

Naruto's run-of-the-mill ninjato buried itself through Nagato's chest and found itself twisted deeper by its owner before the victim was allowed to react. In a bid to keep from wasting time in some ideological battle any longer, Naruto activated Sage Mode on the spot to cover even the short ten-foot distance that it took for him to get to his target.

Constantly twisting the blade deeper and deeper until the guard touched Nagato's chest, Naruto held one hand over Nagato's mouth, muffling any noise of pain he would have made. His physical body was too weak to do anything to cast the young killer off in the slightest.

"My real problem with you isn't that you started all of this. You see a long time ago I came to terms with the fact that people are going to do what they're motivated to do." Naruto whispered to him as Nagato continued to physically struggle futilely, his life slipping away as Naruto continued to twist the sword when there was no way to stab any deeper, "No, what I _really_ hate about you, is that you dragged your home, full of people that believed in you, that you were supposed to look out for first and protect, into your little beef with the world."

You could do whatever you wanted. There was a reasonable excuse to do almost anything as a ninja to a ninja, but the moment you took over leadership of a country with people to do right by, and you used them as nothing more than vehicles to get your revenge, you didn't deserve the honor of being any kind of leader.

With his peace spoken, Naruto moved his hand from Nagato's mouth to the top of his head, "…Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)."

Take the principle of forming a Rasengan inside of a balloon without popping it, add years of experience forming it in various ways, and apply it to the human head.

He was unable to see just what that jutsu did to the inside of Nagato's skull, but then again he didn't need those nightmares. The blood that ran freely from his sockets upon the rupturing of his Rinnegan eyes, as well as from his ears, nose, and mouth was more than enough of a visual for him to declare that he'd finished the job.

There was no coming back from that.

Pulling his sword out of Nagato's chest, Naruto swung it to clear the blood from it and resheathed it. He heaved a huge sigh from his body. That was more violent than he wanted it to be, but he had to ensure without a doubt that Nagato died, 'At least it took care of the Rinnegan issue too.'

Nobody needed those implanted just to restart this nightmare all over again.

A quick glance down to the watch on his arm told Naruto that there was no need to let the adrenaline fade yet. He took a few steps away, but he wasn't going outside unless forced out there, and he had a bit more time left on the mandatory clock.

"I have altitude sickness. Like hell." Naruto said in a by the way manner, gesturing with his arms wide open, "If you want to take your shot, this is probably the best chance you're ever gonna get again."

It took a few seconds, but the wall collapsed to reveal that Konan had come into the room sometime during the actual process of the assassination.

There wasn't any disguising her appearance, the tears streaming silently down her face, "No. It won't change anything." She said, walking past Naruto and over to Nagato to smooth down his eyelids to give him some semblance of peace in his postmortem appearance.

Naruto simply let her move past and do as she wished, but he had to ask, "You could have stopped me. Why?" When he'd turned Sage Mode on, he knew she'd entered the room after he'd stabbed Nagato. She could have saved him, but instead chose to see things out until the end.

"Because I knew it had to be done." Konan said, voice trembling as she tried to retain some sort of composure, "Because he'd forgotten why we started this in the first place. All of this inflicting pain… he wasn't about the peace any longer. All he talked about was making the world understand suffering. The people of this village just became spare bodies."

"Why didn't you-?"

"Because he was still Nagato! How could I!" Konan shouted at him before dropping to her knees in sorrow, entirely spent, "So I'm all that's left. Now go ahead and finish it."

"No."

Konan's amber eyes went wide and she peered up at Naruto, who said that with no absence of seriousness on his face, "W-What do you mean no?"

"I'm not saying that I'm doing this for you out of some kind of pity or remorse for killing Nagato." Naruto said bluntly. Now was not the time to mince words or sugarcoat things. He was working with a limited time span at the moment, "I'm doing this because if I kill you, who's gonna tell everyone out there to stop before this place gets destroyed?"

Konan looked out of the opening past the balcony and at the skyline of the village. _Her_ village.

They would keep fighting even after she and Nagato were killed. It would be horrible. The only thing worse than getting sparse orders like the kind Nagato had been issuing were getting no orders at all from your central command. It would be an absolute disaster. There was no system of command. No hierarchy past Nagato and Konan. The buck stopped with the two of them. Control didn't trickle down any further.

Any ninjas that perhaps would have somewhat qualified for the position of village leader had already been killed in the purge of Hanzo's regime. There was literally no one else that could do the job.

If she didn't, Amegakure really would be destroyed.

"I don't want this to go on anymore." Naruto said, "I don't want Ame destroyed. So I'll ask you one time… are we done?"

"There's nothing left. Without the Rinnegan, the Gedo Mazo can't be used to contain the power of the jinchuuriki. It can't even be accessed." Konan admitted remorsefully, "I couldn't continue this. And even if I could, I'm tired of the blood. Just leave me Nagato and Yahiko's bodies."

Naruto nodded. He'd already taken Danzo's body and sealed it away, and with the Rinnegan gone he had no other use for anything involving Nagato's corpse, "You're wrong about something though. You don't have nothing. You still have Amegakure."

Konan smiled bitterly. It didn't come anywhere close to even reaching her tearful eyes, "For the sake of my village and every man, woman, and child that calls this place home. As the new village leader, effective immediately… Amegakure no Sato surrenders unconditionally to Konohagakure no Sato and the Grand Shinobi Alliance."

In a show of this, Konan laid an Amegakure hitai-ate onto the floor and drew her own blood deeply from her hand to drip freely across the metal plate and cover the grooves of the insignia.

The old way of acknowledging definite surrender.

"…I'll send word to the Hokage and the rest of the army." Naruto said quietly, "Call your people home."

Wanting to ask how he could possibly do such a thing before battle began between the two sides and it became chaos to try and bring them to a stop, Konan was preempted by Naruto disappearing suddenly in a puff of smoke. No warning.

Looking out through the doorway to the balcony, Konan began to tear up anew.

Of course the rain would stop now of all times.

XxX

(Mt. Myoboku)

PUFF!

Appearing in a large plume of smoke, Naruto was greeted by the sight of nearly every toad seemingly waiting on what he had to say after Fukasaku had reverse summoned him. Before any of this ever began, Naruto, Sai, and the toads were provided synchronized time pieces so that the time allotted for Naruto's mission was set equally on all sides: the insertion, the mission itself, and the extraction.

No matter what, he was only getting fifteen minutes to do it, whether he finished everything in three, or died by the time they tried to bring him back. Fortunately this strict time limit was successfully implicated.

"**Well Naruto-chan?"** Fukasaku asked, seeing Naruto's clothes covered in blood that clearly was not his own. But then again, that could mean anything, **"Is it over?"**

Naruto just walked past Fukasaku and Shima and was given plenty of space by the other toads in the background to lumber past them. He spared a second to create a clone and instantly dispel it immediately thereafter to relay the results of everything to his clone(s) with the standing army, "Kami, I hope so. I really can't think of anything else that the universe could possibly throw at us anytime soon."

Shiima nodded grimly in understanding, **"Ya killed Jiraiya-chan's first tadpole didn't ya?"**

"Yeah…" He answered in a somewhat weakened voice, "Can you guys take me home? I think I've got the bends."

"**What the hell does that mean? The bends?"** Gamakichi asked, shouting over his older toad brethren to be heard.

"Altitude. Altitude sickness. Bad." From 17000 feet in the air, to below sea level, to the top of a mountain in less than fifteen minutes. Yes. Altitude sickness was a definite possibility.

"**Ooh."**

"Can I go lay down until someone summons me back to Konoha? Fast? Kinda got some wartime news to break. Ame… surrenders." Swaying on his feet for a moment, Naruto eventually did an abrupt faceplant into the grass and didn't get back up.

"**Aw hell."** Fukasaku said with a deep sigh, **"Ma, would'ya mind headin' ta Konoha and summonin' Naruto-chan on Tsunade's desk? Hopefully after she finds out what happened she won't stomp him through it."**

Glorious, glorious victory. It tasted like toad mountain grass… which didn't taste that bad actually.

Apparently it was great for nausea.

Or was that just for dogs?

* * *

**Well I decided not to close things out with a big gigantic battle of epic proportions. I already did that with what I thought was my best fight scene in this story with Naruto vs. Tobi, and I didn't feel like I could top the drama of that one with another and in good conscience I admit didn't really want to. **

**There's something to be said for knowing when you hit the high point of something, and I didn't feel like I could manufacture another one with Nagato after we'd already seen that battle done once before somewhere else, far better than I could do it here.**

**I still stand by the opinion that Kishimoto's original Naruto vs. Nagato battle in the manga and anime was probably as good as it got, and as emotionally invested in the series as I ever found myself. I may find myself disagreeing with the way things went after that point, now more than ever, but I loved that story arc. Out of respect, I'm not going to try and outdo that fight with the same characters.**

**At least not after writing a better fight that this one would have been in the shadow of.**

**Instead I decided to end things the way they began, with an actual mission that required some ingenuity. Getting back to the roots as it were.**

**Either way, I hope you enjoyed.**

**Just one more left. The epilogue. Thanks for following along for the past three years, and I hope I closed it out right for you. **

**Kenchi out.**


	69. Epilogue: Full Circle

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This is one more for the road guys. Cheers.

**Epilogue: Full Circle**

* * *

With the war effectively over, the early peacetime days of scrambling around for the scraps of power, land, etc. that the defeated Continental Ninja Federation dropped never occurred the way that Iwagakure had planned. The status quo had been effectively shaken.

They had been effectively frozen out while the G.S.A. seemed completely willing to negotiate and hash things out amongst themselves. In the last few months since the end of the war, even a few of the minor villages that had been enemies managed to garner entry.

This was infuriating to the proud village that had always been involved with the fallout from every single one of the three previous Shinobi World Wars, and they wanted their piece of the pie. To be kept out of such an important time in the history of the Elemental Nations simply burned them up.

They were Iwagakure. You did not forget that you set a place at the table when the time came to dice up this continent like the dessert piece that it was.

Which was why when correspondence came that Konoha was looking to meet and speak, it was readily accepted. Suna was closer, but after the stunt that Iwa tried to pull in the last few weeks of the war with their little 'Risk' strategy of taking Ame and sweeping back for Suna in one fell swoop, the desert-dwellers weren't exactly fans of them, even more so now than ever before.

With Konoha being the second closest G.S.A. power, they would be the one sending the representative.

Onoki figured that Iwagakure had been thrown a lifeline, and 'The Great Fence-Sitter' was looking to use it to pull Konoha and whatever else they could out of the boat with them.

"We could always take this opportunity to tilt things back our way." Kurotsuchi tried to urge to her grandfather as she and her partner Akatsuchi stood at his sides, "Even if he _is_ stronger than before, he's just one guy with a three-man escort. By the time he returned to Konoha anything could have happened to him."

"Be quiet girl." Onoki groused, "This isn't as simple as him being the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. He's Tsunade's next-in-line for the Hokage seat." Whether it was in five to ten years, or whether it was tomorrow in case of an emergency, their guest was next up if the way he'd been utilized lately had been any indication, "Apparently the remaining three kage accept this as an action for the future."

The towering Akatsuchi began seemingly counting on his fingers after hearing that, "Uh… that'd make him how old when he gets it?" He asked before looking down and over at his leader, "Tsuchikage-sama, how old are you? When are you gonna pick somebody else?"

"When I find the right candidate! How many times do I have to say it?"

Kurotsuchi just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at the predictable response that her grandfather gave. It had been the same thing for years, even decades before she was even born. It was just a sign that Iwagakure had been accustomed to the way things were. The system had been something they could easily work to their advantage. It was all a matter of playing the game.

And when it came to the game of politics in the ninja world, Onoki didn't believe for a moment that some wet-behind-the-ears apprentice knew what he was getting into.

The doors to the room opened with two Iwagakure guards flanking both sides of Konoha's diplomat until they reached the limits of the conference room.

The blue eyes of the scar-faced jounin looked around, taking in his surroundings quickly as he entered and gave a respectful bow to the Tsuchikage as he entered. His own guards were outside, and he was expecting Onoki to send Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi away as it was meant to be a meeting between just the two of them.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Onoki greeting with an expression that could only be perceived as a wily, knowing smirk. At his gesturing, his two bodyguards left his side and exited the room, moving past Naruto.

They all remembered each other from the short time they'd met during the chunin exam in Sunagakure well over a year and a half ago. There wasn't enough history there to determine on any side whether or not they particularly liked or disliked each other.

Upon being left alone, Naruto took a seat at the table and clasped his hands in front of him on the surface; a classic negotiation posture that Tsunade had almost literally beaten it into him to take whenever put into a discussion situation such as this, "Well Tsuchikage-sama, I have to say, to hear that you reached out to the G.S.A., it surprised the Mizukage and the Raikage."

'Straight to business I see.' Onoki's smirk didn't drop however, "But not the Hokage or Kazekage?"

"Well honestly, Gaara isn't really big on this at all, so he didn't care as long as Iwa had nothing to do with Suna. At all." Naruto let his hands part for a moment to gesture in a balancing-beam manner, "We've got four villages in this thing. Give and take, checks and balances, you know."

"Well you seem to be the type that isn't too good at beating around the bush-."

'I am with people that I actually like.' Naruto thought to himself in the middle of Onoki's statement.

"-So I'll say that we should simply cut straight to brass tacks. This is for the eyes of your Hokage." With that being said, he passed a scroll across the table to Naruto that the young man opened and began to read over, "These are the terms and conditions that Iwagakure requires if our entry into the Grand Shinobi Alliance is guaranteed."

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto perused over everything requested inside just to see what this village thought they were working with here. It was interesting to say the least, whether they honestly wondered if they could get away with taking a good number of what was listed there or not.

Unconditional backing for pressing Amegakure for reparations paid on behalf of damage done to the military, "No." Territory from the western portion of the Takigakure countryside, "No." A request for a neutral site for the next chunin exam, "No." Promises of inclusion in a rumored minor-major village trade parity agreement meant to restore a semblance of economic stability to the losers of the war, "No." Allowance to annex buffer state minor hidden village Ishigakure that stands between Kaze no Kuni and Tsuchi no Kuni, "_Hell_ no."

Onoki's smirk fell with every no he received, leaving his face with no touch of good humor upon receiving the final denial, "…You didn't even send this to your Hokage to relay to the other village leaders."

"I'm not going to either."

"I think you're forgetting your position here. You don't have the ability to make the decisions." Onoki said, dropping all pretenses of cordiality at this point. If the boy wanted to be blunt, he could do blunt, "You're basically a glorified messenger ninja in this situation. You can title yourself 'diplomat' or whatever you'd like, the game remains the same. Your job is to scurry on back to Tsunade and give this to her, and then maybe you get to come back and return here with _her_ answer. This goes back and forth until a compromise is made that benefits both sides."

"Yeah… no." Naruto said flatly, rolling the scroll back up and setting it aside, "The reason Tsunade-baachan trusted me enough to send me here to negotiate with you so early in my apprenticeship… is because there is no negotiation. If you get into the G.S.A. you aren't getting anything. I'm the only one she could send that would flat-out say that to your face instead of dragging it out for six months with the back-and-forths."

Any diplomat from Suna would have been completely willing to show up and say it to his face just for the sake of seeing the look on it afterwards, but as Suna was right now, it might have made Iwa feel froggy enough to jump at something. With Konoha, there wouldn't be any rash responses to the declaration that there would be no concessions made.

Iwagakure was the last holdout of the Big 5 to join. That did not make them special or unique. They had missed the boat and now wanted it to turn around just for them. That was the reality of the situation. And the other four villages weren't keen on making room to a village like that.

"What the hell is this!?"

"What did you think, we were all going to give you something to sweeten the pot for trying to join? No. You get the same conditions that everyone else gets and nothing else."

And they would be lucky to get that. The only reason they were being offered the standard conditions of joining the G.S.A. was because it was simply pragmatic to get the entire continent locked down instead of allowing for separate treaties to be set to let this whole mess start all over again in less than three years. The others had asked Iwagakure to join at the outset of the tensions rising between the major and minor villages, but they simply said that it had nothing to do with them and stayed clear.

They weren't necessary now, and as things were, if the other villages so wanted they could have Iwa wither at the end of the vine so to speak.

Naruto rolled the scroll back across the table and picked up where he left off, "You don't have any leverage over any village in the G.S.A., even the small ones. You don't have a legitimate claim to a single spoil of war against the C.N.F., because you didn't fight a second of it. Yes, you lost 1000 shinobi, and that's terrible, but you were the aggressor against Amegakure."

"You think leaving us out is the best option then?" Onoki rebutted, throwing the scroll away like trash once it reached him, "Are you really sure that this is the unanimous opinion of the G.S.A.? Even the minor villages now involved?"

"Yes. Your army is hurt from the attack on Ame. You don't even have a jinchuuriki as a deterrent. So trust me when I say, you really want to join now and be done with it instead of doing whatever you think you think you're going to do to screw with things. You see, the rest of the four villages actually like each other. We all fought alongside each other and saved each other's tails. You waited the whole thing out just to see who won so you could swoop in and pick the bones."

Suna was actually hoping that Iwa would turn around and try something, because they really wanted an excuse to fight them. No one had forgotten the b.s. that they'd tried to pull with their sweep through Ame in a bid to conquer them and then swing over to Suna.

If Iwa didn't play ball, within twenty years time the Big 5 would become the Big 4 instead. None of the others really had a problem with that in the least if this was the way that it wound up happening.

"How much influence do you think you have?" Onoki asked, his glare trying to burn a hole through Naruto, "I don't mean your alliance, I don't mean your village, I mean _you_ in particular. To say these things to me. Powerful or not, you're no kage yet. You know that I could have you crushed don't you?"

Naruto's serious countenance actually cracked a bit as his lips turned upwards, "Maybe." He wasn't going to lie. He was in the middle of Iwa and old man or not, this was still the actual Tsuchikage he was speaking to, "…But I do know every other kage in the Elemental Nations, and I know for a fact that right now they like me better than you."

If he wanted to fight, either personally or on a nationwide scale, he could feel free to do so. Whatever happened after that point was entirely up to the fates though, and if Onoki was a betting man he wouldn't have taken that wager at his most desperate.

To his horror, while he'd been sleeping the status quo had changed. The rules to the game that he had spent his entire adult life learning how to play to perfection had changed without his knowledge, and to get along in this new world he would have to go along.

Bitterly he snapped at the young jinchuuriki, "Is this the kind of Hokage Tsunade is raising?"

"No." Naruto answered straightforwardly, "It's the kind of Hokage that Tsunade is raising, that Jiraiya already raised, and that Danzo Shimura built up from scratch." He couldn't have felt anymore pride in saying that to the man across from him as he got up to leave, "So go ahead and think about that. You already have the universal concessions for inclusion in the G.S.A. Tsuchikage-sama. We'll all be waiting on your reply."

XxX

"Tayuya-chan…" Naruto warned as he and his three-guard entourage made their way back home after leaving Iwagakure, "Get that shit-eating look off of your face. Seriously. It's not funny."

"I heard _all_ of that shit." The sound-using genjutsu specialist noted for Naruto's knowledge, bumping him with her hip as she, Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru were exiting the country of Tsuchi no Kuni, "Seriously, soundproof walls and a privacy genjutsu cast around the room? Who do you think I am?"

Looking curiously over at Naruto who seemed to be somewhat embarrassed by whatever had been said in the conference, Neji couldn't help but wonder. All he could do was see through the walls, unlike Tayuya who specialized in sound-based things, "What exactly was said between you and the Tsuchikage?"

Tayuya gleefully opened her mouth to answer until Naruto covered it tightly, "Need-to-know." Naruto said in a chiding tone of voice that only made her eyes twinkle, "…Seriously, what am I gonna do with you?"

"Mmmph me."

"There are only two things you could have said just now, so I just have to ask; was it PG?" A shake of the head told Naruto no, "Of course it wasn't."

In return, Tayuya just shrugged and chuckled huskily. What did he expect from her by now really? Tayuya had become one of Naruto's most constant bodyguards on these recent trips around the continent. Oftentimes she would try to make herself available on his excursions to ensure that she would be able to broker some guaranteed alone time with him. Tsunade tended to hog his time to drill him nonstop on what he needed to know and what would be expected of him as the Hokage.

She would have never expected it eight years ago that the stupid kid she'd chased out of Otogakure would have wound up prompting her to fall in love with him, and she never would have seen it coming that he'd wind up as next in line to be Hokage.

Either way, she was just happy that this time it was going to be a reasonably quick trip. They'd be back before anything had time to go wrong, and she even got a night to play with him in the hotel they were given rooms to stay in.

There was quite a bit of biting, scratching, bumping, and cursing to really be considered any sort of playing, but the both of them had gone to bed happy after it had all come to an end.

"You know me Uzumaki." Tayuya said to him with a grin after prying his hand away, "When it comes to you I just can't control myself." She then made sure he had his full attention, giving his hand a quick peck before visibly mouthing 'later' to him.

"As long as whatever he said doesn't get us ambushed on the way back to the village, I don't care." When it came to Shikamaru, the attitude of the chunin over the last few months since the end of the war had been mixed to say the least.

"That's not a very encouraging attitude to have." Neji said, wondering if Shikamaru was ever going to endeavor to get his mess together and get himself promoted to jounin the way that everyone else in the group managed to, "How do you hope to excel any further?"

"I really don't think I want to." The lazy genius admitted. Inside he was wrestling with himself over his dislike of doing active things, and his dislike of having responsibilities presented to him.

On one hand there was no more fighting for days at a time, which was great for him because he actually had to give his best in the field. On the other hand, Naruto had basically picked him to shore up the administrative side of things in the future once he started taking things over. While it was more appealing than fighting and leaving the village regularly, the workload that would invariably come with it left Shikamaru dreading the next five-to-ten years.

"Oh don't be such a limp-dick about it." Tayuya remarked in Shikamaru's direction, "Not getting killed isn't the only reason you should. You can find other reasons to want to do your job. For instance, for me, staying around a yellow-headed jackass that really seems to like it when I make him pull my hair and take me from mmmpfrpm." Once again, Naruto covered Tayuya's mouth.

"Naruto seems to have trouble keeping those close to him in line." Neji pointed out. But it was all in good humor. He knew for certain that Shikamaru and Tayuya would follow whatever order Naruto gave them. But they had been around each other for a long, long time.

"Well to fix it, he can stop taking his friends and lovers with him on these long mission trips out of the village." Shikamaru drawled in return, "And I'm not saying that just because I'm one of those friends he tends to bring."

"That _is_ why you're saying that." Naruto accused, "It's not my fault the next-gen best are all people I know, including you."

"It's just troublesome, that's all I'm saying."

XxX

(Some Time Later – Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage's Office)

Months after the Fourth Shinobi World War came to an end, and while things were different, they had fallen into something of a pattern of comfortable normality again. It was a relief after a long time of uncertainty and suspense, even back before the war had actually begun.

It was over now though. Boy was it over. And she couldn't have received the news that it had been over in a more startling manner.

Tsunade's original reaction to Shiima turning up to her office and summoning a frothing at the mouth Naruto with bits of grass around his lips was absolutely priceless for the old female toad to see. The only thing better was the series of emotions that Tsunade's face went through upon being informed that the war was over and Naruto had been the one to end it, in exceedingly brave and equally idiotic fashion.

The stages of acceptance:

-Abject shock that it seemed to be over so suddenly.

-Unbridled joy and happiness that it was all over.

-Sober understanding of just what had occurred to make it all happen.

-Complete rage at the person that had decided to take matters into his own hands to do so.

Repeatedly, for several minutes until Naruto woke up and realized where he was. Then he was met with the complete rage portion of the stages. Tsunade probably would have thrown him back above the clouds if he hadn't already been suffering altitude sickness from the constant extreme shifts in altitude he'd been subjected to begin with.

This was to say nothing of the reaction of the army when Shikaku learned that the Naruto that had been with him and had been a focal point of the advance plans had been a clone.

It was then that after all his experiences in life he understood two things in particular. One; that damn it, that jutsu was dangerous, and two; that Naruto was its undisputed master.

Needless to say, the knowledge that the war had ended without a single life lost in what was shaping up to be the next and final campaign of the conflict elicited widespread cheers and celebration from the battle-hardened Konoha faithful that lasted from the early afternoon until late in the night. Even away from home they found the drive to party.

It was a celebration. Everything was over with.

Even Suna ninjas that had been coming to reinforce the Konoha divisions with extra force wound up getting swept up in all of it. People laughed, they cried, they shared stories of their experiences from everything that had occurred from day one to what they were doing when they found out that Amegakure's leadership had surrendered.

Naruto's clone stuck around due to being located by some of his actual friends. Instead of bursting the bubble of every single ninja there by saying he wasn't real, he rolled with being the genuine article for the day, and partook in the real delights and revels of victory, including lots of time with some of the women that had found themselves close to him over time.

Temari was especially excited to find him and celebrate the end of hostilities between the two sides, more than willing to steal him away and keep him to herself once she got a hold of him.

Shikaku didn't inform anyone that the Naruto with them had been fake, deciding that some things were better kept under wraps.

…As opposed to the original who spent that day in Konoha dealing with being fretted over by Tsunade while she provided him the medicine needed to fix him up quickly, and being chewed out by her as she forced him to stay behind and assist her in beginning to draft the armistice that would be sent to Amegakure.

The first thing she would make sure come hell or high water by the time she was willing to drop the reins to him was that even though you were the strongest and the leader meant to ensure the village's safety, you did not put yourself out on a limb unless there was no other option.

Things were peaceful now and though there was new business to be had, it was still just business as usual. With the war over with and done, there was a need between the four biggest villages that had come out on top to consolidate their alliance and minimize the ill feelings between the defeated minor villages (or what was left of them) so that nothing else occurred anytime soon.

"You're welcome to stay as long as you like before reporting back to your village Yugito." Tsunade said to the Kumogakure liason and Nibi jinchuuriki as another meeting had been completed.

It was inevitable that something would invariably happen to fracture the good times, but for now they would hold onto what they had fought so hard to enact between each other. All of them had come close to seeing life as they knew it warped into an ugly future forever, and while things might not have been set in stone, the future was brighter than it had been yesterday.

"I think I'll do that." Yugito accepted with a very sly, feline smile, "By the way Hokage-sama, would you happen to know where to find Naruto-kun? I haven't seen him since he came to the last Kage Summit with you. It's been a while since we… _caught up_. I miss him."

'I'll bet you do.' Tsunade thought to herself with a grin and a roll of her eyes, "I've been keeping him pretty busy lately, so I've given him the day to tend to his own business. It's pretty serious, but you may just be able to catch him this evening. He'll probably be exhausted though."

Yugito just waved and continued smiling over her shoulder as she saw herself out, "That's never been a problem before." She said with a closing of the door.

"…If he picks her out of the girls that are in love with him, what kind of baby would two jinchuuriki make?" Tsunade mused to herself before raising an eyebrow in a secondary thought at the quite realistic scenario that she had presented to herself, "Actually, how would that even work with two separate villages?"

XxX

(Top of the Hokage Monument)

The end of the war brought peace many people, including people that had spent their entire lives seemingly moving from one struggle to another. One man had figured that his home was in good enough hands for him to take a permanent sabbatical. After almost five decades of a ninja career, Jiraiya had decided to hang up his headband for good.

Well, unless he was absolutely needed of course. Then he'd have to step in. It was just his nature to play the hero. The world needed a man as outstanding as him to save the day every now and again, but now he could focus on his passion; writing. The fans were eagerly waiting for what wondrous tales of adventure and romance their beloved author would provide them next, and if Jiraiya was anything he was a man of the people.

Mostly the ladies, but ladies were more people than anyone in his opinion.

"It's weird you know?" The white-haired older man said with a content smile on his face, "I think this is the first time I can remember where something like this ended, and I really can't think of another enemy on the horizon to fight." Of course there would be one. There always was. But for now he couldn't see one, and that feeling was surprisingly easy for him to accept.

Jiraiya sat on the head of the Fourth Hokage that had been sculpted into the face of the mountainside, simply thinking aloud as he tried to get some work done on the next installment of his series of novels. Why the hell not? He needed the feedback after all, and he didn't really trust many with critiquing his work.

It gave him a sense of comfort to speak aloud as if he were really talking to Minato or Hiruzen depending on whose head he chose to sit on that day, as if he were filling them in on everything that had transpired since they'd departed from that plane of existence. He was glad that his final student's home, where he was now living in his retirement, was extremely close. He could go there anytime.

"Your brat's gonna take your job you know." Jiraiya said with a smile on his face as he scribbled away possible plots and new character developments in his notepad. Due to his one arm, he had to keep the pad on the surface of the carving, "It's just a matter of time now. He needs time to marinate in the expectations of the role… and no I couldn't think of a better metaphor, so shut up."

The Minato head didn't answer. It really couldn't you see. It was just made of rock. Rocks didn't really talk. You could pop off to them and smack them like the heads of stubborn children all you wanted to and you wouldn't get a response.

"Don't judge me with your silence." Jiraiya said, as if the stillness of the day were a language in of itself, "I could always tell when you were biting your tongue because you didn't want to piss someone off. That's why Kushina always called you flaky."

This time however, nature did respond, with a strong enough breeze blowing to rip out a dozen pages of notes from the worn notebook, sending them flying through the air to be scattered to the four corners of the village.

…Well didn't that suck?

Jiraiya just watched them all fly away as there was really nothing he could have done to stop them. He looked directly down, and then straight up with a sigh, "Minato, you're a real petty bastard for a guy that had a hot wife and a to-be-kage son."

Hmm. Well this might have been a sign from beyond anyway. Maybe he should retire the Icha-Icha series and take another foray into writing a traditional novel? After all, he certainly had a brand new subject that he could base story events off of this time after all.

Yeah, and now it wasn't like he didn't have the time to compile a portfolio of new ideas. He had lots of time. Nothing but time as a matter of fact.

"Ugh… but I can't reuse the character name 'Naruto' for this story though."

Perhaps he could come up with another name by staring at another meal he enjoyed? It worked once before after all.

XxX

(Meanwhile – Forest of Death)

Business as usual in Konoha meant a lot of things for a lot of people. For Root it meant covering the future Hokage's ass from the shadows and doing the things for him that he couldn't be caught doing by others around the world.

Or… you know, the whole covering his ass thing.

The only safe place in all of Konoha for Naruto to go for the final piece of business he needed to settle up before looking forward to the future was deep inside of the Forest of Death. Not for him of course, because the Forest of Death was anything but safe, but for the village.

Even if the Kurama had promised on his tails not to raze Konoha to the ground if he managed to win and free himself, the act of him being released anyway would be extremely destructive to anything in the immediate vicinity.

Of course at the moment there were enough deadly things in the forest to worry about before worrying about something that Naruto was already on the job of handling. In Sai's opinion, the spiders in the Forest of Death had evolved again and become the dominant species. They were also extremely territorial.

The feeling of the Kyuubi's chakra emanating from Naruto seemed to keep them from straying too close, but you never knew. Those spiders had the instincts of top-flight predators.

"I really must say Kiyomizu-san, that I feel uneasy having you here for this task." Sai commented, hand on his tanto just in case something went down out of the blue. He was not going to be caught slipping by any of those damn spiders. They already killed around seven of them on the way to the clearing area, and they were bigger than ever, "I can't guarantee your safety to Naruto-senpai, so I don't know why you wanted to come here."

He and Maki should have been more than enough to protect Naruto from spiders, but since Hamako had come along as well, she'd brought four of her transforming golems that would defend her with lethal force if the need arose. Maki was more than willing to accept the help of the will-free equalizers, but Sai was still wary of them after his first brush with one years ago.

"When it comes to a matter of seals I will always be there for my master, no matter the danger." Hamako commented brightly, hands on Naruto's stomach so that she could monitor his progress with his biju control battle properly, "This is my duty as a retainer of the Uzumaki Clan, and I will lovingly serve its head as needed."

"What does 'as needed' mean Kiyomizu-san?" Maki asked, sitting patiently on the ground, eyes constantly panning to her beloved senpai in the hopes that he would awaken soon with full control of the biju within him.

"Exactly as it sounds Maki-san. But I'm assuming you mean physically? You already know that I am master's mistress."

"Why does that not bother you?"

"I've already told you why."

"If memory serves correctly Maki-san…" Sai interjected in the feminine discussion, "…Didn't Danzo-sama deign you to be the future wife of Naruto-senpai? You even claimed to me that you were willing to wed him if the mission required it. So if anyone should understand performing one's duty it should be you. Unless you're indicating that you would enjoy adhering to that task."

Maki simply stared at Sai as blankly as she could muster her facial muscles to allow, 'Sai-senpai, I'm so sorry to inform you that I'm afraid your days of flustering me with remarks on my relationship with Naruto-senpai are behind us.'

Naruto had made sure that Maki had more than accepted the fact that not only did she have feelings for him, she more than enjoyed acting upon them. She delighted in getting him to hold her. She oftentimes enjoyed checking in on Naruto at night after Tsunade was done sending him on errands, the intimacy he gave her keeping her coming back.

If she was ever indeed directed to follow through with Danzo's original intentions for her, she knew without a doubt that she would do so with great enthusiasm.

The very small but victorious smirk on Maki's face upon not allowing herself to be rattled by Sai's comments died when she realized that Hamako was staring directly at her with an unreadable expression on her face.

The white-haired girl was no fighter, but what she had shown herself to be capable of creating with her sealing abilities proved to be quite imposing. It was quite possible that the chesty young woman could give someone hell if she so wished.

"If this is indeed the case…" Hamako said to Maki, "…Then the day that this occurs and another woman becomes Naruto-sama's legal wife, whoever it is will receive the same power over me that Naruto-sama does. Slightly less, as his orders will always override that of any other, but nevertheless-."

"-What does that mean exactly?"

"If you wed my master I will also serve you as is needed, no matter the task." She then remembered what Maki's definition of serving someone as needed apparently was and added on to her comment, "I do not think conceding to your physical whims as well would be that much of an issue for me if you're curious about that."

Maki, fully red-faced now, turned back to Sai who merely waved at her in response, a forced smile on his face. He was getting way too good at the whole subtle manipulation of others' behavior as far as she was concerned. Maybe Danzo picked the right person to take over Root after all.

And as her eyes drifted back to the steadily meditating Naruto, she told herself that maybe he had picked the right person to take over as the eventual Hokage as well.

'I wonder Danzo-sama…' Sai thought to himself, also turning his attention to Naruto, if only momentarily, 'What would you think about the way things seem to be heading?'

XxX

(Inside of Naruto's Mindscape)

Opening his eyes inside of his mind, Naruto was greeted with the sight of an unfamiliar place. But something about it seemed to resonate in his mind somehow. It was a village, and it was fairly large, but seemed to be rather old. The structures were built with an older architecture than he would have associated with any modern hidden village.

Walking down a main street, something about that place seemed to vaguely resonate with him. And when he found a four-way intersection and found the insignia carved into the pavement, he found out why.

"Uzushigakure?" In a panic, Naruto began looking around rapidly. The last thing that had occurred before he'd used the key to open Kurama's seal for the fight was a bright flash of light as Kurama let him in for the two of them to have it out. Then he appeared in the home of his clan of all places, "That doesn't make any sense. I don't even know what this place would've looked like back before it was destroyed."

If his mind was going to dump him into Uzushiogakure for the final battle, he would have expected it to be the old ruins that he had traversed when he and Sai found Hamako and the heirloom sword. He didn't think his imagination was that vivid to make an image of an intact village in his head with this much detail. For Kami's sake he could smell the saltwater in the air.

"Well yeah sweetie you don't, but I do."

Wait. This was his mind. There shouldn't have been anyone else in his mind but Kurama. If Kurama was behind him speaking to him though, he would have run him through with one of his claws like a skewer stick.

And _sweetie_? If Kurama ever had the lapse of mind to call him that, he'd kick his ass out of principle. And Kurama would probably help Naruto beat the hell out of himself for allowing that to ever even come out of his mouth. It sounded like a woman had said it anyway.

Turning around to find out just who had the nerve, Naruto came face-to-face with someone he'd only seen once in a stray picture. Long red hair, violet eyes, and the warmest smile he'd ever seen any other human give him in his entire life; a maternal one. This couldn't have really been Kushina though, could it have?

Naruto took two steps back and looked around suspiciously, "Kurama you jerk! You called 'no illusions' months ago! We both agreed!" They agreed mostly because neither could consciously do them. He was prepared to keep calling out his tenant until the woman's warm hand rested on his face.

"I'm not an illusion." She said, before taking a moment to think and amend her statement, "Well, I'm kind of an illusion in a technical manner of speaking. I kind of imprinted my chakra inside of your seal for when you finally decided to take the plunge and fight the Kyuubi."

Wide-eyed, Naruto stared at the woman as she continued to stroke his cheek fondly, "So you're a chakra imprint put in my seal."

"Yep."

"That was supposed to manifest when I went to fight Kurama."

"Ooh, my baby's smart."

"…I still think you're an illusion."

"Not too smart though. Good." The woman said with a bright smile, "If you were too smart you'd make me feel dumb, and you'd never make your mother feel like that would you?"

Kushina found herself almost lifted up off of the ground when Naruto wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Ah, he didn't think she was an illusion. He just simply couldn't believe that he was actually in the presence of his mother. It was more along the lines of his mother's chakra. Eh, same difference either way, it didn't matter.

In the end, Kushina still returned the tight hug as hard as she could, marveling in how big and grown up her son was. The last time she'd seen him, the only time she'd seen him, he'd been so little and defenseless.

Now she felt like the one that was defenseless. Now he was as strong as she could have ever imagined he'd ever grow to be. She could feel it just from being there.

"Heh… I thought you would have been somewhat expecting me at some point." Kushina said, still hugging her son, "Since Minato isn't here too I assume he's already run through his shot with the imprint. He didn't say anything about me?"

At that, Naruto blinked and pulled away from the woman that birthed him, giving her a somewhat vacant stare as he tried to remember, "Uh… it was kind of hectic at the time when we met. The only things I really remember are getting an explanation about the masked guy in Akatsuki and bitch-slapping dad."

"You bitch-slapped Minato?" Kushina asked him in amazement.

"He told me to."

"He told you to bitch-slap him?"

"Not… in so many words." Naruto admitted sheepishly. Minato hadn't necessarily told Naruto to hit him. He just said he would rather have had Naruto express some sort of anger at him to make him feel better for the sealing. To Naruto's amazement, Kushina actually began laughing on the spot.

"You backhanded him. Oh, you're my son." Kushina said, wiping a forming tear of humor from her eye, "Why use the back of the hand?"

Naruto hadn't really thought about it until the question had been raised by his mother, Minato's wife, "Honestly?" Kushina nodded, honestly wanting to know despite Naruto's hesitance to say something disparaging about his father right to his mother, "Bitchface. His face is too perfect for a grown man, a grown ninja man, to have. No wrinkles, no scars, no marks, nothing. He needed to be slapped with knuckle to leave a mark or something."

With the way his own face naturally looked, Naruto expected his father's face to have some character. Some wear. Some sort of indication that this was a man that would kill your army in flashes of yellow in between periodic sessions of stopping in front of you and laughing at the look on your face while he did it.

Thank the heavens that he got most of his facial definition from his mother's side of the family, even though her face didn't look anything like his other than a few particular traits.

Maybe if he'd been raised with it Naruto would have gotten used to Minato's face. Hell, maybe if he'd been raised by Minato the man would have lived long enough for his face to get some marks of character, but that was not the case.

"_Exactly_." Kushina said, dusting Naruto on the shoulder with a grin on her face, "People didn't get it why I always said he was girly. I love that man with all of my heart, but most women have to wear makeup to make their face look as unblemished as Minato's."

"Oh I think I love you more than anything else in the world right now."

"You'd better. I'm your mother."

The shared mirth between the two of them tapered off and only a desire to make this moment last as long as possible remained.

They both knew it wouldn't. It couldn't. But for a short while they could pretend that they were really together. That Kushina had lived to see the ups and downs, both the horrible and the wonderful things that made her son who he was, and all of the events in life that made him the man that stood before her.

"So you defeated the masked man?"

"Uh-huh."

"Did you find out who it was?"

"I saw under the mask, but I didn't recognize them." Naruto told her, "I don't care who it was. He didn't deserve a name. He took my mother from me."

Kushina reached out and held Naruto's face in her hands. She just couldn't get enough of looking him over. It was incredible to her. Even with the fuuinjutsu clearly disguising whatever was in his right eye socket and the vertical scar that adorned the skin on the brow and just underneath on the cheek.

Tears came to her eyes. If she or Minato had been around, things could have been safer. If they'd been there so many things would have been different. He wouldn't have had to live in the dark for as long as he did just for Konoha.

As she let the tears fall down her cheeks, Naruto just smiled at her, "Mom it's okay. A lot of things happened, and I've done a lot of bad things. I've hurt a lot of people. I used to be such a prick to people. I still am kind of. And maybe with you or dad, or both, I would have been a better person. I just want to know, if you don't tell me anything else… I just need to hear you tell me if you're proud of me or not."

Kushina's breath hitched as she bit back a sob.

"No matter what, if you say yes or if you say no-." Naruto continued, trying to keep her from sobbing, "-I just want to know what you think of who I am. There's nothing you can say to make me not love you mom. You gave everything for me. And you should get to judge for yourself how the results of your and dad's sacrifice turned out."

Looking at his face, into his eyes, there wasn't any cold emotionless. He was putting himself out there on the line to get the truth from her. It was all he wanted. Luckily the truth was all Kushina was prepared to give. She was never one for lying, even as a kunoichi.

"You've done so much." The redhead started to say, "Pleasant and unpleasant things. Difficult things. Things that make me laugh, things that make me cheer, things that make me cry. You've touched a lot of people's lives, some I'm not sure I'm too fond of honestly, but they're important to you which is what counts. You've hurt a lot of people too." Naruto's face fell at hearing the double-edge of Kushina's words, "But no matter what, you're my baby. And you've done more than Minato and I could have ever hoped from you. I'm proud of you, and even if I'd been there with you nothing about that would have changed."

To top this off, Kushina removed Naruto's headband and laid a long, thoughtful kiss on the center of his forehead. She pulled back to find that Naruto was crying as well.

"Oh man." Naruto said, shaking his head in happy disbelief. He had to say that it was a good thing he didn't know Edo Tensei. He might have been tempted to use it on his enemies just to bring Kushina back every now and again, "Oh man, oh man, oh man. This is not what I need right now mom! I'm about to get into a fight with a biju!" He remarked playfully while wiping at his eyes.

Kushina put on a smile herself despite her reddened, puffy eyes, "Well don't lose your edge! I'm gonna be watching and I want to see you win a fight in person!"

"**Hah! You think he can beat me on his best day?"** At the sound of that familiar, gravelly voice of authority and power, Kurama seemed to fall from the sky right in front of them and obliterate entire blocks of the mindscape village with the impact he made on the ground, **"Ahh, I've been waiting a long time for this Naruto. You have no idea how happy I am to fight this fight."**

With the face of his partner/enemy facing him, Naruto chuckled and moved his mother behind him, "Kurama, Kurama, Kurama. It'd be easier to just give up and say that we're partners. Just don't go crying to my mother when I whip you in front of her." He said, his eyes taking on the signs of Sage Mode as both Uzumakis grinned widely.

"**And don't you go crying to her when I wipe up this village with your face."** The titanic fox said, staring down at the two of them with a vulpine grin and intense red eyes.

However despite the tough talk, there was no malice between Naruto and Kurama in the slightest.

This moment had been established from the very beginning of their working relationship, back when they'd made first contact with one another in Naruto's Root training days. They would fight one another for Kurama's freedom when Naruto was ready to take him on. Receiving the key from Jiraiya was the cue that the time had come, and Naruto had been a man of his word.

Naruto was the only human that Kurama respected unconditionally for more than purely his strength.

And it wouldn't be that bad to hang around if this boy was his partner. No, that was loser talk. He was going to win and free himself once and for all.

Kurama didn't have access to Sage Mode because he would really be moving while Naruto's body on the outside and could actually draw in the energy nonstop due to the stillness of his body. Naruto didn't know how to Sharingan-genjutsu Kurama for an easy victory. Things were as fair as they were going to get for both sides, **"Whenever you're ready fleshbag."**

Naruto drew his sword from his back and instantly transformed it into his powerful armor, balancing out its energy with Sage Mode. A small gasp came from Kushina behind his as she touched at the shoulders of the transformed Sen'nenki no Ken protecting her son's body and enhancing him even beyond Sage Mode.

"I was gonna kind of help you cheat to beat him." Kushina admitted with a sheepish look before moving out of the way. _Far_ out of the way, "I think I'd rather watch this for now though. Don't worry about a thing and go all out! I can't be hurt here!"

Kurama simply let her move before turning his attention back to Naruto, **"So how are you feeling about all of this? After everything that's happened, and what may come. Tell me. I really want to know."** He wanted to hear firsthand the things that made him the kind of person he respected.

Naruto shut his eyes and sighed, "Happy about everything that we've done, scared but really excited too about what might happen, really hopeful that this is just the start… I can't even tell you everything! Not at one time on the spot!" With that done, he opened his eyes, a determined smirk on his face as he settled down and steeled himself for the fight. The blades on the tips of his fingers shining just as brightly as his hair and eyes, "I'm not done moving forward yet."

'**Naruto Uzumaki, this is who you are.'** Kurama thought to himself with no small measure of pride as he faced the diminutive human down.

"Now let's see if I can get to what's at the end of that horizon." The to-be Hokage said as he faced down his inner demon, "Because I'm definitely gonna be dragging you along with me for the ride."

THE END

* * *

**Well, for better or for worse that's how it is guys. Over three years, over 650k words, a lot of effort, and a lot of growing pains as far as writing went in my own personal opinion. This is what we've got at the end of it.**

**I can't even believe that. Three years. When I think of all of the things that have happened to me over the course of three years… man. And it's finally over.**

**I want to thank everyone that made this one my most reviewed story ever. For whatever reason, back when I wasn't even that good at this whole writing trip, this one somehow got a ton of attention and I always tried to do right by it as I slowly improved. There's a lot I did in the earlier parts of this story that I don't like in hindsight (I can't even stand reading the first 20 chapters back to be honest), but I tried to keep to the spirit of what I started. **

**Whether you loved it or you hated it, or you hated ME, you still gave it a chance and that's all I could ask for.**

**With that being said, I bid you all adieu. Now everybody out there in internet land… please.**

**Go get some sun. **

**Unless it's nighttime where you are.**

**If it's nighttime just ignore me and keep doing whatever it is you're doing.**

**Now I'm going to go and do awesome things to take the edge off of bringing this bad boy to a close.**

**Kenchi. Out.**


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